Should I buy This?

[Bruce Cohen]

ShopNotes #89 had an article about Spiral Cutterhead replacements for a jointer.

Currently, I'm about ready to give away my Rigid 6 1/8" jointer as I hate trying to get the knives aligned. I spent almost all Sunday messing with the sucker and it's still not right, and that included changing out the blades for new ones.

So after I remembered seeing this article, I went to their web site www. sunhillmachinery.com and found this:



The price seems OK considering how much time I've been spending messing with getting the knives right. Plus if I buy it, I have 4 or 5 brand new sets of knives I can sell. When I was working at HD, they were marked down to practically nothing.

Anyone have any experience with this or Sun Hill Machinery. Do you think this is a good idea, or just another waste of the money I don't have.

Bruce

[cabinetman]

Setting jointer and planer knives is a step by step procedure that when followed will give results. There is plenty on the internet as guide for most machinery. Even with a cutterhead you have alignment to do and sharpening to consider. Don't give up so easily. Be patient.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[SARGE..g-47]

As Cabinetman stated, it is done daily without a problems, but a major pain if you don't know or follow the correct technique. With that said......

How bad do you want a spiral cutter-head? If you want one bad.. and if you aren't considering an up-grade to an 8" with spiral, the price of the spiral kit at the Sunhill Site is an excellent bargain. If you were considering the out-standing 8" Grizzly without spiral you look at $650. If you want the same basic jointer with spiral the price is $995. About $250 to $350 is the price jump in most brands to get the spiral vs non-spiral.

I have had a Sunhill jointer for about 4 years. Best buy in it's class at that time and was about $150 cheaper than the Jet. It came off the same assembly line (Geetech) as the Jet with a different paint job and wheels positioned on the end instead of front. But otherwise, it is a Jet! Trust me.. My next jointer up-grade would include a look at the current Sunhill's along with the exellent line of 8" jointers by Grizzly.

Hope that helps...

[Hoover]

Sunhill machinery, is highly respected. Good quality, good service and prices. I don't own any, but I have talked to various woodworkers in the Seattle area, and they all give Sunhill high marks.

[LinuxRandal]

I also have a Ridgid jointer and because I bought it for less then I had anticipated buying one for, ($250 new) so I don't mind looking at these. I was also wondering about these, and was wondering, if I am looking at these, shouldn't I also look at Sunhill's helical head?
Advantadges/disadvantages of either/both?
Also, I thought it was here, but I am not finding it via the search function; I know these are better on figured wood, but are they at least equal to the blades on regular ole straight grain?
TIA

[Russianwolf]

I also have a Ridgid jointer and because I bought it for less then I had anticipated buying one for, ($250 new) so I don't mind looking at these. I was also wondering about these, and was wondering, if I am looking at these, shouldn't I also look at Sunhill's helical head?
Advantadges/disadvantages of either/both?
Also, I thought it was here, but I am not finding it via the search function; I know these are better on figured wood, but are they at least equal to the blades on regular ole straight grain?
TIA

From what I gather the difference is the blade setup. The helical has 20 carbide cutters and the spiral has a single HSS blade. The Spiral may be double sided, the helical are 4 sided. The cut would be similar in that the machine is only cutting in small sections of the piece at a time, but differ in that the spiral is a continuous sheer cut, whereas the helical is 20 short chopping cuts.

The spiral will probably give the best results as it isn't chopping, it's sheering. But the blades obviously won't last as long as the carbides, and may be even MORE difficult to get setup than your current straight blade system..