Byrd shelix cutterhead

Holy crap eastsdie !!!! Thats just not right…we have the same planers, but mine has the Grizzly cutter head. When mine comes out it almost seems finish ready it is so smooth, When I finish my last pass through the planer many times depending on the wood….I am able to go straight to 220 grit sand paper.

While I have not had mine that long…A1Jim has had his (Same as ours but a 20” with a grizzly head) for two years, use’s the heck out of it and has yet to even rotate the blades once yet.

-- Don S.E. OK

It definitely sounds like a problem with the byrd shelix cutterhead. I have the Grizzly Extrema 15” planer with the carbide heads and like Don, I always get excellent results when plaining all types of wood. I have plained oak, walnut, teak, cumaru, cocobolo, leopardwood, cypress, pine, iroko and several other woods. Results have been exceptional with all and I have yet to rotate the carbide cutters.
If I were you I would call Byrd Shelix and become the squeaky wheel.

-- Every step of any project should be considered your masterpiece if you want the finished product to reflect the quality of your work. http://www.FineArtBoxes.com

Good to know, thanks for the heads up. BTKS

-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)

Hey Mike
I have the grizzly 20” planner and 12” jointer both with Grizzlys spiral cutters and like Don my wood comes out glassie smooth.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

O M G !!! How the heck could that happen with a spiral cutter head ? Is that what they consider “slightly scalloped ”?

-- When did quiet and quite become the same word ? I'm guessing about the same time as your and you're did.

Did you contact customer service BEFORE posting this? I would assume that you should be able to get this resolved if you email them the pictures and state the problem.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

Yes I contacted Byrd this morning and asked for tech support. She asked what the problem was and took my name and number. I was told the guy to talk to was busy and would call me back today or tomorrow!!! Still hadn’t heard from them yet.

-- Mike, Westport MA.

I recently purchased the Powermatic 20” planer with the Byrd cutterhead. I have not had that problem at all. Have run a ton of 1/4-sawn red oak, some hard maple, and some fir timbers through it and have had only excellent results. I wish Eastside the best of luck getting his problem resolved.

Bigk welcome to lumberjocks. As you can imagine I’m trying to resolve this with Byrd going on the second day now. In my situation I hope you can understand it looks a little suspicious that you have been with lumberjocks for 6 hours and made only this one statement. I do apologize if I stepped out of line here but I think it had to be said.

-- Mike, Westport MA.

I live within a half-hour of the Springfield, Mo. Grizzly outlet. I had them convert my planer to the Grizzly spiral cutterhead. Glass smooth results on Oak and Walnut—no problems.

I have an update, I talked to tech support and they are also concerned about the quality of this particular head and are willing to take it back and refund me all my money. They seemed to be truly concerned about customer satisfaction and are paying for the return shipping. At this point I couldn’t ask for more. I guess I’ll plan on breaking this machine down again this week.

-- Mike, Westport MA.

Glad to hear they are standing behind their product Ken….are you going to go with another of the same, or get a Grizzly ??

-- Don S.E. OK

I have a 20” inch jointer with a bird head. It has about 170 cuters almost twice per inch of cut and boards are very smooth. The fuzz that everyone talks about comes out with 150 grit sandpaper.
Sorry about your problems. I am sure bird has a better cutterhead for your machine. Do not give up Hope.
sam

-- Sam, upstate

Mike,
I’m also having challenges with a Byrd cutterhead I recently installed on my Powermatic 209 4 post planer(same machine as the grizzly and others). I bought the Byrd cutter almost 3 years ago from Grizzly but only recently installed it. My challenge is tiny cuts the length and width of planed boards; they appear to be knife knicks from not just one but many of the inserts. I too have spoken to Byrd who sound sincere about solving my problem. In the end, did they help you, and what was your final solution? Thanks.

Stairdoc, WA State

Stairdoc, I called Byrd and informed them of the problem. They said that slight lines were normal and should be easily sanded out. Mine as you can see were not slight and could not be sanded out. My situation is going to be different that yours because I called them within days of delivery. They agreed to take the head back and refund me all my money. I then installed a grizzly head and the difference was great. A nice smooth finish with only a quick finish sanding needed.

-- Mike, Westport MA.