# A helical head for under $300?



## jbertelson

Thanks for the review. Don't know much about this topic, but now I know a little more…..........(-:


----------



## mckenziedrums

Note to self: Still need hearing protection.

One thing I've just noticed as I was working on getting 7 very rough cut boards into usable lumber… The lack of a height lock on the Ryobi doesn't seem to be an issue any more. With the straight knives you could watch the handle of the height adjustment turn as the cutter head was forced upwards. Those of us familiar with this planer probably all just do the same thing and try to keep a hand on it to keep it from spinning. I haven't had a single problem with it moving on me in the hour or so I've been planing.


----------



## woodnewbee

Will make note. thanks for the review, I have a Ryobi and wondered if there was a way to upgrade without purchasing a new planer. Problem is I wouldn't get a new tool which seems to be half of having the shop. lol Thanks again for the review.


----------



## Brad_Nailor

Great review..you are a better man than I gunga din..I wouldn't have the guts to pull a planer apart and replace the head, and then have the guts to flip the "on" switch!


----------



## mckenziedrums

Hahaha oh believe me I thought about possible consequences and made sure I didn't have any extra screws and bolts laying around. I pulled it apart 4 months ago and somehow managed to not lose any pieces between now and then.

I spent a little more time today taking some finer cuts from this soft curly maple and it's shaving it down with hardly any lines and without tear out. If you don't have a planer yet the Steel City makes sense but I have to say for $250 + shipping this is one heck of an upgrade for a bench top planer. Anything more than that (aka: the other helical heads) and you're on your way towards owning a better planer anyways.


----------



## Johnny_Yuma

The Steel City looks good on paper (and reviewed well), but know one really knows what is going on with the company right now.


----------



## b2rtch

Where did you buy it? 
The accu head website does not work.
Thanks.


----------



## Brad_Nailor

Your solution although it takes some skill and bravery to take apart the planer is definitely the cheapest. That Steel City planer is an EXACT copy (except for the helical cutter head) as the older Rigid 13" I am using (borrowing from a friend). I like this planer allot, the cutter head lock works well, it doesn't snipe at all. The Steel City is that planer with the addition of a helical cutter head I think would be the perfect combination. I am planning on buying that planer regardless of what I have "heard" about the stability of that company. Besides I have been hearing stuff like that about Steel City for a long time now and they seem to still be producing machinery.


----------



## mckenziedrums

http://www.accu-head.com/


----------



## b2rtch

Thank you.


----------



## mckenziedrums

My pleasure.

Brad: It really isn't THAT difficult to take a planer apart… Just some confidence that you can reverse the process. You only need 2 allen wrenches and a screwdriver for the Ryobi. I can't remember the smaller of the two allens but the larger one (and most important) is a 4mm. If you're REALLLLLLY lucky and the cutter head will slide out all you have to do is remove the parts from the side where the belt is. I could do a quick write up on how to do it I suppose.


----------



## dbhost

This begs a stupid question. Why not post the AP1301 on Craigslist for $150.00 ish and just pony up and buy the Steel City? I have the AP1301, and it's a good planer for the money, but I can't imagine putting a $300.00 cutter head on a $200.00 planer…


----------



## bigike

thanks for the idea amd link i hope they have one for my planer!


----------



## mckenziedrums

I paid $100 for this planer 2nd hand… The cutter head was $250… Truly it's the cutterhead that makes a planer anyways I think. In reality a planer is just a flat surface with a spinning cutter above it. The quality of the planing will be primarily determined by that cutterhead. I'm simplifying it a bit but that about sums it up.


----------



## dbhost

True, and mind you I have an AP1301 and love it, but it does have some annoying lacks. Specifically lacking the cutter head lock, and lacking infeed / outfeed tables…

Still seems like an expensive upgrade to get a planer that still lacks some very desireable features…

Maybe I just don't understand what the helical cutter head gets you that is worth that kind of money.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, just trying to make sense of this… I mean I am pretty happy with my planer as it is, but if I were going to upgrade it, I would try to lay my hands on an AP1300, or the older cutter head lock equipped Ridgid or similar. Or save up my pennies for the DW735… Is the helical head upgrade all that impressive? What does it fix that you didn't like about the OEM configuration of your planer? I doubt it does anything to fix the snipe issue with this planer, but I could be wrong. That is the only thing I have found with mine to be a real issue…


----------



## mckenziedrums

It still has a little snipe without having built some infeed and outfeed tables… The lack of a cutter head lock no longer seems to be an issue that much is for sure. I do believe that the quality of the cut is light years better with the helical cutterhead. If you're not into using highly figured wood than you might not notice a difference. Or I suppose if you have a sander to run your boards through it wouldn't make sense either. I've reduced the need to sand down planer lines, can take deeper cuts now (less passes through the planer = lots of saved time, and have considerably less tear out (less chance of ruining expensive figured lumber) and as a bonus it's quieter when running the wood through the planer. I planed down 8 VERY rough cut pieces of figured soft maple in just a couple hours and have boards smooth enough to just barely sand and run with. The cutterhead never once moved even when I tried to take off way more than I should have on a 12" wide board. It's like an entirely new machine now really.

Put it this way… if my planer dies I can get another one for $100-150… and the cutter head will move into the new housing. If your steel city planer dies you're out $500-600. They make these upgrades for various other models as well so don't focus entirely on the Ryobi.

I don't take the questions as rudeness at all… $250 is a big chunk of money for a hobbyist to spend, especially when you're talking about putting it in a machine that cost less than the cutter itself. All I know is that I'm happy and my cheapie benchtop planer just got an upfit that makes it work better than nearly anything under $600. As I said, if it dies… I'll probably just talk someone down to $100 on their old Ryobi and slap my cutterhead into that one and run with it.


----------



## dbhost

Thanks for the write up. That really does help out a lot…

No I don't work with very figured wood all that much. Mostly oak, walnut, pecan, mesquite, and soft woods… To be honest, Other than snipe, I've not noticed anything all that annoying about the AP1301. Now there is one thing that is borderline, and that is the amount of noise… That in itself may make this whole upgrade worth it…

My results with oak (flat and quarter sawn), Walnut, pecan pine, etc… have been exceptional. I do have some issues with cedar though. I am pretty sure it is due to overly wet lumber I am starting with as I have been using home center cedar and just planing it down. But I am building rustic projects with that, and imperfections are not worrysome at all…

From what I can see here then, unless I just want to quiet things down, I won't really see the benefit of this until I start planing stuff like curly maple, which is probably a ways off….. Here in Texas, Maple is considered an Exotic… I will have to keep this one in my favorites for future reference…


----------



## Jimi_C

I was wondering what ever became of your blog, you left off at ripping things apart last I saw and I've been busy the last few months so I never saw a follow up 

That said, it is eerie how similar your story is to mine - I got my AP1301 for $90 off craigslist, and I've had the exact same issues with that damn depth handle spinning on me. I think it's from the blades starting to get dull, as it didn't do that when I first got it (the previous owner said they used it once or twice, and it looked it, so the blades were still nice and sharp).

I would love to see a write-up on taking the Ryobi apart. Hopefully you took some pictures during the tear down and bearing-punching parts, I'd hate for you to have to do it again


----------



## mckenziedrums

Haha… yea I got a little frustrated with it and combined with the cold weather I let it sit until it warmed up. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures but I can easily describe the process for the tear down. My guess is that you wouldn't have near the problems pulling the old cutter out in the warm weather. Worst case, give me a call and I'll go over the finer details with you. Now that I've done it, it wasn't really that hard I was just cold and frustrated with it.


----------



## Jimi_C

I hear ya, I gave up for the winter on trying to refurb that old bandsaw I got too - same bearing-related issue with trying to get the upper wheel off the axle. Now that it's warming up, I may have to try and tackle that again.


----------



## Koaking

Thanks for the info…I'm looking to upgrade my Dewalt 735 and your review gives me another option.


----------



## Dusty56

How is this holding up for you ? Any broken cutters or other issues ?
Thanks : )


----------



## mckenziedrums

Haven't been using it as often as I'd like… keep putting off projects in favor of building drums but I have to say it's working great. No issues with broken cutters but I'm usually taking smallish passes I suppose because most of my lumber is of the extremely hard curly maple variety.


----------



## Dusty56

Thank you : )


----------



## dubsaloon

Cool. I was going to buy one of those Steel City Helical planers but put it off and then the reviews started to tell a story of breakage and quality trouble and I went with the Porter Cable/Delta 12.5" Haven't opened the box yet but now I hope to get one of those Helical heads to swap out. I have a question are the cutters an Accu-Head product only or will the carbide cutters work from the say Steel City unit?


----------

