electrical hookup on bandmill??

shakor · February 23, 2004, 07:36:18 PM

hi, I just bought the woodmizer lt70 and am wondering what is the best way to hook up an overhead power system for my electrical. IS THERE A TRACK SYSTEM THAT WILL WORK?

Norm · February 24, 2004, 05:03:02 AM

Here's how I hooked up my lt30. Mine doesn't have as much travel as yours will.

From the box is a couple of chinese finger traps. If the cable ever catches on anything (and it will) these keep the cable from pulling out of the box.

It's not fancy but it works for me.

shakor · February 24, 2004, 06:47:52 AM

mine will have 26 feet of travel. and my ceiling is only about a foot higher than the mill.

D._Frederick · February 24, 2004, 07:58:57 AM

Shakor,

I think what I would do is get barn door track that the carriages run inside of the track and mount it has high as possible. For your 26 ft travel, you should have about 6 carriages, I would mount an arm on the mill that would be directly under the track to move the carriages back and forth. Connect the carriages together with a chain, so that the chain is moving the carriages. Connect the power cable to the carriages with larger loops than the chain, this way there is no strain on the power cable. The cost of the track system about a 100 bucks.

Bibbyman · February 24, 2004, 09:38:48 AM

Did you talk to Rick Lauman at WM about runnin' the cables to the motor through the cable track? (That is assuming you got the remote operator station so you'd have a cable track.) I think that's how they do it on the LT300. That would work out a lot better than overhead.

slowzuki · February 24, 2004, 09:45:38 AM

Sounds better than my idea, I was thinking those roll up cable guide blocks like these only bigger.

EDIT

Link to picture that was here
http://www.torchmate.com/cable_carrier.jpg

Sorry Jeff, I'll try and upload a new version tomorrow, no image editor on this machine and is a dialup connection.
/EDIT

slowzuki · February 24, 2004, 09:49:22 AM

Link is http://www.mcmaster.com/asp/DisplCtlgPage.asp?ReqTyp=CATALOG&CtlgPgNbr=1357&CtlgEdition=&sesnextrep=405542351175964&ScreenWidth=1024&McMMainWidth=812

There is a page before and after too.

Furby · February 24, 2004, 02:41:04 PM

I might have cheaper way then the barn door track. I'll ask around and see if I can also get a pic.

Furby · February 25, 2004, 02:45:39 PM

I was thinking last night that if you want something really easy and cheap, just string a cable with a bunch of pulleys on it. The cranes at work have that set-up.

I asked around and I was told that this stuff is called unistrut. Here are a few pics.

If you do a google search you may find what you want. Here's a link to one site. Unistrut
I did not see the trolley listed anyplace, but I'm sure you can find it.

The thing I like about these tracks are the they are only a couple inches tall, and they won't get as much sawdust build up as the barn door track would.

I would use the finger traps, like Norm said, and make sure you use the chain or good rope like D. was talking about.

Haytrader · February 25, 2004, 05:36:58 PM

Looks like barn door track to me.
Course I argued about the boogie axles that I thought were walking axles, so what do I know.

:P

;D

redpowerd · February 25, 2004, 06:02:02 PM

i got some of that unistrut from a demo job. used to hang lights. i used it for hangin track lights in my shop. i have some chunks left, but youd have to piece it together. spose itd
save on freight. lemme know if interested.

Minnesota_boy · February 25, 2004, 06:03:09 PM

I watched a circle saw mill that had hydraulics on the carriage. To carry the hoses they had a jointed arm that was hinged on one end to the hydraulic pump end but high up. The other end was fastened to the carriage with a hinge so it could flex too. In the middle was another hinge. As the carriage traveled, the arm would flex in ann out in the middle as the carriage moved. It kept the hydraulic lines up and out of the way of everything. Just take a look at your arm and imagine your shoulder to be the point where the power came from. Your hand could be on the carriage and your elbow would flex like that arm did on the mill.

ADfields · February 25, 2004, 06:53:04 PM

Minnesota_boy, so the "elbow" would be way up in the air when the "shoulder" was near the "hand" ??? If I got this right it is like 12 or 15 feet in the air? Or am I all wet and missed what you meant. :-/
Andy

Minnesota_boy · February 25, 2004, 07:09:17 PM

ADFields,
Nope, the elbow was on the horizontal, so it would be right next to the mill and then extend out over the carriage as it went by, then come back in as the carriage went to the end of its travel. Wish i were an artist, a picture would answer that question real quick.

redpowerd · February 26, 2004, 07:07:50 AM

i know, hes a contortionist! :D

cpm · February 26, 2004, 05:44:03 PM

great idea with the barn door door track. I think i have just enough layin around ;) Now if i can only find the rollers!! ???
cpm

cluckerplucker · February 27, 2004, 12:04:31 PM

lowes sells the rollers buy enough and maybe my stock will soar ! cecil

Furby · February 27, 2004, 04:45:13 PM

Haytrader and D., you both have my apologies!
I did a google on barn door track and you are both right on the money.
The track I was thinking of was some round stuff a friend used. The trolly sticks out the side and hangs down. It works really well, until you get some debris inside the track. :-/

ADfields · February 28, 2004, 01:15:10 AM

Minnesota_boy, I got ya now! I was driving down the road in Wasilla today and saw a mill under a tarp and it had the arms you describe on it. Looks like it would work very very well. Only thing I see wrong is it's gangley looking but who gives a rip if it works good, never needs repair and is cheep! ;)
Andy

Minnesota_boy · February 28, 2004, 06:20:14 AM

Yep, on the cheap. Sorry I did such a lousy job explaining it. It might require a greasing on each of the pivots once or twice a day unless you mounted it with sealed bearings. If I were doing it, I'd leave a pretty good amount of slack cable at each pivot so it wouldn't have to flex too sharply.