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3rd November 2022, 09:03 PM #1
Scalloping Marks Left by all Helical Spiral Head Cutters?
This week I got a new piece of kit , a brand new Sherwood 13in Deluxe Thicknesser with Helical Spiral Head. I've never had a thicknesser before so it was all new to me!. Like a 10 year old I quickly unpacked the box set the machine up and powered the baby up. First Impressions was, wow its noisy!, however I have nothing to compare it to so no problem there I just slapped my hearing protection on!.
Next I ran a small offcut of American Cherry through to see what it made of that. Because I didn't want to stress the machine much to start with I was turning the handle less than a quarter rotaion!, almost just bumping it lol!. I think it took about 5 passes before it actually started cutting something!. Anyway, having got used to all that I finally ended up with a fully planed surface which seemed perfectly ok until closer inspection...
Running my hand over the cherry surface I could feel slight ridges evenly spaced across the board. I thought maybe there's something I haven't set up correctly but having gone through the instruction manual and leveled the in-feed and out-feed flaps and passed through other test pieces I was getting the same result. So I've turned to Woodwork Forum in hope of an answer!. The first picture is American Cherry, second DAR Tas Oak:
thumbnail_IMG_9058.jpg thumbnail_IMG_9060.jpg
Having done further research I've discovered that most if not all Helical Spiral Head Cutters leave these marks to various degrees. The marks are called Scalloping marks if anyone wishes to do their own research. And for anyone who has a Helical Spiral Head Cutter, check your next workpiece more closely and
you will see them.
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3rd November 2022, 09:19 PM #2
I have a Sherwood 500mm thicknesser, I think all Sherwood heads have the standard 15mm x 15mm carbide cutters.
I do get lines running across my timber, but they sand out ok, however looking at your second pic you seem to have a lot of liners close together (closer than 15mm apart) so your helical head must be designed in such a way that the 15mm cutters overlap each other and do so in a way where there not hitting the surface uniformly, thus giving you those tramlines.
Have you tried the sander on them?
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3rd November 2022, 09:26 PM #3
I've tried hand sanding them, slight improvement. At this stage I'm thinking of taking it back to Timbercon and getting my money back on the grounds of not being fit for purpose. I've seen video's of the Crabatec one for roughly the same price and the stock comes out smoother than a babies ar3e. Pretty disappointing to be honest.
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3rd November 2022, 09:39 PM #4
My Sherwood helical head unit produces a far better finish than that, and far superior to my H&F standard two blade unit. The board only requires a light pass through the drum sander with #120 or higher grit.
Mobyturns
In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever
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3rd November 2022, 09:41 PM #5
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3rd November 2022, 09:48 PM #6Mobyturns
In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever
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3rd November 2022, 09:51 PM #7
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3rd November 2022, 10:28 PM #8
Have a look for yourself. I just popped out and took a couple of shots under an LED flouro.
Reclaimed Northern Silky Oak aged at least 40 years insitu as rafters - 6m x 240mm x 90mm. Most is perfectly quarter sawn. Last week I ripped some 15mm boards for box sides. I ran through at least 20 lm two faces and this is indicative of all the boards. Yes, there are barely discernable scallops, and I mean barely discernable to the naked eye. The medullary flecks in aged NSO will test any planer.Mobyturns
In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever
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3rd November 2022, 10:32 PM #9
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3rd November 2022, 10:46 PM #10
I have done that, and I can't get them to show in the image, they are that indistinct. I honestly can't get them to show in an image. They are very difficult to see with the naked eye and imperceptible to the touch. The medullary figure, and vascular structures is more noticeable to the touch than any scalloping.
Mobyturns
In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever
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3rd November 2022, 10:50 PM #11
Thanks for checking mate. I think I'll get a refund on mine and go with the Carbatec 13" Spiral head, It'll match my Carbatec cabinet saw anyway
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3rd November 2022, 10:55 PM #12
My uneducated guess is that it has the wrong carbide inserts fitted to the helical head. The Sherwood inserts are rather unique and not a typical "industry norm." Search the forum as there have been posts about the inserts and sourcing them.
The scalloping in your second image is unacceptable imho.Mobyturns
In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever
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3rd November 2022, 10:59 PM #13
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3rd November 2022, 11:03 PM #14
And if I find out this is whats happened I'll be going straight to Consumer Affairs Victoria, not my first rodeo unfortunately...
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3rd November 2022, 11:18 PM #15
for details of the cutters go to post #88 here New Sherwood 13in Deluxe Thicknesser with Helical Spiral Head on it's way
Mobyturns
In An Instant Your Life CanChange Forever