Replies

1. 
   RickL | Mar 07, 2008 08:54pm | #1

   I'd go with an insert spiral head over the PM's type. Blades are expensive. Inseret knives are carbide and last 8 times onger and have 4 edges. I maintain a Northtech planer for a school and they had the spiral head for 4 years or so and I'm doing the first knife rotation.

   A friend has the PM planer and he had to drop the bedrolls down completely to stop the snipe.

   You don't really need a planer any bigger than your jointer. Having a 12" jointer and planer is the perfect combo. I'd look at the new Grizzly and Jet combo seriously.

1. 
   Eifler | Mar 10, 2008 12:57am | #2

   RickL,

   Thanks for the comments.  I really like the carbide insert cutter head the best.  No blade adjustment, runs a LOT quieter, but it also carries a $2,200 price tag.  It's the initial outlay that hurts the most, after that I think this machine will last me the rest of my life. 

   You mentioned that the machine you maintained at the school went four years before needing to turn the inserts.  Is that correct?  Did the machine see a lot of use? 

   Eifler

    

1. 
   RickL | Mar 10, 2008 03:44am | #3

   I cannot tell how much wood was run through the planer but it's in a school so the students can be rough on tools. Carbide last approx 8 times longer than HSS steel and with four edges, plus the time save on knife changes and sharpening. Do the math. There is no having to read the grain on the board so they pretty much just stuff the wood through. Unfortunately they are not learning how to run wood through a regular planer so they will be in for a surprise when they go to a shop with a standard head. I did see an example of someone who ran a cross section or slice of a log through a helical head. You can't do that with straight knives very easily.You didn't say what your application was. Hobby or going pro? Figured woods, glue laminations would be best with an insert head. Have you priced knives for the PM? PM used to make a quiet head with short staggered knives. Didn't sell well and was discontinued. Pain to deal with. What if it's discontinued. Insert knives are an industry standard so will be available for a long time. Insert knives are made by a handful of specialty carbide companies, not by any woodworking machine manufacturers as some might believe.

   Edited 3/9/2008 8:53 pm ET by RickL

2. 
   terrylee86 | Mar 10, 2008 05:23am | #4

   I have no idea why anyone would entertain the idea of not buying the spiral cutterheads that everyone is offering now. If you want to spend $1,600, get the Grizzly G1021X2 15" I think PM over prices their stuff and it probably is made in the same plant. Rick is right on the money about 4 YEARS, I have a 12" spiral jointer and a 20" spiral planer and I have put a lot of wood through those machines in 4 years and they are still not in need of a cutter rotation. I have put over a 1,000' of hickory and 2,000' of hard maple through those machines and countles amounts of cherry and walnut and still no machine marks. We (son)put a Byrd Shelix in my old Delta DJ-20 and it is one sweet machine now, but Grizzly does not offer to install a Byrd. They sell them but they don't install new. The Shelix is better then the spiral but not that much better for the money. I have Bridgewood machines not Grizzly, but Grizzly is good stuff as well especially if you buy the extreme series.