Hammer A3-31 - Help me eliminate snipe

[Edwin Santos]

Hi,
I'd appreciate any advice from a Hammer A3-31 owner (i.e Rod Sheridan) on what adjustment I need to make to eliminate the snipe I am experience with the planer function. The snipe is happening at the trailing end of the board only, slightly more on the operator side compared to the hinge side.

It's not a significant amount of snipe, but I know the machine is capable of delivering zero snipe, so I assume I need to make an adjustment to accomplish this, probably to the feed rollers. The literature that came with the machine doesn't have much information on how to make the adjustment which is why I'm asking here.

I've kept the bed waxed, and I am being careful to tighten the clamping lever once the planing height has been set.

Thanks for any guidance,
Edwin

[Greg Parrish]

https://txbonds.zenfolio.com/p90543695/ec17054f1

check out this video Felder sent me to help adjust roller tension. Got mine worked out doing this with some trial and error.

[Jamie Buxton]

There's one small technique thing which might help you. When you thickness a board, go to the outfeed side and pick up on the end of the board before the planer gets to that snipe area. If you don't do that, the weight of the long end of the board is trying to lever the trailing end of the board up into the cutter knives. This helps my A3-31 work snipe-free.

[Jim Becker]

There's one small technique thing which might help you. When you thickness a board, go to the outfeed side and pick up on the end of the board before the planer gets to that snipe area. If you don't do that, the weight of the long end of the board is trying to lever the trailing end of the board up into the cutter knives. This helps my A3-31 work snipe-free.

I do exactly the same thing with my MM FS350. Nature of the beast.

[Derek Cohen]

I do the same as Jamie and Jim. On the very (very!) occasional times I have experienced snipe on the A3-31, it has been a heavy board and I was not vigilant in this regard. The extra weight placed extra stress on the rollers to keep everything uniform.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Edwin Santos]

There's one small technique thing which might help you. When you thickness a board, go to the outfeed side and pick up on the end of the board before the planer gets to that snipe area. If you don't do that, the weight of the long end of the board is trying to lever the trailing end of the board up into the cutter knives. This helps my A3-31 work snipe-free.

Jamie ,
Very good advice, but I'm 100% sure that's not the issue here because as a matter of habit, I do exactly as you describe.
Thanks

[Darcy Warner]

It's the pressure bar, or bed rollers.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I have the short extension table attached to the out feed side of the planer. This seems to help as it provides a little more support. I also try and support the work piece as it gets ready to clear the indeed roller.

The video above is very helpful in adjusting the roller. Logic tells me that if I am experiencing snipe, at the trailing edge of the board, the out feed roller probably need a little more tension.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi,
I'd appreciate any advice from a Hammer A3-31 owner (i.e Rod Sheridan) on what adjustment I need to make to eliminate the snipe I am experience with the planer function. The snipe is happening at the trailing end of the board only, slightly more on the operator side compared to the hinge side.

It's not a significant amount of snipe, but I know the machine is capable of delivering zero snipe, so I assume I need to make an adjustment to accomplish this, probably to the feed rollers. The literature that came with the machine doesn't have much information on how to make the adjustment which is why I'm asking here.

I've kept the bed waxed, and I am being careful to tighten the clamping lever once the planing height has been set.

Thanks for any guidance,
Edwin

Hi Edwin, you probably have too little pressure on the one side of the outfeed roller.

A video was attached in a post, it shows you which nut to adjust.

Also put a block of wood on the table and use a 1 X 2 to lever the roller up, it should move a couple of mm. If it doesn’t, lube the sliding blocks it travels in.

You have zero snipe without having to hold the board.......Regards, Rod

[Edwin Santos]

Greg,
Thank you for the link to the videos, they provide precisely the adjustment guidance I was seeking.

Rod, thanks for your advice (once again). From your past comments, I know the planer is capable of zero snipe.
I can see why they've named both a college and a mall after you in Ontario. My wife attended the former once upon a time.

Edwin

[Tim Derr]

Hey Edwin,

If you ever have any trouble again with your machine reach out to me here; I'll be glad to help you out and make sure you're well taken care of.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ort&highlight=

All the best

[Edwin Santos]

Hi,
I thought I would report back and share that I was able to get my A3-31 to plane snipe free. I ended up speaking with Felder's technical support for some guidance to supplement the good advice I received here. The Felder tech thought roller height adjustments alone would be sufficient, but I found that spring tension adjustments were necessary in addition to the roller height adjustment, at least in my case.

For anyone else experiencing this issue, I used a dial indicator to set both the infeed and outfeed rollers .015 below the cutterhead. It's important to keep them even on both sides of each roller to avoid "fishtailing" as is described in the video Greg shared. That got me to minimal snipe. From there I played around with spring tension until the snipe was completely gone whether I hold the board or not.

Thanks again for the help.
Edwin,

[Rod Sheridan]

Glad to hear it’s working as designed......Rod

[Greg Parrish]

Sounds good Edwin.

Out of of curiosity did you take any pics or description of your dial gauge setup used for checking roller to cutter relativity? I would be interesting in checking mine for my own curiosity. Thanks.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sounds good Edwin.

Out of of curiosity did you take any pics or description of your dial gauge setup used for checking roller to cutter relativity? I would be interesting in checking mine for my own curiosity. Thanks.

I use 2 blocks of wood, the larger one is used as a gauge to raise the table so that the block just touches the cutter, the smaller one is used to check the roller free height.......Rod