Byrd Planer cutter head - mixed results

[Bob Cooper]

I have a 5HP 20" 4 post planer (Jet) that i was having more tearout than i would have liked using the stock head. If i had knotty Alder i would many times get tearout so bad near some of the knotts that it would almost be unusable (1/8" deep). I have a fair amount of Ash that had similar problems. The odd thing was i could many times get less tearout on my DJ-20.

I finally saved up for a 20" Byrd head. It's better but i still get a fair amount of tear out on the Ash and i'm wondering if my expectations were just too high. Some woods it does a beautiful job on but others just must be too difficult to work with.

I'm running it on the slowest feedrate.

I'd like to do some more testing before drawing too many conclusions but just thought i'd see what others thought.

Anyone seen anything similar?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Bob, after replacing the head, did you measure/adjust the chip breaker and pressure bar?

Regards, Rod.

[Bob Cooper]

Rob...no. I've never really adjusted anything on this planer. that is something i can check. On smooth boards it seems to do a fine job...even on some nice hard oak w/a waterfall pattern. But especially that Ash can be tough and contrary to some other posts i've seen i definately need to be conscious of the direction i run the wood (not the oak...just the ash).

[Dave Lewis]

Bump - I'm wondering if others have similar experiences.

[Chris Padilla]

(1) Take lightER bites
(2) Try wetting the wood
(3) Have you noticed if maybe you have a bad cutter square or two?

Wood is a fickle medium...you have some gnarly ash and softwoods like pine are always tough...especially knotty pine. The knots are a world apart in density compared to the surrounding wood.

[glenn bradley]

Grain direction still counts with a spiral head (or as best as we can do with reversing grained material). I would check the pressure bar and chip breaker that Rod mentioned. If the tearout is in a particular area left to right I would eyeball every insert and make sure something is not stuck under (or missing from) an insert. Table rollers are adjusted depending on the type of material you are planing; higher for rough-sawn and lower or nearly even for S2S stuff. As a very recent spiral head planer owner I have learned that very small changes in these adjustments can make a marked difference.

[Matt Armstrong]

How much quieter is it?

[Neal Clayton]

glenn's point about cleaning the head every so often is correct, although i'm not sure if that's your problem or not without pics of what you're talking about.

the catch with spiral heads is they require absolutely precise position on the inserts, even a little dust or sap wedged up under one will cause a noticeable, symmetrical tear along the length of the board.

[Paul McGaha]

Bob,

I agree with others that I think something on the planer is out of adjustment. You should be getting better results.

PHM