15" Jet planer w/Shelix

[Jack Lilley]

I thought I might share a recent experience with my Shelix planer head. I originally purchased and installed the Shelix head about 4 years ago in a 15" Jet and was happy with the performance, smooth finish and quiet. I rotated the cutters a few months ago, taking them off, blowing the dust away and reinstalling with the nut driver supplied with the head. A couple of months ago I all of a sudden was getting a groove on the planed surface, sort of like a knick in a cutter but this was the opposite of that. I thought a cutter had come loose or maybe a bent screw but after identifying the cutter and trying a different screw still seemed to get the groove so I removed it and continued without issue until this week. I was planning a good bunch of Hickory and started getting several grooves on the surface. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I called Shelix, told them what was going on. After that conversation I removed all the cutters, made sure the head was completely clean and free of burrs where the cutter sets. When reinstalling the cutters I lightly rubbed the bottom on sandpaper to make sure they were clean then reinstalled. While snugging the screw I kept wiggling the cutter until it seated in place on it's own and then torqued to 45 inch pounds. The thing worked like new when back together and after running several bdft of Hickory it was still smooth, as it should be. Maybe this will help save some frustration for someone.

[Michael Schuch]

I have shyed away from upgrading to a Shelix head because of some of the complaints simular to what you described. It is nice to know that you have worked through and fixed the problem. I would appreciate it if you post if you have any future problems. Not that I am expecting any, I just put a good amount of trust in the feedback I hear on this board.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks, I appreciate you posting this, I'll keep this in mind when I'm next rotating cutters.

[Holmes Anderson]

How long does it take to remove, clean, sand, rotate, and re-seat all the inserts on a 15" cutterhead?

[Jeff Roltgen]

Holmes: you should be prepared for an afternoon at a comfortable pace. I've always sped the process up by using a drill driver to hasten the removal. (of course, not on reinstallation!)
Though I've cleaned a lot of pine pitch out of my 15" grizzly spiral equipped planer head during this process, I've never experienced any issues as described by Jack, so I cannot account for the additional time rubbing down the backs of the carbide inserts. I've done the entire machine rotation 3 times now, so next I'm due for full replacement.
BTW: Oella saw and tool smoked Grizzly's pricing for a full set of inserts.

I did retrofit my 10" grizzly jointer with a Byrd at least a decade ago. Have never had the described issues with it, and it's been a fantastic upgrade, so I'd pull back on the assertion that Byrd heads, in general are problematic, and just say you need to be a little more careful at maintenance time, as Jack is helpfully trying to point out here.

[Michael Schuch]

Holmes: you should be prepared for an afternoon at a comfortable pace. I've always sped the process up by using a drill driver to hasten the removal. (of course, not on reinstallation!)
Though I've cleaned a lot of pine pitch out of my 15" grizzly spiral equipped planer head during this process, I've never experienced any issues as described by Jack, so I cannot account for the additional time rubbing down the backs of the carbide inserts. I've done the entire machine rotation 3 times now, so next I'm due for full replacement.
BTW: Oella saw and tool smoked Grizzly's pricing for a full set of inserts.

I did retrofit my 10" grizzly jointer with a Byrd at least a decade ago. Have never had the described issues with it, and it's been a fantastic upgrade, so I'd pull back on the assertion that Byrd heads, in general are problematic, and just say you need to be a little more careful at maintenance time, as Jack is helpfully trying to point out here.

Very good info too, thank you!