"Greg" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.


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.