Modifying my planer to reduce snipe

[Brian_Weekley]

I've been planning to make a new bed for my lunchbox planer in an effort to reduce snipe.  I finally got around to making it and it works great.  This was a good addition to my planer and some of you might be interested in this.



Details of what I made can be found here:

https://youtu.be/KOzRB30gxpE

[DR Buck]

That's a great idea and a good looking job you did.    The longer bed is a definite way to reduce or eliminate snipe.    Several years ago I sprung for the self adjusting in/out feed tables to put on my Woodmaster 18" planer.   I mainly got them so I wouldn't have to keep adjusting in/out feed table heights.  But, the reduction in snip was quickly apparent and worth the expense alone.

[low_48]

It's nice what you did there, but man that takes up more room than a 15" industrial planer!

[Crusarius]

That HDPE top has got to make feeding stuff through a breeze.

[Dakota]

Nice project.  I did the same, but used Melamine board.

[Brian_Weekley]

Several years ago I sprung for the self adjusting in/out feed tables to put on my Woodmaster 18" planer.

Must be nice to have a machine that makes molding too!

It's nice what you did there, but man that takes up more room than a 15" industrial planer!

This setup could probably still work on a normal size stand and the bed attached with only the 4 screws.  Yes, a larger machine would be great sometime in the future.

That HDPE top has got to make feeding stuff through a breeze.

The UHMW-PE works great!

Nice project.  I did the same, but used Melamine board.

I'm sure melamine works great too.  Originally, I was going to glue laminate on the plywood, but for the price of a whole sheet, I was able to get the piece of UHMW for about the same price.

[Stacywhetzell]

Regarding Melamine and UHMW and one other plastic I saw mentioned in this article:
Where can it be purchased at a reasonable price?
Everywhere I've looked, its higher that a cat's back.
Thanks
Stacy Whetzell

[Dakota]

I wish I had a picture of mine, but don't.  I have a bench top planer, so I rarely plane boards wider than 8", so here's what I did.  The large sheets of melamine(4'x8') were way too expensive for what I wanted to build, so I found 10" shelves covered with melamine at Lowe's.
They were 3/4" thick and 8' long.  Perfect for what I needed, and pretty cheap.  I added a 1 1/2" strip on each side of the shelf to keep it ridged and keep the board from sliding off the melamine. I just slip it into the planer and support one end with an adjustable roller stand.

[EOTE]

One of the first things I did when I bought my 20" planer (not a lunchbox planer though) was to build an extended out-feed table that was 8' long.  This is because I have a lot of planing to do with 12' boards.  This has worked extremely well.  The only thing I have changed since taking this photo was to make the adjustable legs for the end of the out-feed table out of metal.



 

[Larry]

Regarding Melamine and UHMW and one other plastic I saw mentioned in this article:
Where can it be purchased at a reasonable price?

Melamine can be purchased as shelf boards at any of the home improvement stores (Lowes, Home Depot, and etc.)

I sometimes plan thin down to .060 for shop made veneer and use a melamine board on top of the planer bed.  The melamine wears through quite fast so might not be so good for hard use.

As a general rule, I allow extra material so I don't worry about snipe.  Rough lumber might have end checks that are going to be trimmed off anyhow.

[21incher]

I have purchased hmwpe from farmtek in the past. Its sold as dump truck liner or building liner and is reasonably priced . It comes rolled up and takes a while to flatten.  just fasten it at one end because it does expand and contract quite a bit.