Replies

1. 
   jeff100 | Mar 09, 2007 12:06pm | #1

   Mapleman, I've been considering the same conversion. Did you use the shelix head with the indexable inserts? How difficult was the conversion?

   Jeff

1. 
   mapleman | Mar 09, 2007 06:07pm | #4

   Jeff,

   Yes, I bought the Byrd Shelix brand head from Sunhill Machinery. Which I would recommend. Conversion was extremely easy and straightforward.

    Now, don't expect a ton of customer service when you call. I was actually halfway through my order when the guy at sunhill says "can I call you back, I have an important call coming in the other line" I guess maybe I wasn't important? Maybe the guy calling in was going to spend $1000?

   Anyhow, Sunhill sells the head with the bearings pressed on already. For my jointer (Jet JJ6CS) the guy tells me on the phone "now this one also has the end caps."  I'm thinking "OK, what the heck does that mean?" Well, the "end caps" are the housings that the bearings press into that have a threaded hole at the bottom. This is what attaches (bolts) directly to your jointer. Not only did my cutterhead come with the end caps, they were already installed. Depending on your model, you may have to slide your end caps off of your old cutterhead and reuse them.

   So, here is the installation broken down for my jointer. Yours (or others) may be different.

   Remove the cutterhead guard, fence assembly, belt pulley guard, and cutterhead pulley.

   Back both beds down all the way to expose the complete cutterhead.

   Unbolt the old cutterhead from the jointer bed (2 bolts from underneath the jointer, directly under the cutterhead)

   Bolt new cutterhead in. Sunhill also gives you new bolts, washers. I used the old ones, they were in excellent shape. Everything was pefectly aligned, the new bolts went on with my fingers.

   Raise outfeed table to cutterhead height and check to make sure cutterhead is parallel with outfeed table. If it's not, you will need to shim the cutterhead (I had to shim 1 side .006, I just used a piece of feeler guage)

   Replace cutterhead pulley, fence assembly, pulley guard and cutterhead guard.

   Entire process up until setting the cutterhead parallel with outfeed took about 15 minutes. Setting parallel took another 30 or so, but I set it with a dial indicator and got it to within .001 across the head.

   A word of caution, the cutterhead comes with cutters installed. Be very careful not to cut yourself while handling the head.

   Sunhill also included 5 spare cutter inserts.

   Good luck if you decide to give it a try.

   Lee

   Edited 3/9/2007 10:10 am by mapleman

1. 
   Quickstep | Mar 09, 2007 07:09pm | #5

   I bought my Shelix head directly from Byrd and the customer service was extrordinary. I felt like I was the only customer they had. They responded to both emails and telephone calls very promptly and were extremely easy to deal with.

2. 
   jeff100 | Mar 09, 2007 09:27pm | #6

   Thanks Mapleman, you've talked me into it.  I have the Powermatic 6" jointer with the long beds, I assume the conversion is the same or very similar.  I've got to go order the cutter.  Later...and thanks!

   Jeff

1. 
   mapleman | Mar 10, 2007 08:23am | #7

   Jeff,

   Glad to help. Hope it goes as smoothly for you as it did for me.

   Lee

1. 
   jeff100 | Mar 10, 2007 11:59pm | #8

   Mister, you weren't just a storyin when you said these cutter heads were SHARP!!! Intimidating sharp. Some would suggest 'scary' sharp. Ha ha.It's gone pretty easily. I had to disassemble the machine down a little more than I anticipated, but I really enjoy working on machines (except autos anymore). Takes me back to my machinist roots. I'm having to shim about twelve thou. (.012) to get it level with the outfeed table. Funny that I just bought a height gage off of ebay, and it showed up the evening of the same day I picked up the cutter head. I was able to get the cutter conversion kit from Sunhill as they had the 6" in stock. Very glad you inspired me to get off my butt and get this done. I expect except for unanticipated hazards like hidden nails, I'll never have to buy another cutter, or sharpen anything for my jointer, plus hopefully my tearout problems on wild grain will dissapear....

   Edited 3/11/2007 1:06 am by jeff100

   
2. 
   mapleman | Mar 11, 2007 08:48am | #9

   Jeff,

   Glad to hear it went well. I'll be glad to have one less set of knives to send off to the sharpening service. When I get that shelix head planer, it's bye bye to the knife grinding jerks.

   Lee   

3. 
   jeff100 | Mar 11, 2007 09:20am | #10

   It really was almost too easy.  The only problem I had was the key wouldn't fit on the shaft with the pulley assembled.  I finally traced it to the groove on the new cutter shaft was .015 shallower than the groove on the original shaft.  The new key and the original key were identical in thickness, so I had to grind .015 off the key to get it to fit properly.  Between that, and shimming for alignment, it took a little longer, otherwise, as you reported, it would have been a 30 minute job.

   One thing that is interesting that I didn't anticipate with the conversion to the insert cutter, is how much easier it is to push material across the cutters of the jointer when face jointing.  With the three HSS knife cutter it was a bit of a workout keeping the material flat against the outfeed table and feeding across the knives on a full width face joint.  With the new carbide insert helix cutter, it is MUCH easier to feed material across the carbide insert cutters.  An added bonus I guess.  The reality is, the easier it is to work the material, the easier it is to achieve the correct outcome.  Another justification for spending the money.

   Jeff

4. 
   Quickstep | Mar 11, 2007 03:42pm | #13

   On mine, I also noticed that the shear cut angle helps keep the board against the fence when edge jointing.

5. 
   mapleman | Mar 11, 2007 05:05pm | #14

   Jeff,

   I too am curious as Phillip is about the height guage. Could we get a better photo, or description?

   Thanks,

   Lee

6. 
   philip | Mar 11, 2007 09:57am | #11

   Jeff, as a matter of interest: what part of the assembly did you register that dial test indicator on, in fact did you actually use that instead of a dial gauge-if so why?Philip Marcou

7. 
   jeff100 | Mar 12, 2007 02:11am | #15

   Not sure I understand the questions. Is the question of registration a question of where did I zero out the indicator? If that is the question, it is the out feed table that the height gage was sitting on. Actually I used a height gage, then changed over to my mag base indicator holder, which is what I was using when the photo was taken. The type of indicator used was probably a little more difficult to use than a plunge type dial indicator with a disc on the end. The indicator I was using made it a little more complicated to determine exactly where Top Dead Center was for the insert as it was rotated, but with a little patience, not a big problem. I was checking the cutting edge of the insert as it came over Top Dead Center and checking that against the plane that the surface of the outfeed table was on, keeping the indicator base in line with the insert I was checking e.g. I'd move the indicator base across the outfeed table to be the same distance from the table edge that the insert was, if that makes sense. As to why this type of indicator? Just because it's what I grabbed. I don't have a disc end for my plunge indicator, but mostly it's just the indicator that I happened to grab at that time.Here's a few more pictures, hopefully this helps.

   
2. 
   terrylee86 | Mar 09, 2007 05:21pm | #2

   Lee,

   I told you it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  What is even more amazing you may not be changing faces for years and when you do you just unscrew it and rotate 90 degrees and you are ready to go.  The service guy gave me a tip if you ever hit a nail.  Move the cutters from the edge and rotate to a new face out on the ends.  That way all the cutters are worn evenly except the very edge.

   Terry 

1. 
   mapleman | Mar 09, 2007 05:48pm | #3

   Terry,

   Great tip. I will save that gem for future reference.

   Thanks,

   Lee

3. 
   dvanharn | Mar 11, 2007 01:02pm | #12

   The tool store I recently worked for in Santa Rosa, CA recently sold a straight-knife 15" Powermatic planer to a local independent furniture maker, and he was having tearout problems with the gnarly figured and reversing grain woods he often uses. He bought the Byrd Shelix head for it, and was ecstatic about the results - no more tearout, and he said he didn't even need to look at grain direction any more before feeding boards into the planer.

   I am an amatuer box-maker, and work with a lot of exotic figured hardwoods as well as local woods. I have a DeWalt benchtop planer, and could not use it with a lot of my wood because of tearout. I ended up using my little 10" Performax drum sander for a lot of work that should be done with jointers and planers - a very time and sandpaper-consuming task. De-warping and thicknessing dense oily boards with a low-powered drum sanders is very tedious and inefficient, and it takes a lot of the fun out of woodworking!

   I recently purchased a Jet 6" jointer and installed the Byrd Shelix cutterhead two weeks ago. It came without bearings and blocks, but the blocks were easy to remove. The bearings are very difficult to remove, since even with a puller, you cannot get to the inner race to remove them, so by pulling the outer race against the balls to force the inner race off the cutterhead shaft is a destructive process. I left the bearings on the stock head, and spent $15 for a pair of sealed (not shielded) bearings from a local bearing & hydraulic shop. (The bearings are different sizes, and the sizes are clearly embossed on the rubber side seals.) I had to file a couple of burrs off the key to get it back in, but otherwise the conversion was quite easy except for some moderately hard to reach nuts and bolts. Aligning and tensioning the drive belt is also a bit tricky, but vibration seems to be less if the two belt pulleys are aligned.

   Initial results are excellent. Edges on oily, crazy grain cocobolo ended up with an almost glass-like finish. Quilted maple, reversing grain purpleheart, makore, blue mahoe, yellowheart, readheart, bubinga, pacific yew and quilted maple are very, very smooth. Zebrawood, notoriously fuzz and tearout prone, was only slightly fuzzy with no tearout. Plus, Shelix head planers and jointers are extremely quiet - less noise than my dust collector. $800 (with tax and shipping) is a lot money for a little 6" jointer, but it will save me a lot in the long run considering the warped gnarly wood I use.

   I am getting some visible lines when face-jointing, but could not feel ridges. Tomorrow I will try light hand scraping to remove the lines, and see if I can go from jointer to finishing without sanding. So far, I am very pleased with my decision. No more tedious adjustment of knife height is another plus. I'll try to be more critical and careful in my observations tomorrow as the initial excitement dies down a bit. Obviously, factors such as the type of work you do, whether you're a professional woodworker or a hobbyist, and the type of woods you use, should affect your decision.

   Dave van Harn

   p.s. Powermatic now sells versions their 15" and 20" planers with the Byrd shelix head factory installed.