SHELIX Spiral Cutter Head

[Black Bear]

I am trying to find the corrrect place to put this ask.

Has anyone used these items for jointers or thicknessers?

The replacement tooth is $6.50 so I guess the original bit and the two bearings woudlde a pretty penny.

Anything
Peter

[China]

I have not used one I know a couple of schools that have them for thicknessers, and they are very happy, they apparently produce a lot less noise and a much nicer cut, I am thinking of getting one for my thicknesser if they make them, it's over 50 years old, I believe fo a 13' they are about $1500

[Black Bear]

T here is a review in the forums that I had not seen before. It is from an American member but it explains the use of this device.

From what I read, I think a 3 bladed thicknesser or jointer would do just as well in my situation.

I have 2 blade Ryobi with 13" HSS double sided baldes that I can buy from Bunnings at $38.00 pair, and the local bloke charges $36 to sharpen. I have overcome that though.

[bobsreturn2003]

i enquired some time ago and for a 15in it was the cost of the machine $1600, however you could purchase a new machine with the special cutter installed for about $300 more .got some regular blades and wear ear muffs !cheers bob

[Canetoad]

I run a powermatic thicknesser with a shellix head in my joinery shop. have had it for about 9 months now and have just started on the third side of my first cutters. While I am happy with it I am not sure I would buy it again give the chance. It is excellent for figured timber and you reallly don't have to look at grain direction when feeding the timber in. There is very little in the way of planer marks and the it stays reasonably sharp for a long time with the carbide inserts but it loses its super sharpness rather quickly. The quietness factor is also nice.

[justinmcf]

hi canetoad, what width is the powermatic that you use, and how much did you pay for the shelix helical cutters?

[Canetoad]

I have the 630 mm wide powermatic I haven't had to buy new cutters yet but when I do I think that I will wait for a week with a stronger aussie dollar and get them from the States for $2.80 US each. There are 176 of them so its a fair bit. If i can make them last a year that would be good.
Ben

[Aleks Cheng]

Hi Ben, could you tell me how much you payfor the 630mm carbide insert cutter block ?
could you tel me the tool life of one face ? some of our local supplier told me it can use 8 month if I use the planing machine 8 hours per day .

[cava]

The post is 7 years old.

[Luke Maddux]

They also draw less power and create finer shavings, which fill your dust collector more densely and, thus, slowly

[Kuffy]

My understanding is that helix heads require more power to do the same amount of work as a conventional straight knife. And I agree with this given that I find there is more resistance against my arms when surface planing a board compared to conventional straight knives. It is probably because the helix's have a knives in the timber 100% of the time so it doesn't get a chance to get a run up to power through like a conventional straight knife does between knives.

I do like how they fill the bag more evenly, though I still double bag my shavings and then apply ~93kg (weight dependant on lunch that day) to squash the bag even further so I can fill my little 120 litre garbage bin.

[Luke Maddux]

Hmmm, ok. I was watching a video on the Felder website about their Silent Power cutter blocks and they measure the amps drawn and it was lower with theirs, but, come to think of it, they were comparing it to another helical head and not a straight knife. So you're probably right, in that the straight knives draw less. I guess that was kind of a sneaky way to give people (like me) the impression that helical saves power.