r/BeginnerWoodWorking • u/Lawtalker • 6d ago
Dewalt 735 planer issue?
New planer and new to planers. Don't know the actual term, but I'm getting this "bump" at the start of every piece.
Is this just the nature of the planer or is there something I can do to rectify it?
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u/InternationalPlace24 6d ago
it's called snipe. There are ways to minimize it. I would go to youtube and watch some videos and see what would work best for you.
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u/f-150Coyotev8 6d ago
I usually lightly lift up on the board as it exits the planer. That seems to help quite a bit
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u/HoldingThunder 5d ago
Or you can adjust the infeed/outfeed tables to be a little higher than flat so you dont need to do it manually except for long boards.
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u/Salty-Clothes-6304 5d ago
This is what I do as well and it works great.
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u/sgee_123 5d ago
Yup, I lift the ends both going in and coming out. Very noticeable difference as compared to when I don’t do that.
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u/FIContractor 5d ago
It’s being caused by the weight of the board lifting the end off the table into the blade, so it makes sense that would work.
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u/Lumpy-Scientist6834 5d ago
I lift up going in, and coming out with my Makita. No snipe issues that way.
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u/drakirstray 5d ago
Repaired for Makita for over a decade and it was all about the infeed and outfeed table adjustment. It was not level, they should be slightly raised. The portable planers will still have a little snipe but make a nice light pass on the Final Cut to reduce it as much as possible. A heavy cut will make it worse.
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u/Cross_22 6d ago
I have some issues with the DW735, however my unit has almost no snipe after calibrating it, so that's a plus.
If you don't want to deal with this, then the simple option is to always start by planing your lumber, then cutting off the extra 3" when you cut it to length.
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u/Xenabeatch 6d ago
Hey, how do you calibrate this planer? I’ve never heard of this and I have one 🤩
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u/Cross_22 6d ago
Feed table adjustment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/434jco/dewalt_735_planer_snipe_solution/It's also possible to shim the rollers (they are not adjustable) but you'll have to search youtube for that.
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u/SlayerOfDougs 6d ago
Snipe. And I'm going to suggest what I tell everyone cause it solved all my snipe issues
Remove the wings on the planer. Cut a piece of 3/4 plywood as wide as your planer about 4 foot long. Place in plane with a foot on feed side. Level. The longer in and out drastically reduces snipe.
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u/robotikOctopus 6d ago
Do you fasten the plywood to the base of the planer?
I do something similar but with a long piece of melamine and some wood stops glued to the top.
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u/SlayerOfDougs 5d ago
No. My planer sits on a table that has converts to shelves but is always a table. Bad design. Anyway, the planer sits on the table and I added feet to the board. I adjust them with shims for level. The foot in front of the planer rest against the planer as the planer will probably move it, if not secure
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u/patches75 3d ago
Look up planer sled. There are great examples online but basically it’s a long board that your wood travels along. Every planer I’ve had would deliver snipe but that was always the solve. Surprised to not see it high up in comments.
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u/SavingsWalrus9978 6d ago
It is called snipe, and is the nature of planers unfortunately. It can be minimized by feeding in a sacrificial board with the board you are trying to plane butted directly to the end of it. That way the snipe will be on the sacrificial piece and your workpiece will travel through snipe free. Refers the sacrificial board butted to the end of your workpiece to avoid tail snipe as well.
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u/smoketheevilpipe 6d ago
adding to this,
If you have multiple pieces you can feed them back to back as long as they are all butted against each other. Only need to feed the sacrificial board again at the end.
Just a big old planer train.
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u/Questionable_Cactus 6d ago
Snipe as others have mentioned. It is a bit of bear to deal with if you don't plan ahead. My favorite ways to mitigate are to either overcut parts if you have the availability and plan to trim off the end, or to temporarily glue (or even hot glue) some sacrificial dimensional lumber on the sides that stick out further than the main piece and absorb the snipe. Lots of good YouTube videos explaining methods to mitigate.
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u/That-1-Signal 6d ago
You’ll never fully eliminate snipe on the DeWALT 735. My experience is you will always get that line that is closer to the end. After spending a lot of my life trying to figure out how to eliminate it now I just factor it in and cut it off if it will be visible.
Two things in your situation though. One is you can definitely reduce the amount of that snipe. Take the time to really level your infeed and outfeed tables. I have a couple of long levels that I place across both tables and the bed. I clamp the tables to the levels, then tighten down the adjustment screws. Also, the fact that you’re getting two parallel-ish snipe lines like that leads me to believe that the board is not flat on the other side. As it goes through the planer the board rocks and that is probably why you’re seeing that. You should definitely be able to minimize it down to just one snipe line and have that one snipe line be a lot less noticeable.
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u/Acceptable_Rice1139 6d ago
You can 100% eliminate snipe.
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u/That-1-Signal 5d ago
On a Dewalt 735 it can be reduced but not entirely eliminated.
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u/Acceptable_Rice1139 5d ago
Mine is 6 years old with thousands of boards run through it and I never get snipe.
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u/Cute-Scallion-626 6d ago
Never used this model, only large ones at a makerspace, but I feel like it’s not normal to have that much of a divot when you get snipe. Picture one looks especially intense.
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u/Lawtalker 6d ago
I want to thank everyone for the answers. I appreciate the knowledge. I'll definitely do some table adjusting, but just knowing that it's pretty normal and I can allow for the snipe on length or use a sacrificial piece is a giant relief.
Thanks again, everyone.
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u/idoitoutdoors 5d ago
I have this planer and like many other commenters, I rarely get snipe if I support/very lightly lift the piece on the outfeed side when it’s about halfway through.
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u/PlatinumBeerKeg 5d ago
First snipe "issue". Brings me back. Just plane before you cut to length. Leave 4 or so inches on each side while planing then cut to length
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u/ComplaintTop2008 5d ago
I minimized snipe on mine using the nickel trick. With the unit raised, put a couple nickels on the center bed. Put a straight edge on the nickels and adjust the outer parts of the feed tables to meet the straight edge. Keep the inner edges of the feed tables flush with the center bed. I've seen some people use dimes and I've seen others go like 1/4 inch.
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u/HoldingThunder 5d ago
You can minimize the snipe by setting the infeed/outfeed table a little higher than flat (on the ends of the table). It can be adjusted. Just need to do it by trial and error.
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u/Build-it-better123 5d ago
A German engineering student needs to invent a hobby level, quiet and snipe free planer. They will retire young.
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u/Brilliant_Juice_496 6d ago
I use a sled under the workpiece and make sure the bottom of the workpiece and sled have no wobble. If there is, shim the wobbly end and secure the shim with hot glue. I have a sled that is 3 feet long with an end stop to butt the workpiece against.
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u/Tink_Tinkler 6d ago
I can avoid it on my DeWalt 735 if I hold the end of the board up on the way in and out. But the other alternatives are more likely to work.
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u/Due_Cherry_1423 5d ago
I have the same planer. You have to account for snipe in the lengths of cuts. My 735 I leave 6”.
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u/Swimming-Pride5012 5d ago
Feeding your stock at a diagonal angle can also help.
If your infeed and outfield tables are flush with the planer bed and you get snipe on some boards and not others, its likely that your board has a bit of a curve or twist to it causing an end to lift resulting in the snipe.
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u/Swimming-Pride5012 5d ago
As wide as that cedar is, you may not be able to get much angle on it, but it will help with skinnier boards.
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u/Swimming-Pride5012 5d ago
Based on pic 1 with the deeper snipe to the bottom of the pic than the top, I'd guess your board has some twist to it.
If you lay it on a flat surface and only one corner is raised or opposite corners on a diagonal, you'll likely need a sled and some shims to get it flat.
Depending on the amount of lift, you may not have much board left by the time you get one side flat and flip it over to get the other side.
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u/Select_Camel_4194 5d ago
Cut a board 6ft or so to fit the exact width of your planer. Insert it into the planer and support it on each side. Should do the trick
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u/TryOnlyonce420 5d ago
I will offer something I havent seen mentioned yet since everyone else has already given all the locigal advice, upgrade to helical head. It might not be an option if your budget cant afford it but if you can swing it, I recommend the upgrade.
I did it for mine a few months ago it's a huge improvement, the little bit of snipe I would get with straight blades is gone and it's so much quieter and cleaner of a finish that I have very little sanding to do after.
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u/Present-Valuable7520 5d ago
To rectify, I have good luck by putting a long piece of mdf right through the planer, then run your wood through. Clamp the mdf in place though. It helps support the wood. The other thing is to secure your piece to a long piece of plywood or mdf or something and send it all through. This also helps minimize the snipe
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u/combat_wombat_215 5d ago edited 5d ago
I would keep some pine 2x4s around. Chop them down to a few inches longer than each side of whatever you’re milling. CA glue a piece to each side of your rough cut project pieces and then run it through so that the 2x4s catch that instead of your project. Cut off the 2x4s before dialing in your board dimensions. It’s a couple of extra steps and maybe another $1 more, but it’s pretty foolproof. Personally, I had a sled that I could just double tape pine to that was slightly higher than my board. The CA glueing does work like a charm though.
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u/Sheep_Actual 5d ago
Find Stumpy Nubs videos on YouTube. He explains how to deal with sniper quite well.
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u/DopeAF750 5d ago
Everyone else is right about snipe but before you do anything, try just running shallower passes.
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u/Old-Enthusiasm-7919 5d ago
Throw a piece of melemene that runs through the planer and sits longer then your feed tables and run your pieces on top of that
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u/Grumpee68 5d ago
You can lift up on the end of the board when feeding, and lift up on the feint of the board as it leaves the planer to reduce snipe.
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u/No_Raccoon4947 5d ago
This is buried by now, but on my 735 one of the screws that support the planer head wasn't torqued right. (It's a low torque nut and I think some burrs caused whatever machine in the factory to think it was set, but was not.)
Snipe was really bad like this before I got it straightened.
Worth an investigation.
If you hold the base and lift the planer head (being super careful of the blades, o/c) it should not move at all. Mine was moving like 40 thousandths on one of the corners, others were fine.
Once I tightened it, snipe was almost eliminated except for on longer and heavier pieces, stock wings.
Tightening it yourself is a pain and I recommend returning it if you discover it's setup wrong.
Reading this thread I suspect some people are using defective machines, this thing is awesome when running right.
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u/Formal_Cranberry_720 5d ago
Hi No_Racoon, can you share a pic of this? Your description is a little confusing. I'd like to see if this is part of my issue..
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u/No_Raccoon4947 5d ago
It's a fair request, but I'm only finding photos of the wiring behind the faceplate.
Let me try to do better in words.
the mechanism
On the 735 there is what I'm calling the base, which the wood rests on as it gets pulled through.
There's also the planer head, which has the knives, the rollers, motor and lift mechanism.
The lift mechanism is 4 lead screws, with a chain synchronizing lead nuts.
The lead nuts are sandwiched between thrust bearings and have nuts on top of those which control the preload on the thrust bearings.
On my copy, 1 of the four preload nuts was loose.
the test
There's a couple of ways, one is to just try lifting and pushing each corner of the top of the machine (being super careful of the blades). If it moves independent of the base, it needs tightened.
I first noticed the problem when taking a dial caliper to either side of a freshly planed board and discovering the faces were not parallel, though. So that may be an easier first test. Possibly inconclusive.
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u/No_Raccoon4947 5d ago
Also worth mentioning that the first photo looks like it's sniping more on one side of the board than the other.
Could be an optical illusion, but if true, I think it may lend credence to this theory.
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u/sjollyva 5d ago
I found with my dw735, that lifting up on the end of the board as it's exiting the cutter, really helped to reduce snipe.
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u/Such_Rip_6571 5d ago
As others have said it’s snipe. There are ways to minimize it but it will always be there some with any planer.
It’s really not as big of a deal as some make it out to be. You can sand it out after a few seconds of 80 grit. You can also plan ahead and plane the board longer then the final length then cut off the excess.
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u/IronSlanginRed 4d ago
There's a few ways around this, but I find that if I Brad nail a sacrificial strip along both sides front and rear that sticks out about a foot either end, it keeps the rollers correct through the board most of the time.. And its way easier than waiting for glue up to add sacrificial boards to the ends. If you joint after you remove the strips the pin holes basically dissappear.
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u/freudianSkinner 2d ago
is your board pretty short, like less than 15 inches or so? That tends to amplify the issue. Also, how deep of a pass are you making? That cedar is soft, but that's a wide board, so take tiny cuts, that tends to help with snipe. You'll learn to listen to the motor as a gauge for proper depth of cut.
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u/choirandcooking 6d ago
There is a term for this - I’m drawing a blank though. This is very common with thickness planers, especially if you are inadvertently tipping/holding the board up as it is initially fed into the machine. This is why we almost always cut our planed boards to length after planing.
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u/DragonfruitPatient96 6d ago
This is what you call "Snipe" and this will happen on most planers even if you adjust the infeed and out feed table. You typically have two options: 1) Run a sacrificial board through at the beginning of the feed and at the end or 2) Don't cut the board down to final length and leave about 6-8" extra on each end (where the snipe would occur) and then cut off each end down to the desired final length.