Byrd cutterhead installation on Grizzly 0490 jointer

[mike_wood]

I just installed a Byrd cutterhead in my G0490 jointer & thought it might help someone if I documented the expereince. It is not difficult but neither Grizzly or Byrd has written instructions.

Removing the cutterhead is easy as the out/infeed tables lower easily to access the head and allow for removal. After removing the 2 bolts on each of the 2 bearing blocks it is easy to lift the cutterhead out. One safety note: use welding gloves (I used a set of fireplace gloves) to handle the head as the blades are very sharp. I used a gear puller to remove the pully and the pully-side bearing block from the shaft. (I don't own a gear puller but Advance Auto loans them for free). The bearing is held in the block by a retaining ring so it stays in place. The bearing on the non-pully side is pressed on to the cutterhead shaft. I didn't think it was worth time or effort to remove the bearing from the shaft as it would be very difficult to do. Since this bearing is a common size I just bought another one. Part of my thinking here was that if, for some reason, I wanted to put the original cutterhead back in, it would be easy to do.

Reassembly was straightforward. To put the bearing back on the non-pully side shaft I used a socket that fit the inside race of the bearing & used an assembly hammer to tap it on - no problems. Then just reversed the process using an assembly hammer to tap in the non-pully side bearing into the mount, put the pully-side bearing mount on and then the pully.

I have not had a chance to use the new head yet but I am hoping to get time to test it out this week.

I hope this is helpful.

[Monty]

That sounds really nice! Thanks for sharing your experience here - you may be an inspiration for those of us who have a similar machine. Let us know how it cuts!

[Travis Porter]

Would love to hear what you think about the differences in cutting. Those things are not cheap for sure.

[Alan in Little Washington]

As soon as I can save enough green backs I'm gonna put one on my 8" jointer and 15" planer, not sure which one first, probably the planer- can plane off jointer marks

Where did you get yours? Holbren prices ($419) are a little more than Grizzly and Amazon ($395) for the 8" jointer head but they are supposedly willing to deal. The one Amazon reviewer sure didn't have the easy time you did. He tried to do it without a gear puller and probably ruined the Byrd head, which he sent back.

We are all waiting for your use report.

[mike_wood]

I purchased mine from Grizzly as I had a gift certificate from them I got for Christmas. Decided to use it for the Byrd head. Hopefully I made a good decision.

[Turtlewood]

Originally Posted by Alan in Little Washington

As soon as I can save enough green backs I'm gonna put one on my 8" jointer and 15" planer, not sure which one first, probably the planer- can plane off jointer marks

This is the reason why I'm considering buying the new Grizzly jointer/planer combo with spiral cutterhead:
G0634 12" Jointer / Planer w/ Spiral Cutterhead

It's brand new and not shipping until April. But I'm liking the idea of only having to pay for one spiral cutterhead.

Though there are the other arguments on the combo machine in general such as smaller planer width compared to seprates and the shorter jointer bed lengths.

/Turtlewood

[mike_wood]

I am posting this as an update to the Byrd cutterhead installation.

I have it installed and working. Getting the head aligned (parallel) was a challenge since one cannot sight down the head with the spiral configuration of the blades. Add to that my depth perception is not so good and it took me awhile to get it set up correctly. If you are considering this upgrade, don't underestimate the time it takes to fine tune.

My initial impression is that the results are worth the cost/time. After making a few passes with some pine I ran some rough 8" hard maple that was cupped to flatten it. It came out amazingly smooth after a few passes. It will, for sure, save on sanding time. If I can get to it today I will do some oak. If it comes out as smooth as the maple I will be impressed.

I don't know if this observation is due more to the jointer or the cutterhead but I was surprised at how easily it handled the hard maple over the maximum width. It was very easy to push it through and it never hesitated. Of course consider that I am going from a 6"/110 jointer to a 8"/220 so my judgement is based on the performance of the former.

More later.

[cpowell]

Congrats on an awesome upgrade.

The only thing(s) that keep(s) me from the same thing is...money...general lack of mechanical ability! Please let us know how it works on stock prone to tearout. There's a few species I dread jointing.

Chuck