Felder Silent vs. SCM/Minimax Xylent vs. Byrd Cutterblocks/Heads

[Kwai]

FWIW...I put a Byrd Shelix on a Dewalt 735 and it reduced the noise level by 10-12 dB.  [cool]

Hi Cheese.
Wow, a 10-12dB real-world reduction is very impressive for the Shelix!
The SCM Xylent company video is claiming 13dB for their spiral block... pretty close (if you can fully believe promo material).

I noticed that the Shelix 16" cutterblock has 8 wings of knives with a total of 128 knives.
The Xylent 16"/410mm has only 66 knives as mentioned earlier by AtlantaWood.
Not sure what having twice/half as many knives means performance-wise, but that's a big difference in block design.

Cheers, Kwai

 

[online421]

FWIW...I put a Byrd Shelix on a Dewalt 735 and it reduced the noise level by 10-12 dB.  [cool]

Hi Cheese.
Wow, a 10-12dB real-world reduction is very impressive for the Shelix!
The SCM Xylent company video is claiming 13dB for their spiral block... pretty close (if you can fully believe promo material).

I noticed that the Shelix 16" cutterblock has 8 wings of knives with a total of 128 knives.
The Xylent 16"/410mm has only 66 knives as mentioned earlier by AtlantaWood.
Not sure what having twice/half as many knives means performance-wise, but that's a big difference in block design.

Cheers, Kwai

for 410mm wide, Felder has 63 knives. almost same number of knives but Felder only has 2 rows, where SCM is 3 rows.

before I purchased my AD951 I asked my Felder agent and was told it is not the more knives the better.

Kwai, coming back to your question, if I were in your position, I will get the Xylent cutter block, yes it is more costly but spreading out 10-15 years, the differences is minimum, It is almost like you drive a Porsche and you want to swap out an engine, do you put in a better Porsche engine or an aftermarket engine? I know what I will do...

 

[Cheese]

Hi Cheese.
Wow, a 10-12dB real-world reduction is very impressive for the Shelix!
The SCM Xylent company video is claiming 13dB for their spiral block... pretty close (if you can fully believe promo material).

I noticed that the Shelix 16" cutterblock has 8 wings of knives with a total of 128 knives.
The Xylent 16"/410mm has only 66 knives as mentioned earlier by AtlantaWood.
Not sure what having twice/half as many knives means performance-wise, but that's a big difference in block design.

[welcome] to the FOG Kwai.

I performed a before and after test using a 5 buck app on an iPhone so I wouldn’t necessarily call it using scientific method. But there is a very discernable difference in sound pressure levels between the different planer options. So from my experience I’d say that the 13 dB claim from SCM is probably very realistic.

There’s just no way I’d go back to straight blades. I also have a Delta jointer and will add a Shelix/multiple carbide inserts head to that machine.

 

[Kwai]

for 410mm wide, Felder has 63 knives. almost same number of knives but Felder only has 2 rows, where SCM is 3 rows.

before I purchased my AD951 I asked my Felder agent and was told it is not the more knives the better.

Kwai, coming back to your question, if I were in your position, I will get the Xylent cutter block, yes it is more costly but spreading out 10-15 years, the differences is minimum, It is almost like you drive a Porsche and you want to swap out an engine, do you put in a better Porsche engine or an aftermarket engine? I know what I will do...

Thanks for the information and advice online421.
Your AD951 looks awesome, what a beast!

The 128 knives on the 16" Shelix does sound like a lot, I'd imagine that they might generate additional resistance when pushing a board over the planer with 8 wings of cutters. I wonder if that's why Felder went with just 2 rows of spirals?

Have you seen any direct comparisons between the Felder Silent-Power two-spiral and the SCM Xylent three-spiral cutterblocks?
The SCM rep has told me that the Xylent does require more power than their straight cutterblocks for the same depth of cut. Felder seems to have addressed the cutting efficiency with their Silent-Power...

I tend to agree with you about sticking with the Xylent. Good advice for the long run.

Cheers!

 

[Kwai]

[welcome] to the FOG Kwai.

Thanks for the warm welcome Cheese! Looking forward to learning and sharing

 

[Cheese]

Thanks for the warm welcome Cheese! Looking forward to learning and sharing

At 70 something...so am I.  [big grin]

 

[online421]

for 410mm wide, Felder has 63 knives. almost same number of knives but Felder only has 2 rows, where SCM is 3 rows.

before I purchased my AD951 I asked my Felder agent and was told it is not the more knives the better.

Kwai, coming back to your question, if I were in your position, I will get the Xylent cutter block, yes it is more costly but spreading out 10-15 years, the differences is minimum, It is almost like you drive a Porsche and you want to swap out an engine, do you put in a better Porsche engine or an aftermarket engine? I know what I will do...

Thanks for the information and advice online421.
Your AD951 looks awesome, what a beast!

The 128 knives on the 16" Shelix does sound like a lot, I'd imagine that they might generate additional resistance when pushing a board over the planer with 8 wings of cutters. I wonder if that's why Felder went with just 2 rows of spirals?

Have you seen any direct comparisons between the Felder Silent-Power two-spiral and the SCM Xylent three-spiral cutterblocks?
The SCM rep has told me that the Xylent does require more power than their straight cutterblocks for the same depth of cut. Felder seems to have addressed the cutting efficiency with their Silent-Power...

I tend to agree with you about sticking with the Xylent. Good advice for the long run.

Cheers!

My Felder agent told me that as well, 3 rows of knife will generate more resistance. and maybe thats why Felder went with 2 rows? in the old days planer/jointer only had 2 straight knives anyway.

I havnt had any comparison between SCM Xylent and Felder's Silent power.  When I was in the market for a 510mm wide JP combo with spiral head I wanted a SCM, at least a Nova or a FS7.  But the closest machine to me at the time was in Italy.  It would take at least 3-4 months to get them here in NZ.

Compare to Felder, the NZ agent is 2.5km ( about 1.5mile) from where I live, they have 2 x AD951 with Silent power, the agent gave me a good deal (they knew I am a SCM man and have a couple of SCM machines in my workshop already), and I reluctantly purchased the AD951.

To date the Felder has been great, only regret is that I should have bought them earlier.