Author Topic: Is a Spiral Planer head worth the $ (Read 2390 times)

kczbest · « **on:** February 23, 2011, 11:29:22 pm »

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a woodmaster 718. I would like to know what your experiences are with the Spiral Planer head, and if it's worth the $. I will be planing approx 40% Eastern Red Cedar, 35% Cypress, 15% Hickory, and the rest will be a mix of Pine and other Hardwoods.

DR_Buck · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2011, 11:48:04 pm »

Most Definitely !

Norm · « **Reply #2 on:** February 24, 2011, 07:04:50 am »

Worth every penny.

WDH · « **Reply #3 on:** February 24, 2011, 07:53:01 am »

Best money that I ever spent.

Wrangler55 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 24, 2011, 07:56:27 am »

I wish I could afford one right now! In addition to the spiral cutterhead, I'd like to have the pro package. I could use every part of it. The drum sander is especially attractive to me. I just wonder how long it takes to setup each configuration?

Hal

metalspinner · « **Reply #5 on:** February 24, 2011, 11:22:46 am »

Woodwalker · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2011, 11:58:40 am »

sawwood · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2011, 02:39:08 pm »

I have the 18 and i installed the spiral head cutter and wish i had do so when i bought the planer. It is so much quiter and
helps with wild grain lumber. Also it has the 4 sides and you don't have to fumble around with the gauge trying to set the
blads. As for changing over to drum sander it takes me about 30min. For the moulder unit it takes a little longer as you
need to set the deph and inline with the guide rails. I have some photos in my album of the spiral head cutter. One outher
thing you might conder is the in and out feed tables, they are worth the cost also.

Sawwood

oakiemac · « **Reply #8 on:** February 24, 2011, 11:00:51 pm »

Yes worth the money.

kczbest · « **Reply #9 on:** February 24, 2011, 11:19:18 pm »

Thanks! I believe you twisted my arm enough to get one.

jim king · « **Reply #10 on:** February 25, 2011, 06:19:26 am »

Dan_Shade · « **Reply #11 on:** February 25, 2011, 07:59:04 am »

I have one on my grizzly planer, I'm glad I spent the extra $$$ for it.

Cedarman · « **Reply #12 on:** February 25, 2011, 01:25:12 pm »

Yes, yes, and yes yes yes yes yes. Best money ever spent.

Fether Hardwoods · « **Reply #13 on:** February 26, 2011, 09:09:00 pm »

Worth every penny!!!

crowder888 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 01, 2011, 10:20:32 pm »

Get it!

Den Socling · « **Reply #15 on:** March 02, 2011, 10:11:41 am »

These guys seem to be pretty iffy on their recommendation.

rph816 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 02, 2011, 02:17:53 pm »

I have a 718 and 712 and I would say on the changeover it only takes me about 15 minutes to go from planing to sanding. A little longer on gang rip and molding. I've used the heck out of mine. I'm saving up now for a spiral head. I wish it didn't cost more than half what I paid for my whole machine.

Any word on insert life? I have planed about 3000 bd ft of various hardwoods this year and plan to do more in the future (rough off the sawmill). I have 3 sets of knives and went through about 2 sharpenings each with some in-head honing in between. Maybe 500 Bd feet per sharpening (each Bd/ft usually requires at least two passes usually 3 or 4).

Ryan

WDH · « **Reply #17 on:** March 02, 2011, 07:38:46 pm »

I have run well over a thousand bf through mine, and I have not turned the inserts yet. I planed about 100 bf of red oak today and it was wonderful. However, everything that I run through the planer gets treated vigorously with a wire brush on both sides and edges. That really helps extend cutter life.

Ed · « **Reply #18 on:** March 02, 2011, 10:49:02 pm »

I've had my Powermatic 15HH for just over a year now. Couldn't be more pleased with the Byrd cutterhead.
Hickory, Locust, Cherry, doesn't matter....the inserts just eat it up, spit it out, ask for more!

Ed

metalspinner · « **Reply #19 on:** March 03, 2011, 06:56:43 am »

I put my spiral head planer into action in April of 2008 and have run thousands of feet through it. It's getting to be time to turn the inserts.

The board surface is still very nice out of the planer, but the sound is louder because of the dull knives. Also, the board doesn't feed as smoothly. So it's time to open the hood and take care of some maintenance. Not too bad for three years.

WDH · « **Reply #20 on:** March 03, 2011, 07:26:27 am »

Three years! No, not bad at all. I would love to hear from those that have turned the inserts to find out what to do and not to do.

Bill Gaiche · « **Reply #21 on:** March 03, 2011, 10:55:23 am »

Large planers I am not familuar with. I have a small delta and have resharpened and bought new blades for it over the years. Planing postoak is pretty tough with blades even when new. I needed to do more postoak but knew that it was going to be slow. I have read on here and other places about spiral cutter heads and decided it may be a good idea. When I checked the prices I found that they were very expencieve for my small projects. I located this web site and bought a spral cutter from them. I was real skeptical at first about the quality and the ability to do a decent job. It was a just remove the old cutter head and install new. Took about 30 min. Ran a piece of postoak thru it and was impressed. Have done quite a bit sence I bought it a couple of months ago. Its quiter and cuts real good. It came with tool steel cutters not carbide, although you can buy them. They are expensive. For me for now the steel ones work good. If you hit a piece of metal all you need to do is turn the dull cutter and keep on. This works for me but may not for you that do a lot of planing. Good luck, bg http://www.accu-head.com/

red oaks lumber · « **Reply #22 on:** March 03, 2011, 01:17:20 pm »

my first bottom infeed head is a spiral its 9'' wide with 100 inserts have turned all 4 sides got 500,000 bf new carbide inserts a $1.27 each. those inserts have been feed paint, whitwash coverd boards , mud ,rocks, hardware you name it it's probable seen it if one breaks change it keep going. the most important thing is blowing the seat for the chip befiore retighting other than that they are very nice heads.

Fil-Dill · « **Reply #23 on:** March 04, 2011, 08:33:46 am »

We usually get 12-15,000 bdtft from the first and 3rd side. We rotate from the first used face 180 deg. Then when it its dull, we usually get a little less bdft since the left and right edge are dull. We are not anywhere near getting 500,000 bdft from a set. More like 50,000. But we do love this head.

Cedarman · « **Reply #24 on:** March 31, 2011, 09:05:18 am »

Ours is a 26" head. Probably run 100,000 before changing knives. I take all knives out first. Sometimes you have to use a wrench with the torx head and hit it with a hammer while putting torgue on to get it loose without stripping the torx wrench. I then clean all sockets. I take each cutter and scrape the buildup off to make sure the cutter will seat into the socket perfectly. I turn the cutter 1/4 turn. We use only carbide. Most have a little dot in the corner to help get them all the same. Then retighten with a battery drill that you can set the torque on. I run some lumber to make sure all cutters have seated properly. Sometimes during the first few thousand feet a cutter may loosen up. You can easily tell by looking at the board. Absolutely the best money spent on a tool.

Kansas · « **Reply #25 on:** March 31, 2011, 09:37:14 am »

Planing hickory is near impossible without a spiral head without a lot of digout. Our Delta has a spiral Newman head. Sharpener sits right over the spinning head when its time. Scary process, but we have to do it every couple of years.

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Author Topic: Is a Spiral Planer head worth the $ (Read 2390 times)