Need tips for DW-735 when planing wider pieces

[Matt Maczuzak]

It's a great tool but I have one issue with it. When planing near full width I get significant snipe on both ends. It's the result of the body lifting and dropping depending on if one or both rollers are engaged. I can get it to go away if I lead and trail with sacrificial pieces of wood but that's not ideal. I don't get any noticeable snipe on thinner pieces of any length.

Has anyone come up with a solution to improve rigidity? The machine is essentially new, maybe 200 feet of material has been ran through, mostly poplar and walnut and almost always thin cuts at the slower feed rate.

[Erik Loza]

Matt, how long are these pieces?

Erik

[Jamie Buxton]

When you're feeding a board in, don't expect the feed roller to control the entire weight of the board. Instead, pick up hard on the trailing end of the board, so you are supporting the entire weight of the board. You can relax after the board is a foot through the cutter. Do the same on outfeed.

[glenn bradley]

You have the answer already. A planer is a single-plane feed-path type of tool. In order to give the desired result the material and cutter head must stay in the same relation to each other throughout the operation. In lighter weight machines the carriage can flex, tables can flex and so on. Even on a larger machine, if the material is heavy enough and not supported correctly, feed path errors (snipe) can occur. This is not limited to the width of the material, it is more likely a variable of the material's weight.

The answer is to properly support your material throughout the operation. Lunchbox planers benefit from the "ten cent solution", raising the tables about the height of a dime at the outer tips to avoid snipe. This solution works for a lot of things in the home shop but, is limited by the size of the piece being fed. I'm sure it all involves that geometry they tried to tech us in high school but, we all thought we would never use in real life but, I digress. :)

Infeed and outfeed support stands, tables, whatever, are your solution. The material should not be allowed to drop at the ends farthest from the machine. You want one continuous path although raising the back of the material on ingress and the front of the board on egress from the machine can be helpful on smaller planers.

424838

Here's an example when using a planer sled.

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[Marc Fenneuff]

When you're feeding a board in, don't expect the feed roller to control the entire weight of the board. Instead, pick up hard on the trailing end of the board, so you are supporting the entire weight of the board. You can relax after the board is a foot through the cutter. Do the same on outfeed.

Agree with Jamie

[Jack Frederick]

I've done a substantial amount of wide stock on my 735. As mine is mobil it is hit and miss on the snipe control, not having long fixed supports. Actually, it is hard to call it "control". If I am not careful on long wide pieces the snipe is extreme. I lift on the way in, shift position and lift on the way out. I find it harder to control on the way in.

[Andrew Hughes]

The 735 I used to have didn’t snipe at all if the face was flat from my jointer. If I ran rough boards that cupped up or down on the ends it was no way of knowing.
My planer I have now gives me the same results lifting up on the ends helps a little.

Good Luck

[Jeff Monson]

Former 735 owner... good material support (I used roller stands) and minimal material removal on wide boards, more trips through the machine but better results. Great machine BTW, I did enjoy mine.

[Randy Heinemann]

For me, the solution on this planer was simple. I bought outfeed tables and set the outer edges (away from the planer) of the outfeed and infeed tables just slightly higher than the plane of the center table and inner edges of the infeed/outfeed tables. I believe this puts the necessary stress on the board to keep it from being grabbed and tipped by the rollers. If my outfeed and infeed tables are set correctly there is virtually no snipe. In addition I usually also put some slight upward pressure on the outfeed side of the board as it comes out. The automatic head lock on this planer takes most of the snipe out and the orientation of the tables almost all the rest. Most likely there is still some minor snipe but it is insignificant and can be easily made less significant with normal sanding.

[Chris Schoenthal]

As others have said, the longer support that you have, the less likely for the weight at the ends to cause snipe.
I corrected this a little differently. Instead of infeed/outfeed rollers or stands, I use a little less than 13" x 4' piece of 3/4 melamine clamped onto it.
I never get close to the 6" max thickness of material, so that's not an issue. I also use calipers instead of the gauge, so it works well for me.