Powermatic 221 Question

[Jonathan Spool]

I just bought a Powermatic 221B thats in pretty good shape. The owner told me it had a segmented head, but I thought for sure he was referring to the infeed rollers or chip breaker, but when I inspected the machine, the head had many rows of 2" blades spaced around 3-4" from each other, offset from the next row. Kind of like a grizzly Helical head but with single edged blades that were real wide. I have never seen this before. Is it a Powermatic head, or an aftermarket upgrade? The planer is set up for a sharpener so I imagine you wouldn't have to align them too often (which must be a PITA).
I wonder now whether I should play with this head, or just upgrade to a Byrd as I originally planned?
Sorry, no pics yet as it was too dark and I have not picked it up yet.

[Joe Jensen]

Those segmented heads are intended primarily for noise reduction.

[James Boster]

That is a Powermatic "Quiet Head". You are correct in that they are a PIA to adjust and reset. Does the machine have an onboard sharpener? IF so that would help if not then I would go for the Byrd head but be prepared for the price. A Byrd head for my Powermatic 225 is over $4,000 for the head alone!!

[Jonathan Spool]

Unfortunatey while the plane has the grinder jockey bar on to, it does not have the grinder assembly. I'm getting the machine from Vintage Woodworking Machines, in Olalla WA and Don tells me he can pick up the Byrd head at wholesale. Byd lists them for just over $2,000, and Redmond Machinery has them for $1850. More than what I paid for the planer! However, I am confident that I probably couldn't have done better as far as getting a quality machine with this combo.