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Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Planer???

3/19/14       
Dave Eilers

Website: http://www.davescustomservices.com

Just got a new planer in the shop that replaces our old one that died last week. We are getting alot of snipe and goofy stuff we never had before on our much smaller planer. Anybody have this machine and have advice for getting boards snipe free. I have been planing lumber for over 10 years so I know alot of the simple tricks that I learned on my small planer. But this planer is much differant. Just looking for anyone who has this machine and what they have done. We build alot of laminated butcher block stock, so the snipe is a real issue, the stock goes from the planer to the saw to glue up, any snipe shows when assembling the face of the boards.

New planer with snipe: Grizzly 15", 3hp, regular straight knife.

Old planer NO snipe: Dewalt 13" 2 speed. Great little planer, lasted us over 8 years. Replaced brushes 3 times, motor bearings twice, ran carbide blades. Lacked power for Maple, Hickory and Ash. (we plane alot a 6/4 ash/maple regularly)

Rough stock is face jointed or sanded flat before it gets to the planer. I have adjusted the feed roller springs a bit with no change. I have not checked the factory settings of the feed rollers and chip breaker in relation to the cutter head. Could adjusting the feed rollers make a differance? I have the bed rollers adjusted to a hair below the table surface. The bed is adjusted flat.

Thanks for your time!!!

3/19/14       #2: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
EDDIE

what did grizzly tec department suggest?

3/19/14       #3: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
door shop guy

Bed rollers need to be a hair ABOVE bed surface. Check your pressure bar! Check everything else while you are at it.

3/20/14       #4: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
Nick

I'm with door shop guy, adjust the bed rollers so they just catch the board passing over them (maybe 0.005). Also when feeding material lift the back end of the board is whatever is going through the table is always tight to it, and the same goes with the material coming out.

That will minimize it a lot, but I always use longer material so it's not a concern when it happens.

3/21/14       #5: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
David R Sochar Member

Every planer I have ever worked with had a manual that gave all the basic set ups and troubleshooting. Generally starting with the cutting circle, the infeed roller needs to be closer to the table by so much, the pressure bar after the head has to be a few thousandths above or below the cutting circle, and the outfeed roller has to be set below the cutting circle. Table rollers are also set by the manual.

Once this is done, you should rarely need to make changes.

Tail snipe - on the end of the board - is almost always due to the pressure bar being set too high relative to the cutting circle. If it is fore snipe - the front of the board - it is from too little pressure on the infeed roller.

3/22/14       #6: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
B.H. Davis Member

As mentioned above bed rollers need to be slightly above the bed surface.

I take an approx. 1" wide strip of copy paper and fold it in half. Then with a straight edge spanning the infeed and outfeed rollers I adjust them so the paper just barely slides under the straight edge. This is tested just inside the feed rollers.

Making this adjustment on the right side, then the left side and then the right side again will get your bed rollers where they need to be.

However while this is where the bed rollers need to be this probably isn't going to solve the end snipe problem. Again as mentioned above the feed rollers and pressure bar are the more likely culprit. That is unless there is a problem with the construction of the planer such as casting/grinding misalignment in the table.

BH Davis

3/22/14       #7: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
Dave Eilers

Thanks for the info folks.

After having the machine in place now for a few days and running a few hundred feet of Hickory through, I have played with the bed rollers a little, got them just above the table, barely. I got a feel for the machine, and I am really enjoying it. Sure beats that little dewalt I had, holy crap, I think I have cut my planing time in half or more $$$. I stil have a little snipe on either ends, sometimes, but the more I use it the less snipe I am having. And the snipe is less than 1/32 to 1/64 mostly. I might try adjusting the feed rollers next.

The biggest change is the lumber needs to be really straight (more time on the jointer I guess) or it comes out a little wavy and really sniped, the dewalt was not near as bad for that. But nice straight lumber gets really good results, and fast.

I think I can deal with a little snipe for the time it is saving!!

Would upgrading to a spiral head make any differance with snipe? Prety sure I am going to get a spiral cutterhead, do the math and its a no brainer. Right?

3/23/14       #8: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
Adam

Spiral head will not help with snipe.

Reread BH's post

Adjust the rollers. Taking a smaller final bite can eliminate snipe sometimes. Make sure you but one board up against the next.

It is rare to find a planer that gets no snipe. Your Dewalt is not a planer, it is a thicknesser. Different beast which takes a very light cut.

3/23/14       #9: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
D Brown Member

Try reducing the pressure on the out feed roller.

3/23/14       #10: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
David R Sochar Member

You can determine what is doing what by measuring back from the end of the board to where the snipe starts. Whatever this dimension is - lets say 3" - then you can measure from the cutting circle centerline to the pressure bar, or the infeed roller and see which is 3" away from the centerline of the cutterhead. In most cases the snipe starts when the lumber exits under the infeed rollers or the chipbreakers, though it is the pressure bar that resolves the snipe.

Again, tail snipe is 100% related to the pressure bar not being set low enough. If snipe appears to go away, it is just a function of less than flat lumber and/or how it is being fed.

Is there some reason why you are avoiding the manual?

11/30/14       #11: Snipe on New 15" Grizzly Plane ...
Rich Member

Dave,
I have that planer, and it has a spiral head. I really like the set-up for my purposes. It will reduce sanding time, although it may not be as aggressive as the bladed version. I do a lot of really thin panels and find this machine/cutter combo to work well. Lift the material slightly on the outfeed as mentioned by others.


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