Helical Cutter Head

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Sent both Byrd and Lux a question on Ridgid planer. Parts manuals on-line have the same link errors, so I suspect they are the same, one made by Tectron, the other by Emerson. ( JP06100 vs 06101)

Thumbnail cost. If a carbide edge lasts 10 times as long as steel, and it takes an hour to set up a set of knives, then a professional could never justify the labor for sharpening and setting up strait knives, let alone whatever the difference is in cost. A nick on a steel means slide it sideways, but probably replace soon. Carbide, just rotate. No full setup. Single carbide much cheaper than a blade. Still, it is the labor. I am retired, so my time is my own. At least on my jointer where I can do a decent sharpening job, sticking with steel for now. As I seem to nick a planer blade about every third or fourth time, if I upgrade my planer, it wil be helical.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Lux already replied. They said that all of this series use the same cutter head, as do some Grizzly and others. They provided two drawings but I have to go pull my machine apart to verify. There are small differences in the shaft dimensions.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Well, bit the bullet and ordered me a new head. Generic, sort of as two diameters. Mine is the smaller. Lux says just use the smaller for all and lower the outfeed. LUX was 4 rows, 28 cutters and cutters were $1 more, so went Shelix 30 cutters, 5 rows.

Anyway, you can get an inch-pound torque wrench cheap from Horrible Frieght for $20.

New head cost more than I paid for the machine ( used) but still, makes it what I want. I found out one pass of some glued up plywood and steel knives gone.

Probably obvious, but it just occurred to me the best way to prove your joiner setup is to do two planks on edge, book them and look for a gap. If outfeed is perfect, no gap. OK old timers, have a good laugh. :)
 

pcooper

Phillip Cooper
Corporate Member
I think you'll be impressed with the overall cut quality and durability of the new cutters. I don't really consider this kind of upgrade a dollars for the machine vs the dollars for the cutter head a real comparison, you're making the machine much better than it was, and worth more, at least to you for what you can do with it.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Grizzly DeWalt head had 2 sides cutters. At least the one I looked up.
Doing the analysis of planers and planer heads. Seems to be two common cutter bits, 14 and 15 mm, with the Unique German one Laguna uses, plus the cheaper baby Grizzly. ( Their planers use both 14 and 15 mm) Big differences in number of cutters with a matching price difference. I was concerned with proprietary cutters, but seems both common sizes have multiple sources so we should still get them 20 years hence.
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top