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 ?
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.
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.
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)...
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.
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.
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.
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