DW735 snipe

[Brian Runau]

I've had this for years and it does well for my needs. 3-5" wide stock, no snipe with a little upward pressure on the board coming out of the planer. Wider boards I am getting more prominent snip on them and I am not sure why the width of the board would cause snipe?

Appreciate any ideas to look at.

Brian

[Brian Tymchak]

The only thing I can imagine is that the wider boards are heavier and you might need to apply more upward force to counter that weight?

[Jack Frederick]

I agree with Brain on this. If I am not on my game I get snipe regardless of board width. I have a 5’ long roller bed I set up if I am running a lot of material. I have found that the far end of that roller bed has to be elevated a skosh to get the best results. I try to run the material long so I can compensate & cut off any snip. It has been an excellent machine for me

[Frank Pratt]

Mine is not a Dewalt, but an older Delta lunch box. I have the infeed and outfeed tables tilted up ever so slightly. It took a lot of trial and error to get it just right, but I get no snipe at all. Ever. I do help by lifting the really long boards as they come out.

[Eric Arnsdorff]

I had the Dewalt planer and similar to what has been posted - a learned finesse of lifting as the boards exited virtually eliminated snipe. I think with wider boards it may be how the forces work out with managing the deflection as it comes out. I could postulate reasons based on the moment arms and such involved. But either way - it will still be a trial and error learned handling of the boards.
I’ve accepted that snipe is going to happen on any of these planer designs based on the roller support configuration where it ends up pivoting at the ends of the boards. It would seem that a better roller design (multiple rollers or such) would be needed to eliminate it but would substantially increase the size, cost, etc. of the planer. The market seems to have accepted snipe at the ends as the acceptable alternative.
I have upgraded to a 15” Grizzly which is made like all the other 15” and 20”‘planers I’ve seen. I am able to control the snipe to a fairly minimum level with the adjustments it has for the rollers. But there’s still some snipe.

[Brian Runau]

I did not state that this example was a glue up and I wonder if it was not flat across the board and this tension led to the snipe?

[William Young]

Run some sacrificial strips along each side of the work piece that extend beyond each end by about 3". If I'm going to make several passes, I'll just hot melt glue the strips to the work piece. This gets the cutter head and rollers up to cutting level before they reach the work piece and eliminates snipe. You can also accomplish the same by feeding a small sacrificial piece before and after the work piece. You just need to by quick to do it. Of course, the easiest is to have your work piece about 6" extra long and cut off the snipe.

[Myles Moran]

I find that in addition to lifting the ends of the boards as they're going in/coming out, running them as skewed as possible really helps with snipe. For longer boards you can't skew them terribly much, but even the little bit of skew that's possible does help.

[Randy Heinemann]

Snipe can be noticeable with this planer regardless of its other great qualities. The only way I've essentially eliminated it, regardless of board width, is to raise the outfeed and infeed tables external edges (away from the bed) slightly above the inner edges so that the tables are slightly angle upward toward the outer edge. This does it; maybe not perfect, but just about. When I start getting snipe, I know I should check the infeed and outfeed tables. and usually readjust them.

[Jacob Canady]

I've tried messing with my infeed/outfeed tables and only made things worse. So I've finally given in and account for the snipe. I buy an extra foot on every board and cut the snipe off after I've planed it.

Not the best solution to the problem for sure, but it works for me.

[glenn bradley]

When I ran a lunchbox I used the "ten cent solution" of setting the outer ends of the table so that they were about a dime's height above the platen. This works great for pieces that are engaged with both ends of the tables through the operation. In general I just lifted up on the outfeed end of the material being planed and I mean lifted.

[Brian Tymchak]

I've tried messing with my infeed/outfeed tables and only made things worse. So I've finally given in and account for the snipe. I buy an extra foot on every board and cut the snipe off after I've planed it.

Not the best solution to the problem for sure, but it works for me.

I've never been able to solve snipe by adjusting the Dewalt in/out feed tables, so they sit unused. For shorter boards I hold the board up and for longer boards I use roller stands set to raise the end of boards both in and out of the planer.

[Dwayne Watt]

I have observed that snipe seems to get more prominent on my planer's output when the blades are getting dull. The finished surface still looks good but snipe is worse.

[Mel Fulks]

Hard to catch a snipe, ask anyone who ever went to a summer camp ! When doing rough cut offs ,leave some of the knots and other defects . Why cut them off before planing ? I’ve asked that question of guys I worked with …no answer. Measure out and see what “ no good wood” can do !
When you have a human “catching “ while you feed, tell them to put just a bit of upward pull when board is almost ready to come out.

[Monte Milanuk]

When doing rough cut offs ,leave some of the knots and other defects . Why cut them off before planing ?

Because that's how you get nicks in your planer blades, and then lines in your finished boards, that's why. Speaking from experience...