Powermatic 15s planner

[Crossroads]

I just picked up a 15" planner with a spiral head. The blades are still continuous blades instead of the carbide inserts. I haven't had a chance to check with powermatic to see if I can replace the continuous blades with carbide inserts yet. Anyone here know if I can do that? Thank you!

[doc henderson]

I assume it would take a different head.  about 6 to 800 bucks I think.  

[YellowHammer]

I'm sure you could, but as said, it would require changing heads.

[Crossroads]

I was afraid of that, I had never seen a spiral head that had a continuous blade like this. The mounting bolt spacing appears to be to much for the inserts. It came with 2 extra sets of blades, so I guess I can decide what to do after they're used up. Thank you 

[Larry]

If that is non stock head Byrd can make one.  They have accumulated engineering drawings over the years for about every machine out there.  I helped a friend retrofit an Oliver jointer last year and the lead time on a new head seemed like it was 9 months or so.

[metalspinner]

Larry,
Did that Oliver jointer have a direct drive head right out of the motor?

[Larry]

It did.

About 8 years ago I converted a 12" Northfield direct drive jointer and I think the head for it was about $2,000.  Don't know what the price was for the Oliver head.

[metalspinner]

That's good to know a new head is available for this. 
Was it tough to remove the old one?
I have a line on a 16" Oliver with the direct drive. Wasn't sure it could be replaced. 

[D6c]

Not sure if it's true or not but I've read that a spiral head takes more HP.  I've had the overload trip out a couple of times on the 12' jointer I converted to a Byrd but I was using a power feeder cutting fairly wide boards.  The slowest speed on the feeder is faster than I'd like.

[Larry]

That's good to know a new head is available for this.
Was it tough to remove the old one?
I have a line on a 16" Oliver with the direct drive. Wasn't sure it could be replaced.

Both jointers were difficult.  The Northfield was by far the worst.  A little corrosion in a 50 year old or older machine can make disassembly tough.

I called my friend and he thought the price on the Byrd head for his 12" Oliver was around $1,800.

A picture of my 12" Northfield....somebody really wanted it bad and I sold it.  Poor decision on my part as it was in better condition than the day it was born and was a great machine.

[petefrom bearswamp]

D6C you bet it does!
Upgraded my 20" spiral from 5 to 10 hp and still stalls on a fairly deep cut with wide stuff.

[Crossroads]

Yes they draw more power. There's a Tube video of a guy doing a side by side comparison and the spiral head was drawing quite a bit more amps.  Hopefully my generator will pull it and the dust collector. We might be another 6 months before we get connected to the grid. 

[YellowHammer]

Yes, generally, spirals do absorb more power, certainly Byrd styles do, in my experience.  

However, some such as the SCMI Xylent styles are designed not to.