Replacement blades for Steel City Helical Planer

[Clark Todd]

Hi All: I'm new to the forum, an active carpenter, and am building out a cabinet shop, and need all the help I can get! I recently replaced all the blades for my Steel City helical planer, and now the work is coming out grooved. I purchased a full set of cutters from mywoodcutters.com, and replaced them all, hoping for a clean start for this planer that I purchased years ago from Home Depot and have not used very much. Rockler Tools did not have replacement blades for this unit and suggested I search the web, which I did. I have contacted my woodcutters.com customer support using the original order email and am waiting for a response. Has anyone used this vendor and are they reputable? I suspect the blades are not sitting squarely in their seats because they are a bit different from OEM. The blades were expensive: about $125 shipped, and I wonder if anyone can offer advice on how to make them work in my planer? Also, does anyone know where I might get the correct blades for this unit if I get no response from the vendor? It looks like Steel City folded some time ago.. I need a decent planer going forward- can anyone suggest how I should resolve this issue? Thanks!!

[Bill Dufour]

Did you clean each pocket carefully before installing the new inserts. Are the screws all in good shape.
Bill D

[Clark Todd]

I think the answer is yes on both questions. I didn’t replace any screws but it didn’t seem necessary. I guess I should go back in and double check everything- what would I be looking for?

[Cary Falk]

I had a similar issue with a NIB Byrd head I put in my jointer. I suggest you remove all of the cutters again. Clean all the pockets with mineral spirits and a toothbrush. Put them all back being careful with the placement in the pocket. They need to be put in with a torque wrench. I think the spec is 45in-lbs. If after all of that they are still leaving grooves then they might be the wrong cutters.

[Richard Coers]

If the inserts sit differently than the original, you may have purchased the wrong inserts. They are certainly not universal. You are buying inserts from a company that closed 8 years ago. Do you know who made the head?

[Clark Todd]

I will do that and thanks for the advice, but I swtched the originals before and didn’t have this issue.

[Clark Todd]

No idea who made the head. I assumed it was steel City.

[Curt Harms]

If the inserts sit differently than the original, you may have purchased the wrong inserts. They are certainly not universal. You are buying inserts from a company that closed 8 years ago. Do you know who made the head?

Steel City equipment is currently being sold in Canada. https://normand.ca/ca_en/steel_city?p=3 Whether they're selling the same machines I don't know.

[Brian Gumpper]

We sell some inserts for those Steel City machines that used the Shinmax head. They are two sided, not four. If you can post a picture of the head and original insert I could give you some guidance.

Lines are usually due to seat height. Make sure the seats are clean and I would torque them, probably about 45 inch pounds which is the Byrd spec. Don't want to crack the carbide taking a ratchet to them.

[Richard Coers]

Steel City was just several Delta executives that saw the ending of Delta Machinery and tried their hand at marketing import machines.

[Clark Todd]

We sell some inserts for those Steel City machines that used the Shinmax head. They are two sided, not four. If you can post a picture of the head and original insert I could give you some guidance.

Lines are usually due to seat height. Make sure the seats are clean and I would torque them, probably about 45 inch pounds which is the Byrd spec. Don't want to crack the carbide taking a ratchet to them.

BTW, this is the Steel City 13" 40300H. I just took the machine apart again, removed and cleaned blades and seats extremely well. These are two sided blades and they measure 14.24 to 14.28mm on a digital caliper, both the old ones which I kept, and the new ones measure the same, (one of the old ones measured 14.19mm- I assume wear). I get the same result when running through a test board. Grooved work along the middle of the board. I don't have a torque wrench that does inch pounds but when I rotated the original blades a few years ago this didn't happen. I do notice that some of the new blades don't sit snug to the back of the seat and as you tighten them they rotate ever so slightly instead of being forced home against that square seat- you can see a slight gap on the right. I don't think torque is an issue. I think it must be something about the cutters. I'm hoping mywoodcutters.com will send me a new set or give me a refund. Has anyone had this experience with a helical planer before? Are they really that fussy? If so maybe my next machine will have bar cutters.. Any suggestions for a small planer? What would you do? It seems like I've already thrown way too much time at this machine and should just get another!

[Patrick Varley]

BTW, this is the Steel City 13" 40300H. I just took the machine apart again, removed and cleaned blades and seats extremely well. These are two sided blades and they measure 14.24 to 14.28mm on a digital caliper, both the old ones which I kept, and the new ones measure the same, (one of the old ones measured 14.19mm- I assume wear). I get the same result when running through a test board. Grooved work along the middle of the board. I don't have a torque wrench that does inch pounds but when I rotated the original blades a few years ago this didn't happen. I do notice that some of the new blades don't sit snug to the back of the seat and as you tighten them they rotate ever so slightly instead of being forced home against that square seat- you can see a slight gap on the right. I don't think torque is an issue. I think it must be something about the cutters. I'm hoping mywoodcutters.com will send me a new set or give me a refund. Has anyone had this experience with a helical planer before? Are they really that fussy? If so maybe my next machine will have bar cutters.. Any suggestions for a small planer? What would you do? It seems like I've already thrown way too much time at this machine and should just get another!

I thought the company Cutech used to make the tools which were distributed in the US under the Steel City brand. Then there was another company that distributed those tools in the US under the name CUtech. But then that US outfit went to a new manufacturer and rebranded to Wahuda. Could be off on the exact order of things.

Anyway, it appears the "original" Cutech is still around and may sell replacement parts for the old Steel City planer (https://cutechtools.us/collections/repair-parts-for-40200h-1). If that's the case, they may be able to get you something closer to the OEM insert .

[Richard Coers]

The only variable left seems to be the bolts. Could be the new inserts have a slightly different angled hole. How much to replace all of them?

[Mel Fulks]

I would not use any “blades” for woodworking machines except T-1 , or M-2

[Brian Gumpper]

I'm assuming the new ones are carbide so you can try a couple more things. You can measure the thickness and make sure they are pretty close to each other. You can also trying moving the ones from the middle to the edge and see if the problem follows the inserts.

[Clark Todd]

I’m going to reinstall the old inserts after cleaning them and if the problem goes away I’ll see about returning the new ones.

[Richard Coers]

I’m going to reinstall the old inserts after cleaning them and if the problem goes away I’ll see about returning the new ones.
Returning used inserts? That's gutsy.You want them to eat the whole loss?

[Brian Gumpper]

If the OP puts the originals back in and problems go away they my opinion is the tolerances on the thickness are not very good. So yes, I would send them back.

[Clark Todd]

I'm pretty sure the new inserts are off. I measured the old originals and the new ones with a digital caliper. Thickness and blade to shoulder dimensions seem ok. But the distance from edge of hole to shoulder is consistently larger on the originals by about .05mm. This varies, and it's hard to get the jaws of the caliper in just the right place, so I measured 5 of each and this is a rough average. On several of the new inserts, when you snug them up, they tip clockwise because they're not making good contact with the seat. The originals don't do that. I re-installed all the originals. But despite their seating correctly, I'm still getting grooved lines in the cut. This seems, to me, a big drawback for helicals. Way too fussy and time consuming, as well as expensive. Insert replacement cost- I spent over $100 and it would have been about $50 to replace a couple of knives for a Makita suitcase planer. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[Brian Gumpper]

If the originals are doing the same then it's possible the new inserts are fine as well. As far as price, the new ones are probably carbide and the conventional planers knives are steel. If you use a comparison that the carbide ones will last ten times longer per side you're ahead of the game.

Lines with those types of heads are common and if you can remove them with a few swipes of sandpaper don't worry about them.