Thread: Spiral head retrofit to old NZ/AUS machines

I think I have but then I don't know where the machine was made. The biggest gotcha is the cutting diameter NOT the drum diameter. In the machine I helped with when we fitted the head the cutters were below the out feed table and the table appeared to have no height adjustment but we later found height adjusters under all the crud on the machine. The cutting diameter is determined by the blade protrusion which is usually set to match the top surface of the out feed table. Obviously this can be set and changed as needed but the helical heads cannot be changed in this way.

I have a Jeffwood 12" thicknesser. Its a 50s era machine. Very heavy castings and solid. At the wood show in Sydney in June I picked up a brochure on an Australian group who make these spiral cuttings heads to suit "older machines". The Email address is below for you to contact them and see what they can do for you. The quote on the Jeffwood was around $1300

[email protected]

RDG is the Aus distributor for Shelix and CTS, to the best of my knowledge they don't actually make anything here.

We had a Shelix head made for an old SCM S63 through them, cost about $5k and the idiots in America screwed it up. Fortunately the wrong sizes were over instead of under so we had a local engineering shop turn it down to size.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

I think I have but then I don't know where the machine was made. The biggest gotcha is the cutting diameter NOT the drum diameter. In the machine I helped with when we fitted the head the cutters were below the out feed table and the table appeared to have no height adjustment but we later found height adjusters under all the crud on the machine. The cutting diameter is determined by the blade protrusion which is usually set to match the top surface of the out feed table. Obviously this can be set and changed as needed but the helical heads cannot be changed in this way.

Thanks Chris - I think what you're referring to is the fun you had with a Woodfast PT310? And this is a combination unit? If I understand correctly, the trouble you had was with the jointer operation. But this wouldn't be an issue on a dedicated thicknesser? Or have I got that wrong?

Definitely get in contact with Rob Gregory from Woodcraft ([email protected]), I've bought two helical cutters off him and he's great to deal with. Might need some measurements but if there's a cutter head commercially available then he should be able to find it. A lot of the machines share the same cutter dimensions so you might get lucky and be able to drop in something suited to another brand.

Originally Posted by WoodyNZ

Thanks Chris - I think what you're referring to is the fun you had with a Woodfast PT310? And this is a combination unit? If I understand correctly, the trouble you had was with the jointer operation. But this wouldn't be an issue on a dedicated thicknesser? Or have I got that wrong?

My mistake, I thought it was a jointer, blame old age.

Originally Posted by WoodyNZ

Thanks Chris - I think what you're referring to is the fun you had with a Woodfast PT310? And this is a combination unit? If I understand correctly, the trouble you had was with the jointer operation. But this wouldn't be an issue on a dedicated thicknesser? Or have I got that wrong?

A similar problem would apply to a thicknesser wouldn't it? Your stock has to engage the infeed and outfeed rollers.

There’s a YouTube video of a guy fitting a shelix to a Dewalt 735. After the fit he found the Shelix was 1/32” less in diameter, which affected the scale on the front of the machine but it seemed to have no problems with feeding or cutting?
I’ll add it as an additional when I find it again.

Link.
About the 6 minute mark.

https://youtu.be/uB9yphGfyKc

There was a guy who had a booth at this years Working with Wood show in Melbourne selling helical cutter heads, he had brochures and I think he was from QLD, anyone remember who this was?
I remember the brochure had a typo in either the email address or phone number and was fixed with a pen/texta, if that helps.

Originally Posted by _bk201

There was a guy who had a booth at this years Working with Wood show in Melbourne selling helical cutter heads, he had brochures and I think he was from QLD, anyone remember who this was?
I remember the brochure had a typo in either the email address or phone number and was fixed with a pen/texta, if that helps.

Probably Rob from RDG mentioned above.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Probably Rob from RDG mentioned above.

Cheers, I'll shoot him an email.