Carbatec Vs Jet Vs Hafco Benchtop Thicknessers. Which one?

[Mobyturns]

Both. Just had a look at SCM, Felder, and Robland, and spirals are just an option from entry level all the way to flagship.

There's many hours of machine time to make a helical head and that costs money, I don't think straight knife heads are going away any time soon.

That may be the case of a purely $$$ based assessment, however on noise reduction, and surface quality a true helical / spiral head (not a psuedo spiral) are streets ahead over a conventional 2 or 3 knife cutter head.

The psuedo spirals imo are nothing more than a marketing ploy to capture a market share. They may be cheaper to manufacture than a true helical / spiral head but simply do not live up to expectations.

It gets back to $$$ vs your hearing and neigbourhood peace!

[elanjacobs]

I'm well aware of the benefits (I got the boss to drop $5k on having one custom made for out thicknesser), I'm just saying that straight knife heads will continue to exist, even at the top end, because they are still quite an expensive option.

The pseudo spirals do still offer the noise and dust collection benefits of real spirals, just not the finish.