steel city 13" helical head planer

[Michael Huber]

Anyone else as disappointed in steel citys new 13" planer. Well i am, the only thing this planer has going for itself is the noise level, i will say its much quieter. Other than that i regret buying it, they state you will get a "superior finish" and that is so far from the truth. Be prepared to spend much more time sanding out those insert lines, what they consider acceptable lines just blows my mind. I have 2 other machines with inserts so im familiar with those lines or scallopping, but what is produced by this new 13" is completely unacceptable. I did send a sample to steel city and they said "thats a great cut". as for tear out, you get the same amount with straight knives, but the finish with straight knives is far superior. anyhow very very disappointed

[Robert Meyer]

Michael, sorry you are disappointed in the SC helical planer. I too know the frustration a crappy planer can cause. I spent over $400 for a highly rated Delta 13" 2 speed planer upon the recommendation of several woodworking magazine reviews. It worked great for a month then no matter what, it refused to feed lumber through without pushing hard on it. I have heeded every advice on the forum several years ago and had it into service also and the problem won't go away.
Looking at the SC manual I noticed that the heads appear to be lined up straight across the head in offset columns. Somewhere I read that having them in a spiral pattern as per the Byrd Shellix was better. Anyway, I have found that SC customer service has been very good with problems I had with my Table Saw. Keep trying, don't accept sloppy results and insist they fix it or solve the problem.