Byrd shelix on Yorkcraft YC-15P

[David Kauffman]

Like Frank Snyder a few days ago, I decided to go the Shelix route. Rather than buy the Grizzley 15" which already has a spiral cutterhead installed, I decided to save a few bucks and do it myself. Wilke still has the 15 inch on sale for $699, and that along with $714 for the Byrd head (Wilke also sells the heads) got me a 15 inch 4 post planer with Shelix for $1415 plus tax. Ther Grizz 1021X is $1695, $280 more, and it's not a true Shelix cutterhead that shears on an angle. Picked up the goods Tues, and today I tackled installing that head. Frank is right, if you are halfway handy with tools you can do this on a Saturday afternoon. It was fairly painless. I also followed the step by step guide on the Byrd website, and things went as planned. You would be hard pressed (no pun intended) to do this without an 8 inch gear puller though. Also, I agree with Frank... untension the belts before taking them off regardless of what they say. The head comes in a wooden box, with nothing around the cutterhead. It is heavy and razor sharp. Mine was only the 15 inch, Franks was 20 and even heavier. First thing I did was wrap the cutterhead with SEVERAL layers of tape so I could handle it without getting cut. Still managed to nick my hands enough to draw blood in a few places. Got it all back together and ran my first piece of wood through it, a piece of spalted holly laying in my shop. First thing you will notice is how quiet it is. As other have said, its about as noisy as a table saw. Even when planing, it's much quieter. After reading Franks post, I ran it slow speed, 16ft per minute, and the holly came out the other end smooth as silk. No light lines or scallops I have been hearing from some spiral cutterhead folks.

So... another happy Byrd Shelix customer.

[david eisaman]

hi
the only way to go

[Tom Ruflin]

David,

Congrats on the new planer with the Byrd cutterhead. I just order one and it should be here hopefully by the end of the week. I read Frank's post and decided to have Wilke install the Byrd before they ship it. I don't have a gear puller and am short on time, I would rather spend the $75 and plane wood right away. Installing it yourself is a great way to learn about your machine though. I've got some tiger maple that I'm dying to plane with the new planer.

[David Kauffman]

...Installing it yourself is a great way to learn about your machine though...
Good point Tom... now that I've torn the thing down and put it back together, I feel confident enough to be able to fix/adjust/replace anything on one of these 4 post planers if I ever had to in the future. Good feeling, kinda like when I used to rebuild my VW engines from scratch, and pretty much anything else on that old bug. Difficult to do that on todays engines.

[Frank Snyder]

Congratulations, David, on your successful install. I'm glad that my post was of some help to you. Did you have any trouble with your gearbox gasket to seal properly?

I will admit that I wasn't entirely crazy about pulling my planer apart, but in the end, I have a better understanding of my machine and how it's built. Handling that cutterhead is no fun and I wish they had added some kind of protective wrapping for us. In hindsight, I could've used a 3" mailing tube or something along those lines, but it still would've been nice if it came with one. In the end, the benefits of the Shelix far outweigh the cost and trouble of installing it. The finish is just beautiful, especially in figured woods. Enjoy!

[Russ Massery]

Thanks, David I own the same planer and plan on buying one of those heads this year. Good to hear it works great and the install when well.

[David Kauffman]

Congratulations, David, on your successful install. I'm glad that my post was of some help to you. Did you have any trouble with your gearbox gasket to seal properly?
No Frank... I didn't. Guess I got lucky. I was prepared for trouble after reading your post, in fact it was the step I was worried about the most, especially after pulling the thing apart and seeing what was inside. But I just took it slow and didn't force anything, wiggle here and tap there... and it fit right together, with all the bolts seating first time. I was surprised at how easy it went together.

Again I agree, there should be something wrapped around that head. Because it is so heavy coupled with it having 100 or so razor sharp edges, each with razor sharp little corners, you really can't handle it safely without leather gloves, which would get in the way of doing the install. Your cardboard tube would work if it were almost an exact fit, but there isn't a lot of clearance around it once it is in place, and then I figure that would be a pain to try and cut off when it was done. I wrapped mine with a layer of plastic tape (leaves no goo on the cutters) followed with a couple layers of duct tape (which I thought might). I took the time to wrap the tape in one long spiral so when the head was in place (but before I put the belts on) the tape easily "spun" off in one long piece.

Russ feel free when and if you do decide to do this, to contact me if you have any other questions. Apparently Wilke will do it for you for $75. Within reason though, I just hate paying somebody to do something I can do if I just take the time. I definitely understand however, that a long afternoon is worth more than $75 to many folks.

[Chris Fetting]

Did you replace the bearings when you upgraded? I want to do the same upgrade and want to order the bearings before I take my planer apart. Any idea what size I need?

[Steve knight]

I have a 6" shopfox and it was dirt easy just take two nuts off that hold the head on and the pully.
I bought new bearings but I used a wooden block to install them. I had to grind a bit off the ends of the tables as they touched thehead but it was not a big deal.