Rotating Byrd head cutters on Dewalt 735 planer

[Dan Bowman]

After running hundreds of bf through on the first edge of the cutters (very impressive life, IMO), the planer seemed to be laboring and I decided to rotate the cutters. After loosening the cutters, I blew out any dust with compressed air and re-tightened as uniformly as possible, given I was using a Torx driver. A test showed several small ridges the length of the board. I identified which cutters might be at fault, and went through the procedure again on those. I got new ridges in new places. Went through the process twice more with new ridges each time. Finally bit the bullet, redid the whole head, blew out the dust, tightened, and still have ridges. They're small but noticeable, and I didn't have them on the first (factory set) side of the cutters. Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong or how to solve this problem? Thanks

[Glenn Frazer]

torque wrench, with a torques socket type driver, you'll have to check the specs with byrd for what in/lbs.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I've also heard that blowing out the dust may not be sufficient- that you may need to clean out the areas under each cutter with a rag and mineral spirits.

I don't have a byrd head, so I have to live vicariously through members on SMC! :)

[Myk Rian]

The instructions tell how to let the screws pull the inserts into place.
Torque to 55 inch/lbs.

[Mike Goetzke]

When I first installed mine I actually removed all the inserts, cleaned everything up and re-installed them with a torque wrench. I got ridges too in a few places - not bad but not what I expected. I called Byrd and went through the procedure on how to install them and I found my problem. My intuition said to hold the insert against the raised shoulder at the back as I tightened. Actually you are supposed to slightly push the insert away from it. I loosened and re-torqued doing this and the ridges are almost completely gone.

Mike