Mounts for gas engine on homebuilt bandsaw mill?

[AncientTom]

I am thinking on building a small band saw mill after the Christmas holidays. I purchased a Harbour Freight gas engine for this project and fired it up. It has an amount of vibration but that is to be expected.

I have been educating myself for the past several weeks watching all the videos on professional and home brewed saw mills that I can find. In all the videos I've watched I have not seen anything about shock mounting the engine when mounting it on the frame.

My question is, is this something to be concerned about?  If I do try to isolate the engine vibration from the saw frame, will the dancing of the engine independent of the saw frame create problems in the tensioning of the drive belt?

[Den-Den]

Mine is bolted down solid, no issues.  A little flex in the motor mounting should be OK but you should limit how much it can "dance".

[AncientTom]

If I use rubber isolation mounts, would you think that a spring loaded idler wheel on the belt might minimize the resulting dancing slop in the belt tension?

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum,  AncientTom!

I don't think you would want to allow much movement in the engine mounting system!

The reason being, it's going to move when the blade is engaged!

Most sawmills I've seen, the engine is allowed minimal movement, or none!

The engine on my LT40 had rubber bushings in the mounting system, but when they went bad, I installed the aluminum ones with the brass bushing in the middle, thus eliminating any movement!

[AncientTom]

Okay then I will hard mount it to  the frame and hope for the best.

[starmac]

I would not mount it solid, even minute flexing can crack the block, there has to be some give somewhere.

[hamish]

I would not mount it solid, even minute flexing can crack the block, there has to be some give somewhere.

The give is in the PTO side of things, be it the belt or spider etc....

[Gearbox]

I have a HF 13 bolted solid on the home built processer . Wore out a 11 HP Briggs . It is pulled down all kinds of woods roads and main roads . No way a sawmill is going to get treated like that .

[Kbeitz]

13hp Honda bolted solid to 12" wide x 3/8" thick channel. No problems.

[AncientTom]

I have a HF 13 bolted solid on the home built processer . Wore out a 11 HP Briggs . It is pulled down all kinds of woods roads and main roads . No way a sawmill is going to get treated like that .

Don't know what kind of device your processor might be and how it relates to the engine vibration effect would be on a band saw mill log cut???

[AncientTom]

13hp Honda bolted solid to 12" wide x 3/8" thick channel. No problems.

Thanks

[Kwill]

I'm in the middle of my build also. I plan on bolting my solid also. I see your over by phillipsburg. Not to far away.

[Gearbox]

What I am saying is there is a lot more stresses hauling an engine on something going down a road at 60 MPH than you will ever put on a band mill . Build it like you want .

[AncientTom]

... I see your over by phillipsburg. Not to far away.

That fish you are holding up looks like it's from my pond, caught in my neighbor's pond. My neighbor has all my fish now because last spring, my pond's dam gave way. If it weren't for the loan I am paying off now to rebuild my dam, I would be tempted to buy a Wood Mizer mill. As good as WM is, I think that I can do better for a lot less money.

[AncientTom]

What I am saying is there is a lot more stresses hauling an engine on something going down a road at 60 MPH than you will ever put on a band mill . Build it like you want .

Thank you for the clarification. My concern is not for the structural integrity of the mill frame, it's for the possibility of the engine vibration disturbing the stability of the blade cutting through the log.

[Kwill]

... I see your over by phillipsburg. Not to far away.

That fish you are holding up looks like it's from my pond, caught in my neighbor's pond. My neighbor has all my fish now because last spring, my pond's dam gave way. If it weren't for the loan I am paying off now to rebuild my dam, I would be tempted to buy a Wood Mizer mill. As good as WM is, I think that I can do better for a lot less money.

that big crappie came out of pomme de terre

[bandmiller2]

Could use po-boy engine mounts, thats  hockey pucks with a hole in the middle. Most mills I've seen are just bolted to a good flat base. Frank C.

[AncientTom]

 :new_year: