(03-11-2018, 10:36 PM)goaliedad Wrote: Thinking about upgrading my Ridgid planer to a spiral cutter head. Has anyone had personal experience?
The other thought is to get a stationary planer. I don't see the need for a super wide one, just hoping to get less noise and longer cutter life. I do a fair bit of norther white cedar and the knots are hard on the throw away blades
Input please?
I have a Dewalt DW735, which is probably comparable to yours. Byrd makes heads for Ridgid planers. It took me about an hour to install it, and it made a world of difference.
The cut quality is excellent - I don't know that it's better than a set of brand new knives, but the cutter orientation and number of cutters means that it should last essentially forever. Carbide is much harder, so it's a lot less likely to nick, and if they do you can re-orient a single cutter without much trouble.
It is MUCH quieter, both with and without load. That's the best part - I get most shop time after my daughter's in bed, and I don't want an extremely noisy planer disrupting that. It was audible in her bedroom, which is a floor up and on the opposite side of the house. Those planers are very loud with the steel knives.
Overall, it's expensive (nearly the cost of the planer) but I've been impressed. It's quiet, it cuts well, it doesn't bog down, and the cut quality has maintained where steel knives already would have failed. If you have the option with your Ridgid, do it. Even the cost is offset - I went through three sets of knives, about $40 each, over the course of a little over a year, so that adds up if you avoid the lost time and money associated with changing knives.
