Shelix head for Delta 13" planer?

[terrifictimbersllc]

Trying to decide whether I should upgrade my Delta planer with a Shelix head.

Or if there is another brand of helical carbide head I should consider.

This is not one of those current lunchbox planers.  It is a much more substantial/heavier 1990 Delta 13 x 5.9" 4 post planer model 22-660.  

Don't use it a huge amount but don't like changing/sharpening knives to keep it sharp. The Shelix head has 65 inserts and costs about $850 I think this nearly  is what I paid for this planer new.

Wondering if anyone has upgraded this planer and what the experience was.  I think it is also called "DC-33". 

[petefrom bearswamp]

Cant speak to the Byrd, but my 20" Bridgewood has a spiral head which orients the cutter perpendicular to the piece, while I think the shelix is angled slightly
It is quiet and gives a nice smooth finish, but takes more HP to turn in a 1/8 inch or so cut.
As I have posted here before, I upgraded from 5hp to 10 and it still struggles.
It is time consuming to turn and change tho.You may need an impact driver to do this and I have broken a good number of torx bits when turning/changing.
My head has 126 I think.

[Brad_bb]

Just add up the cost of knives/sharpening and determine how long it would take to pay you back for the upgrade.

I installed a $500 Byrd Shelix head in a Dewalt 735 lunch box planer.  By the point at which I installed it, I had purchased/used enough of the original knives that they would have paid for the Byrd head and still had more life in it.  So I'm sure I'll use it enough to get paid back, I just wish I would have installed it on day one.  

The problem now is the planer itself.  The overcurrent/circuit breaker becomes a nuisance over time.  Every time it trips, the planing time between the next trip becomes shorter until you just have to replace the stupid circuit breaker switch.  Hopefully I'll graduate to a real planer/thicknesser in the next couple months that can do continuous duty.

[Jack Lilley]

I just installed a Byrd head in my 15" Jet planer. It only took about 2-1/2 hrs to complete and works good. It's very quiet, much less noise than the 3 knife head. The finish is great and I have planed birdseye maple with NO tearout at all. I run a couple of end grain cutting boards thru after glue up, worked great, light passes, a little chipping at the trailing edge but that was expected. No more sending knives out for sharpening and messing around getting them set just right.

[Brad_bb]

I forgot to say that the Byrd Shelix head in my lunchbox planer quieted the noise down so much you don't need headphones(but you should wear them anyways).  With the original knives it screamed, and now much quieter.

[Hilltop366]

I wonder how it would compare in price and quality to buying a new planer with helical head and selling your current one?

[terrifictimbersllc]

I would not mind at all upgrading.  I have a Delta 37-350 (DJ-20) 8" jointer and this DC-33 13" planer.  
I am space limited and not going to be doing a phase converter because of that.  

I would be very interested in getting the largest jointer & planer or jointer/planer that would reasonably run on 1 phase 220-240 V.  Ideally a 16" combination machine or 12-16" jointer and 20" planer.   And the new machines would have helical heads.  

I like high quality precision machines. Ideas welcome. 

[YellowHammer]

I've got a Powermatic 201 Helical Head,7.5 hp which runs in single phase, 220V.  We have literally run hundreds it not thousands of miles through the planer.  We ran a thousand bdft of walnut through it today.  It leaves a very nice finish, has two speeds and segmented feed rollers with movable bedrollers. It uses Byrd cutters.  

All our surfacing equipment runs on carbides, although we used to have high speed steel.  The carbides are much quieter, and the newest generation of spiral heads, (not Byrd's as far as I know) as in my SCMI jointer, address the absorbed power issue and leave a dead space between cutters, much like HSS cutters, to allow the cutter head to maintain speed.  It's very effective.

As an aside, one of the most important ways to keep planer and jointer cutters razor sharp and last a long time is not to put the end of the board in the gravel, dirt, or even standing on concrete, as if it was leaning against a wall.  Little particles of abrasives get caught on the end edges of the boards and will accelerate tooth wear, significantly.  So we have rolling tables, Harbor Freight hydraulic tables, that we always stack the wood to be processed on.
 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Thanks.  Very inspiring. Powermatic 201H. I put an alert on it at camelcamelcamel.com.   

Sure would be the centerpiece of my shop, if I couldn't walk around it I could probably crawl through it.  :D

[petefrom bearswamp]

A local woodworker told me about the continuous contact with my spiral head vs the straight knife.
You have explained the upgrade to prevent the absorbed power issue to my amazment as i thought the guy was nuts.