the open top of the blade socket 27 as seen mast clearly in fig4 on each collar 41 and adapter 29 there is an indexing means 44 45 that mutually cooperate to provide a readily recognizable means for aligning these two components the means normally are mating physical features e g flat spots notches or the like that can be mated by feel just prior to welding in operation when first assembling cutterhead blade sockets 27 are welded to cutterhead blades at approximate positions and pointed in approximate directions precision is not absolutely necessary although reasonable care is taken to achieve approximate directions the combination of an adapter 29 and an alignment collar 41 is then precisely oriented in the desired direction and welds 42 and 43 made to put these components in a firm connection to the cutterhead tooth 33 can then be attached by means of a key not shown through keyway 40 when an adapter 29 wears out or becomes broken and must be replaced weld 42 is burned out to permit the old adapter 29 to be removed and replaced by a new adapter weld 43 is not broken but remains in place connecting collar 41 to blade socket 27 the new adapter 29 can be rotated to find the appropriate location where the indexing means 44 45 flat spot or notch meet and weld 42 can immediately be filled in without further concern about orientation because the original orientation remains in place between collar 41 and blade socket 27 this innovation saves considerable down time that would otherwise be spent making sure the replacement adapter 29 is properly oriented while the invention has been described with respect to certain specific embodiments it will be.