Byrd Shelix Cutter for DeWalt 735 Planer: A Question?

[drw]

Attended the Klingspor Extravaganza this weekend -- great event, great time and some good deals. With respect the good deals, I purchased a Shelix Cutter; I have wanted to pull this trigger for a longtime and finally did this weekend. I installed it today and it works great. I do have one question however...you will note in the picture below that there are three holes bored in one end of the cutterhead...I can't figure out if this is a machining mistake or do they serve some purpose (e.g. remove a little weight to achieve better balance when spinning at high speed). Like I mentioned, the cutter works very well, I am just curious.

 

[pop-pop]

Drilled for balancing. That drilling is typical for a factory balance.

 

[dancam]

+1 on the balance

 

[golfdad]

Thosw holes would be a defect in the product so its advused to give it away to a "friend"

 

[drw]

Thosw holes would be a defect in the product so its advused to give it away to a "friend"

Because you are such a good friend, I'll keep it in my shop for your protection!

 

[Craptastic]

Definitely balancing. Sometimes the easiest way to even things out is to remove a bit here and there.

 

[EAK]

Is there a marked difference in the quality of the surfacing between the shells head and the standard steel blades? What about the complexity of the installation?

 

[drw]

There is an obvious difference in the noise level, but while I see improvement in surface quality whether or not it is significant is subjective. That said, I have only planed cherry, I am anxious to run some hard maple. Using blades on hard maple I would frequently see pitting, even with very light passes. As to the complexity of installation, it wasn't a problem. I printed the directions from the Byrd Tool website and religiously followed them. The only issue was removing the large snap ring. Even though I have snap ring pliers, it kept slipping before I could extract it from the channel...patience and persistence won out!

 

[EAK]

Thank you. My steel blades have 3 to 5 projects left in them. I have been mulling making the leap to the Byrd head, but read a lot articles on complexity of a DIY swap over.
Ed

 

[Echd]

I believe the quality increase is massive. You can skip sanding at lower grits entirely with a Carbide helical cutter.

But, if you're going to sand or (hand) plane or scrape it, that doesn't matter a lot. What will be of much greater use is that the helical heads are FAR less likely to produce tearout, even in figured material. I have even planed perpendicular to the grain with far fewer issues when necessary (with straight blades that results in ribbons that attempt to choke your DC)

 

[dpaventi]

It’s definitely for balancing. I have one of these heads in my planer, they are incredible.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

To all who are considering the Byrd cutter head--I did extensive research on helical head cutters for my new DeWalt 735 planer, and settled on one from FindBuyTool. There were 2 factors that made my decision:

1. $100 less for the FBT
2. The FBT has 14 cutter heads per spiral row (the same size as the Byrd heads); the Byrd has 10. Multiply by 4 rows, I got 56 cutters rather than 40.

I have run a side by side comparison between the two heads, and the FBT was a smoother cut on the same piece of wood. Glue ready with no additional machining or sanding. My cutters were brand new. My partner in the comparison had used his planer for several months, and after seeing the difference in the planed surfaces he rotated his cutter heads.

 

[Oka]

I have the FBT I bought it because it was less money. They both works fantastically. In general, insert cutters are 5-8 DB quieter than the knife type. The pull less overall amps than the knives heads.

If you start looking you will see those drill holes used fore balancing everywhere. On flywheels, crank shaft pulleys, HVAC Pulleys (larger ones), anywhere where they are balancing something than spins to reduce the chatter/wobble caused by inertia from the spinning.

You woodworking life has just changed permanently for the better !

 

[Billm0066]

Thank you. My steel blades have 3 to 5 projects left in them. I have been mulling making the leap to the Byrd head, but read a lot articles on complexity of a DIY swap over.
Ed

I did mine and its not hard at all. Theres plenty of youtube videos to follow along with. Amazing upgrade. I would probably consider the findbuytool one posted in here if its cheaper.

 

[Echd]

Yeah, it's not difficult. Getting that belt off is a pain in the butt though.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

DAMHIK--I wound up having to uninstall-install-uninstall-reinstall-uninstall-install cutter heads on my DW 735. This makes me an expert.

• Changing cutter heads is a lot easier with 2 woodworkers doing the job, especially dealing with the belt.
• You need a 23mm socket to remove/reinstall the cutter head pulley.
• Get a torque wrench; $20 at Horror Freight for one calibrated in inch pounds. It will give you peace of mind that all the cutter heads are seated equally.
• Be prepared to whittle a sorta round stick to bang out the back bearing from the planer.
• Can't do the job without snap ring pliers that both spread and constrict snap rings.
• In advance set up a clean piece of paper on the side and lay out the parts in the exact order you take them off. This and a decent set of instructions will get your exchange done right the first time.
• The rotor lock, after it's installed, is held down and off the rotor by the large plastic cover that goes over the entire rotor. Do not test spin your new cutter until the cover is installed.
• In general take your time. This is not a job to set any land speed records for how fast you are.

If someone out there still wants to stick with the OE 3 blade cutter, I have the rotor, 2 sets of blades, and factory bearings, all brand new--never cut the first piece of wood on them--for sale cheap.

 

[BoPerry]

To all who are considering the Byrd cutter head--I did extensive research on helical head cutters for my new DeWalt 735 planer, and settled on one from FindBuyTool. There were 2 factors that made my decision:

1. $100 less for the FBT
2. The FBT has 14 cutter heads per spiral row (the same size as the Byrd heads); the Byrd has 10. Multiply by 4 rows, I got 56 cutters rather than 40.

I have run a side by side comparison between the two heads, and the FBT was a smoother cut on the same piece of wood. Glue ready with no additional machining or sanding. My cutters were brand new. My partner in the comparison had used his planer for several months, and after seeing the difference in the planed surfaces he rotated his cutter heads.

I just purchase a FBT head for my 735 Dewalt and my Sunhill 8” jointer. Only $575.90 for both. Ordered them from what I’ll assume was china. Got text updates on every move they made and received them in 7 work days.


Had shoulder replacement two days after they arrive. It will be a bit before I can use them but they look fantastic.