How to Upgrade a Planer with a Helical Head | DIY Small Shop Woodworking

Planer Upgrade: Do you want to up your woodworking game? Then try this quick tool upgrade today.

Today I’m going to be doing a planer upgrade from straight knives to a helical cutterhead.

This is my DeWalt dw735 planer and it came with a 3 knife cutterhead. I have always had a problem with the straight knife setup. Mostly because if you get a nick in one of the knives you have to either hone it out or change out the entire knife. The cutterhead that I am upgrading to is the Lux Cut 3 helical head from mywoodcutters.com. This cutterhead has a total of 40 carbide inserts. Each insert has four cutting edges so if one gets damaged or dull you can rotate it 90 degrees for a new sharp cutting edge and you’re back in business.

This upgrade took about an hour to complete. Upgrading your cutterhead can be pretty pricey depending on the planer you have. This lux cut 3 head costs almost as much as the planer itself. But the benefits are well worth the upgrade.

There are 3 major things that you are going to see when upgrading from straight knives to a helical head:

The first is an increase in blade life. The carbide inserts can last a very long time especially if you aren’t milling up wood on a daily basis.

Next, there is a noticeable decrease in operating noise. I didn’t test the before and after decibel readings like i did when I upgraded my jointer, but you can REALLY notice the difference.

And finally the most important benefit of upgrading to a helical head is the improved quality of cut. You will notice that the surface is so much smoother and there is less tearout and snipe on the boards, which cuts down on the sanding needed during finishing and come on who doesn’t want to sand less.

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If you have any questions on this tool upgrade, please leave them in the comments below.

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Now that’s how you up your game! This upgrade went a lot quicker than I thought it would and I couldn’t be happier with the results. This is by no means an upgrade that you have to do in order to properly mill lumber, but it does make the process a little more enjoyable by making it easier and quieter.

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