Show me your thicknesser ‘anti-snipe’ tips

[I’ve got wood worm!]

Hi all. Finally got my hands on the Triton TPT125 a few days back and am initially impressed with the machine. The snipe is my only gripe really.
I’ve heard of sleds that can reduce this?How does everyone here reduce snipe?

Thanks.
Dave.

 

[Trevanion]

Just slightly lift the board as it enters and leaves the machine. Most cases of snipe are down to bad technique.

 

[Peri]

I have the same machine, my experience was a sled made no difference, nor did lifting or angling boards, or anything else I tried.

What did fix it for me was tightening the roller/cutter head down onto a long strip of wood just to the side of the cutting head.

Very similar to this

 

[Ollie78]

The rollers should be evenly tensioned infeed and outfeed.
One is probably pushing too hard so when the board is only getting pressure from one side it snipes.
Does it not say anything in the manual for adjustment.

Ollie

 

[MJP]

The TPT125 manual mentions a cam lock for locking the carriage - presumably to eliminate or at least reduce snipe but I can't find this lock.
Martin.

 

[Peri]

I asked the same here

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/triton-planer-thicknesser-tpt125-cam-locks.125487/

 

[I’ve got wood worm!]

Just slightly lift the board as it enters and leaves the machine. Most cases of snipe are down to bad technique.

Just don’t get your fingers trapped!

It seems to be an unavoidable problem, but I’ll work on this technique. Thanks.

 

[DBT85]

Do you have any extra infeed or out feed support?

 

[John15]

Dave, I've used Steve Maskery's video for curing snipe. It's simple and works well. Try it.
(49) Dealing with snipe on a planer / jointer / thicknesser - YouTube

John

 

[Peri]

Mr Wandel gives a nice explanation of why lunchbox planers suffer from snipe.

 

[harryc]

Unavoidable really with the cheap lunch box thicknessers, just make sure your piece is 2-3” longer on both ends.

 

[Felix]

In my experience ( I have a scheppach 260ci) your problem is that the infeed and outfeed table are not aligned along their length/width. I spent hours setting that table so I don't get snipe. I suggest putting a straight edge (that's longer than your beds) along the beds and checking with a feeler guage for flatness. If you have a dip around the area of the blades on the outfeed side (with the infeed side being slightly higher) then you need to adjust the tables. If you have an adjustable infeed/outfeed table make sure they are set to zero (their highest position). As a side note - it is imperative that you get your outfeed table set absolutely spot on as this is where the flatness is needed and you want your infeed table set relative to the outfeed table so they are flat along their length and width. I'm not talking 'level' here - just a flat surface.

I think that by using a sled you are just transferring any mis-alignment through to the surface of the sled and is therefore a waste of time.

Hope that helps

Dean

 

[jackal]

Trevanion is right about lifting the board. I had a similar problem with a Metabo DH330 and concluded that the snipe was caused by the wood leaving the infeed roller and raising towards the knife block scalloping the end. This problem is worse when planing longer unsupported boards. Lifting the end of the board pushes the in of the board in the planer towards the tables. More substantial machines have less problem with snipe due to strong exit rollers. Did you solve your Snipe?