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Home built slabber

Started by flip, June 13, 2007, 10:44:05 AM

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Captain

The sag in a 72" GB bar like the one we use on our slabbers is substantial with just the bar, worse when the weight of the chain is added.   It needs some sort of parallel tensioner to prevent sag and increase stability, it can not "free hang".

Captain

Fla._Deadheader


Exactly how tight do you keep the chain ???
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Captain

It is tensioned similarly to a chain saw, pull it off the bar and you should be able to just see the drive links.

Captain

flip

Thanks for the info.  Do you feel that the 72" bar is adequate, do you ever run into times when you get to a log and go, "crap I wish I had another 10" of bar".  With a 72" bar what is the actual cut you can get?
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

TexasTimbers

If I ever need more than 72" of bar it will be because I am cutting a tabletop having left the fork in it for effect. I have done that, vertical free handed with a 50". I think Reid has done it free hand with a 72" bar. :o

If I ever need more than a 72" bar for just a trunk, I figure it will mean I imported a log cause I don't think I ever seen one that big around here.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

flip

I'm kinda in big tree area for Indiana.  I get some I have to turn down because they are 50" or better and prefer not to rip around on 'em.  It would be nice to cant out a big one and toss it on the band mill and go to town though. ???
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

TexasTimbers

Well like they say, everything is bigger in . . . . . Indiana. ;D :)
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

flip

 :D :D :D :D...The only thing bigger here is my belly :-\
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

flip

I'm looking here at how many views this thread has and it has occurred to me that someone is going to have to build one and post a LOT of pics.  There seems to be some curiosity here. 
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

DanG

Shucks Flip!  We was waiting for you to build one and post lots of pics. ::)

If you got that long bar, you could mount it at an angle and let it help pull the mill along, like that bandmill that Haytrader got. :P
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

flip

I'm going to build build one but I'm trying to source out a used 25 horse engine and figure out which type of track system I want to use- lucas or peterson style.  I think it would be easier to raise the track than to use a carriage type. It will be similar to the peterson dedicated slabber.  72" bar (ala Captain), jack shaft so not to run straight off of the engine and give me some speed adjustment options.  I may be a month or so before I start because of some furniture I've been commissioned to build as well as a computer desk and chest for Lori.  Stay tuned  I'll keep posting here as I obtain parts and start assembling.
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

stevensam

Hi, I've been reading this topic with some interest as I have just built a 4 stroke chainsaw mill, it's more designed as per a bandmill then a dedicated Lucus/Peterson slabber.  Granted it's still in the development stage but is does cut.  I also have a Procut chainsaw mill (husky 3120) and a Simplesaw homebuilt bandsaw mill, I normally use the Procut to open the log then use the bandsaw mill to do the resawing.

Having 90% of the materials already I decided to build the 17hp briggs chainsaw mill with a 1 meter cut to replace the Procut.  Anyone done milling with a chainsaw knows the drawbacks of the hard work, fumes, slow cut and forever refuelling but the main advantages are low initail cost, portability and ease of sharpening.  I was hoping a 4 stroke mill could possibly counter some of the drawbacks and maintain most of the positives.  So far in the initail stages I would say there isn't much difference in the speed of cut but it takes very little effort to push the saw through the log and you don't get a lung full of fumes  :)


The main change I need to make is to swap the drive shaft onto the other side of the carriage as it is cutting on the topside of blade as opposed to the bottom like a chainsaw.  There are more photos in my gallery to look at if interested.
Any questions let me know, Steve.

Ron Wenrich

I like that setup.  I can see how that could be made into a slabber.  You wouldn't be messing with trying to raise the rails, but you would be lowering the sawhead. 

If you're cutting on the wrong side of the blade, wouldn't it make sense to feed from the opposite direction?
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

stevensam

You're right Ron. Feeding in the opposite direction is the right way but I designed the mill to be raised/lowered and to work the pulley clutch on the side I was working. 

It still cuts fine that way but I did try cutting in the opposite direction as you mentioned  and it did seem to cut faster, or maybe I just thought that  ???   


Part_Timer

Maybe Burlkraft can post a pic of his slabber and how it hooks up.

Very nice chainsaw mill.  That would be tthe ticket for making beams in a hurry
Peterson 8" ATS.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Jim Shockey


Steven;
   I also have the procut mill and like it very well. I have been thinking of putting a 4 stroke motor on it the way you did. I run 3/8 chain most of the time and I cannot find a drive sprocket to adapt the chain to the shaft. What did you use to get it  to work. I have some pictures in my albums.  Thank you,  Jim
Jim

Ironwood

Yes, "sag can be an issue if you get over 72". Captains got that right.

As for the frame, I would opt to "come from above". This gives you unlimited options for cutting. Remember some of these logs can weigh 20,000-40,000 lbs. The frame in the picture is 40' long, yes, forty feet. That is a LOOOOONG log. These pictures were taken in 1998. I will be powering this soon with an electric motor. The legs of the frame are "fully compressed" it can extend to 12' or so above the ground. Anyone need a 5"x 38" x 40' piece of lumber? I will also be building a "deck" which will hydraulically raise and lower at the four corners to true up a log, it will have hold downs as well.


          Reid


 

There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

stevensam

Reid nice set up.  Did you design and build that yourself, if so great achievement. 

Likewise Jim, I bet you noticed the relative ease of operating your Procut mill compared to the Alaskan mill.  For the drive sprocket I used a 404 harvester 12 tooth sprocket with a bore dia of 25mm.  There is a lot of power being transferred to the chain and I was a little hesitant in running a 3/8 chain so I didn't really look into it. 

There are at least a couple of 4 stroke mills around and recently there was a few good photos on the diybandmill.com website ('tims tree saw' gallery) of his work in progress.  I think he will be running a 3/8 chain?

Ironwood

Stevensam,

Thanks, IT was a group effort with myselfand a freind's fab shop. I used to work there in college. He is an old family friend and is a great guy to know!!

                Reid
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

TexasTimbers

SS, that is a good looking machine you built. I saw it in the gallery as you loaded the pics. Reids setup is awesome eh. I am gonna duplicate his somewhat. I have these two 18 foot long, 18" x 1/2" thick I beams that I will weld together end to end and will serve as the overhead, monorail frame. I haven't worked out the details but they will come. I don't know if I am going to mount the 36' long beam on top of hydraulic cylinders or use a gear and chain to get syncronized vertical adjustment like a planer uses.
Lots of things to think about but it will be next year most likely before I start.

Nice work on your machine. Keep us updated on mods if you don't mind.



i have always thought this overhead monorail design would be ideal for a bandsaw. Nothing in the way.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Dangerous_Dan

I have been wanting to make a slabber as well. I want it to run on the same tracks as my swingmill.
I picked up these screw lift assemblies from a junk pile. Not sure what they are from.  ???




Looks like they would make a nice lift frame for a slabber. Any ideas?
First you make it work, then you trick it out!

Haytrader


Those screw jacks may have been used to lift a pickup camper and then sit it on the ground after the truck was pulled out from under it.
Haytrader

TexasTimbers

Having a scale like that on it makes me think it was not used to lift a picjup camper. I don't know what though.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

flip

Ok, I'm going to bring this back up to the top.  After some wrestling, fighting, cussing, blade breaking and such not I'm going to have to do something soon.  So, if you were going to build a slabber would you build it so it rides on stationary rails and the carriage raises and lowers or would you build it so the frame raises.  I want to make it semi-portable so it can be stored in the barn when not needed and move out when we get a biggin'.  More ideas please.

If any of you guys have pics of your slabbers installed (particularly of the bar mounts) I would appreciate them.

Flip
Timberking B-20, Hydraulics make me board quick

jpgreen

Awesome slabber Reid.  I've got to subscribe to this thread../  8)
-95 Wood-Mizer LT40HD 27 Hp Kawasaki water cooled engine-

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