Big thanks to this gang www.patreon.com/wordsnwood I've wanted to do this for years, but the price was prohibitive and the task was daunting. Turns out, it's not that hard to do, and the price on this one is a lot less than competitors!
11:00 A general rule, which applies here, is to never transmit any more than hand applied force through the ball race of your bearing. Here you are pounding on the shaft, which is pushing on the bearing balls to overcome the resistance of the fit in the housing. You need a way to push, squeeze or tap on the outer race alone. Sometimes a large socket wrench will do, otherwise you must get creative or rent a purpose made set of cups.
@@Wordsnwood, a well taken point! If the cutterhead is circlipped into location, it does seem to indicate that the housing is not sized for a press fit. I cannot say why you met with so much resistance that pounding was needed. I can say that in a similar operation years ago with a 13" cutterhead (as with yours, both bearings were already fitted to the cutterhead, and definitely with a press fit on the shaft) that went into a Rockwell commercial planer, both housings were sized to require nothing more than pushing with muscle power. If I were the engineer, and one housing was sized to grip the outer race, then I would definitely not want the other housing to provide the same resistance. This might result in both bearings pressing too tightly the races against the balls, and less lifespan. Although, now that I imagine it, installing into two tight housings by pushing through the inner race of one end only might not make that case, as when the bearings "relax" into their specified tolerance after the push, they would move in the same direction axially. Perhaps the pressure applied by your pounding does not exceed that which microscopically dents or deforms the races and balls. I cannot say. The only dodge that I can offer from afar might be to heat both housings simultaneously with heat guns set on high to expand them temporarily. Pounding with a rubber mallet or similar (such as the dead-blow mallet you used), rather than a steel maul, might apply the motivation in a limited, softer, ramped up manner, and I think would definitely help as a safeguard.
@@leehaelters6182 Actually I was advised elsewhere in the comments that it I'd put the head in the freezer overnight it might have slipped in a lot easier. I'm not taking it out to try that, but I seems like a good tip
@@Wordsnwood, I saw that myself. When I tried that, the chilled piece instantly developed a film of condensation, and I imagined a rust weld developing on the part. Good job the dimensional change was not enough to help me assemble.
Very well made. Thanks for using sharp blades to compare it to a brand-new sharp helix cutter. I've seen other reviewers compare it to old dull blades and it made me roll my eyes when they talked about how much better the cut quality was.
Great video! I did that exact conversion about a year ago, and I LOVE IT !!! I should have done it years earlier. Worth every penny!!! Much smoother cuts, and SO MUCH QUIETER !!! No more continuous changing of those standard straight blades that can be nicked immediately after replacing by one knot! This is a great investment, and eliminates the continuing cost of new blades. I was done in about 45 minutes, and was thrilled to plane that first board. After a year of regular use, it's still like new. FindBuyTool's cutterhead is helical - not spiral, and is LOADED with inserts. Four rows with fourteen 4-sided rows for a total of 56 cutter inserts (224 edges!). Based on my first year, I may never replace a cutter insert again. If you're even pondering this conversion, trust me, DO IT! Sharper, smoother surfaces, about 60% quieter, and much finer chips, easier for your dust vac, and cheaper in the long run!!!
this is the best of all of the videos regarding installation of the findbuytool cutterhead into the dewalt planer! The only drawback is that the lighting is poor in some cases and details aren't visible. Looking at other videos with better lighting helps to fill in the visual gaps even though those videos do not give necessarily good or complete explanations and in some cases give bad advice or just provide video without explanatory commentary. I'll add my comments from my own experience: 1. my cutterhead was soaked in packing oil and i thought that much oil could affect the seating of the cutters and also gum up with sawdust, so i first meticulously removed all of the oil using rags, compressed air and even acetone. 2. also, as i performed the disassembly, i first vacuumed and then used compressed air at each phase to clean out all the accumulated dust and chips, both to clean out the machine and to reduce chances of getting dust on the cutterhead before installing the cutters. 3. removing the existing cutterhead lock was a bitch kitty. I immediately stripped one of the crappy Phillips-head screws [Dewalt should have used Torx EVERYWHERE they used wretched Phillips], but unlike in one video that just cut it off, i used an angled Dremel to cut flats on the side of the stripped screw head and used a Vice-Grip to unscrew it. On the second, unstripped screw, i used a Lisle 3/8" Impact Tool Set to loosen the screw. [I debated about reinstalling the lock, and even though i decided to put it back, was happy to see others here thought it was a good thing to simply toss.] 4. i did pick up one handy tip from another video, namely to use a sacrificial rubber band to hold up the gear-end of the cutter head to align it with the chassis housing while pounding in the other end. 5. and speaking of pounding in the cutterhead, i was VERY trepidatious about doing that, but others were doing it and it seems not to have wrecked the bearings. Still, i wish i had first seen some of the comments here about using freezing and heating to ease the fit and/or pounding the outer bearing race instead of the inner one. 6. apparently the factory nut that holds the cutterhead drive pulley on is 23mm (a socket i don't have), but it's not very tight so a 24mm or 15/16 socket works OK. Interestingly enough, the thicker nut that findbuytool supplies was 24mm on my kit. 7. my own little trick was to use a thin metal strip inserted between the belt and cuttrerhead drive pulley to help slip the belt onto the drive pulley; did the same thing on the motor pulley as well. i had to do this a 3-4 times for each pulley, rotating the pulley and belt each time after i inserted the thin metal strip, and each time pushing the belt a little further onto the pulley. 8. i also sat on a rolling shop stool for performing much of the work because that put me at the right visual and leverage height for much of the work. 9. I also briefly tested the operation of the machine after i had installed the new cutterhead and reassembled all of the drive parts, but before i installed the cutters, first manually depressing the semi-hidden top safety switch. 10. i'll reiterate that it's extremely important to seat the cutters properly on clean seats AND to torque them (with a decent torque wrench) to specification. It also important here to have a long extension for the torque wrench, so the wrench can be turned above the machine. 11. Personally, i find when disassembling something like this with so many parts, that it's important to keep them organized. I used the left and right covers to hold most of the associated parts and used zip lock bags to hold groups of parts, particular things like spacer washers. i actually taped the spacer washer for the drive pulley to the drive pulley itself. 12. as usual, i ended up using A LOT more tools than the basic ones due to "complications". also as usual, it seems like i ended up using practically every too in my shop! oh yeah, all's well that ends well: when everything was back together, test boards planed smooth as budah, and the machine was WAY quieter! Yea!
I was just shopping around for options on my 735. You can get other heads for around the same cost but the number of cutters is much less than what is on this head. Thanks for the link Art
Well done. I installed.a byrd shelix a few years ago. These cutterheads really shine when dealing with difficult grain and having the ability to rotate a cutterhead instead of having to replace a nicked blade. 2-3 sets of blades and this cutterhead nearly pays for itself.
Good for you! i installed my Shellix helical head two years ago, has saved me so much time and trouble. I've run literally hundreds of BF on my first set of cutters. More another day perhaps.
To those tuning in later. 16:00 I would highly suggest that before you install all the cutter heads, you button up the planer and give it a quick run to make sure you have no rattles, noises, etc. You can even feed a scrap board through it to make sure your rollers are all working as intended before you install all the cutter heads and find a problem, and have to redo all that work.
Great presentation. I just got this planer last week and have been looking into these helical cutter heads. This is the best installation demo I have seen so far.
Thanks for putting this vid. together. I appreciate your honest, quasi scientific method (practical, repeatable). I also appreciate the links to the less expensive cutter head. Very helpful.
Video well done, no nonsense and right to the point. I have shelix heads on my planer and it also made a huge difference on the jointer. I was forever moving the jointer fence out to get a new sharp cut. No more trouble with weird grain, especially on a tool where I am holding the wood in my hands or using a push stick. Please lower your table saw blade.
I'm not sure this is a realistic review. We didn't see a snap ring slip off and spring into some inaccessible corner of the shop during the upgrade even once!
new subscriber, here. I just found your channel. your thorough explanations and clear demonstrations are appreciated. I look forward to watching more of your videos.
This was a very interesting video, i don't have a planer nor do much woodworking. I watched it primarily because of how well you presented/edited the information. Well done!
Thanks for posting! I’ve got this very helical head in the shopping cart. I’ll likely wait until my blades get dull before actually ordering. I’d be curious for you to post reviews as you get enough mileage on it. Cheers!
I just completed my Shelix conversion with minor hiccup… or two. The first was putting the Shelix pulley washer was in front of instead of, behind the pulley. On start up, it pulls the pulley into the housing causing immediate pulley lockup and belt meltage. The kind folks at Byrd helped me walk through the process until the problem was located. Oh, if ordering replacement belts the techs recommend getting the Orange OEM belts vs others for better run life before replacing. The second issue was not remembering that the washer for the right sprocket goes behind the sprocket. I had to review a previously downloaded “how to” to find the proper placement. So, after an event free startup, I ran some 100yr heartwood pine through the 735 in both modes without issue. Yes, the sound is just a bit quieter for me but definitely changes under load. Now,onto the replacement of the readout gage with an electronic one from I Gaging. Happy sawdust making to all!
I did that exact upgrade like 2 weeks ago. I have burned up the motor and I was half way there so... yeah. Anyway. Smooth as butter and fantastic finish. I was really pleased with how well it runs. No regrets and far less expensive than a Shelix.
@@Wordsnwood I had burned up the motor BEFORE the upgrade. I decided to upgrade because I had the machine half disassembled anyway. Sorry for the lack of clarity.
I put a helix head in a new Mikita bread box planer A couple of years ago. My old DeWalt planer was pretty much worn out. I guarantee you that if you put some shellac on both sides of one of those boards, you will see much more scalloping with the old conventional head. The amount of sanding I have to do is greatly reduced. But where I saw the best difference was when I replaced my jointer cutterhead. Much less noise and the cutterhead fights much less than the old conventional head When you pass across it. So the user friendliness is much improved with the helical head
Interesting in light of the contribution by @student 1 day ago, He observes a greatly increased power requirement after installing a helical head on his DeWalt planer, and you report the opposite; much less resistance when hand feeding on your helical jointer head. I hope someone knowledgable can explain this!
If I missed you saying this I apologize... another cost savings to consider is labor hours - savings from not having to take the time to change the straight knives. The difference between straight and helical in my shop is massive in both life of the blade and time to change blades. Also, one nick in straight knives generally hits all 3 blades causing you to need to replace them. The same nick in helical would only damage a few of the carbide blades - and these can be rotated very quickly to their next side. I am not sure the exact difference in longevity, but I can make the ambiguous statement that the difference is MASSIVE. Great video. Just the right amount of information needed.
An informative video on an important upgrade. I've considered doing this but would probably upgrade my jointer first since I use it more. I think the real advantage of helical cutters is planing figured wood to eliminate tear out.
My personal opinion, I think you did a very good job explaining process installing the cutterhead. I own one in my own shop and will replace the cutterhead as soon as I have used up the blades that I have,. About one of these planers for the college I work at, I have taught woodworking for the last 25 years. We use this planter for small pieces of wood and use the big 20 inch Powermatic Large pieces or a lot of it to be planned. After one semester, I converted the DeWalt to a Shelix I’m not the knives yet after 2 1/2 semesters. I know the 20 inch Powermatic really think the knives as needed in the last lasted for seven years and we run a lot of wood. Can go wrong with a segmented head. Our 8” joiner has won our 16 inch joiner has one. We run no straight knives or anything anymore and the cost savings has been into the thousands of dollars.
Most excellent video Art!!! One last thing would have been to compare the cost for the standard blades vs the helical blades. The standard blades get two uses out of each blades vs 4 uses out of each helical tooth. I'm guessing the real advantage is when you nick the standard blades, you're done, whereas if you nick the helical teeth, you just rotate the tooth. Not sure how to compare the two. But you gotta admit, the helical set is BADASS! Thanks again!!!
@@Wordsnwood No, the motor will draw what it needs and no more, but the readings are indicating it exceeds the maximum wattage from a normal 15 amp circuit. A 20 amp line would help prevent overheating from too much draw (tripping a breaker) and let it run adequately/safer.
Always watch out if using an extension cord. Small gauge cords or cords which are too long can lead to a voltage drop, which inversely increases the amperage being drawn by the motor and can lead to tripping the on-board CB. When I run mine on a dedicated circuit, it never trips but on the regular garage circuit it can.
Thank you, as an aircraft mechanic, the video was just as much if not more informative than the training we receive in the aviation industry. Would suggest a touch test from someone who is depending on Braille.
Great video. Clear and very easy to comprehend. I have that planer, and use mostly hardwood. I think that helical cutter will be cheaper to use as time goes by. I'll look into buying one. Thanks.
That looks sweet! Ran a house worth of rowdy, cupped, old wide red pine floor boards through this tool with straight knives. I had the best nrr headphones i could find and still lost probably 3 percent of my hearing over a couole of days, should have charged more :) I did find that a thin curf cut along a short board at 40 degrees would reveive the knife and i was able to touch them up quickly with a good enough accuracy for the job and have been doing this ever since for the thickness planing, if the stack is large its worth swapping the blades to a fresh set for the finish pass. Looking forward to trying these cutters when i have a larger job to bill them to. Thanks for the demo
When you hammered the bearing in during installation from the inner race but the source of interference fit is the outer race you are transferring all of that energy through the balls and risk damaging the races. I would recommend putting the cutter head with bearings in the freezer overnight and maybe some heat on the bearing housing on both sides to reduce the installation force.
The pricing is great on the head, and it looks as genue Bird Tool head. However, pls be aware Helical head pushes DW735 to its limits. The machine lacks the Horse Power to fully utilize the head. I upgraded mine six month ago, and was only able to plane 12" white oak boards as 1/32" single pass. Attempting 1/16" single pass consistently triggered the termal protection safety in the DW735. With straight knives I was planning similar 12" white oak as 1/16" single pass. I sold my DW735 with Shelix head, and bought Grizzly 15" planner with 3HP and Shelix head. The new planner able to run 1/8" for these boards as single pass.
This is a very interesting bit of pragmatic reporting. My understanding of the cutting action of helical heads is that by reducing the amount of knife in contact with the stock at any given moment, the power requirement should be reduced! This is supported by the reduced decibel sound energy output, I believe. I do know that inserts attack the wood at a steeper angle, and it is a conventional observation that steel knives can be made sharper than is possible with carbide (not that factory supplied knives necessarily ARE sharpened that finely), but the shearing cut must mitigate some of that situation. You seem to have only HALF the capacity of straight knives! Very perplexing!
@@leestebbins5051 Alas, it wouldn’t hold water if I did. From the many comments I have gone on to read, my understanding seems not grounded in real results.
@@leehaelters6182 From what I've read about these heads on the DeWalt is that with 3 knives the planer motor has a moment to recover before the next blades contacts the wood whereas with a helical head knives are contacting the wood continuously. You would think that with a smaller cut it wouldn't burden the motor much but when testing the amp draw it was confirmed. The motor was drawing more amps with the helical head than it was with straight knives on the same piece of wood. I'm so glad a salesman talked me out of the DeWalt. I kept my old lunchbox planer and saved up for a Grizzzly 15" helical head with 3 hp motor. So quiet and powerful. It goes through 1/8" hardwood without straining a bit.
I can't see how you think the inserts need more power when they are all (a complete row) not '' in the cut" at any given time, unlike trad. straight blades... Also, some wood species, like teak for instance, have silica in their makeup and are therefore super-abrasive on HSS knives... DAMHIKT 🙄 I'm running the Triton planer with HSS and looking to change over to carbide..I haven't found a company supplying a helical head yet tho... BTW, as a (now retired) machinist, I appreciate the VAST cutting performance improvement in carbide vs. HSS when cutting steel... carbides weak point is its brittleness, it can chip easily... but that shouldn't be much of an issue machining wood... 😎👍☘🍻
I guess we'll see! Unfortunately I only have the one planer, so I can't really run side-by-side comparisons now that i've made the change. Thanks for dropping by!
helical heads are always cutting, as there is always a blade in the wood. In contrast, 3-blade heads get these tiny "rests" whenever a blade is not cutting. That is why helical actually put more of a load on the motor, as measured by the kill-a-watt meter.
@@Wordsnwood You wrong. Inserts cut with a 30 face bevel and high rake angle. The 30 bevel acts like a chip breaker but it more a scraping cut . Knives scoop out wood as they cut. Back in the 60 we used to grind a face bevels on knives to change the effective cutting angle. But there a price.
I put in a luxcut3 head with 40 cutters. It was close to the same price. Edit- I took off that shaft lock because the new head doesn’t use it. It stayed in the box with the old head. Also, for anyone that has to take this outside to use, Vevor makes a motorcycle/ATV scissor lift dolly for fairly cheap. You can roll it outside and pump up the jack to raise it to infeed and outfeed support Fantastic video. Biggest problem I had was that damn belt
The belt was a pain. installing 56 screws was also a pain. I've got a Lux-Cut on my jointer and agree that they are also great quality! I was iffy on the shaft-lock but decided to re-install. It's an easy removal if I end up deciding that it's not useful here!
@@Wordsnwood I didn’t want to risk it jiggling loose eventually and interfering during operation. Highly unlikely, but 🤷♂️. You can also measure your carbide inserts and get them from other manufacturers. I bought a slab flattening/ spoil board router bit that takes carbide cutters as well. I found that they are manufactured with different angles on the cutters. Some manufacturers are closer to 35 degrees while others are much lower. I suspect people that have issues are running low angle cutters on something entirely too hard.
thank you for the video. I use the planer all the time and always wanted to try a different style of blades but I agree there were just too expensive. will give it a try . regards.
I bought the larger unit and needed to R&R the knifes . Do yourself a fav , order the smaller unit and no need to R&R the knifes . The setting the blades correctly on the shaft is a PITA . Well worth the $ . I do not regret buying . Cheers
The snap ring pliers are internal and external. The thing that you call blades is also called carbide bites . But you did a very good instructional video
Thank you for this excellent video. I’ve been wondering about how hard it is to switch to a helical cutter. You did a great job filming and explaining the process, which is not as daunting as I thought.
The straight knives produce cuttings that clog my dust collector. L am wondering if the helical head cutter will produce smaller shavings, maybe that would help with the clogging issue?
@@Wordsnwood Thanks! I was looking more for current draw since that trip the breaker. This is a very very helpful video and it seems to be on sale right now.
Maybe wear through your first set of blades first? But also, another commenter referred to this... you're probably voiding your warranty. Not everyone is comfortable doing so.
I've had mine for about 5 years and have never replaced blades... yet... LOL It needed blades about 4 years ago... LOL i have a lot of cost in sand paper... LOL. Also, most of my projects go on the CNC router so i use it to flatten panels before routing. anyway, i think it's time for one of those helical heads especially knowing that your planer has lasted for 18 years!
I have this planer and love it. I am also 1000% sure if i tried to upgrade the cutter inwould screw it up. Inwould GLADLY pay someone to do it for me but cant find anyone to do it ☹️
Great video. I ordered the cutter head about 6 days ago, but have heard nothing. Perhaps I'm too used to Amazon - Next Day and just need to be more patient. Can't wait to install! Did shipping take some time for you?
@@Wordsnwood delivered today. Boy, that was easy. Was very intimidated but using your video, it was so easy. Anyone on the fence just buy it. If I can do it, you can too. Thanks again.
I just bought the Shelix (Byrd tool) unit for $500 (oem) vs the smaller one for $450. So it seems to be about $100 more. It has 40 cutters instead of 56... not sure if that will make a difference. From what I read from many with the Shelix, it is about 15 or so dB quieter, and the finish is like a 220 grit sand paper vs about 120 or so for the original blades. I wont know until I do the same tests myself in a week or so when my blade shows up. Hoping for the cost and installation it has a smoother finish. But the main thing is the much longer life of the individual blades and 4 rotations before needing to replace them.
I'd be worried about tripping a breaker, with that power draw. Maximum for a 15A circuit is 1800W, and you're generally recommended to stay under 1500W. And even if you ran it on a 20A circuit, the planer's internal wiring and such is probably (??) only spec'd for a max 15A/1800W draw.
It's $309 right now (no extra blades) with free shipping, so finally within my budget - BUT - these comments have me concerned about stress on the planer. I've also hesitated after hearing about the scalloping, but you say it's not an issue. Working with primarily QS white oak, my straight blades don't last very long at all and I'm getting a lot of tearout. I'm thinking about investing in a used drum sander which will probably fix some issues, but not the tearout. Are there any other cons other than the stress on the planer and possible scalloping?
I have installed a similar one on my 733about 6 months ago and I can assure you that I have use it for ash wood andthere is no comparison în terms of finishing, noise, and how sweet is running.Just Take your time and do it right.And not to mention that my dust vacuum is not get clogged anymore.
It's great that you did some before and after testing with actual numbers, I don't think I've seen anyone do that yet, although I don't watch as many woodworking videos as I used to. It would've been nice to see some load testing too with wider boards or deeper cuts which brings me to the next point. I want to echo some other comments and say you really should be more concerned about those Kill-a-Watt readings. You're blowing right past the 1800 watts a 15amp circuit is meant for, little blips of that probably aren't going to be an actual danger but it may mean this upgrade is not appropriate for many people and it'd be good to get that message out there. It may not trip some peoples 15amp breakers but good chance it will trip others whether that's because their breakers are older and a little weak or their workshop wire runs are a little long and experience similar voltage drops as long extension cords. If you're in a house where all your "regular" circuits are 14ga wire with 15amp breakers, I wouldn't recommend this upgrade. If you're in a house where all those circuits are on 12ga wire with 20amp breakers, but you don't have a dedicated circuit for your planer, I'd be cautious. If you need to use your planer outside on an extension cord, I'd be very cautious even if you are using a high quality 12ga or even 10ga cord. I'd hate to spend even $300 on a helical upgrade and find out it makes my planer unusable without a rewiring project.
Do you mean the shaft where it goes through the bearings, or like the whole thing with cutters installed? I mean, I did neither, but I'm also not sure how I could since the original is kind of a triangle
@@Wordsnwood it was a shelical cutter there is one that is thinner in width not length of shaft. with, i think the same number of cutters but i do believe it give different results.
The reason the decibel meter shows a lower number is probably because its an A-weighted measurement. Its the most comming weighting when measuring noise in comparison to hearing damage. The weighting is towards higher frequencies. So under load when the sound is darked the dB is shown as lower since its less harmful for your ears. 10dB change is huge! Thats a percieved halving of the noise. But more importantly 3dB is half the sound power. So youve lowered the soundpower by more than 4x! That is a huge improvement in general working environment safety.
I never run finished lumber through my planer, this is a 2 speed planer, with that head no or little sanding may be needed ! But no used or prefinished lumber passes through my planer !
I have had my Dewalt 735 for over 20 years. I've run thousands of feet of both hardwood and softwood lumber through it. I have ever seen the need for any blades other than the 3 standard stock blades for this machine. In fact, with care, I have rotated and changed the blades only twice. No need for all this extra expense.
I can't stress how much you'll need that torque wrench if you go this route. When I installed mine, I shattered a few inserts by over tightening with my own torx wrench because the ones provided were soft and deformed easily with use. I have never had this problem with my grizzly jointer cutter head. I'm not knocking this cutter head as it is reasonably priced and it does work as advertised.
Great video, thanks! I have a Dewalt 735 with a Byrd brand helical head. I installed the upgrade as soon as I got the planer and was very happy from the start. However, the extra power draw turns out to be a problem when doing substantial amounts of work. Either the breaker on the machine trips when the machine heats up after a series of cuts while the one in the breaker box trips when doing wide pieces, particularly on harder species. I have also had problems when turning or replacing cutters. One must be very careful to clean both the head and the cutter as well as position the cutters correctly before tightening them into place. Even so, avoiding lines along the length of the piece from misaligned blades can be difficult and resolving them can be VERY frustrating. I wish Byrd had done a better job of designing the seat for the blades in the head. I am interested to know your experience with this brand.
Again, I plan to release an update video in the future! I do know that you need to really clean the head when you remove/replace carbide cutters. And I will keep an eye out on the breakers
I have the same dewalt planer but can’t even get the screws out to replace blades the tool they give is trash and stripped a few screw heads a little I stopped before it got bad but I don’t know what else to do to get the screws loose
Sounds like your screws were over-tightened. (or maybe the quality has changed of the product. I only have experience with my own planer) You could find an identical hex key and mount it in a drill to maybe give you some more oomph. I used to do that. Just don't use it when tightening! old video here showing what I did: th-cam.com/video/HWHyfYsV92A/w-d-xo.html
Question about the carbide inserts. Are they a standard insert size (i.e. available from lots of tooling sources), or are they an odd size that you can only get from FindBuyTool so you'll be out of luck if they ever go out of business?
Thanks for the heads up on the process for changing the blades…I just bought my 735 in December of 2023…At my age,,,77 yrs. old,,,if my 735 lasts half as long as yours,,,I’ll feel pretty darn lucky…As for changing the blades,,,I’ll stick to the old style…I do like the fine smooth surface I get and of course I wear ear muffs to cut down on the noise…If I could substantiate the cost,,,maybe…Again thanks for the great video…
It's the way to go if you plane a lot of lumber, but those carbide bits will chip of you hit a hard knot or a staple etc. You never get a glass smooth finish.
@liquidrockaquatics3900 dry kilned cypress and pine. But the streaks in the wood are very subtle and barely noticeable. No big deal as I run it though my drum sander with 180 grit for a nice finish. I build outdoor furniture such as porch swings and rocking chairs where a glass smooth fine finish isn't needed. Sun and rain tend to rough up the finish over time.
There are 56 inserts. You can buy replacements in sets of 10. So you will need to buy 6 sets when the time comes. I would like to get a quote on the cost of the inserts. The cutter head is around 300. So im estimating every time you replace the inserts, youll have the price of a new cutter head. Dewalts hardened m2 straight blades recently took a price rise from 75.00 to 100. Thats for 6 blades or 2 sets of 3.
The key part of your statement is "when the time comes". Everything I've heard says that that will be a long time, since Carbide stays sharp longer. We'll see.
I think it's a no brainer on jointers because of the pain of setting the knives on them. A little more questionable on these little planers because of just how easy it is to change the knives.
An that's why I did the jointer first... and yet the planer is closer to a finished surface, so you'd think we want that one to have the nicer blades! But it is definitely a price premium.
ALSO: the age of my planer was one of the reasons I was delaying, but given how easy this one went, I've decided that if the planer ever dies I think I'll just un-install this and take it to the next planer.
The Watt meter reading with the helical cutter is interesting. For your own purpose, put the Kill A Watt meter on amps and monitor the amps as you are planing. Another TH-camr upgraded to a Shelix helical cutter and his amps were over 15amp, so higher than the breaker for the circuit. His circuit did not trip, but different breakers have different amount of time with over amperage before they trip. Thanks for the video. Very interesting and useful. Dave.
Great job, grease would not really make insertion of the cutter easier... however, if you had placed the whole assembly into the freezer the night before you probably could have pushed it in with your hand!
If you do that, then moisture will condense on everything immediately after you take it out of the freezer. For those living outside of Arizona, it could be an annoyance. I do observe that at least the ball bearings are sealed.
@@virtualfather Oh that sucks. I think I paid just under $400 for mine... although, the one you got looks like it was way more cutters. I think the Shertek is 48? Cant remember off the top of my head... that reminds me... it might be time to clean or turn my cutters. Im gonna work very hard to forget that.
Just a quick thought...I wonder if installing this cutter head voids the Dewalt warranty on the planer? I'V had mine for about a year now and would hate to loose the remaining warranty. I could see them doing that because of the extra workload this head creates. Anyway great video Art!
Big thanks to this gang www.patreon.com/wordsnwood
I've wanted to do this for years, but the price was prohibitive and the task was daunting.
Turns out, it's not that hard to do, and the price on this one is a lot less than competitors!
THIS is how a video should be done! Excellent job and very informative! Thank you
11:00 A general rule, which applies here, is to never transmit any more than hand applied force through the ball race of your bearing. Here you are pounding on the shaft, which is pushing on the bearing balls to overcome the resistance of the fit in the housing. You need a way to push, squeeze or tap on the outer race alone. Sometimes a large socket wrench will do, otherwise you must get creative or rent a purpose made set of cups.
Agreed!
Thanks for the tip... but what about the other bearing? it is kind of just along for the ride as you can't tap on both?
@@Wordsnwood, a well taken point! If the cutterhead is circlipped into location, it does seem to indicate that the housing is not sized for a press fit. I cannot say why you met with so much resistance that pounding was needed. I can say that in a similar operation years ago with a 13" cutterhead (as with yours, both bearings were already fitted to the cutterhead, and definitely with a press fit on the shaft) that went into a Rockwell commercial planer, both housings were sized to require nothing more than pushing with muscle power.
If I were the engineer, and one housing was sized to grip the outer race, then I would definitely not want the other housing to provide the same resistance. This might result in both bearings pressing too tightly the races against the balls, and less lifespan. Although, now that I imagine it, installing into two tight housings by pushing through the inner race of one end only might not make that case, as when the bearings "relax" into their specified tolerance after the push, they would move in the same direction axially. Perhaps the pressure applied by your pounding does not exceed that which microscopically dents or deforms the races and balls. I cannot say.
The only dodge that I can offer from afar might be to heat both housings simultaneously with heat guns set on high to expand them temporarily. Pounding with a rubber mallet or similar (such as the dead-blow mallet you used), rather than a steel maul, might apply the motivation in a limited, softer, ramped up manner, and I think would definitely help as a safeguard.
@@leehaelters6182 Actually I was advised elsewhere in the comments that it I'd put the head in the freezer overnight it might have slipped in a lot easier. I'm not taking it out to try that, but I seems like a good tip
@@Wordsnwood, I saw that myself. When I tried that, the chilled piece instantly developed a film of condensation, and I imagined a rust weld developing on the part. Good job the dimensional change was not enough to help me assemble.
Very well made. Thanks for using sharp blades to compare it to a brand-new sharp helix cutter. I've seen other reviewers compare it to old dull blades and it made me roll my eyes when they talked about how much better the cut quality was.
Great video! I did that exact conversion about a year ago, and I LOVE IT !!! I should have done it years earlier. Worth every penny!!! Much smoother cuts, and SO MUCH QUIETER !!! No more continuous changing of those standard straight blades that can be nicked immediately after replacing by one knot! This is a great investment, and eliminates the continuing cost of new blades. I was done in about 45 minutes, and was thrilled to plane that first board. After a year of regular use, it's still like new. FindBuyTool's cutterhead is helical - not spiral, and is LOADED with inserts. Four rows with fourteen 4-sided rows for a total of 56 cutter inserts (224 edges!). Based on my first year, I may never replace a cutter insert again. If you're even pondering this conversion, trust me, DO IT! Sharper, smoother surfaces, about 60% quieter, and much finer chips, easier for your dust vac, and cheaper in the long run!!!
this is the best of all of the videos regarding installation of the findbuytool cutterhead into the dewalt planer! The only drawback is that the lighting is poor in some cases and details aren't visible. Looking at other videos with better lighting helps to fill in the visual gaps even though those videos do not give necessarily good or complete explanations and in some cases give bad advice or just provide video without explanatory commentary.
I'll add my comments from my own experience:
1. my cutterhead was soaked in packing oil and i thought that much oil could affect the seating of the cutters and also gum up with sawdust, so i first meticulously removed all of the oil using rags, compressed air and even acetone.
2. also, as i performed the disassembly, i first vacuumed and then used compressed air at each phase to clean out all the accumulated dust and chips, both to clean out the machine and to reduce chances of getting dust on the cutterhead before installing the cutters.
3. removing the existing cutterhead lock was a bitch kitty. I immediately stripped one of the crappy Phillips-head screws [Dewalt should have used Torx EVERYWHERE they used wretched Phillips], but unlike in one video that just cut it off, i used an angled Dremel to cut flats on the side of the stripped screw head and used a Vice-Grip to unscrew it. On the second, unstripped screw, i used a Lisle 3/8" Impact Tool Set to loosen the screw. [I debated about reinstalling the lock, and even though i decided to put it back, was happy to see others here thought it was a good thing to simply toss.]
4. i did pick up one handy tip from another video, namely to use a sacrificial rubber band to hold up the gear-end of the cutter head to align it with the chassis housing while pounding in the other end.
5. and speaking of pounding in the cutterhead, i was VERY trepidatious about doing that, but others were doing it and it seems not to have wrecked the bearings. Still, i wish i had first seen some of the comments here about using freezing and heating to ease the fit and/or pounding the outer bearing race instead of the inner one.
6. apparently the factory nut that holds the cutterhead drive pulley on is 23mm (a socket i don't have), but it's not very tight so a 24mm or 15/16 socket works OK. Interestingly enough, the thicker nut that findbuytool supplies was 24mm on my kit.
7. my own little trick was to use a thin metal strip inserted between the belt and cuttrerhead drive pulley to help slip the belt onto the drive pulley; did the same thing on the motor pulley as well. i had to do this a 3-4 times for each pulley, rotating the pulley and belt each time after i inserted the thin metal strip, and each time pushing the belt a little further onto the pulley.
8. i also sat on a rolling shop stool for performing much of the work because that put me at the right visual and leverage height for much of the work.
9. I also briefly tested the operation of the machine after i had installed the new cutterhead and reassembled all of the drive parts, but before i installed the cutters, first manually depressing the semi-hidden top safety switch.
10. i'll reiterate that it's extremely important to seat the cutters properly on clean seats AND to torque them (with a decent torque wrench) to specification. It also important here to have a long extension for the torque wrench, so the wrench can be turned above the machine.
11. Personally, i find when disassembling something like this with so many parts, that it's important to keep them organized. I used the left and right covers to hold most of the associated parts and used zip lock bags to hold groups of parts, particular things like spacer washers. i actually taped the spacer washer for the drive pulley to the drive pulley itself.
12. as usual, i ended up using A LOT more tools than the basic ones due to "complications". also as usual, it seems like i ended up using practically every too in my shop!
oh yeah, all's well that ends well: when everything was back together, test boards planed smooth as budah, and the machine was WAY quieter! Yea!
I was just shopping around for options on my 735. You can get other heads for around the same cost but the number of cutters is much less than what is on this head. Thanks for the link Art
I did find one other company priced similarly, but when I looked at the website it looked like the exact same cutter. Hope it works out for you!
Excellent step by step. I need to do this for my planer. Will save your video for reference. Thank you.
Well done. I installed.a byrd shelix a few years ago. These cutterheads really shine when dealing with difficult grain and having the ability to rotate a cutterhead instead of having to replace a nicked blade. 2-3 sets of blades and this cutterhead nearly pays for itself.
Good for you! i installed my Shellix helical head two years ago, has saved me so much time and trouble. I've run literally hundreds of BF on my first set of cutters. More another day perhaps.
I greatly appreciate you putting the new blades on to make it a fair comparison! Really going above and beyond.
As always thank you for your objective opinion. I find your videos to be very easy to watch.
To those tuning in later. 16:00 I would highly suggest that before you install all the cutter heads, you button up the planer and give it a quick run to make sure you have no rattles, noises, etc. You can even feed a scrap board through it to make sure your rollers are all working as intended before you install all the cutter heads and find a problem, and have to redo all that work.
Great presentation. I just got this planer last week and have been looking into these helical cutter heads. This is the best installation demo I have seen so far.
Thanks for putting this vid. together. I appreciate your honest, quasi scientific method (practical, repeatable). I also appreciate the links to the less expensive cutter head. Very helpful.
Video well done, no nonsense and right to the point. I have shelix heads on my planer and it also made a huge difference on the jointer. I was forever moving the jointer fence out to get a new sharp cut. No more trouble with weird grain, especially on a tool where I am holding the wood in my hands or using a push stick. Please lower your table saw blade.
Thank you for showing the installation.
Great video, very informational. Thx
Excellent,well done video. Very clear and easy to understand.
I'm not sure this is a realistic review. We didn't see a snap ring slip off and spring into some inaccessible corner of the shop during the upgrade even once!
Well I did find the one that bounced away... I think I was lucky. In all seriousness, you do need to be methodical and deliberate with the steps.
new subscriber, here. I just found your channel. your thorough explanations and clear demonstrations are appreciated. I look forward to watching more of your videos.
The snap rings are referred to as internal and external snap rings. the internal squeeze together and the external spreads when removed/installed
Great job! And thx for calling them Hex Keys and not Allen Wrenches. Great video! Thx!!
You did a great job on the video and the support information. Thank you.
This was a very interesting video, i don't have a planer nor do much woodworking. I watched it primarily because of how well you presented/edited the information. Well done!
At least it was entertaining! 😁
Thanks for posting! I’ve got this very helical head in the shopping cart. I’ll likely wait until my blades get dull before actually ordering. I’d be curious for you to post reviews as you get enough mileage on it. Cheers!
I just completed my Shelix conversion with minor hiccup… or two. The first was putting the Shelix pulley washer was in front of instead of, behind the pulley. On start up, it pulls the pulley into the housing causing immediate pulley lockup and belt meltage. The kind folks at Byrd helped me walk through the process until the problem was located. Oh, if ordering replacement belts the techs recommend getting the Orange OEM belts vs others for better run life before replacing.
The second issue was not remembering that the washer for the right sprocket goes behind the sprocket. I had to review a previously downloaded “how to” to find the proper placement. So, after an event free startup, I ran some 100yr heartwood pine through the 735 in both modes without issue. Yes, the sound is just a bit quieter for me but definitely changes under load.
Now,onto the replacement of the readout gage with an electronic one from I Gaging. Happy sawdust making to all!
I did that exact upgrade like 2 weeks ago. I have burned up the motor and I was half way there so... yeah. Anyway. Smooth as butter and fantastic finish. I was really pleased with how well it runs. No regrets and far less expensive than a Shelix.
I'm trying to understand how "no regrets" and "I have burned up the motor" belong in the same comment.... 🤨
@@Wordsnwood I had burned up the motor BEFORE the upgrade. I decided to upgrade because I had the machine half disassembled anyway. Sorry for the lack of clarity.
I put a helix head in a new Mikita bread box planer A couple of years ago. My old DeWalt planer was pretty much worn out. I guarantee you that if you put some shellac on both sides of one of those boards, you will see much more scalloping with the old conventional head. The amount of sanding I have to do is greatly reduced.
But where I saw the best difference was when I replaced my jointer cutterhead. Much less noise and the cutterhead fights much less than the old conventional head When you pass across it. So the user friendliness is much improved with the helical head
thanks for the pointers!
Interesting in light of the contribution by @student 1 day ago, He observes a greatly increased power requirement after installing a helical head on his DeWalt planer, and you report the opposite; much less resistance when hand feeding on your helical jointer head. I hope someone knowledgable can explain this!
If I missed you saying this I apologize... another cost savings to consider is labor hours - savings from not having to take the time to change the straight knives. The difference between straight and helical in my shop is massive in both life of the blade and time to change blades. Also, one nick in straight knives generally hits all 3 blades causing you to need to replace them. The same nick in helical would only damage a few of the carbide blades - and these can be rotated very quickly to their next side.
I am not sure the exact difference in longevity, but I can make the ambiguous statement that the difference is MASSIVE.
Great video. Just the right amount of information needed.
An informative video on an important upgrade. I've considered doing this but would probably upgrade my jointer first since I use it more. I think the real advantage of helical cutters is planing figured wood to eliminate tear out.
I did my jointer about a year prior and love it there.
We have helical cutter at work and it gives a nice finish, as long as the previous board was free from metal of course 🤭
My personal opinion, I think you did a very good job explaining process installing the cutterhead. I own one in my own shop and will replace the cutterhead as soon as I have used up the blades that I have,.
About one of these planers for the college I work at, I have taught woodworking for the last 25 years. We use this planter for small pieces of wood and use the big 20 inch Powermatic Large pieces or a lot of it to be planned.
After one semester, I converted the DeWalt to a Shelix I’m not the knives yet after 2 1/2 semesters. I know the 20 inch Powermatic really think the knives as needed in the last lasted for seven years and we run a lot of wood. Can go wrong with a segmented head. Our 8” joiner has won our 16 inch joiner has one. We run no straight knives or anything anymore and the cost savings has been into the thousands of dollars.
interesting stats!
Most excellent video Art!!! One last thing would have been to compare the cost for the standard blades vs the helical blades. The standard blades get two uses out of each blades vs 4 uses out of each helical tooth. I'm guessing the real advantage is when you nick the standard blades, you're done, whereas if you nick the helical teeth, you just rotate the tooth. Not sure how to compare the two.
But you gotta admit, the helical set is BADASS!
Thanks again!!!
I have that planer as well; it really could use a 20-amp circuit.
But would the motor handle 20 amps or would that just burn out the motor quicker? I don't know enough Electrical Engineering to say.
@@Wordsnwood No, the motor will draw what it needs and no more, but the readings are indicating it exceeds the maximum wattage from a normal 15 amp circuit. A 20 amp line would help prevent overheating from too much draw (tripping a breaker) and let it run adequately/safer.
Always watch out if using an extension cord. Small gauge cords or cords which are too long can lead to a voltage drop, which inversely increases the amperage being drawn by the motor and can lead to tripping the on-board CB. When I run mine on a dedicated circuit, it never trips but on the regular garage circuit it can.
Thank you, as an aircraft mechanic, the video was just as much if not more informative than the training we receive in the aviation industry. Would suggest a touch test from someone who is depending on Braille.
Awesome video, thanks for filming.
I just purchased it. I’ll let you know!
Great video. Clear and very easy to comprehend. I have that planer, and use mostly hardwood. I think that helical cutter will be cheaper to use as time goes by. I'll look into buying one. Thanks.
Darn good video. Well done sir.
That looks sweet! Ran a house worth of rowdy, cupped, old wide red pine floor boards through this tool with straight knives. I had the best nrr headphones i could find and still lost probably 3 percent of my hearing over a couole of days, should have charged more :)
I did find that a thin curf cut along a short board at 40 degrees would reveive the knife and i was able to touch them up quickly with a good enough accuracy for the job and have been doing this ever since for the thickness planing, if the stack is large its worth swapping the blades to a fresh set for the finish pass.
Looking forward to trying these cutters when i have a larger job to bill them to.
Thanks for the demo
When you hammered the bearing in during installation from the inner race but the source of interference fit is the outer race you are transferring all of that energy through the balls and risk damaging the races. I would recommend putting the cutter head with bearings in the freezer overnight and maybe some heat on the bearing housing on both sides to reduce the installation force.
The pricing is great on the head, and it looks as genue Bird Tool head. However, pls be aware Helical head pushes DW735 to its limits. The machine lacks the Horse Power to fully utilize the head. I upgraded mine six month ago, and was only able to plane 12" white oak boards as 1/32" single pass. Attempting 1/16" single pass consistently triggered the termal protection safety in the DW735. With straight knives I was planning similar 12" white oak as 1/16" single pass.
I sold my DW735 with Shelix head, and bought Grizzly 15" planner with 3HP and Shelix head. The new planner able to run 1/8" for these boards as single pass.
thanks, will keep an eye on it.
This is a very interesting bit of pragmatic reporting. My understanding of the cutting action of helical heads is that by reducing the amount of knife in contact with the stock at any given moment, the power requirement should be reduced! This is supported by the reduced decibel sound energy output, I believe. I do know that inserts attack the wood at a steeper angle, and it is a conventional observation that steel knives can be made sharper than is possible with carbide (not that factory supplied knives necessarily ARE sharpened that finely), but the shearing cut must mitigate some of that situation. You seem to have only HALF the capacity of straight knives! Very perplexing!
Is that what you told your wife when you had to explain the upgrade?
@@leestebbins5051 Alas, it wouldn’t hold water if I did. From the many comments I have gone on to read, my understanding seems not grounded in real results.
@@leehaelters6182 From what I've read about these heads on the DeWalt is that with 3 knives the planer motor has a moment to recover before the next blades contacts the wood whereas with a helical head knives are contacting the wood continuously. You would think that with a smaller cut it wouldn't burden the motor much but when testing the amp draw it was confirmed. The motor was drawing more amps with the helical head than it was with straight knives on the same piece of wood. I'm so glad a salesman talked me out of the DeWalt. I kept my old lunchbox planer and saved up for a Grizzzly 15" helical head with 3 hp motor. So quiet and powerful. It goes through 1/8" hardwood without straining a bit.
This is a good video. Thanks for making it.
I found straight knives cut just fine. I get a surface the needs less work then an insert head.
Insert heads take more power and have shallow cut.
I can't see how you think the inserts need more power when they are all (a complete row) not '' in the cut" at any given time, unlike trad. straight blades...
Also, some wood species, like teak for instance, have silica in their makeup and are therefore super-abrasive on HSS knives... DAMHIKT 🙄
I'm running the Triton planer with HSS and looking to change over to carbide..I haven't found a company supplying a helical head yet tho...
BTW, as a (now retired) machinist, I appreciate the VAST cutting performance improvement in carbide vs. HSS when cutting steel... carbides weak point is its brittleness, it can chip easily... but that shouldn't be much of an issue machining wood...
😎👍☘🍻
I guess we'll see! Unfortunately I only have the one planer, so I can't really run side-by-side comparisons now that i've made the change. Thanks for dropping by!
helical heads are always cutting, as there is always a blade in the wood. In contrast, 3-blade heads get these tiny "rests" whenever a blade is not cutting. That is why helical actually put more of a load on the motor, as measured by the kill-a-watt meter.
@@Wordsnwood You wrong. Inserts cut with a 30 face bevel and high rake angle. The 30 bevel acts like a chip breaker but it more a scraping cut .
Knives scoop out wood as they cut.
Back in the 60 we used to grind a face bevels on knives to change the effective cutting angle. But there a price.
I apologize for the bad spelling.😕
I put in a luxcut3 head with 40 cutters. It was close to the same price. Edit- I took off that shaft lock because the new head doesn’t use it. It stayed in the box with the old head. Also, for anyone that has to take this outside to use, Vevor makes a motorcycle/ATV scissor lift dolly for fairly cheap. You can roll it outside and pump up the jack to raise it to infeed and outfeed support
Fantastic video. Biggest problem I had was that damn belt
The belt was a pain. installing 56 screws was also a pain. I've got a Lux-Cut on my jointer and agree that they are also great quality! I was iffy on the shaft-lock but decided to re-install. It's an easy removal if I end up deciding that it's not useful here!
@@Wordsnwood I didn’t want to risk it jiggling loose eventually and interfering during operation. Highly unlikely, but 🤷♂️. You can also measure your carbide inserts and get them from other manufacturers. I bought a slab flattening/ spoil board router bit that takes carbide cutters as well. I found that they are manufactured with different angles on the cutters. Some manufacturers are closer to 35 degrees while others are much lower. I suspect people that have issues are running low angle cutters on something entirely too hard.
thank you for the video. I use the planer all the time and always wanted to try a different style of blades but I agree there were just too expensive. will give it a try . regards.
Glad it was helpful!
I bought the larger unit and needed to R&R the knifes . Do yourself a fav , order the smaller unit and no need to R&R the knifes . The setting the blades correctly on the shaft is a PITA . Well worth the $ . I do not regret buying .
Cheers
That must be a different brand as there was no other option with this company?
The snap ring pliers are internal and external. The thing that you call blades is also called carbide bites . But you did a very good instructional video
Carbide inserts would be the correct terminology.
Thank you for this excellent video. I’ve been wondering about how hard it is to switch to a helical cutter. You did a great job filming and explaining the process, which is not as daunting as I thought.
Glad to have been of benefit! Thanks
The straight knives produce cuttings that clog my dust collector. L am wondering if the helical head cutter will produce smaller shavings, maybe that would help with the clogging issue?
it does make smaller shavings, but I also have never had issues with the DC clogging.
Any difference you might have seen with current draw? Did it trip your circuit breaker more than when you had knives?
Has not tripped any breakers. I did show in the video how it uses more wattage.
@@Wordsnwood Thanks! I was looking more for current draw since that trip the breaker. This is a very very helpful video and it seems to be on sale right now.
I just got brand new DW735 and wondering if I should do this upgrade right from the get go :) New clean machine.. Thoughts?
Maybe wear through your first set of blades first? But also, another commenter referred to this... you're probably voiding your warranty. Not everyone is comfortable doing so.
You did a great job with this video......
Excellent video. Best I have seen. Thanks
I've had mine for about 5 years and have never replaced blades... yet... LOL It needed blades about 4 years ago... LOL i have a lot of cost in sand paper... LOL. Also, most of my projects go on the CNC router so i use it to flatten panels before routing. anyway, i think it's time for one of those helical heads especially knowing that your planer has lasted for 18 years!
I have this planer and love it. I am also 1000% sure if i tried to upgrade the cutter inwould screw it up. Inwould GLADLY pay someone to do it for me but cant find anyone to do it ☹️
The Recognizer on your cabinet got you an instant subscribe! Great video, been considering a helical upgrade for years…
Warning: I am a nerd. 🤓
Great video. I ordered the cutter head about 6 days ago, but have heard nothing. Perhaps I'm too used to Amazon - Next Day and just need to be more patient. Can't wait to install! Did shipping take some time for you?
couple weeks, IIRC
@@Wordsnwood delivered today. Boy, that was easy. Was very intimidated but using your video, it was so easy. Anyone on the fence just buy it. If I can do it, you can too. Thanks again.
@@stevemeland1604 Awesome to hear!
Thank you so much, Art! Excellent video, very informative and instructional!👍
Another consideration is whether or not you care about the warranty on the planer as everything that I seen says that this will void the warranty
I just bought the Shelix (Byrd tool) unit for $500 (oem) vs the smaller one for $450. So it seems to be about $100 more. It has 40 cutters instead of 56... not sure if that will make a difference. From what I read from many with the Shelix, it is about 15 or so dB quieter, and the finish is like a 220 grit sand paper vs about 120 or so for the original blades. I wont know until I do the same tests myself in a week or so when my blade shows up. Hoping for the cost and installation it has a smoother finish. But the main thing is the much longer life of the individual blades and 4 rotations before needing to replace them.
Exactly! Long life on the blades, and quieter operation is a bonus.
I have shelex and can't keep blades set so get ridges and grooves
@@jimbauer6822 Sounds like something is off in your setup. First time I've heard anyone say that. Seems everyone has amazing results from it.
Great for dealing with localized nicks!
@@b3owu1f, I will add such an observation from my buddy, after he spun inserts on his own commercial or industrial quality machine. Ridges in the cut!
Nice! Ive been wanting to switch to a helical head for a while but at double or triple the price of most planers its been a no go for me
Loved the video…thinking of following your path. SUBSCRIBED.
I'd be worried about tripping a breaker, with that power draw. Maximum for a 15A circuit is 1800W, and you're generally recommended to stay under 1500W. And even if you ran it on a 20A circuit, the planer's internal wiring and such is probably (??) only spec'd for a max 15A/1800W draw.
I just bought this 2 months ago. Have not put on yet.
It's $309 right now (no extra blades) with free shipping, so finally within my budget - BUT - these comments have me concerned about stress on the planer. I've also hesitated after hearing about the scalloping, but you say it's not an issue. Working with primarily QS white oak, my straight blades don't last very long at all and I'm getting a lot of tearout. I'm thinking about investing in a used drum sander which will probably fix some issues, but not the tearout. Are there any other cons other than the stress on the planer and possible scalloping?
I have installed a similar one on my 733about 6 months ago and I can assure you that I have use it for ash wood andthere is no comparison în terms of finishing, noise, and how sweet is running.Just Take your time and do it right.And not to mention that my dust vacuum is not get clogged anymore.
Great video, thanks! Blessings!!!
Thank you! You too!
It's great that you did some before and after testing with actual numbers, I don't think I've seen anyone do that yet, although I don't watch as many woodworking videos as I used to. It would've been nice to see some load testing too with wider boards or deeper cuts which brings me to the next point.
I want to echo some other comments and say you really should be more concerned about those Kill-a-Watt readings. You're blowing right past the 1800 watts a 15amp circuit is meant for, little blips of that probably aren't going to be an actual danger but it may mean this upgrade is not appropriate for many people and it'd be good to get that message out there. It may not trip some peoples 15amp breakers but good chance it will trip others whether that's because their breakers are older and a little weak or their workshop wire runs are a little long and experience similar voltage drops as long extension cords.
If you're in a house where all your "regular" circuits are 14ga wire with 15amp breakers, I wouldn't recommend this upgrade. If you're in a house where all those circuits are on 12ga wire with 20amp breakers, but you don't have a dedicated circuit for your planer, I'd be cautious. If you need to use your planer outside on an extension cord, I'd be very cautious even if you are using a high quality 12ga or even 10ga cord. I'd hate to spend even $300 on a helical upgrade and find out it makes my planer unusable without a rewiring project.
is the shaft the same size or is it more narrow. I have seen one guy changes his twice and the two shafts were different diameters.
Do you mean the shaft where it goes through the bearings, or like the whole thing with cutters installed? I mean, I did neither, but I'm also not sure how I could since the original is kind of a triangle
@@Wordsnwood it was a shelical cutter there is one that is thinner in width not length of shaft. with, i think the same number of cutters but i do believe it give different results.
Great video, very informative. You could use your video as a step by step instructional video.
thanks, that was my goal, so glad to hear it.
The reason the decibel meter shows a lower number is probably because its an A-weighted measurement. Its the most comming weighting when measuring noise in comparison to hearing damage.
The weighting is towards higher frequencies. So under load when the sound is darked the dB is shown as lower since its less harmful for your ears.
10dB change is huge! Thats a percieved halving of the noise. But more importantly 3dB is half the sound power. So youve lowered the soundpower by more than 4x! That is a huge improvement in general working environment safety.
I never run finished lumber through my planer, this is a 2 speed planer, with that head no or little sanding may be needed ! But no used or prefinished lumber passes through my planer !
well done video
I have had my Dewalt 735 for over 20 years. I've run thousands of feet of both hardwood and softwood lumber through it.
I have ever seen the need for any blades other than the 3 standard stock blades for this machine.
In fact, with care, I have rotated and changed the blades only twice.
No need for all this extra expense.
That's amazing. But it was not my experience.
Are the cutters a universal cutter or can you only buy cutters from the manufacturer of the cutting head?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sorry.
I can't stress how much you'll need that torque wrench if you go this route. When I installed mine, I shattered a few inserts by over tightening with my own torx wrench because the ones provided were soft and deformed easily with use. I have never had this problem with my grizzly jointer cutter head. I'm not knocking this cutter head as it is reasonably priced and it does work as advertised.
and definitely don't use an impact style bit driver. They are extremely brittle to impacts and will crack. I heard that from a friend...
Great video
Watching from Vancouver Island 🏝️👍
🫡
What sound meter app were you using on your phone?
Android Store: Sound Meter HQ Pro
Great video, thanks!
I have a Dewalt 735 with a Byrd brand helical head. I installed the upgrade as soon as I got the planer and was very happy from the start. However, the extra power draw turns out to be a problem when doing substantial amounts of work. Either the breaker on the machine trips when the machine heats up after a series of cuts while the one in the breaker box trips when doing wide pieces, particularly on harder species. I have also had problems when turning or replacing cutters. One must be very careful to clean both the head and the cutter as well as position the cutters correctly before tightening them into place. Even so, avoiding lines along the length of the piece from misaligned blades can be difficult and resolving them can be VERY frustrating. I wish Byrd had done a better job of designing the seat for the blades in the head.
I am interested to know your experience with this brand.
Again, I plan to release an update video in the future! I do know that you need to really clean the head when you remove/replace carbide cutters. And I will keep an eye out on the breakers
I have the same dewalt planer but can’t even get the screws out to replace blades the tool they give is trash and stripped a few screw heads a little I stopped before it got bad but I don’t know what else to do to get the screws loose
Sounds like your screws were over-tightened. (or maybe the quality has changed of the product. I only have experience with my own planer) You could find an identical hex key and mount it in a drill to maybe give you some more oomph. I used to do that. Just don't use it when tightening! old video here showing what I did: th-cam.com/video/HWHyfYsV92A/w-d-xo.html
When comes to a damaged blades. Is it easy to find the one thats bad if you can't visabley see it?
I believe that you will see a line in the wood
Highlight the whisker in the wood with a magic marker, and prop it over the cutterhead to direct you to the area.
Nice, think I will get one. What noise app were you using?
It is an Android App: Sound Meter HQ Pro
Question about the carbide inserts. Are they a standard insert size (i.e. available from lots of tooling sources), or are they an odd size that you can only get from FindBuyTool so you'll be out of luck if they ever go out of business?
I don't know. But I'd have the same question for ANY of the heilical heads on the market.
I have a Find Buy Tool helical head on my jointer. The name gave me pause, but it's an outstanding cutter.
Agreed about the name! glad to hear that you are happy with it!
Thanks for the heads up on the process for changing the blades…I just bought my 735 in December of 2023…At my age,,,77 yrs. old,,,if my 735 lasts half as long as yours,,,I’ll feel pretty darn lucky…As for changing the blades,,,I’ll stick to the old style…I do like the fine smooth surface I get and of course I wear ear muffs to cut down on the noise…If I could substantiate the cost,,,maybe…Again thanks for the great video…
Nice, now I know that I won’t do this. I am too infrequent a woodworker for it to make sense for me, thx.
It's the way to go if you plane a lot of lumber, but those carbide bits will chip of you hit a hard knot or a staple etc. You never get a glass smooth finish.
I run Osage orange through mine without any problems. What knots are you hitting?
that's why I'm committing to do a follow-up in a couple years as I freely admit this is an install + first-impressions only.
I actually have some Osage on the shelf, which I use for an accent wood in cutting boards. We'll see how it cuts!
@@Wordsnwood I ran a slab of Osage through mine. I recommend no more than a quarter turn on a 8” piece
@liquidrockaquatics3900 dry kilned cypress and pine. But the streaks in the wood are very subtle and barely noticeable. No big deal as I run it though my drum sander with 180 grit for a nice finish. I build outdoor furniture such as porch swings and rocking chairs where a glass smooth fine finish isn't needed. Sun and rain tend to rough up the finish over time.
There are 56 inserts. You can buy replacements in sets of 10. So you will need to buy 6 sets when the time comes. I would like to get a quote on the cost of the inserts. The cutter head is around 300. So im estimating every time you replace the inserts, youll have the price of a new cutter head. Dewalts hardened m2 straight blades recently took a price rise from 75.00 to 100. Thats for 6 blades or 2 sets of 3.
The key part of your statement is "when the time comes". Everything I've heard says that that will be a long time, since Carbide stays sharp longer. We'll see.
I think it's a no brainer on jointers because of the pain of setting the knives on them. A little more questionable on these little planers because of just how easy it is to change the knives.
An that's why I did the jointer first... and yet the planer is closer to a finished surface, so you'd think we want that one to have the nicer blades!
But it is definitely a price premium.
ALSO: the age of my planer was one of the reasons I was delaying, but given how easy this one went, I've decided that if the planer ever dies I think I'll just un-install this and take it to the next planer.
The Main question is how much very figured wood do you work with? The helical heads are much easier on woods with "interesting" grain patterns.
Just an FYI from a retired mechanical engineer: a spiral is a 2d shape. The 3d equivalent is a helix.
The Watt meter reading with the helical cutter is interesting. For your own purpose, put the Kill A Watt meter on amps and monitor the amps as you are planing. Another TH-camr upgraded to a Shelix helical cutter and his amps were over 15amp, so higher than the breaker for the circuit. His circuit did not trip, but different breakers have different amount of time with over amperage before they trip.
Thanks for the video. Very interesting and useful.
Dave.
Good Idea. I shall have to give that look.
Tolles Video, leider bekommen wir diese Maschine nicht in Deutschland 😪😪😪
Great job, grease would not really make insertion of the cutter easier... however, if you had placed the whole assembly into the freezer the night before you probably could have pushed it in with your hand!
Now that is a good idea. Maybe next time!
If you do that, then moisture will condense on everything immediately after you take it out of the freezer. For those living outside of Arizona, it could be an annoyance. I do observe that at least the ball bearings are sealed.
Shertek in Canada is cheaper. Mine works great!
When i checked there was nothing under $500 c
@@virtualfather Oh that sucks. I think I paid just under $400 for mine... although, the one you got looks like it was way more cutters. I think the Shertek is 48? Cant remember off the top of my head... that reminds me... it might be time to clean or turn my cutters. Im gonna work very hard to forget that.
Isn't inflation fun!?
What an amazing blade! It really speeds up work!
installation was surprisingly easy, no fuss, no adjustments
Ohhhkaaay.....guess I'll never be doing THAT upgrade!
Happy to have helped you with that decision.
Just a quick thought...I wonder if installing this cutter head voids the Dewalt warranty on the planer? I'V had mine for about a year now and would hate to loose the remaining warranty. I could see them doing that because of the extra workload this head creates. Anyway great video Art!
I would be stunned if it did NOT void the warranty.