Portable thicknesser with spiral cutterhead

[woodworkingMK]

Just saw in a video that such machines are available in Australia on a pretty fair price. Models like Hafco T-13S and Carbatec TH-BX330P .

I have seen such machines with already fitted spiral cutterheads on UK's market.

Anyone knows something?

 

[siggy_7]

Axminster sell a version of their portable thicknesser with a spiral head.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[woodworkingMK]

yeah, just checked Axminster as always, prices to the sky £‌1,000. Hafco T-13S is £‌414. More than double.

 

[MikeJhn]

Well this guy does not like his Hafco: http://www.woodworkforums.com/f155/hafc ... sed-216854

 

[Trevanion]

The helical cutter head is only really worth the investment if you actually have enough work for it, If you're putting thousands of metres of timber through the machine every month and you're constantly changing the straight knives or if you're working with really difficult interlocked exotics it's perhaps worth the investment.

It's definitely not worth it if you're only using it for hobby use putting a couple pine or oak boards through it every couple months, I don't see the sense in it otherwise. Straight HSS knives are a very versatile piece of kit in the right hands and they don't take too long to set up properly.

 

[memzey]

I know it’s not what the OP asked about but Tersa knives are excellent. Long lasting, leave a great finish and dead easy to change.

 

[woodworkingMK]

Eventually I read that this Hafco T-13S is not true spiral cutter head, it is similar, but not true spiral

 

[woodworkingMK]

I made a screenshot of the cutter head, and clearly you can see it is not spiral

 

[Trevanion]

I made a screenshot of the cutter head, and clearly you can see it is not spiral

It really doesn't matter if the cutters are set out on a spiral on the block, it doesn't improve performance at all. The main factor is that the little 15x15mm cutters are set onto the block at an angle with a radius edge rather than set straight on so that it's a shearing action rather than a cutting one. Even if they were set straight on you would have much smaller chips which would improve cut performance and finish.

Works exactly the same as some of the old planers which had skew knife cutter heads, these knives would be set in the block at an angle and would have a radius edge to give a shearing cut instead of a cutting one.

 

[SamTheJarvis]

I've literally just ordered a spiral cutterhead from Byrd Tools in the states (assuming you've heard of them) for my DeWalt DW-733. £490 (incl. 40 extra cutters and shipping), then import charges whatever they'll be, then a day's work fiddling to get it in but, to me it seems worth it. I'm firmly a hobbyist but probably ramping up in the year.

I'd be lying if I were to say the potential for showing off wasn't a factor.

Look into Byrd Tools though, the more commonly produced cutterheads are cheaper. I think the only portable thicknesser that's available in the UK, that they offer a cutterhead for, is the DW-733, but there may be OEM clones out there under different brands that might work.

You can also supply them with a drawing with all the relevant dimensions marked out and they will produce one for you. Marius Hornberger of youtubeland has done this and I recommend having a watch.

 

[woodworkingMK]

I have watched Marius videos. Let us know your impressions when the cutter head arrives.