The cutterhead is a key component of wood planers and jointers, and can significantly affect the efficiency and quality of your woodworking projects. Helical, spiral, and straight cutterheads are three common types used primarily for smoothing the wood surface.
Next, we will concentrate on the distinctive features and uses of helical and straight cutterheads, as well as the key differences between the two. If you are choosing a cutterhead for your planer or jointer, look at this post. We hope it will offer you some references to make your decision easier.
What are Helical and Straight Cutterheads?
Helical cutterheads and straight cutterheads are advanced cutting tools used in woodworking machines, like thickness planers and jointers. Their ultimate goal is to eliminate the unevenness of the board's surface and make it smooth.
Straight cutterheads generally consist of a rotating shaft with 2-4 flat and straight blades. These blades are fixed and are usually made of HSS or carbide. When working, the blades contact the material sequentially, which corresponds to 2-4 contacts for one revolution of the cutter shaft.
The blades (indexable inserts) of a helical cutterhead are easily replaceable and are arranged in a spiral pattern along the circumference of the cutterhead. Each blade cuts at a slightly different angle. This angled positioning creates a shearing effect during the cutting process.
Key Differences for Helical vs Straight
Helical cutterheads and straight knives are two different types of woodworking tools used for planing and jointing wood boards. Now, we will explore the differences between the two in terms of blade design, cutting performance, and cost.
Blade Design
The structure of a straight knife is relatively simple. Its blade is linear and parallel mounted on the cutter shaft. When working, each blade is in contact with the material in turn, so each cut will be affected by a more obvious cutting resistance. Therefore, when used, it is noisy and has a large load on the equipment, which is not suitable for long-term processing needs.
The inserts on a helical cutterhead are arranged in a helical pattern along the circumference of the cutterhead, changing from straight cutting to shearing cutting. This evenly distributes the resistance to each blade, effectively reducing noise.
Straight knives are generally made of HSS with toughness, hardness, and wear resistance. However, it is difficult to support the large demand of planing work, so the cutterheads with carbide inserts gradually take their place.
The helical cutterhead is made of tungsten carbide with high hardness. The durability, toughness, and wear resistance have been greatly improved, making it possible to be used for a long time.
Cutting Performance
Straight cutterheads are less sharp after being used for a long time and tend to leave more visible cutter marks on the wood surface, which is often called “tear-out”, especially when handling soft wood or wood with complex grain.
The cutting mode of helical cutterheads can effectively minimize tear-out, which also reduces the burden of the subsequent project processing.
Using a straight knife generates vibration, which further leads to instability in the cutting process and also affects accuracy. In addition, excessive vibration can lead to wear and tear of the tool and equipment, reducing service life.
When using a spiral cutterhead, vibration is significantly reduced, which not only helps to improve accuracy but also extends the service life of the cutterhead and equipment.
Cost
Straight knives are low-cost to manufacture and more affordable. However, straight blades wear out fast, especially when working with hardwoods or making heavy-duty cuts. This makes it necessary to replace your blades frequently, which increases the overall cost of the tool to some extent.
Spiral cutter heads are more complex to manufacture and therefore relatively costly. However, they have a longer service life than straight cutters. From a long-term perspective, the overall cost of a helical cutterhead may be lower.
In addition, the inserts of spiral cutterheads are indexable. When one cutting edge is worn out, it can be replaced by rotating the insert to another cutting edge for continued use, further improving the utilization of the insert and reducing the cost.
Which One Do You Choose?
In summary, the spiral cutterhead produces a smoother wood surface, lower noise, and less vibration than a straight cutterhead. However, the helical cutterhead is more expensive. Just make a purchasing decision based on your actual needs and budget.
To be honest, we prefer a helical cutterhead for the thickness planer or the jointer. FindBuyTool offers the best helical cutterhead for DW 735 & DW 735X. It’s equipped with 56 carbide inserts on a 4-row design. It handles all types of wood and produces fewer wood chips, noise, and vibration, allowing your tasks to be accomplished more efficiently.
Hope this post can be helpful to you. If you have any confusion about this blog, leave a comment and your email address below, and we will give you feedback ASAP. Furthermore, we would greatly appreciate it if you shared this post on your social media.
FAQ About Helical Cutterhead vs Straight Cutterhead
#1. Are helical cutter heads worth it?
Yes. Helical cutter heads create a smooth wood surface and reduce the possibility of tear-out.
#2. Which is better helical or spiral cutterhead?
I can't tell you which one is better. You can choose the right cutter head for your needs, wood types, budget considerations, and desired results. The helical cutterhead is more recommended.
#3. What is the difference between helical and straight cut planers?
Compared to a straight-cut planer, the helical cutterhead planer can produce smoother finishes and lower noise and vibration levels. However, the helical cutterheads are much more expensive and require more maintenance in the long term.
Read More: Spiral vs. Helical Cutterhead: Essential Differences You Should Know
