Minimax FS 41c jointer/planer snipe

[Drey Ray]

I have recently purchased a jointer/planer MINIMAX FS 41c.

It's a great machine but I can not get rid of snipe when plaining.

Have been playing around with the spring tension on feed and cutter head but no matter what I still get 2-3cm (1 inch) of snipe.
The snipe is minor ... but an annoyance.

Has anyone had similar issues and if so, is there any remedy to get rid of snipe (maybe changing angle of the planer table?)

[Jim Becker]

Have you spoken with SCM/Minimax about adjustment? You might contact Sam Blasco for assistance.

Sam Blasco
Minimax Product Line Manager
sam.blasco@scmgroup.com
512-931-1962 (shop)
512-796-3036 (mobile)
866-216-2166 (main office/parts/tech services)
www.minimax-usa.com

[David Kumm]

Snipe on leading or trailing end? Bed rollers or not? Dave

[Drey Ray]

Snipe only happens on leading end ... never on trailing ...

[Jacob Mac]

Sam Blasco told me that I had to live with the snipe, and that he does as well.

[Brian Holcombe]

That’s what he says, but really it can be adjusted to being next to nothing. I can usually remove ‘snipe’ in one hand plane pass and often enough I just leave the board slightly long and trim the ends.

[Jacob Mac]

That’s what he says, but really it can be adjusted to being next to nothing. I can usually remove ‘snipe’ in one hand plane pass and often enough I just leave the board slightly long and trim the ends.

If you are willing to share how to adjust it, I would love to learn

[Phil Gaudio]

I have the 41e but I would assume that adjustment is the same. Try increasing the the roller pressure on the leading edge, and make sure you are supporting the work as you feed it so you are not relying solely on the feed roller. Easy does it on the adjustments and make sure you tweak inboard and outboard springs by same amount.

[Stewart Lang]

I have recently purchased a jointer/planer MINIMAX FS 41c.

It's a great machine but I can not get rid of snipe when plaining.

Have been playing around with the spring tension on feed and cutter head but no matter what I still get 2-3cm (1 inch) of snipe.
The snipe is minor ... but an annoyance.

Has anyone had similar issues and if so, is there any remedy to get rid of snipe (maybe changing angle of the planer table?)

Drey, I have the infeed/outfeed rollers on my planer set to as little pressure as possible, and snipe is pretty minimal for me. But I will echo some of the others, you'll never completely get rid of snipe. Plan for it. Work around it. It's the only solution. Otherwise you'll be chasing it for years.

[Drey Ray]

I was able to reduce the amount of snipe by reducing the roller pressure, but not completely.
Was hoping that some other adjustment might provide some better results (i.e. adjusting the planer table itself).

Thanks for the input.

[Phil Gaudio]

Lets assume for a moment that the machine is set up properly. Snipe is heavily influenced by technique. Imagine that you took a magic marker and drew a line across the front edge of the planer table: the edge that the work sees first. Try feeding the work so that the board rides just above that line: slightly above the planer table surface at the leading edge of the planer table. Make multiple passes, and try varying the distance above that leading edge. You may be surprised: the snipe might just disappear.

I was able to reduce the amount of snipe by reducing the roller pressure, but not completely.
Was hoping that some other adjustment might provide some better results (i.e. adjusting the planer table itself).

Thanks for the input.

[Brian Holcombe]

Snipe is greatly reduced by good jointing as well. I pay very close attention to that and have had to do precious little adjustment to the planer, only tweaking it here and there to get closer to ideal.

Jacob, I don't know which machine you have. I tweaked the roller pressure on mine until they were feeding nice and evenly and cutting without snipe, or better stated with next to nothing for snipe.

[Drey Ray]

Have been lifting up the board when feeding on my old planer and it worked. Tried it on this machine and it doesn't affect the end result much.

[Drey Ray]

Just a quick follow up for all who might stumble upon the same issue as I had. Spend almost an entire afternoon changing roller tension, tilting the planer bed etc.
Finally I have managed the reduce if not eliminate snipe completely by reducing the front (feeding) roller tension to a bare minimum / almost nothing.
The screws that tension the roller are now sticking out of the machine (ie. I can see the screw threads), but snipe is gone and It doesn't seem to affect the planing operation in any negative way.
So for all of those owning a Minimax FS jointer, this might be the solution.

[Jay Houghton]

Just a quick follow up for all who might stumble upon the same issue as I had. Spend almost an entire afternoon changing roller tension, tilting the planer bed etc.
Finally I have managed the reduce if not eliminate snipe completely by reducing the front (feeding) roller tension to a bare minimum / almost nothing.
The screws that tension the roller are now sticking out of the machine (ie. I can see the screw threads), but snipe is gone and It doesn't seem to affect the planing operation in any negative way.
So for all of those owning a Minimax FS jointer, this might be the solution.

I dearly love this machine and have had it for quite a while. But after recently moving the beds are out of adjustment. The outfeed table dips at the end and I'm getting a board with a middle that's curved towards the ends. I believe that's typical when the beds are are not co-planer.

I'm good mechanically but stumped on how raise the ends of either the infeed or outfeed table.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.