Problem with replacement cutters on helical cutter head
user-7747394
| Posted in General Discussion on
I recently replaced cutters on my planer’s helical cutter head. I can tell that a few of them are out of alignment due to tracks on the planed surface. Do you have any suggestions for the best way to identify which of the cutters needs to be adjusted?
Replies
1) take a board...
2) starting on the far left..
3) mark the right side of the board on the table
4) feed the board through taking a lite cut...
5) using the board as a guide, aligning the track marks to see which cutter/s is a skew..
6) move the left side of the board to the previous right mark.
repeat 3-6 untill the whole cutter head is checked..
make sure to clean mounting surface and cutter thoroughly with a tooth brush and some cleaner
another handy, best practice process: use a good torque wrench to secure all these cutters. This ensures that the cutters are all in the same plane and reduces the chances of getting this 'tracking'.
Set the torque wrench to the manufacturer's recommended force and use that across all those individual cutters.
best of luck,
James
Clean the mounting surface, the screw's underside, and all surfaces of the cutters. Just like the inside of a half-blind dovetail socket there's always something still in there.
Running a board through that is the full capacity of your planer will tell you where on the board the culprits land, but since each tooth's cut overlaps those beside it, the track only gets you in the ballpark. If your machine has multiple rows of teeth there could be quite a few that need to be checked.
_mj_ has got it. Serious, sequential processing is key with these heads. the seat area and the insert have to be clean, clean, clean. Install with a torque wrench at the recommended torque and move to the next.
It is surprising how little a speck of 'whatever' it takes to make a cut irregular. The same is true for tablesaw blades. Many cases of saw marks can be cured by being sure the arbor seat and blade washer are clean and true.