See my first Topic SHELIX CUTTERHEAD
and Part I and Part II of this blog entry

Here I begin inserting the teeth.

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...and here I finish. I didn’t want to bore you with watching me insert every tooth.

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Here is the first time I actually power up the planer. Pretty intimidating, if you ask me. I was ready to run for the hills !!!

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FANTASTIC!!! There was virtually NO AIR TURBULENCE!!! The flat knives in the original cutterhead blew quite a breeze from the front of the planer, but with these…ah, there was no breeze!!! And the noise level is much easier on the ears (even though I do wear ear protection). I think a planer with an induction motor instead of my universal motor would really be whisper quiet.
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The first board planed…Quite interesting results…

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WOULD YA LOOK AT THOSE PURDY LITTLE SHAVINGS COMIN’ OUT!! Way better than big wide ones that clog up my underpowered dust collection system.

PLEASE PAY NO ATTENTION TO MY INCREDIBLY MESSY SHOP…LOL
...although…the lumber rack is ok! ;-D
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You can see that there is a re-design called for. A slight adjustment in the tooth angle. When each tooth reaches the very lowest point in its rotation, each corner of the tooth should be at the exact same height. That will solve the problem.

But I think that zig-zag cut could be used to make some interesting moulding… Thanks to everyone for supporting me and giving such kind comments!!!

I have completed final stages of machining a custom helical cutterhead for my DeWalt 733 Planer.
The design is what I came up with from looking at other companies’ designs. BIG THANKS TO BYRD TOOL AND HERMANCE TOOL for the inspiration and great ideas. THANKS ALSO TO Dave at www.conicaltool.com for the custom tapered end mills used to machine the pockets for the carbide teeth, and for having the teeth TiN coated by Oerlikon Balzers.

Compare the teeth above (Titanium Nitride coated) to those below (as received from Byrd)

This is what I created in my CAD software. COMPARE THESE TO THE ACTUAL PHOTOS BELOW!!!

I EVEN ENGRAVED MY NAME, DATE, AND MODEL # OF THE PART. I used what is called a “Canned Cycle” which is a preset program in the CNC’s control. All you do is give it the X and Y (and in my case the rotational A-axis) coordinates, the scale of the lettering based on a 1” default, and the text you want. Voila!!

Thanks to all you LJs who replied on my posts about this project. Your input and suggestions were valuable to the success of this project.
THE VIDEO IS YET TO COME!

See my first Topic SHELIX CUTTERHEAD
and Part I of this blog entry.

Here is a video of the machining process to this point… DON’T WORRY, THERE’S MORE TO COME!

This video is over 16 Minutes, but I think you’ll enjoy it.

If this doesn’t load correctly try this link:
click here

See my first Topic SHELIX CUTTERHEAD

I’m Alex, a 20 year old woodworking fanatic who’s affectionately called by my family the ‘Termite.’ I work at a private liberal-arts institution in my hometown as an Architectural Drafter/Designer. Another fanaticism I hold dear is that of Jazz Music. I was raised listening to the likes of David Sanborn, Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau, The Rippingtons, The Crusaders, Ronnie and Hubert Laws, et.al. I have found that my ‘favourite flavour to savour’ is the smooth, stripped down, upbeat mix of Funk, Soul, Jazz, and Bossa Nova collectively called Acid Jazz. And no one knows how to do it better than those beloved mates in the UK and most of Europe. Groups like Jamiroquai, Incognito, Mr. Gone, Natural High, and my fav—Down To The Bone, really get my brain pumpin’ out the endorphines!

Sorry…I can really rant about my Jazz! But all of this leads to my infatuation with woodworking. I have this odd musical talent to be able to listen to a piece of music, and then go play it on an instrument (this was discovered when my parents found me @ a friend’s house playing—not banging on—but PLAYING the piano———at the ripe old age of 3.) Later in life, after teaching myself to play an old acoustic guitar, I got this notion (that is so peculiar to teenage boys) to want an electric guitar—a Bass to be exact—Imagine that! So I saved up my money to buy one , but I bought a regular electric guitar instead of a bass. I was glued to those guitar catalogs the way I should have been glued to my schoolwork…and I got this crazy idea…’solidbody electric guitars look easy enough to BUILD, I think I’ll make a bass guitar for myself, since they’re so expensive.’ At that time I had NO woodworking tools or know-how, so my parents suggested that I try something simple first—like birdhouses.

And so I bought my first power tool, an orbital-action jigsaw. I got some barn wood from an old broken down barn and a couple of plans from a friend’s gardening magazines. I used that jigsaw like mad!! I ripped, crosscut, mitered, scrolled, you-name-it…and I CAME UP WITH SOME BIRDHOUSES THAT I DON’T EVEN THINK THE BIRDS WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN. Anyway, my love for woodworking was born, and I had no idea how far it would go.

I spent three full summers running a lawn care business and building my woodshop. I read the local newspaper ads religiously and jumped on any decent deal. My first major purchase (I’m typing this with a smile when I think of how hard your jaw will hit the floor when I tell you what I paid for my tools) was a Rockwell table saw and an old industrial grinder for $75. I got the floor model Delta 16” VS scroll saw at Lowe’s for $55. My big heavy butt 19 amp router was from Harbor Freight for $80. Then one of my friends just gave me his dad’s old Craftsman cast iron table saw for $0. I bought a used DeWalt 733 planer and a dust collector for $300 total. Another $80 or so, and my clamp rack is COMPLETELY FULL…pipes, bars, springs, and c-style to boot. A Delta 10” Compound miter saw was new in the box from Lowe’s for $120. And more recently, I got a little 4” cast iron jointer from the 1930’s for $35 (which I de-rusted and replaced bearings and works like a champ), and a Radial arm saw with brand new blade guard and work table for $120 (the saw was bought used and the guard and table top was FREE from www.radialarmsawrecall.com).

All the while I was building my woodshop, I was intensely reading a book that is titled, oddly enough, “Make Your Own Electric Guitar”, and I was shopping around online for discount guitar parts. CAN’T YOU TELL BY NOW THAT I’M C-H-E-A-P…ahhhem…I mean THRIFTY? My guitar supplies, including hardware and electronics cost less than $120. I got my wood locally—A killer piece of ribbon stripe mahogany from the Menard’s home center for about $12, a nice board of Ebony from my hardwood supplier for $50, and 60 board feet of Michigan grown White Ash for less than $1.00 a board foot!

All-in-all I got absolutely everything I needed to get into woodworking and lutherie for less than $1500!!!!! The guitar took me about 6 months to actually build…my schedule was (and still is) pretty tight, so weekends were about all the time I had to be a Termite. Look for a future project posting of my first bass guitar (once I get around to developing my camera film!) I hope someday to find a better market for my custom instruments, and my music (did I mention I’m a studio musician too?).

Anyway…....
I guess I can sum myself up as a one crazy jazz loving, wood lusting, finger busting, and Bible trusting woodworker, musician, and luthier of a kid who’s really is just a silly old fogey at heart. ;-D

—-—-—-UPDATE: Things I forgot to mention.
I’m going to further brag on my good deals on tools and equipment: I bought a 32” swing radial drill press and a little Delta 9” bandsaw from a friend for $175. This WONDERFUL friend also GAVE me about 75 board feet of 50-year-old seasoned cherry lumber—-in fact, it’s SO seasoned, it’s practically weightless compared to new cherry. It works like a dream, and SMELLS FANTASTIC.

I acquired a 20” 1000+pound industrial three-phase bandsaw from a high school woodshop for…......GUESS!!!!!!!!! I spent a couple hundred on a phase converter, new thermal overloads, and new bearings, but I finally got sick of the three-phase and got a single-phase motor for a steal on eBay. For around $300 of repair, and pain-in-the-rear, I got a bandsaw that would cost today roughly $3000!!! It is a resaw BEAST!

Well, I think that’s everything…....for now. :-)