Help installing shelix head on a dw735

[jesse ross]

I've purchased a shelix head for the dewalt dw735 planer, and could use a few pointers from anyone whose installed one, or who has the planer and has ever replaced the main shaft/spindle that the cutters screw into.

I've disassembled the planer and am ready to remove the stock shaft, but it's triangular, not cylindrical as the instructions suggest. Is this a newer change in the design? How does one looses/remove the shaft from planer, does it unscrew from the hex nut and rise out, because it doesn't look like it would slide out of the side of the planer - the triangular shaft is to wide.

Thanks in advance to anyone with experience with this assembly...

[Mike Goetzke]

Jesse - I just did this last Friday. First go here for an excellent writeup:

http://www.byrdtool.com/Dewalt735.html

Remove the knives before you remove the old head. I also removed the gear on the old head before pounding on it for removal. Just make sure the gear position is to the left (helps removing the gearbox). Otherwise the instructions are great. It only took me a little over an hour to finish. PM me if you need more help.

Mike

[Kyle Iwamoto]

What timing. On a not related issue, (sorry to hijack your thread) I just noted a Global Spec banner ad below for DeWalt planer blades. Anyone try them? My 735 blades started to have lines already. The helix cutter is out of my range for now, stock replacements aar 55 bucks at the local BORG. Considering the very short lifespan, I'd rather not buy them.

TIA

[jesse ross]

Mike, I've read over the instructions as I've gone, but am still confused. The knives and holding plates are off, but the rotating block itself is triangular as in the above pic. I also hAve the gearbox pulled out and rotated away. Is it possible there's been a change in the design? I would have to remove the gear from the triangular spindle to remove it, but that's not what the directions state. Am I overlooking something obvious ?

[Jeff Monson]

Jesse, I believe they are all triangular, that is the way mine was also and it was 3 years ago. Anyway, if you are to the point of removing the head, and have the snap rings removed you will have to pound out the old head. Mine was quite tight to remove, make sure to remove the helical gear from the end of the cutterhead 1st (as you will need to swap it into your shelix head) and use a hardwood block and a hammer to remove the head. May take some hard blows to get it started...but it will come out. I think that is why new bearings are a good idea as the old ones can take some abuse on removal.

[Jeff Monson]

BTW, yes it does go out the side, (blades removed) it barely clears, but it will.

[jesse ross]

Well i finally got the cutterhead out. What was unclear in the instructions was that it slides out the Other side of the planer (not the gearbox side.) The other side has a larger bearing and hole which lets the spindle out. I had never used the planer prior to disassembling it, so everything was very tight, including the belt which was a trial to slide off. Add to that the fact that the philips head screws on the cutter rotate lock plate immediately stripped and i needed to file deep flathead grooves to unscrew them...

As others have mentioned, hitting the helical gear felt risky, so I took a piece of hollow aluminum pipe that fit around the gear but made contact with the bearing and tapped the other end with a heavy mallet until slowly it started to dislodge and push through.

Kudos to anyone who pulled this off in an hour. Hopefully my questions and confusion hope the next person in line.

Now it's finally time to put the new head in....

[Mike Goetzke]

Jesse, glad to here you got the old head out. I'm not kidding it was like an hour and 15min. but I read a lot about it first....but I took the time (like some others have) and removed all the carbide inserts. This makes it much easier to install the new head w/o damaging the inserts. Also, it allows you to clean the inserts and head well. You do need a torque wrench for this operation. This probably added another hour to the install. I too did this mod to an unused planer. I also added the extension tables and a Wixey DRO.

Mike

[Neil Davie]

Just this morning I replaced my bladed cutter with a byrd unit on my delta 6"" jointer. Not all the same issues of course, but only two problems came up. Be careful in removing the bearings to avoid damage- pry only on the inner race. I had to replace one-it was bad already. Also, I had difficulty since the studs holding the bearing retainers had the dust shaft taking most of the thread length of the bearing hold down pieces so I couldn't use the washers. Acess was only a slot using finger tips. Took a bit of time. The end result was worth it- smooth cutting, and quieter.