Although there may be those that don't consider a Jet JWP-16os to be
worthy of upgrading to a helical cutter-head, I really wanted a moving-
head planer so I could setup fixed infeed and outfeed tables to better
handle long boards by myself. It works very well for me.

That said, I've wished it had a helical head since I got it, and just
when it's due for a knifing; SWMBO says I can have a Byrd Shelix my
birthday present. Woo Hoo !!!

Byrd will mount a new bearing on the pulley-end and supply a new
bearing for the transmission-end. I've never torn one apart before
and replacing the cutter head is not covered in the owners manual.

Will I need anything special, like maybe having to press the bearing
on, for the transmission-end ?

Thanks in advance for any shared experiences.

"PyroHog" wrote in message
...
Although there may be those that don't consider a Jet JWP-16os to be
worthy of upgrading to a helical cutter-head, I really wanted a moving-
head planer so I could setup fixed infeed and outfeed tables to better
handle long boards by myself. It works very well for me.

That said, I've wished it had a helical head since I got it, and just
when it's due for a knifing; SWMBO says I can have a Byrd Shelix my
birthday present. Woo Hoo !!!

Byrd will mount a new bearing on the pulley-end and supply a new
bearing for the transmission-end. I've never torn one apart before
and replacing the cutter head is not covered in the owners manual.

Will I need anything special, like maybe having to press the bearing
on, for the transmission-end ?

Thanks in advance for any shared experiences.


Something to consider... I recall reading something about this in the past.
These type cutters tend to require more hp because of the relative constant
contact with the wood as opposed to the straight knife cutters. Your
mileage may vary.

Leon wrote:
"PyroHog" wrote in message
...
Although there may be those that don't consider a Jet JWP-16os to be
worthy of upgrading to a helical cutter-head, I really wanted a moving-
head planer so I could setup fixed infeed and outfeed tables to better
handle long boards by myself. It works very well for me.

That said, I've wished it had a helical head since I got it, and just
when it's due for a knifing; SWMBO says I can have a Byrd Shelix my
birthday present. Woo Hoo !!!

Byrd will mount a new bearing on the pulley-end and supply a new
bearing for the transmission-end. I've never torn one apart before
and replacing the cutter head is not covered in the owners manual.

Will I need anything special, like maybe having to press the bearing
on, for the transmission-end ?

Thanks in advance for any shared experiences.


Something to consider... I recall reading something about this in the past.
These type cutters tend to require more hp because of the relative constant
contact with the wood as opposed to the straight knife cutters. Your
mileage may vary.

I've been seriously considering buying a Griz with a spiral cutter head.
I would think only a fraction of the surface would be cutting since
the head is made up of lots of small cutters in a circular spiral, so it
would seem LESS hp would be required than from a 15" knife contacting
all at once?

Anyway, the main reasons I want one is it handles wild grain better, but
also makes a lot less noise. I don't care much about the noise part but
I figure the reason it makes less noise is because it cuts more
efficiently, ie, needs less HP due to just one small cutter in contact
at a time.

--
Jack
ObamaCa If its not good enough for Congress, it's not good enough for
my Family!
http://jbstein.com

On Jun 25, 8:05*am, Jack Stein wrote:
Leon wrote:
"PyroHog" wrote in message
...
Although there may be those that don't consider a Jet JWP-16os to be
worthy of upgrading to a helical cutter-head, I really wanted a moving-
head planer so I could setup fixed infeed and outfeed tables to better
handle long boards by myself. *It works very well for me.

That said, I've wished it had a helical head since I got it, and just
when it's due for a knifing; SWMBO says I can have a Byrd Shelix my
birthday present. *Woo Hoo !!!

Byrd will mount a new bearing on the pulley-end and supply a new
bearing for the transmission-end. *I've never torn one apart before
and replacing the cutter head is not covered in the owners manual.

Will I need anything special, like maybe having to press the bearing
on, for the transmission-end ?

Thanks in advance for any shared experiences.

Something to consider... *I recall reading something about this in the past.
These type cutters tend to require more hp because of the relative constant
contact with the wood as opposed to the straight knife cutters. *Your
mileage may vary.

I've been seriously considering buying a Griz with a spiral cutter head.
* I would think only a fraction of the surface would be cutting since
the head is made up of lots of small cutters in a circular spiral, so it
would seem LESS hp would be required than from a 15" knife contacting
all at once?

I don't think that's a good assumption at all. The same work is being
done.

Anyway, the main reasons I want one is it handles wild grain better, but
also makes a lot less noise. *I don't care much about the noise part but
I figure the reason it makes less noise is because it cuts more
efficiently, ie, needs less HP due to just one small cutter in contact
at a time.

I would expect knives to be a lot more expensive, though.

wrote:
On Jun 25, 8:05 am, Jack Stein wrote:
....

I would think only a fraction of the surface would be cutting since
the head is made up of lots of small cutters in a circular spiral, so it
would seem LESS hp would be required than from a 15" knife contacting
all at once?

I don't think that's a good assumption at all. The same work is being
done.

Integral, yes. Instantaneous, no.

The work in the straight-knife version is accomplished in three peaks
with essentially no work in between. In the spiral head multiple knife
head, there are 72 (otomh, roughly right, anyway) knives in 4 or 5 (that
I don't remember) spiral rows. Consequently, there are instead of three
impacts to do the total same amount of work instead of just three, the
actual peak work at an instant is reduced and averaged over more,
smaller-effort-each, work intervals. On at least the Byrd heads, the
cutter faces are also angled slightly instead of being parallel to the
face so that they tend to have a shearing cut that, similar to skewing a
plane reduces the effort as well as helping to reduce tearout on
difficult wood.

Anyway, the main reasons I want one is it handles wild grain better, but
also makes a lot less noise. I don't care much about the noise part but
I figure the reason it makes less noise is because it cuts more
efficiently, ie, needs less HP due to just one small cutter in contact
at a time.

I would expect knives to be a lot more expensive, though.

I don't know what they're going for now; some years ago I did some
comparison and a complete replacement set were about 3X the cost of a
full set of straight knives. But, since the inserts are 4-sided, the
effective cost would be about 4 sets for the price of 3 or roughly a
third less overall. That doesn't account that a set of solid carbide
straight knives may be resharpened at least if there isn't too deep of
knick, etc., but I think knife cost would work out to be roughly
equivalent in the long run from what I have looked at.

That said, I've not owned one; simply from looking a catalog data in the
past and it hasn't been within the last year or so (altho I wouldn't
think relative costs would have changed much though I expect absolutes
are higher than back then)...

--

wrote:
On Jun 25, 8:05 am, Jack Stein wrote:
Leon wrote:

These type cutters tend to require more hp because of the relative constant
contact with the wood as opposed to the straight knife cutters. Your
mileage may vary.

I've been seriously considering buying a Griz with a spiral cutter head.
I would think only a fraction of the surface would be cutting since
the head is made up of lots of small cutters in a circular spiral, so it
would seem LESS hp would be required than from a 15" knife contacting
all at once?

I don't think that's a good assumption at all. The same work is being
done.

The same work is not being done at the same time. Instead of cutting
15" wide swath each time a knife contacts the wood, only an inch or
whatever width a knife insert is cuts, so the work is spread out in lots
of little chunks instead 3 wide swaths. On the other hand, I reckon the
same amount of wood is cut at each full revolution, so you might be right.

Anyway, the main reasons I want one is it handles wild grain better, but
also makes a lot less noise. I don't care much about the noise part but
I figure the reason it makes less noise is because it cuts more
efficiently, ie, needs less HP due to just one small cutter in contact
at a time.

I would expect knives to be a lot more expensive, though.

Yes, but an old lumber yard I used to go to had a big planer with a
spiral, segmented cutter head and it was one sweat machine. Wild,
opposing grain just doesn't plane well and I think I'd rather spend the
cash on a cutter head and be done with it. I'm more concerned with
maintenance, as in sharpening and installing a bunch of cutters as
opposed to 3 long knives. It could be easier, I have no clue? I can
manage my 3 knife jointer with out too much fuss, that I know.

--
Jack
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government
does not first take from somebody else.
http://jbstein.com

On Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:03:51 -0400, Jack Stein wrote:

wrote:
On Jun 25, 8:05 am, Jack Stein wrote:
Leon wrote:

These type cutters tend to require more hp because of the relative constant
contact with the wood as opposed to the straight knife cutters. Your
mileage may vary.

I've been seriously considering buying a Griz with a spiral cutter head.
I would think only a fraction of the surface would be cutting since
the head is made up of lots of small cutters in a circular spiral, so it
would seem LESS hp would be required than from a 15" knife contacting
all at once?

I don't think that's a good assumption at all. The same work is being
done.

The same work is not being done at the same time. Instead of cutting
15" wide swath each time a knife contacts the wood, only an inch or
whatever width a knife insert is cuts, so the work is spread out in lots
of little chunks instead 3 wide swaths. On the other hand, I reckon the
same amount of wood is cut at each full revolution, so you might be right.

Unless the knives stall when cutting, it's not going to matter. That's what
momentum is for. If you haven't got enough of it, get a bigger flywheel.

Anyway, the main reasons I want one is it handles wild grain better, but
also makes a lot less noise. I don't care much about the noise part but
I figure the reason it makes less noise is because it cuts more
efficiently, ie, needs less HP due to just one small cutter in contact
at a time.

I would expect knives to be a lot more expensive, though.

Yes, but an old lumber yard I used to go to had a big planer with a
spiral, segmented cutter head and it was one sweat machine. Wild,
opposing grain just doesn't plane well and I think I'd rather spend the
cash on a cutter head and be done with it. I'm more concerned with
maintenance, as in sharpening and installing a bunch of cutters as
opposed to 3 long knives. It could be easier, I have no clue? I can
manage my 3 knife jointer with out too much fuss, that I know.

Likely as much as I do. I would go with the spiral cutters if they really did
a better job. I'm not buying the lower power, though.

zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
....

Likely as much as I do. I would go with the spiral cutters if they really did
a better job. I'm not buying the lower power, though.

Fractional, but true...

--

On Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:44:49 -0500, dpb wrote:

wrote:
...

Likely as much as I do. I would go with the spiral cutters if they really did
a better job. I'm not buying the lower power, though.

Fractional, but true...

Explain.

dpb wrote:

The work in the straight-knife version is accomplished in three peaks
with essentially no work in between. In the spiral head multiple knife
head, there are 72 (otomh, roughly right, anyway) knives in 4 or 5 (that
I don't remember) spiral rows. Consequently, there are instead of three
impacts to do the total same amount of work instead of just three, the
actual peak work at an instant is reduced and averaged over more,
smaller-effort-each, work intervals. On at least the Byrd heads, the
cutter faces are also angled slightly instead of being parallel to the
face so that they tend to have a shearing cut that, similar to skewing a
plane reduces the effort as well as helping to reduce tearout on
difficult wood.

Yes, this is what I was thinking as well. Only issue I'd have is if
both machines remove the same amount of wood over the same time interval
(feed rate) then both are doing the same amount of work. The segmented
cutters do a little work all the time, the 3 blade set up does a lot of
work some of the time. Your point on angled cut is good as well. I
don't get how the segmented cutters could require more HP though? The
Griz I was thinking about is only 3HP, so that could be an issue.

--
Jack
Please don't tell Obama what comes after a Trillion!
http://jbstein.com