Needed a Heart Transplant

When I started out woodworking, like most people, I bought a lot of cheap tools that have since been replaced. A lot of it was because I simply couldn't afford better tools and often I learned by using the tools, what I liked and what I didn't like about them. The one exception is my planer (seen above) which I bought twelve or so years ago and have been tremendously happy with it ever since. It is probably no coincidence that you can find one of these in perhaps any long time woodworking hobbyist's woodshop. I know more people with one of these than I do those that have other makes and models. 

I won't bore you with details but a planer has spinning knives in it that make rough boards smooth and the surface flat and parallel to the opposite side. It is an essential piece of equipment if you ever make something from rough sawn lumber which I do quite a bit since it is considerably cheaper to buy. The three large knives spin very fast and essentially scrape the wood smooth. However it has it's limits and if wood is too tough, it starts tearing the fibers which means lots of sanding later. Time has solved that with the invention of helical heads like the one seen in the box above. Instead of large steel knives, they have lots of individual small knives set at an angle that cut the fibers of the wood versus scrape them. They are also made of carbide which stays incredibly sharp for a long period of time compared to the hardened steel blades that came with the planer. 

I investigated buying a planer with a helical head but as you can imagine, they are quite expensive and also don't have the same form factor which my DeWalt 725 above has. It is mounted to a rolling table and I can flip the top and planer down so that it is hanging underneath and the oscillating sander currently hanging under it can be right side up. In a small shop, it is hard to beat having too tools rigidly mounted to the same cart and yet not take up the space of two tools side by side. Fortune is on my side though because since I and millions of others have the same DeWalt 725 planer, there are not companies that make retrofit kits to put a helical head cutter into it. So with some planing planned on an upcoming project where very sharp cutting it required so wood fibers don't get torn, I decided to replace the heart of my planer with a helical head kit.

It took me a couple hours to do and was quite invasive surgery. I had to come in through the abdomen which you can see above to get down to the original factory spinning steel blades, one of which you can see. I also had to go in through both sides removing covers, clips, chain tensioners, sprockets and chains. Finally I had to get a block of scrap wood and a large mallet and pound the shaft and bearings out from one side. I had planned to take a picture of the entire machine with all the guts removed but forgot in the heat of the moment. With all the guts strown behind it on the bench, it would have looked quite impressive.

I did take a picture of the old head laying beside the new helical head which gives you an idea of how different the cutting mechanism is. Then I had to reverse everything, pounding the new helical shaft in place with the bearings and then reinstall all the chains, sprockets, chain tensioners, clips and covers back the way I found them.

Eventually I ended up with a new helical head in the heart of my planer ready to beat... er spin as soon as I but the ribs back and sewed up the protective skin of the machine. I did that in quick order and did plug it in to make sure everything was spinning as it should which it did. My planer was alive once more. I unplugged it from everything and wheeled it over to the other side of my garage where it now rests against the wall awaiting my next project. It has been years coming but I'm glad this project is done.