Grizzly 12 Inch Jointer, Changing to Byrd Head

[Steve Kohn]

I have a 5 year old G0609 12 inch jointer with straight knives. Instead of replacing the dull knives I've bought a Byrd head, planning on replacing the entire head. I started the teardown this afternoon but have come to a screeching halt. I cannot figure out how to get the bottom bolts out of the bearing support blocks. I called the Grizzly Technical Service number and all they told me was to reach into the chip chute to remove them. I've tried that and my arms aren't long enough to get a socket or wrench on the bolts. Any tricks or techniques I'm missing?

[Bill Space]

Hi,

I can't really help as I do not have a jointer like yours. Mine is a Grizzly 8" and i bought it with the spiral cutter head installed.

But I would suggest maybe positioning your body differently, so you don't have to reach farther than your arms will reach.

Stand back and look at what needs to be done. Certainly others have done it before you so it can be accomplished.

Call Grizzly back and explain your arms are not long enough and maybe they can give you some help.

It can not be so difficult that a normal person can not accomplish the task...

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Report back... you have at least one vote of confidence!

Bill

[Will Blick]

I have the 9860 Grizz...I changed out to Byrd head as well... I did not have to enter the dust chute...mine had some very difficult rear access, after I removed nearly every part to access it....total PITA. NO doubt about it, so don't feel bad. Next, dropping the head in was NO simple task as well, as I had to use wide rubber belts wrapped around both ends, to drop it in, then cut up the belts to get them out :-) Just could not figure out how else to gently place the Byrd head in... long story made short.... 2 guys 7 hours start to finish...

After that, I re confirmed the beds alignment.... Luckily, this jointer has near PERFECT parallel tables(and flat), not sure if I got a lucky one, but it's impressive, Kudos to Grizz.... once I jointed my first piece of maple, I forgot all about the nightmare of replacing the head.

FOR SALE: Grizz 9860 Straight edge cutting head in excellent condition :-)

[Ronald Blue]

As they say where there is a will there is a way. I don't know how far you need to reach but it had to be assembled at some point. How big is the dust chute? Can you lay and extend your arm and shoulder into it and possibly even your head? I work on equipment for a living and sometimes you have to be a contortionist. Good luck.

[Jim Andrew]

I have a G0609 jointer, and I installed a Byrd head on it, as I recall I had to remove the infeed table to change the cutterhead. Has been a while..., but recall it took me one evening.

[Steve Kohn]

Someone on another forum sent me the link to directions on replacing the head with a Grizzly T1027 Spiral cutterhead. According to this instruction set I need to lift the entire top off the base to get to these bolts. They do not recommend taking the table off due to the torsion springs used. I'll probably be attempting to lift the jointer today, assuming I can get some help. I'll post back what happens.

[Tai Fu]

So is there any benefit to fitting a byrd head on a 12" jointer? I was thinking about it but was wondering how do I determine whether or not it will fit?

[Will Blick]

Call Byrd, they know what jointers they can work with.... If you have a high quality jointer, its worth it.... IMO, its not an evolution in power cutting, its a revolution :p

OTOH, ...if the jointer is older, with un flat tables, or problems with parallel tables, tempermental, weak motor, tables too short for needs, etc...well, maybe not worth the retrofit cost. The Byrd heads are not cheap...but as others have mentioned, it's nearly impossible to dull all 4 sides of their carbide cutters.... unless u run a production shop and run 8 hrs a day. I have the same Byrd heads in my 20" Powermatic Planer, and the cut quality noise reduction is beyond impressive.

[Charlie Stickney]

I recently (6-8 months ago) purchased a GO609 w/straight knives and installed a Byrd head. According to the Grizzly instructions for the Byrd head, you must raise the jointer off the base cabinet. PITA. On the backside of my cabinet, located behind the belt guard, just below the top of the cabinet, there is a 4-5" diameter opening (with a cover). I was able to access the bearing bolts through the opening. If there wouldn't have been an access opening there, I would have made one before raising the jointer off the base. Change out of the cutter heads, including removal/installation of the bearings was less than one hour.

I have had the BYRD cutter heads on my 15" planer and 8" jointer for about 5 years. I will never own another machine with straight knives.

[Steve Kohn]

I recently (6-8 months ago) purchased a GO609 w/straight knives and installed a Byrd head. According to the Grizzly instructions for the Byrd head, you must raise the jointer off the base cabinet. PITA. On the backside of my cabinet, located behind the belt guard, just below the top of the cabinet, there is a 4-5" diameter opening (with a cover). I was able to access the bearing bolts through the opening. If there wouldn't have been an access opening there, I would have made one before raising the jointer off the base. Change out of the cutter heads, including removal/installation of the bearings was less than one hour.

I have had the BYRD cutter heads on my 15" planer and 8" jointer for about 5 years. I will never own another machine with straight knives.

My older machine from 2007 does not have that access hatch. So I've lifted the jointer off the base cabinet and removed the bolts. The head is now out but now have found another issue apparently with the head machining itself. I've been in contact with Byrd and they are working on a fix. I'll write up and report the entire story when I get this machine successfully running again.

[Jim Andrew]

If someone else is looking at this change, it is less expensive to buy the Byrd cutterhead from Grizzly than going directly to Byrd.

[Steve Kohn]

UPDATE.....The new head is installed. But what a saga. Here's what happened. 1st point - On March 5th I placed the order with Holbren. Brian agreed to match the current pricing I was able to get elsewhere. 2nd point - On March 22nd I was told by Holbren that the head failed QC inspection and that they couldn't ship it. I was told it would be 4-6 weeks for Byrd to make another batch. Holbren refunded my credit card at my request. 3rd point - On June 12th I was called by Holbren with the news the head had been dropped shipped by Byrd. I was out of town until the 24th, so I started the install on the June 26th. I also started this thread. 4th point - read above about the difficulties in getting to the bearing blocks and having to lift the jointer off the stand. 5th point - there are two left handed, metric bolts that hold the bearings on the head. Byrd does not ship bolts with the heads, you are supposed to use the bolts off the old head. Well somewhere in the manufacturing process at Byrd the wrong die apparently got used and a different thread pitch was tapped into one side of the head. I called Byrd directly and within a couple of hours was talking to Tom who I believe is in production management. I had measured the threads on the head and was able to specify what I needed. This was on Friday afternoon and by Monday Byrd had machined the bolt and overnight aired shipped it to me. Point 6 - My son and family came into town the same day the bolt arrived. Other than confirming that it fit I didn't have any opportunity to reassemble the jointer. Today I had that opportunity, everything fits and the machine is up and running better than new.

[joe maday]

How do you like the surface finish that is left by the byrd head? Good/better than the Grizzly?

[Jim Andrew]

Wow, your experience was much more difficult than mine.

[Brian Gumpper]

Glad you got it working Steve, it was a journey for sure. BTW, Tom is he owner, Tom Byrd.

[Steve Kohn]

I can't compare between the Grizzly head and the Byrd head. I've never used the Grizzly segmented head, but I can tell you that the finish is super using the Byrd head. A little more detail on the Byrd machining issue. After I explained the problem with the old bolt not fitting since the old bolts were a 1.5mm pitch whilst the new head was tapped with a 1 mm pitch. Tom told me that they had just made a run of 30 heads. He checked on what he had in stock and they were all correctly tapped at the 1.5 mm. He actually wanted the head back to try and determine what went wrong. However, I already had the bearings on and was reluctant to take everything apart again. So Tom took my word that the pitch was incorrect and got me the custom machined bolt I needed to finish the installation.