Rikon Power Tools 25-010, Operator'S Manual

21

OPERATION

SNIPE

The term 'snipe' refers to the depression that may occur 

at the front or rear of a board during planing. It is caused 

by uneven pressure on the cutterhead when a board is fed 

into the planer, or when exiting. FIG. 45.

Avoid snipe by keeping your lumber firmly down onto the 

planer bed at the beginning of the cut, and also at the end 

of the cutting action, as the lumber exits the planer.

FIG. 45

3.  Set planing thickness. Measure your board's thickness 

and set the planer to this measurement, or 1/16" under this 

figure. For the initial pass, you do not want to take off an 

excessive amount of stock (over 1/8"), or damage to the 

planer may result. Repeated passes through the planer will 

get you to your final desired board thickness. See page 14.

4.  Feed boards slowly and straight into the planer. Boards 

will be automatically fed through the planer by the infeed 

and outfeed rollers.

-  Guide work pieces straight into and through the planer. 

The cutting action of the cutterhead may try to turn a board   

being surfaced, so slight controlling of the board may be 

necessary. Do not push the board forward, let the planer's 

rollers automatically move the board through the machine.

5.  Remove the board from the planer. Ref: Step 2, Do not 

pull the lumber as it exits the machine. Let the out-feed 

roller move the work piece out of the planer at its own rate, 

but support the lumber as it extends past the extension 

rollers, if needed.

Planer Operation - Continued from page 20

-  Make sure that there are no loose knots, nails, staples, 
dirt or foreign objects in the wood to be planed.

-  Surface wood in the same direction of the grain, not 
across the grain. Never plane end cuts or end grain.

-  Do not plane boards that are less than 12" long. Short 

boards should be planed end to end with other boards to 

prevent kick-back and snipe.

-  Boards longer than 60" should have additional support 

as they enter and exit the planer, so that they do not tip up 

or down, causing snipe on the ends.

-  Run boards through the planer at different positions 

along the width of the bed to utilize the full length of the 

cutting knives. Planing only in the center, or through one 

side of the planer, will quickly dull the knives in that area.

-  To thickness plane stock with surfaces are not parallel, 

use suitable feeding aids (make fitting templates).

SQUARING A WORK PIECE EXAMPLE

1.  FIG. 46, A -  On the jointer, surface side 1 flat.

2.  B -  After surfacing side 1, turn the work piece 90º so 

that side 1 now rests against the fence. Joint side 2 flat. 

The work piece will now have two sides at 90° to each 

other.

3.  C -  Using the planer, run the work piece with side 1 

positioned flat against the planer bed. The opposite side 3 

can then be cut, and it will then be parallel to side 1.

4.  D -  Position side 2 flat against the planer bed, and side 

4 will be planed flat, and be parallel to side 2.

The work piece will now be square, having four flattened 

surfaces and four square edges.

1

2

FENCE

90º

1

FENCE

JOINTER

JOINTER

PLANER 

BED

PLANER 

BED

CUTTERHEAD

CUTTERHEAD

4

1

2

3

4

3

2

1

A

B

C

D

FIG. 46

FEED

ROLLER

PLANER BED