Dewalt lunch box planner

[Brian Runau]

I have this portable planer and use it in my shop. I put a board through that was to short; and man it didn't like it much!

Little snipe coming out of that side on the back end of the board I'm thinking I should remove and reset the blades?

Thanks for any advice.

Brian

[Grant Wilkinson]

Which planer? When you say that it didn't like it much, what happened?

If you have the 735, I doubt that removing and re-installing the blades will solve anything. Between the locator pins and the bolts, it's not likely that the blades moved at all. It can't hurt, though.

[Chris Schoenthal]

There are a couple of ways to help your problem.
Because of the distance between the rollers and blades, the 734 creates about 2" of snipe and the 735 has 3".
You can build a sled or fasten sacrificial boards to the front and back to eliminate snipe completely.
You could also just use longer boards, factoring in the snipe waste and cut it off.

[Matt Day]

Adjust the in/out feed tables per manual.

[Brian Runau]

There are a couple of ways to help your problem.
Because of the distance between the rollers and blades, the 734 creates about 2" of snipe and the 735 has 3".
You can build a sled or fasten sacrificial boards to the front and back to eliminate snipe completely.
You could also just use longer boards, factoring in the snipe waste and cut it off.

Chris:

It is a 735. It was set up fine with no snipe, I had adjusted the infeed outfeed tables accordingly. This piece was too short and the planer threw it on a line about 13 ft towards one wall of the shop. I saw it coming and got out of the way! No snipe on the planer for the right 2/3's of the unit. It I put a board through the left side there is snipe on the 1/4-1/3 side of the board towards the left side of the board. I agree the locating pins and clamping via bar that secures the cutter head should not have let the cutter head move, but with snipe like this... Could the unit throwing the piece out have move the infeed table that much?

Thanks.

Brian421107

[Steve Demuth]

Given what happened, there were obviously some unconstrained and out of design forces on your machine. I'd check the blades and table adjustment for sure, but I'd also give the machine a thorough exam generally. That board bNged around hard in your planer before it was spit out.

[Richard Wolf]

That redefines snipe.

[Brian Runau]

Given what happened, there were obviously some unconstrained and out of design forces on your machine. I'd check the blades and table adjustment for sure, but I'd also give the machine a thorough exam generally. That board bNged around hard in your planer before it was spit out.


Trying to be lazy, but I should reset and check everything in the process. Thanks for being the voice of reason.

Brian

[Dave Sabo]

This may sound harsh, I don't think it was a good idea put that size piece through a planer in the first place.

[Matt Day]

This may sound harsh, I don't think it was a good idea put that size piece through a planer in the first place.

I think the OP figured that out.

[Mark Daily]

I have the DW735 and have 0 snipe on either end. To the OP, does the cutter head assembly raise and lower as easily as before? If not, maybe it was knocked out of alignment on one side.

[Donald Hofmann]

I have the DW735 and have 0 snipe on either end. To the OP, does the cutter head assembly raise and lower as easily as before? If not, maybe it was knocked out of alignment on one side.

I just got the 735 and mine has no snipe either. Makes my Jet 3 hp planer look bad!

[Myk Rian]

Looking at the board, I'd have to agree. Those are some pretty nasty gouges. Something had to have been stressed.

[Mark Daily]

I just got the 735 and mine has no snipe either. Makes my Jet 3 hp planer look bad!
Makes me curious to know why some 735 owners have snipe and some don’t.

[Steve Demuth]

Makes me curious to know why some 735 owners have snipe and some don’t.

Snipe on the 735 is almost always traceable to one of two things, in my experience:

1. Not having adequate support to prevent board movement. This includes having the tables adjusted properly for short stock, and extended support for longer.

2. Backlash in the nuts on the posts that position the head. If there is any backlash there, the head can rock. You'll get leading edge snip if the back of the head settles on the posts, then rises when the leading edge of the board hits the back feed roller and pushes it up. You get trailing edge snipe if the front of the head falls after the board leaves the front feed roller.

If you have snipe, you can verify that it's #2 by wedging the head up tight against the backlash with plywood wedges along the edge of the table next to the posts.

[Myk Rian]

Snipe on the 735 is almost always traceable to one of two things, in my experience:

1. Not having adequate support to prevent board movement. This includes having the tables adjusted properly for short stock, and extended support for longer.

2. Backlash in the nuts on the posts that position the head. If there is any backlash there, the head can rock. You'll get leading edge snip if the back of the head settles on the posts, then rises when the leading edge of the board hits the back feed roller and pushes it up. You get trailing edge snipe if the front of the head falls after the board leaves the front feed roller.

If you have snipe, you can verify that it's #2 by wedging the head up tight against the backlash with plywood wedges along the edge of the table next to the posts.

Interesting. I never saw mention of the wedge check before.

[Mark Daily]

Snipe on the 735 is almost always traceable to one of two things, in my experience:

1. Not having adequate support to prevent board movement. This includes having the tables adjusted properly for short stock, and extended support for longer.

2. Backlash in the nuts on the posts that position the head. If there is any backlash there, the head can rock. You'll get leading edge snip if the back of the head settles on the posts, then rises when the leading edge of the board hits the back feed roller and pushes it up. You get trailing edge snipe if the front of the head falls after the board leaves the front feed roller.

If you have snipe, you can verify that it's #2 by wedging the head up tight against the backlash with plywood wedges along the edge of the table next to the posts.
Interesting- I never knew about the backlash issue.

[Tom Bender]

Mine makes no snipe on mid length boards. For long boards especially thick stock the overhanging weight kicks the board up into the cutter head when the end passes the inbound roller. I guess it compresses or flexes the outbound roller. Similar happens on the start of a pass. This starts to be a problem with 6/4 stock over 3 ft long, or 3/8" stock over 6 ft long. Just depends on the cantilever moment. I could set up extended support but my shop is small and doesn't need any more stuff. It's easy enough to lift by hand to carry the weight. A little practice and no more problems. Quicker than setting up temporary support too.

[Steve Demuth]

Interesting- I never knew about the backlash issue.

One would think that as long as you approach your head setting by lowering the head to where you want, the nuts would all four be pushing the head down and there would be no backla effect. And indeed, this is mostly true. But it's not absolutely true, unless all four posts are perfectly aligned for head lowering, and there is wear or backlash in the sprocket and roller chain that synchronizes the four posts.

Not a surprise, really. It's not like there are precision ball screws and scales in there on that kind of machine.

[Lee Schierer]

I think your planer is probably adjusted just fine. The problem with the board you showed is that it was too short. You should never run a piece through a planer that is shorter than the distance between the feed rollers. A piece being planed must be in full contact of at least one roller at all times, otherwise it is no longer being held down and it will get chewed up by the knives. You can seriously damage your cutter head by doing this.

The owners manual has a minimum safe length to be planed of 12"
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