Delta TP305 Planer Roller Adjustment?

[gbossert]

I just purchased my first planer and I am considering returning it. The first 2.5" and last 2.5" of each board I plane are slightly (1/16") thinner than the rest of the board. I have made sure that the infeed and outfeed supports are perfectly level with the bottom plate of the planer. I even removed the bottom plate and added one layer of masking tape to the bottom of the plate because it was slightly lower than the infeed and outfeed supports. The plate, infeed and outfeed are now perfectly true to each other. I still have the problem.

I placed a piece of trued stock in the planer and lowered the cutting assembly so that the front roller was just a hair higher than the stock. I can see that the front roller is about 1/16" lower than the rear roller. I think this is causing the problem. As far as I can tell the planer does not have height adjustments on the rollers.

I am pretty sure that the problem is associated with the rollers because the distance from the the front and rear roller to the cutting head appears to be exactly the same as the 2.5" of problem area on the board.

I am considering returning the planer but I wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations first.

[Leon]

If you try to eliminate this condition you may waste more time than it is worth. The biggest adjustment that you can make to the planer is to NOT have the in feed and out feed tables parallel with the planer table. You actually want both in feed and out feed slightly elevated and tweaking will get you the best results.

[Greg]

Ok, so my addition of masking tape to the underside of the bottom plate to raise it exactly in line with the infeed and outfeed supports may have exacerbated the problem. I'll remove the masking tape shims tonight and retry.

Should the rollers be at exactly the same height from the bottom plate? The rear roller is slightly higher than the front roller.

[Leon]

You have 2 options.

Adjust the outer ends of the in feed and out feed tables up higher than where they connect to the planer. You want to imagine a cross section of a bowl. The leading end of the board should be pointed slightly down as it enters the planer and begins to be cut. The trailing end of the board should be slightly lower than the leading end as it exits the cut and planer. Keep in mind that these table adjustments should only be a slight adjustment that may not be apparent from a simple glance of the eye. Basically the ends of an 8' board should have about 2" height difference when entering and exiting the planer.

The simplest option is to simply hold the end of the board higher on the trailing end when beginning to feed the wood into the planer until the planer begins to cut the wood. As the board passes through the planer and the trailing end begins to near completion of the cut, lift the lead end up a bit, about 2 inches.

Basically snipe is caused by a non locking cutter head or out of adjustment locking cutter head that rocks slightly as the pressure on the in feed and out feed rollers inside the planer is uneven. Basically as a board starts to enter and or exit the planer. Snipe can also be caused on longer boards when only an in feed or out feed roller inside the planer is in contact with the wood. The longer boards can slightly pivot on the end of the in feed or out feed tables when it is only under the in feed or out feed rollers inside the planer.

Snipe happens when the wood is not being pressed down by BOTH in feed and out feed rollers inside the planer.

[Greg]

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. After reading your reply I looked up some other posts about snipe and found this great thread. Just in case there are any other newbies out there looking for more info, check out this thread:

again.

[marks542004]

On my benchtop planer the feed rollers are above the work as part of the cutterhead.

The bottom rollers are not powered.

I took a piece of 8' melamine shelving and stiffened it up with some aluminum angle. This was mounted to be the new bed of the planer. This gives 3' of infeed table and the same outfeed. Most of the material I plane is 4' or smaller.

I have had no snipe problems since having this support.

In my experiance the snipe is caused when the unsupported end of the board drops and lifts the other end into the cutter head.