On 1/24/2021 6:43 PM, Bob D wrote:
On Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 3:18:26 PM UTC-6, Bob D wrote:
Shelix heads are on severe back order. Does anyone have experience or comments regarding Shelix vx. Lux Cut III heads? I am shopping to upgrade the head on my Powermatic 54a jointer.

I ordered a Lux Cut III head and received it in about a week. I installed it today. This feels like I went from a crude axe to a surgeon's scalpel. It is much quieter, easier to control and very, very precise. I may expect to use my jointer a lot more now.

The Lux head is sold with new bearings installed. They are not optional. It also comes with tools to change individual cutters and five spare cutters. The quality of the head looks very impressive.

I used a gear puller acquired through the free loaner program at autozone parts to remove the holding blocks from the old cutter head. It worked perfectly.

Now to see if the pocketbook can spring for a new head like this for my Powermatic PM15 planer.

Thanks for the feedback...

I had looked some time ago for my PM 180 -- iirc it was $12-1300 w/o
bearings and any extra inserts. That was enough to discourage me.

I'm not all that dissatisfied with carbide knives in the jointer that
I'd put the money towards a larger machine instead of replacing head in
this one.

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