New Delta Planer Problem

[Danno30008]

Help, please?

Just bought a new Delta 12 1/2" Planer and have a problem. It is leaving a "snipe" the first two inches on the board and the last two inches. So, I have these nice gouges on both ends of my cutting board. Their customer-no-service told me how to fix but also added that with this model, it is an ongoing problem and I will ALWAYS have some type of a snipe in the wood. It pisses me off that I buy a "Good" name instead of the stuff at Harbor Freight and this is what I get. Has anybody had this issue or have any additional advice?
Thanks in advance and take care
Dan... Time to get my Glock 9mm out!

[Don]

Hey, Dan. Sorry your are having a problem with the new toy. As you know, the snipe happens when the material contacts or leaves the infeed and outfeed roller. On a traditional floating bed stationary planer the problem can usually be solved by making sure the material is supported going into and out of the machine, for longer stock anyway. Short, lightweight pieces should not have any problems.

But if the problem is inherent in the design, then that means that something is moving as the increased pressure of going under the outfeed and then leaving the infeed happens. Run some stock, on the slowest feed speed if available, as see if you can see if the table is moving or if the head moves when this happens. You will probably see that the "slack" is happening in the raising and lowering mechanism. Some of the portable planers actually lock the head in place to prevent snipe. You may not be able to do anything about it. If that's the case, then they could have it back as far as I was concerned.

There are several planers like this that do an amazing job. We had a 12" Ryobi in the millwork plant that looked like a Tinkertoy - but, the guys would fight over it because it did such a good job. It would gobble down anything you could throw at it. No snipes

You will not want to live with snipes. Over the life of the machine you will throw away several hundred board feet of lumber as you cut off and discard the hideous ends.

Good luck and let us know what you do.

dawjr

[Terry Mac]

Hey Dan,

As Don said some of the problem comes from the platen not being long enough on the infeed and outfeed sides. Try extending both sides by placing some MDF or plywood, or something to extend the distance to the infeed, and from the outfeed; to keep the stock level during entry and exit. Like using roller stands on long pieces ripped on the table saw.

Another thing to try to avoid snipe is to get a couple of 2x2's, or 1x4 ripped (depending on the width of your stock piece), and plane them down to the beginning width of your stock. Then hot glue, wax or tape these pieces on both sides of your stock. Your stock piece will then be in the middle of these pieces. Make sure that these edge pieces extend long enough, in front of, and in back of, your stock piece, to travel under both sets of rollers before your stock piece hits the cutter. The idea is to avoid the snipe by "creating" a longer piece of wood material which will be underneath the infeed and outfeed rollers by the time your main piece of stock hits the cutter. DO NOT USE METAL FASTENERS TO JOIN THE EDGE PIECES TO THE STOCK! Metal, screws, nails, etc., hitting those cutters will ruin the cutter, possibly the machine, and likely yourself. The biggest downside of this little trick is that you're using extra wood to stop the snipe; its almost easier to cut the snipe ends off your stock.

Just a few words on the "new" Delta machines. They are not made in the USA. They may be "assembled" in the US, but the machine itself is manufactured overseas. The "new" Delta is not comparable to the true American made Deltas, Delta/Rockwells, Delta/Homecrafts, etc. of years past.

[Danno30008]

Thanks for the help/

I talked to them again and they said that the only way to solve the issue is to basically run a board before and after my project work.. Kinda crazy to me that I sould eat up a bunch of stock because their design is not correct. Anyway, it is going back to Lowes and I will look into another unit.

Going forward, before I buy any new equipment, I think I will post on the foruma nd see what you guys recomend.
Thanks again and take care
Dan

[old_guy]

I've had good results with my Dewalt 12 1/2" -- but I'd take a long look at the Dewalt 13". The dust collection on this machine is excellent.

[Dagster]

I also have had good results with the DeWalt but usually snipe is bad adjustment on the infeed and outfeed tables. Also, if you put a sacrificial board in front and one behind you can avoid it altogether on important pieces of wood.

[woodman43]

I also have the Dewalt 12 1/2" planer and if I don't properly support the board as it starts and finishes it will leave that snipe. But I have noticed that on any planer. I have been considering building a stand for my planer that has infeed and outfeed rollers to solve this problem. I have seen this in larger shops. It seems to work really well.