Jeff Monson
10-19-2008, 10:36 PM
Well I received my shelix head for my dewalt planer on friday and finally installed it tonight.
Installation took about an hour, would have been about 30 minutes but my bearings came out VERY hard. They suggest tapping out the old head and bearings but mine took more than tapping. Other than that installation is a piece of cake. I'd also recemmond getting new bearings, the old bearings came off the shaft fairly easy but for the 18$ I'd change them out, they are just a standard 6202 and a 6204 bearing if you get in a pinch.
I also took my blower fan out of the cage also, I hate the built in dc system as it blows my hose off at times and makes a HUGE mess, so with a 1800cfm dust collector I opted to remove the fan, this is also very easy, just 2 allen screws and 2 flip wires and the cage is apart. I see no reason why this would affect the drive motor, but you're on your own if you opt to do the same. I think the drive motor will be cooled with the suction of the dc as well as it was cooled with the blower wheel.
Now on to the good stuff, I fired up the machine and it has a COMPLETELY different tone, it does have a slight vibration, nothing to worry about but I'm assuming its from the different head. Its twice as quiet as it used to be without the blower fan. I went straight for the heart and ran a piece of 8" hard maple through it 1/32nd cut and it cuts like never before!!!! Its sooooo much quiter when cutting that I swore I it wasn't making a complete cut but it was, I then cranked it down for a 1/16" cut and it hardly made the motor bog, again a super smooth cut.
I sent some cherry and pine through after that, it didn't even change the pitch of the motor!! The pieces were only 4" wide but again a completely different machine. The dust collection was also better, there were always chips laying beside the board on the bed of the planer and now I have little if none.
In a nutshell I couldnt be happier with this upgrade, the machine seems to have much more power, its WAY WAY quiter and cuts very nice.
As far as removing the blower fan, mine wont be going back on anytime soon, but you're on your own with that advice.
Installation took about an hour, would have been about 30 minutes but my bearings came out VERY hard. They suggest tapping out the old head and bearings but mine took more than tapping. Other than that installation is a piece of cake. I'd also recemmond getting new bearings, the old bearings came off the shaft fairly easy but for the 18$ I'd change them out, they are just a standard 6202 and a 6204 bearing if you get in a pinch.
I also took my blower fan out of the cage also, I hate the built in dc system as it blows my hose off at times and makes a HUGE mess, so with a 1800cfm dust collector I opted to remove the fan, this is also very easy, just 2 allen screws and 2 flip wires and the cage is apart. I see no reason why this would affect the drive motor, but you're on your own if you opt to do the same. I think the drive motor will be cooled with the suction of the dc as well as it was cooled with the blower wheel.
Now on to the good stuff, I fired up the machine and it has a COMPLETELY different tone, it does have a slight vibration, nothing to worry about but I'm assuming its from the different head. Its twice as quiet as it used to be without the blower fan. I went straight for the heart and ran a piece of 8" hard maple through it 1/32nd cut and it cuts like never before!!!! Its sooooo much quiter when cutting that I swore I it wasn't making a complete cut but it was, I then cranked it down for a 1/16" cut and it hardly made the motor bog, again a super smooth cut.
I sent some cherry and pine through after that, it didn't even change the pitch of the motor!! The pieces were only 4" wide but again a completely different machine. The dust collection was also better, there were always chips laying beside the board on the bed of the planer and now I have little if none.
In a nutshell I couldnt be happier with this upgrade, the machine seems to have much more power, its WAY WAY quiter and cuts very nice.
As far as removing the blower fan, mine wont be going back on anytime soon, but you're on your own with that advice.