Replies

1. 
   gulfstar | Mar 20, 2022 04:01pm | #1

   I bought a 8 inches jointer and a 20 inch planer new with helical cutterhead instead of knives, I would not go back to straight knives and it’s worth the extra expense. The quality of the cut is perfect.

2. 
   dminnery | Mar 20, 2022 04:48pm | #2

   I had a dewalt planer and put in the shelix head. improved quality though not cheap. Currently, I have a 16" minimax jointer/planer with helical head. I prefer it over knives but the surface has a very slight concave divots where each blade hits the wood, this has had no adverse affects just and fyi. This happened on both machines. Overall more tearout with knives. 500 is fair for the upgrade and if there is an issue you have Jet there to help. If you install aftermarket I don't think you'd save much and if you have a problem you're likely on your own.

3. 
   eddo234 | Mar 20, 2022 06:12pm | #3

   Sorry, can’t help with your Jet decision, but when I bought my Powermatic PJ882 the helical head was $800 more. The Shelix was $500, so that’s the route I went, with a very easy install. I did spend the extra $50 for a new set of bearings pressed on, so it was even easier.

1. 
   sf1988 | Jul 15, 2022 12:17am | #10

   Eddo234,
   I saw you bought the PM 882 jointer. I have a PM 2000B table saw and love it. I am struggling which 8” parallelogram jointer to buy. The PM or the Grizzly. Any thoughts from your perspective?
   Much appreciated

1. 
   eddo234 | Jul 15, 2022 09:22am | #11

   I don’t think I can help much with your decision, but I’ll mention as best as I can recollect how I decided. I owned an 8” PM jointer, with dovetail ways, not parallelogram, for many years, so I immediately had the brand on my list. I also remembered having to spend hours adjusting the dovetail ways after years of use, so that put the parallelogram version high on the list. The price difference at the time wasn’t as great as it is now, and I bought a new Sawstop TS and other machines at the same time, so there was a discount applied as well. I also saved an additional $300 by going with the straight knives and buying a Shelix head to install myself. Someone in this thread mentioned voiding the warranty as an issue with that, but I can guarantee you that if I ever had a problem that needed a warranty return I would simply put the straight knives OEM cutter head back on. Problem solved. :-) And as for warranty, the Powermatic’s is 5 times longer than the Grizzly, 5 years vs 1 year.

4. 
   _mj_ | Mar 20, 2022 06:52pm | #4

   Go helical and OEM. As dminnery says, might as well keep your warranty intact. Changing the cutterhead on a brand new machine is senseless.

1. 
   chiwoodworker | Mar 20, 2022 07:38pm | #5

   Agreed!! Especially if you are already going that route. I put one in years later.

5. 
   NC_Drewbrew | Mar 20, 2022 10:28pm | #6

   Thanks for all of the replies. I am on the same page with MJ and Chiwoodworker. I want the helical, and I definitely don't think tearing apart a brand new tool to swap the head is the best path for future support. If I stick with OEM it will be supported across the board at least until the warranty runs out.

6. 
   rob_ss | Mar 21, 2022 02:55am | #7

   Never mind the supportedness, the OEM cutter will often be better than the drop-in alternative and it is very unusual for such a changeout to be worth it from a price perspective. You will basically be paying for the unwanted blade cutter and the time/stress/loss of warranty changing. If the replacement cutter is cheaper, then there is probably a reason - spiral cutters are NOT cheap and as with all tools there is a hierarchy of quality, with some being pretty sparsely populated.

   Might I suggest though, that if $500 is enough to make you pause, then it might be better to buy an older machine, save even more $$ and upgrade later when you can really afford it. I have used a twin blade machine for over 20 years now and really don't have any reason to change - it does an excellent job.
   I will be getting a new machine soon as I need a bigger capacity and did go for spiral as I see no point in buying old tech when there is a much better alternative that makes a material difference to output.
   I also hate changing blades as it takes ages to get set up properly, and there is the hassle of sharpening. I pay (about USD 12) to get my blades sharpened every 6 months or so, and in-between hone out nicks with a fine dry diamond stone. I'm also lucky enough to be able to afford it, but if I didn't really enjoy building very big things, I'd not be bothering to upgrade.

1. 
   eddo234 | Jul 15, 2022 08:07pm | #13

   You guys aren't doing the math. In my case it was $300 cheaper to put a Shelix in, which BTW, is an excellent HH. The Powermatic HH was $800 more than the straight knives version when I bought mine, the Shelix was $500, so "from a price perspective" it was a bargain, saving me $300. You do realize that with an included set of bearings that the heads basically drop into place, right? The logic that "You will basically be paying for the unwanted blade cutter" escapes me. You're saving hundreds of dollars, it's an easy change out, and easy to put that "unwanted" "blade cutter" in the rare chance that you would ever need to do that. Don't do it if you don't want to, but why suggest it's a bad idea for others? It's not. BTW, I just checked, the difference in price is now $600, and the Shelix is $420, so, not as great a deal as I got.

1. 
   gulfstar | Jul 15, 2022 09:51pm | #14

   I just did the maths. First, why buy jet, that is where the price difference is , for the exact same machine Grizzly is way cheaper and the price difference between the spiral cutterhead and the four knives is 100 buck.

7. 
   stevieray | Mar 21, 2022 06:13am | #8

   Unless your budget is extremely tight, go with the OEM install. I bought a Powermatic jointer and planer, both helical, and couldn't be happier. I've built 90 pieces of furniture and am only on side two of the four sided blades. So I should be good for another eight or nine years with the blades that came with the new machines. The only hassle is rotating the blades, but it's extremely simple and nothing has to be sent out and there is no hidden expense. Takes less than an hour. You need a Torx screwdriver, but one came with my machines.
   \

8. 
   DRBWWing | Mar 21, 2022 09:20am | #9

   Outside of warranty, I doubt OEM would matter that much. Has anyone done a comparison? But that's just a logical supposition on my part. I suspect Byrd heads are "OEM" in some brands.

   I have one experience upgrading my jointer to Shelix. Far as I know it works fine.

   For me, the real biggie is how long the cutters last. I'm on my 4th rotation in the last 5 years (yes) and I would have had probably 8 replacement knives and/or sharpenings and realignments in that time.

9. 
   geedubbee | Jul 15, 2022 06:33pm | #12

   The money savings on a helical head over time are well documented. One of many examples:

   https://www.finewoodworking.com/2011/10/27/bottom-line-on-segmented-cutterhead-cost

   I am at the 14 year mark and am just about ready to swap in a new set of cutters. Compared to knife sharpening and replacement costs it is a no-brainier.