Dialing in the LT-40HD

[Okrafarmer]

Standing corrected, again, did a search on sweetgum,  I want some of this. All the stuff back on Lake Murray was plain white, with no character at all.   Good find, still might watch for metal though.. david

Buddy, I can hook you up with some, for real and a half.  ;D

[Okrafarmer]

Ok, it's been a while since I posted in this thread, but we were anxiously awaiting some parts. We got the valves adjusted on the engine, replaced the manifold gaskets from taking them off, and finally got the right spark plugs. (Thank you, Rodney at Woodmizer!).

So today we finally had it running, and I have now milled around 450 bf of lumber on it. Including a 20' 17" loblolly that I made 2X6's out of for the little barn we're building. The engine runs great now. Made it 450 bf and haven't replaced the blade. Softer wood, of course....

The saw head does seem to be sagging a little, resulting in a cut that is not quite straight. I'm guessing this is the carriage bearings worn out? Guess I need to replace them too.  :-\

[JustinW_NZ]

do you have the manual for it?
You can adjust the head for sag and such its in there.

Email woodmizer and they should send you one (i got my manuals from them)

Cheers

[paul case]

If those rollers were out then the head wouldnt roll easily. Those bearings probably all have grease zerks on them too. There is adjustment bolts on the bottom track rollers to make the head run ''true''. that is 1/16'' high on the outside. PC

[Okrafarmer]

Sounds good. We'll check it out, and give the thing a thorough greasing by the book today.
Here are a few pictures, including the 20 ft. log, and the cant squared off, showing the tear-out in the end. That log Int'l'd at 257, but I got 280+ bf out of it, in spite of the tear-out.


  

  

 

[Okrafarmer]

So does anybody know the weight of that Onan engine, for shipping purposes? Trying to figure it out. . . . our guy heads up to St. Louis soon, so hoping it costs a lot less to ship to SL than to ship to here.

[sparks]

Roughly about 130 LBS

[sparks]

OOPS!! Sorry, looked at the wrong engine. More like 170 LBS.

[Okrafarmer]

Ah, cool, so with the crate, maybe 225 or 250 ish. Hmm. Thanks!

[Okrafarmer]

Well, I milled some more lumber. I got 550 bf or so on my first new WM Doublehard blade!  8) And I'll have you know, that 20' log was a bit dirty from all the bouncing and jostling around on the ground (well, I felled it right on a dirt pile to start with, and then the Robert cat couldn't pick it up, so I had to scoot it to the mill). I milled another 100 bf log and slabbed off another after the 20', so I was happy with the blade.
8)

We got more of the dialing in done. I thought the saw head was leaning (sagging) down a bit, but as it turns out, it was something I didn't realize about the side supports. This mill has four side supports. The outside pair are hydraulic and work together, the inside pair are manual and work independently. What I didn't realize is, the outer (hyd) pair are not at a 90° angle to the bed. In stead, they lean out a small amount (maybe 3-5° or so). I am guessing this is to allow for large logs to cheat over a bit toward the monorail to allow for more capacity. So, when I would flip my log over after the first cut, it was hard to make a 90° angle, which led me to believe my saw head was sagging. Some of my boards ended up with a parallelogram cross-section.

However, today, I learned that the inner pair of side supports, the manual ones, ARE at a 90° angle. Therefore, to put a good 90 on my second cut, I simply flip up the manual side supports, and now I'm all looking professional.
8) 8) 8)

I was talking to Magicman and asked him about that, and he said his mill (which is newer) has all 90° side supports, and he's never known of any that were like mine. Mine does not seem to have been obviously modified in any way. Here's a picture, although I'm not sure if you can see what I'm getting at very well.



 

As you can see, I don't have an edger yet.  ;D

We also adjusted the bottom rollers, greased most everything (we'd missed some things the first time), and adjusted the chain tension. Here our mech angel adjusts the chain. At first he didn't realize he had to keep it from twisting as he tightened it, but thankfully, I noticed it was twisted before trying to run it, and we got it right!



 

By the way, anyone who is not mechanically inclined (like myself, for instance) really ought to have a mech angel. We love ours! This has been his first experience working on a sawmill, though, so it has been a bit of a learning curve for him on the specifics. He was so impressed with the results of his work on the Onan, that he actually started helping me offbear! Outside his job description, but he saw me struggling with those 20' 2X6's, and more importantly, the flitches I had to edge some of them out of.  :-\ If you guys think I'm big, he could throw me over his shoulder like a tennis ball! (ok, I slightly exaggerate).  :

[Migal]

  Glad your sawing and have a mechanically inclined Man to get addicted too! I'm Learning why we like Pic's too! Nice post's.

[Chuck White]

Okra; Your two hydraulic logstops are out of adjustment, they are supposed to be 90° to the bed!

Glad to hear you got a little sawing done though!

[GDinMaine]

They could be out of alignment or may be worn out.  In my search I found this interesting video and watched it MANY times about a very high hour Woodmizer.  I don't know if the guy inn the video is a member here but he would fit right in.  According to the info on the video "This mill is a 1993 and has sawn over 3 million board feet of lumber." You guys may have seen it lots of times but it was new to me and I think it's great help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcHVxATFvlc

[YellowHammer]

Lay a couple of straight edges across the log bed rails and use a square to adjust all the backstops to 90 degrees.  There's an adjustment bolt on the leg of the backstop for that purpose.  Actually, I like to adjust mine just a hair inboard so that when I put the clamp on, they set back to 90 degrees.

Then tie them all together so they are all operated hydraulically.  The probable reason the hydraulic backstops are out of adjustment is that they saw all the heavy use and the manual ones only were used occasionally.  Make them all work for a living.

YH

[isawlogs]

 As said they are a little out of square, an adjustment is in need, I check mine at least once a year. Not a big job, but will reward you with square cants.  :P

[Okrafarmer]

Ok, I didn't realize they were adjustable.They seem nice and tight, not sloppy. I think I will leave the middle two manual, since they're not needed most of the time. Four up at once can cause certain difficulties  when trying to line up crooked logs (of which I mill many) but can also be beneficial under those circumstances too. I like having options.  ;D

[Meadows Miller]

I like having options.  ;D

OOHHHOOO Thems dangerous words for a Sawmillin Man Mate  ;) :D :D :D :D :D ;D 8)

[Delawhere Jack]

... when trying to line up crooked logs (of which I mill many)...

I feel your pain....... :-\

[Meadows Miller]

I dont know  ;) they are the ones that make it intresting as it takes skill to get usefull timber out of them  ;) ;D ;D try pulling grade timber out of the good side of 5 to 6 million bft of a Pallet Grade Windrow/Break logs over a couple of years  ;)

I do pitty the poor bugger who gets to sit in an aircon cab all day watching 6 to 8 strait logs a min dissaper through the infeed a Hewsaw or ChipNsaw Line waiting for things to jam up  :'(  ;)

[Chuck White]

We also adjusted the bottom rollers, greased most everything (we'd missed some things the first time), and adjusted the chain tension. Here our mech angel adjusts the chain. At first he didn't realize he had to keep it from twisting as he tightened it, but thankfully, I noticed it was twisted before trying to run it, and we got it right!



 

Okra; Just a suggestion!

I think it's written in the sawmill tips thread here!

When you get done adjusting the drive chain and you have that long piece of all-thread hanging out past the end of the mill, slide a short piece of garden hose or heater hose over it and put a hose clamp on it to keep it in place.

It'll keep you from ripping your pants, or worse, your skin on it.  ;)

[Delawhere Jack]

They could be out of alignment or may be worn out.  In my search I found this interesting video and watched it MANY times about a very high hour Woodmizer.  I don't know if the guy inn the video is a member here but he would fit right in.  According to the info on the video "This mill is a 1993 and has sawn over 3 million board feet of lumber." You guys may have seen it lots of times but it was new to me and I think it's great help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcHVxATFvlc

Thanks, that was a very instructive video.

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, very good video. Thanks.
8) 8)