Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 22 of 22

Thread: Byrd Tearout

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Kane View Post
    Ive wondered this for years, but what levels of tearout is everyone getting off their byrd cutterhead?
    I have a PM882HH and a PM15HH and I never run knots through them, so I haven't seen what you're seeing.

  2. #17
    I dont care about noise I wear hearing protectors. Having a decent sized machine cuts down on noise by itself just from the mass. For straight knives sometimes an extra bevel on the knife (not the back flat) can cut cleaner than fresh razor sharp high speed steel. It cuts more like a wedge, learned this from a moulding company owner and results backed it up. Really important is feed rate, I only have one on the old SCM so I kick it in and out of gear and it never reaches full speed. Until I find time to put a gear motor on like the little Woodmaster has but it will be a bit complicated.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Horicon, WI
    Posts
    16
    I have no complaints with the performance of my Parks 97 with straight knives. It does 'siren' quite loudly with dust collection though. Before I retired, I had the sound engineer at work analyze it and found the primary frequency to be a multiple of a 3 knife head running at speed. Each knife "wolfs" as it cuts the air drawn between the head and chip breaker or pressure bar. At his suggestion, I've tried varying the DC pipe lengths. Even borrowed a friends portable DC to no avail. She's a screamer.

    Has anybody experienced significant noise reduction after installing a helix head in a planer that sirens with straight knives?

  4. #19
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Northern Virginia
    Posts
    1,370
    Blog Entries
    3
    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Benway View Post

    Has anybody experienced significant noise reduction after installing a helix head in a planer that sirens with straight knives?
    Yes, my chip tray was set about .030" from the straight knives. it was painful even with ear protection.

    With the byrd its not that bad even without muffs

  5. I have to agree with several posts that yes, straight knives that are sharp and good quality and set up properly with a dial bore gauge to within .001" will definitely plane or join extremely very smooth. The problem is that they just wont stay that way for long enough. We have a lot of minerals in the wood here, especially black walnut and it is hard on even the best high speed steel.
    Not all spiral cutter heads are created equal. Many machines that have "spiral cutter heads" or "insert type" heads use Byrd brand cutter heads. Jet and some of the newer Powermatic jointers use proprietary Asian made cutter heads. They are spiral, but the cutting edge of the insert is still straight to the wood being cut, so for tear out you don't get the added advantage of having the insert slice into the face of the wood. Carbide inserts have a sharper cutting angle and this alone may help some with tear out. The new Grizzly machines I have seen have a very radical, much more curved spiral on their cutter heads. Wish I had one to compare to the performance of a Byrd.
    As far as the noise, yeah, they are a little quieter, but comparing machines like a DW735 to a 20" Powermatic is probably not too fair...the DW735 has a chip blower that is noisy enough. Take straight knives out of the 20" Powermatic and install a Byrd and the difference is definitely not a reason or factor to spend the money.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Horicon, WI
    Posts
    16
    Quote Originally Posted by Jared Sankovich View Post
    Yes, my chip tray was set about .030" from the straight knives. it was painful even with ear protection.

    With the byrd its not that bad even without muffs
    That's impressive... what planer did you get these results on?

  7. #22
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Northern Virginia
    Posts
    1,370
    Blog Entries
    3
    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Benway View Post
    That's impressive... what planer did you get these results on?
    It was a Grizzly 15". The reduction mostly related to how close the chip deflector was to the arc of the knives. The closer the deflector the louder the "siren"

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •