Best planer (planer/molder) for the money non commercial operation

[Sedgehammer]

Check if grizzly has the option to order a helical head.  Sometimes they offer the upgrade.

No sense in spending shelix money on a grizzly machine for what you're doing.

Just my 2 cents.

Shelix and grizzly are both $748. Can buy a Elephas for $572 thru amazonian

[firefighter ontheside]

I would say helical heads are worth it in any machine.  Shelix are made in USA and grizzly heads are not if that matters.  I believe the shelix heads will be the same diameter as original and the grizzly will be smaller diameter.

[farmfromkansas]

The point of getting a helical head for me is that all I have to do is either clean or turn the cutters, and do not have to remove the blades, sharpen and re-install.  Putting blades in a cutterhead and getting them set correctly and even are not easy when you are young, but when you are old and need reading glasses to read your tape measure, makes helical the only way to go for me.

[Sedgehammer]

The point of getting a helical head for me is that all I have to do is either clean or turn the cutters, and do not have to remove the blades, sharpen and re-install.  Putting blades in a cutterhead and getting them set correctly and even are not easy when you are young, but when you are old and need reading glasses to read your tape measure, makes helical the only way to go for me.

This is my thoughts pretty much summed up

[melezefarmer]

We are in a similar situation as the original poster.

We sell rough cut lumber(Cedar, Hemlock, and Tamarack) but every year we have a few customers that ask for decking boards. I think I could get away with just surfacing the top face and the two top edge round overs. Final boards would be 1" x 5 1/2". Would a 2.5hp belsaw moulder have enough grunt to make it in a single pass? I do not want to invest in a larger machine just now as I'm unsure if demand would justify it.

I don't mind it being a slow process as if it does sell well, I will be able to justify a larger machine.

[Kindlinmaker]

I'm sure this will pick up some comments but I'm not necessarily drinking the cool-aid on helical heads.  Not sure I would be in a huge rush to pay the premium for one.

I have machines with traditional high speed steel cutters, Hammer (Felder) blades and Byrd Shelix cutters.  My favorite is easily the Hammer (Felder) system - fast change, affordable and smooth cuts.  Traditionals are what they are - reliable and get the job done.  Helical heads cut relatively smooth and are quiet but they certainly aren't the end-all; they can be very frustrating when they are problematic.  

As a hobbyist, I didn't use my machines a great deal until I retired.  Had several cutters snap and come flying out of the machine on the first use of a new 20" Powermatic.  Powermatic didn't seem overly interested at the time but they did send me 10 replacement cutters.  I lost a couple more cutters every time I used the machine, including some of the Powermatic replacements, so I decided to try some German made replacements.  They seemed to work and I eventually ended up replacing all 100 cutters @ $5 per on my nickel. I did speak to Byrd (U.S. maker of the cutting head) and they had some interesting excuse which I would not even begin trying to repeat.  They were certainly nice enough and also willing to sell me cutters they were confidant would not break.  Low and behold, German made cutters.  So my planer only ended up costing $500 more and few dozen hours time than what I expected when I placed the order.  All of this and you get to pay a premium up front for the heads as well - such a deal.  

And don't think those cutters just pop in and out.  Oh no, the cutters need to be cleaned before rotating, the seats must be cleaned before mounting, the threads must be cleaned on both the head and screws, and you must follow the proper tightening procedure which includes "drawing" the cutter into place using the taper of the screw and torqueing the screw to exact spec.

I bought a 25" Woodmaster about the same time as my Powermatic.  Ordered a 25" optional helical head for it.  Box has never been opened and it is stored neatly under one of my benches.  Maybe I'll try it some cold winter day when I have plenty of time and patience.  

Just my experience.  A bit different perspective than the normal helical praise.

[btulloh]

Good report. Always helps to hear about various people's experiences. I've never had a cutter break, but maybe my cutters happen to German. It's been at least 10 years since I bought any cutters so could be things have changed in cutter land. 

I find that having both a helical head planer and a conventional head planer to be a good thing. Some tasks seem to go better on one style vs. the other. Good to have options. 

Personally I prefer rotating cutters to aligning knives. Really I'd choose to avoid both jobs if I could. Maybe I need a better approach to setting knives. 

Nice report. It'll be interesting to hear if others have had cutters break for no reason. 

[scsmith42]

I've had cutters break for no reason, especially Chinese ones.

By far, the easiest planer blade management system is the European "Tersa" style head. Fast, easy and no adjusting required. Plus the blades are inexpensive.

When changing carbide cutters in a wide head, you really have to spend some time cleaning the head before the insert will sit right.

It is an all day job for me to clean the heads and turn all of cutters in my 25" Oliver jointer/planer. Fortunately I don't have to do it very often.

As far as Moulder's are concerned, for every piece of crown molding we make in ours, we make 10,000 pieces of tongue and groove. Thus a moulder with side cutter heads is more practical for me than something like a W&H face moulder.

[Sedgehammer]

Everything has a cost . Either in time or money . One of the things I'm looking for is not having the 'wave' on the finished wood with the helical 

[teakwood]

I've had cutters break for no reason, especially Chinese ones.

By far, the easiest planer blade management system is the European "Tersa" style head. Fast, easy and no adjusting required. Plus the blades are inexpensive.

When changing carbide cutters in a wide head, you really have to spend some time cleaning the head before the insert will sit right.

It is an all day job for me to clean the heads and turn all of cutters in my 25" Oliver jointer/planer. Fortunately I don't have to do it very often.

As far as Moulder's are concerned, for every piece of crown molding we make in ours, we make 10,000 pieces of tongue and groove. Thus a moulder with side cutter heads is more practical for me than something like a W&H face moulder.

I changed the cutters on my 20 planer with spiral head and thought i saved some dollars with the chinese replacement knifes, long story short half broke when installing and i ended up using half of them and half of the old cutter. even the good ones keep braking apart days and weeks later, don't buy the chinese crap. bought 100 new Makita cutters for 500$.
and yes although i'm a fan of spiral heads the changing/turning of the cutters takes several hours. but then they last for months if you really use your planer. for a hobbyist they last years. 

[teakwood]

One of the things I'm looking for is not having the 'wave' on the finished wood with the helical

then buy the straight spiral head where the cutters (14x 14x 2mm) are aligned 90 degree to the cut. the helical spiral head does a shear cut (15x 15x 2.5mm, slightly round cutters) 
my planer has a straight spiral and does a perfect finish, the jointer has a shear cut spiral head and does leave some "waves" on the finish board, depending on the speed you feed the board thru 

[maple flats]

Likely not he best, hopefully not the worst, but I got a WEN. It will plane 6" thick and 12.5 wide. I paid about $350.

[Crusarius]

I bought the spiral head WEN. I have been happy with everything except chipping some of the cutters almost immediately. Other than that its been a good machine and leaves an incredible surface finish.