Anybody using the Grizzly spiral cutterheads?

[Michael Dunn]

Has anyone used these? I have a Bridgewood BW-8J. I'm wondering if any of these would fit.

[Michael Dunn]

Oops!!! I just saw the chart below... What a dope!!!

[glenn bradley]

Doh! No harm, no foul. None of the rest of us EVER do anything like that :D.

[Michael Dunn]

Do you think this would be a good investment for my BW-8J? My knives cut pretty nicely. I've always wondered how these shelix heads cut. Every now and then I get some tear out. Usually face grain.

[Chuck Saunders]

They cut very well and they cut much quieter

[Steve Kohn]

I've got shelix cutter heads in both a 15 inch planer (Shopfox) and my 12 inch jointer (Grizzly). I really like these heads. If you ever get out west of the city you're welcome to stop by and try out some wood.

[Charles McKinley]

Getting visitors to prep your rough stock for you, SWEET.

[Phil Thien]

I'd put a shelix into a planer before a jointer. If there is tear-out at the jointer, you can take it out at the planer (with a shelix). You really just need the jointer to flatten and square your stock.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have those heads on my Grizzly jointer. I like them so well that when the blades on my lunchbox Ridgid planer wears out, it will create a quandary. Replace the blades, replace the heads or buy a planer with those type of heads installed.

[Jim Andrew]

I have the go453px planer, with the grizzly helical head. Thing works terrific. If your planer acts dull, get some spray sawblade cleaner, and use a toothbrush to scrub your cutters, they build up with pitch and act dull, when they just need cleaning. That is the great thing about carbide cutters, they don't dull easily, but they do build up pitch.

[Michael Dunn]

Let's say I were to replace my jointer cutterhead with shelix. Would I have to move my outfeed table and realign the entire tool? Or could I possibly get away with just sliding tho old cutter out and the new one in? Obviously I would check that the two tables are still coplanar either way.

[Earl Rumans]

I have the Baileigh JP-1250 jointer/planer and it has the same spiral head that Grizzly uses. I really like the way it works, it leaves an almost perfect finish, feels like it has already been sanded and is also very quiet. I haven't run into any tear out yet and the cutters seem as sharp and when I made the first cut. I'll keep the tip about cleaning the cutters in mind, thanks. After using this head I wouldn't want to go back to a blade type head.


Earl

[Mark Carlson]

You'd have to adjust your outfeed table to the new height of the shelix. Should be a simple op.


Let's say I were to replace my jointer cutterhead with shelix. Would I have to move my outfeed table and realign the entire tool? Or could I possibly get away with just sliding tho old cutter out and the new one in? Obviously I would check that the two tables are still coplanar either way.

[mreza Salav]

Just be aware that there is a difference between Helical heads and what is simply called Spiral. As far as I know, the spiral heads are not true helical in that the angle of the cut is still the same as a conventional knie; they are simply many smaller knives placed in a spiral form. The Shelix knives are placed at an angle and the blades have a small (sublt) curve.

[glenn bradley]

I have spirals in the jointer and planer. I have a different viewpoint on needing the spiral in one and not the other. It is true that if the jointer tears out with knives that you can deal with it at the spiral planer. I use a lot of material with reversing or irregular grain and some types of tearout at the jointer would leave me with boards that would be too thin for use by the time I got the tearout machined off. One small divot means thinning the whole part. The waste of expensive stock is what drove me to the spirals heads above and beyond the cost savings.

As to is it a "good investment", I haven't done the math to the 'nth degree but, based simply on elapsed time I would have sharpened my way through ten sets of knives by now and I am on the second face of the four face inserts on my jointer. Here's a blurb from a FWW article about the cost savings over time:

"It’s pretty easy to say that a carbide edge will conservatively last 10 times longer than a high-speed steel (HSS) edge. Each insert in a Byrd head has four sharp sides, so the total longevity is about 40 times that of a straight HSS blade. Considering that a typical sharpening service will charge from 60 to 75 cents per inch, a 15-in. blade will cost at least $9 to sharpen. For three knives, that’s $27. Now if you sharpen those blades 40 times, the cost will be $1,080 not including the cost of replacement blades, or the time spent taking the blades to the sharpening service and retrieving them after sharpening. A replacement Byrd 15-in. cutterhead will cost $795, so retrofitting a Byrd head could save several hundred dollars in sharpening costs over the life of the cutters, and a bunch of time."

As to the swap being out with the old and in with the new, as stated, the cutterhead diameter difference will require a bit more effort than that but, IMHO, very worth it.

[Paul McGaha]

I've had a helical head on my planer since it was new. 2009 I think.

Earlier this year I had the head on my 8" jointer replaced with a helical head. It was worth it to me.

I really like helical heads. Quiet, great cut quality, very cost efficient once they're on.

PHM