I watched because I finally broke down. I ordered a head for my 8 inch Delta. After I get it set up, then I will do the same for my 15 inch Grizzly. Yes I have dealt with chipped blades in my planer because I HATE sharpening and resetting. Such a PITA. Years ago, my brother got his shop set up right after these became popular. He used my shop previously. He told me get the conversion heads. I am cheap and held off until now.
I was thinking that this would be an expensive conversion, but five minutes with Google told me it really isn't. We put up with chipped planer and thicknesser blades longer than we should simply because it is a pain to replace them, so you have me thinking seriously now.
I replaced the 3 knife cutter head in my Dewalt 735 thickness planer with a Byrd Shelix head and it's worked great. Took about an hour to complete the install but the results are worth it.
I run tons of wood through my shop, and I get a lot of dust port clogging which can cause a lot of downtime to clear. That in addition to the other time saving benefits make helical cutterheads a no-brainer for commercial shops or serious hobbyists. I finally purchased one for my 8" jointer and 15" planer after waiting many years. Just couldn't afford it until now 😐
I work in a college as a joinery tutor in the uk and we use a wadkin super 500 surface planer and a wadkin bts500 thicknesser both come with tools that you place the new knifes into and its supplied with a tool you secure to the cutting block and it sets the knifes to the correct setting with out adjusting a simple 10mm Allen key is all that's needed wish we would get these tho but both sets of knives can be done in about 40 mins
Great advance, but try installing one in a Robland X31 Combinaion machine, it’s almost a complete machine rebuild to get the old head out & new head in. It’s actually quicker / easier to just keep sharpening & replacing the straight knives. On stand alone machines it’s easy, not so much combination machines!
i did the same, years ago. the difference between these and straight knives, is not even in close. i think the noise level during the cut, seems less as well.
I watched because I finally broke down. I ordered a head for my 8 inch Delta. After I get it set up, then I will do the same for my 15 inch Grizzly. Yes I have dealt with chipped blades in my planer because I HATE sharpening and resetting. Such a PITA. Years ago, my brother got his shop set up right after these became popular. He used my shop previously. He told me get the conversion heads. I am cheap and held off until now.
I was thinking that this would be an expensive conversion, but five minutes with Google told me it really isn't. We put up with chipped planer and thicknesser blades longer than we should simply because it is a pain to replace them, so you have me thinking seriously now.
I replaced the 3 knife cutter head in my Dewalt 735 thickness planer with a Byrd Shelix head and it's worked great. Took about an hour to complete the install but the results are worth it.
I run tons of wood through my shop, and I get a lot of dust port clogging which can cause a lot of downtime to clear. That in addition to the other time saving benefits make helical cutterheads a no-brainer for commercial shops or serious hobbyists. I finally purchased one for my 8" jointer and 15" planer after waiting many years. Just couldn't afford it until now 😐
I work in a college as a joinery tutor in the uk and we use a wadkin super 500 surface planer and a wadkin bts500 thicknesser both come with tools that you place the new knifes into and its supplied with a tool you secure to the cutting block and it sets the knifes to the correct setting with out adjusting a simple 10mm Allen key is all that's needed wish we would get these tho but both sets of knives can be done in about 40 mins
Great advance, but try installing one in a Robland X31 Combinaion machine, it’s almost a complete machine rebuild to get the old head out & new head in.
It’s actually quicker / easier to just keep sharpening & replacing the straight knives.
On stand alone machines it’s easy, not so much combination machines!
Cool, I wasn't aware Shelix had a competitor (but I hadn't gone looking yet)
rjtumble this is a Shelix, made by Byrd.
@@RobCosmanWoodworking Ah, ok. thanks
Great ideal like it get one
i did the same, years ago. the difference between these and straight knives, is not even in close. i think the noise level during the cut, seems less as well.
Once you go to insert cutters, you'll never go back and wonder why you waited so long.