I doubt if you're missing anything Greg.
How large are the pieces you're planing?
Is the reference surface flat or does it have snipe?
Snipe is normally caused by too little or too much roller pressure. Is the snipe at both ends of the board?
Thanks, Rod.
Both ends. The piece was about 20” long, 6” wide and 3/4” thick. I edge jointer and face jointed the board first and then ran through planer for the other face. It came out with snipe on both ends.
Greg, like Rod, I also have no snipe on my C3-31 (and I don't use the center post lock).
Have you tried planing a board that already had one flat side (ie - not jointing it, first)?
If you're getting snipe on the planer, there are really 3 possible causes:
1) Your reference surface isn't flat (you need to figure out what's going on with the jointer)
2) Your evaluation of what constitutes "snipe free" is mis-calibrated. I can't tell from your earlier pictures, but how "deep" does the snipe measure? Some lunchbox planers can easily take 1/8" from snipe. The geometry of a planer is always going to be such that the pressure on the board changes once the board goes from being under 2 feed rollers to being under 1 - that's unavoidable. So, in your case, does the change in pressure result in a change in cut that is problematic? Expecting it to be "optically" perfect is unreasonable, and probably impossible. Is the amount of snipe actually bothersome, or is it just an visual imperfection that will sand out in your normal finishing?
3) Something is wrong with the feedroller pressure. This seems least likely.
Greg, why not put the onus on Felder and call Tim and let him know the problems you're having? They need to know. Tim told me they have videos and articles and maybe you can actually get a decent owner's manual out of them. If you do call them, let us know how they respond and with what.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain
Sorry to hear of your issues. My A3-31 was pretty much plug and play as far as jointing and planing went. The biggest issue I had with it was getting the extension table mounting bracket in plane with my jointer outfeed table. It is good now though. (Now if I can just figure out how to move that extension table to the outfeed of the planer table, without dismantling something, I’d be golden.)
Ive found that holding up on the end of a piece going through the planer can sometimes eliminate snipe from my work piece depending on the material being planed. And doing the same has caused snipe on other materials.
Clint
Infeed end has the height adjustment wheel, so that doesn’t affect it.
And I do have a mounting bracket installed there. You can’t slide it in from the end, however, like you do for the jointer table. And the locking/clamp tab stops it from dropping in from the top. The extension table has a clamping bar on the bottom that has a self locking nut installed on one end and a clamp lever in the middle. Unless BOTH are removed, the bar will not move enough for the table to be installed on the bracket. Kind of defeats the purpose of the repositionable table it’s supposed to be. You could reposition it from side to side on the planer outfeed, but it ain’t coming back off til you take a wrench to it. Guess I’ll have to get another extension table if I want to use one there, and on the jointer as well.
Hmm. I have been looking at that longer extension table that Hammer has available. I just need to “justify” it.
Or maybe the Aigner extension table might be a better choice. If I got it, I could swap it between my shaper, my bandsaw, and the A3-31 by just adding mounting brackets to each. Decisions, decisions.
Clint
Last edited by Clint Baxter; 09-19-2018 at 6:33 PM.
So how are you supposed to "conveniently" move the extension from jointer to planer? I saw a video on installing that bracket and was surprised to see how much slop they left in the mounting holes on the jointer table. You'd think they would be precision drilled rather than making the owner reset it over and over. I think we need to have a talk with Felder's engineers.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain
You cant unless you don’t clamp it in place. As mentioned above the bracket on the planer outfeed is inset so that you can’t slip something over the ends. The way it works it has a bolt that provides adjustable leverage, and a large metal clamp assembly that extends under the rail. It won’t drop over the rail without unbolting that lower clamp which would be a pain.
due to other chores I won’t be able to get back to the A3 tonight. Will have to give it another go tomorrow night on checking out the tables and alignment with my straight edge and oneway gauge.
Last edited by Greg Parrish; 09-19-2018 at 6:46 PM.
The mounting rails are all set at an identical level below the table, if I remember correctly it's 17mm??? All my machines are set that way.
To remove the extension table from the planer outfeed, I use the following method
1) get rid of the flat washer that goes between the kip lever and the clamping plate.
2) to install the table, approach the mounting rail with the free end of the table angled down
3) once the top of the table is over the mounting bar, lift the table level and lock it in position
To remove it, unscrew the kip lever all the way and angle the free end of the table down to remove it.
Regards, Rod.
Last edited by Rod Sheridan; 09-19-2018 at 8:58 PM.
Greg, I can remove my extension tabl without unbolting, I responded in the other thread of Julie's with my method.........Rod.