Biting the bullet...well, sorta

[Renov8r]

Great forum here, Marc. Very easy to navigate and clear. -Very nice-

Ok, so I've been hobbling by on my DeWalt 12 1/2" planer for the last (mmm, let's say) 5 years. I bought it 12 years ago, and it's performed exactly the way it should under normal circumstances. HOWEVER, I bought a portable sawmill 5 years ago, and since then, I've found myself feeding this planer some blatantly unsavory sections of lumber. We're talking 8 foot long 4"x8" beams, 12"x 1 1/2" oak planks, etc... Now I don't know what my innocent little planer did to deserve this. I don't even know why I would do this to my little Dewalt...something in my head just told me I should try it, I guess. Well, I broke 2 of her sprockets and replaced them and she works just fine if I don't tax her with anything bigger than 4/4 lumber. NOW! I am always looking for THE STEAL! I've had my eye on Powermatic planers for about 3 good years now, and I found one on craigslist, but she's an old one with the 3 knives. I got a friend that has a Grizzly 20" with a helical head on it, and I was sure I was going to buy one, but with less than 12 hours on the thing, it developed an INCREDIBLE knocking that they simply would not help him with. That really really soured me. My question (after war and peace above here, sorry) is, how much better is the helical head in a 20" Powermatic planer than the 3-blade version?

[adamking]

I've used the spiral head 15" Powermatic non stop every day since 2004. It's still working like it's brand new. The spiral cutter head produces a smoother cut, reduced friction heat, and it's more time efficient to change the blades. No sharpening. Yes, buying the blades will run about a hundred bucks, but in my shop, it was every 18 months on average that I had to spend that cash. Place that against having to sharpen regular blades on a regular basis, or the cost of having two sets professionally sharpened, and it pays to use the spiral head.

[Vic]

I have two of the DeWalts..the tall and short...I use the tall one for lumber of suspect origin or just in pretty rough condition and the short squat one for finer bites. Seems to work..I get grooves in my tall planer's blades, but they clean up in the short one.

[Renov8r]

I really like the idea of just spinning one of those cutter heads to eliminate a groove. Even though the guy that sharpens my blades charges only $0.07/inch, it is still a hassle taking them off, getting them to him, and replacing as opposed to removing a cover and making an "adjustment" with an allen wrench or torx. I like your approach, Vic, protecting the ONE machine's blades, but I hate clutter, and having two machines would just make me nuts. I will be building a dream shop here soon and I am making floor real estate the first priority in my design, so definitely ONE machine to do the planing. I simply couldn't pass up this particular machine, so I will be using it until I can upgrade to the HH, hopefully within a year. Thanks for the input!