Re: NO SNIPE PLANER SLED

[DJ Delorie]

've done this. Works great.

[Anthony Diodati]

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

If you buy the MDF already coated with melamine, you can wax it and be working in 5 minutes!

Barry

[Rich Shepard]

Pardon my ignorance, but how does the longer infeed and outfeed platform eliminate snipe? I thought those were a result of the feed rollers not being on the work being planed so the work piece did not remain the same distance from the planer's cutters.

Rich

[DJ Delorie]

Two things cause snipe:

1. The wood tipping up/down when it enters/leaves the rollers.

1. The planer head moving when the wood enters/leaves the rollers.

If you have a long sled, there's less chance of the wood moving (tilting down is most common), so the first cause goes away. The sled basically holds the wood flat, so that it's always in contact with the sled and thus always the same distance from the cutters.

Can't do anything about the second cause, except get a better planer (or perhaps grease the guide rods to reduce play a little).

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

As the board is fed in to the front or removed from the back, the end of the board that's not in the machine needs to be at or above the planer's inner table height. Holding the far end up an inch or so until the both rollers grab the stock, or release it on the outfeed, will also help a great deal.

Longer tables just make it really easy to avoid problems without futzing around. Adjusting the built-in in and out tables so the tips are higher than the inner table, when weighted, also helps.

Barry

[Jerry Gilreath]

While we're on the subject of rollers, how do you all, as a whole, clean the gunk off them. I screwed up and let sil use mine. Aint real sure what he ran through it, but it had to be wet pine. Both infeed and out has got crap built up on them. Didn't know if mineral spirits or alcohol would do it or not.