Spiral Cutterheads

[alex grams]

I have seen lots of comments on jointer/planer threads regarding spiral cutterheads. (I am primarily looking at Grizzly's GO490 with Shelix cutterhead, but comments on other brands of cutterheads is welcome)

What are some of the major advantages of them? From what i can gather:

-Quieter
-Easier alignment when replacing inserts
-smoother cuts
-the S helix head allows an angled slicing instead of a parallel chipping, increasing blade life
-4 sided inserts allow 4x the use of each piece.

Please confirm these statements and feel free to add more pro's/con's to the list.

[Don Abele]

-Quieter
-Easier alignment when replacing inserts
-smoother cuts
-the S helix head allows an angled slicing instead of a parallel chipping, increasing blade life
-4 sided inserts allow 4x the use of each piece.

That about sums it up!

Be well,

Doc

[Jim King]

I just happen to be changing bearings on my General 20" from Canada. Here is a photo of the head. This thing planes wood like I had never before seen and I work with hard woods no whimpy stuff like oak or hickory.

We plane an average of 10 hours a day and rotate the blades once a month or so when they change sound and you can tell they are getting dull. The woods we plane destroy other blade type planers.

Yes, quiet, smooth finish , no alignment problems and NO down time sharpening blades every half an hour. Tremendous production increase over standard blades.

[Kyle Kraft]

I think I'm starting to stuff the piggy bank for one of those.

[alex grams]

I think this thread will help push me over the edge to get the GO490x with the shelix cutterhead, though it is difficult to spend the extra money when i could use it to help me get other tools.

Another question, for a recreational woodworker who won't be running a lot of stock through the jointer, would there really be an advantage to the spiral if my hours on the machine aren't heavy?

[Rob Russell]

One of the advantages to a shearing cut vs. a straight cut is for tearout-prone stock. You will tend to get less tearout with the shearing cut. Otherwise, some folks have to take really light passes which can heat up and take the edge off of your blades faster.

[glenn bradley]

I think this thread will help push me over the edge to get the GO490x with the shelix cutterhead,

Just for clarity, the G0490X (which I am leaning toward) has Grizzly's spiral insert cutter head which is not a shearing configuration. The inserts are spiral and have all those advantages but are not positioned for a shearing cut like the Shelix.

I am watching the reviews and so far folks who have them seem pleased. Buying a G0490 and the Byrd head separately and installing it yourself is an option but I'm not sure yet that I want to go there.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Rob beat me to it. We got a 20" Grizzly and immediately installed a Shelix head in it. It made life quieter, if nothing else, for all planing. But the main reason for putting it in is that we intend to plane a lot of aromatic (easternred) cedar, and the grain changes around all those knots are killers for tearout.

What a difference over knife cutters! Yes, there's the occasional tearout, but unless everything is sanded to dimension there will be tearout no matter what on some things. But instead of every board or every other board it's about one board in 20 or 30 now.

The shelix cut is not as smooth as a knife cutterhead. But since I sand everything before using it anyhow that's not an issue for me.

[Jeff Duncan]

I have the Bridgewood version on a 20" planer and it works very well. I haven't seen a Shelix in person to compare, but I can't see spending any extra as the cut is very nice already, and as has been said already it still needs finish sanding.
If anyone's interested in seeing one firsthand (lookout, shameless plug coming :)) I have mine for sale in the local,(Boston), Craigslist. Truly a very nice machine, but I needed more power so moved up into the next class of machine.
JeffD

[Brent Grooms]

I am watching the reviews and so far folks who have them seem pleased. Buying a G0490 and the Byrd head separately and installing it yourself is an option but I'm not sure yet that I want to go there.


When I ordered mine, the 0490x was on back order and I could order the byrd head for ($350 as is the current price). So for an additional $75 I could order the pieces and put it together myself and get it "now" So thats what I did. There is no mystery in replacing the head, just 4 bolts and the pully is all there is to remove. Yes you probably will have to reset the beds but that comes with machine ownership... you get to do the maintainance.

The only thing about the byrd swap is that you will loose a bit of fence travel unless you modify the carriage slightly.

Overall... well worth the cost and when I order a planer to replace my dewalt, I will get another byrd head.

[Dave Verstraete]

I just received the Grizzly G0453Z with the Grizzly Spiral Head. Wow. (You have to realize that I am trading up from a Delta lunchbox planer). The Grizzly is quiet (Quieter than my DC). I planed 50 bf of cherry and no tearouts. Initial impressions are very good. The cut is very smooth. No lines.

[jud dinsmore]

just set up my grizzly 0490x. i've realized most the advantages you quoted except for a smoother cut. this isn't a big deal since i sand everything further. for me, the other advantages outweight this drawback.


good luck,

jud

[Joe Chritz]

I opted for a dual drum sander over a spiral head on the planer for now but the Byrd on the jointer is well worth every penny. Your list sums it up pretty well.

If you are in production the time saved in blade changes alone pays for the head in very short order.

The sound difference on the jointer was very noticeable.

Joe

[Robert Brownell]

I have been looking at the G0490X for $1075, but now I see they are selling the G0490 for $795 and you can add a Byrd Shelix head for $395 (which makes the total $1190)... Why would anyone buy the G0490X when for an additional $115 you can get it with the Byrd Shelix cutterhead (and I suspect you still get the 4 knife head as a back up or to sell on eBay)? Is there any other difference between the G0490 and the G0490X besides the heads?