Building a mill.. FIRST LOG WAS A SUCCESS!!

[Crusarius]

Mine is a wheelchair motor. the switch will be lower down the carriage the motor is what sits on top of the mast.

Are you planning on a crank or motorized? My crank is on top of the mast and it is unreachable from the ground.

[jwh f-100]

It will be hand crank for now. I've decided to put the winch/crank right next to where I'll be pushing the carriage.. 


Good day in the shop working on the mill..  I'll get some pictures uploaded this weekend.. 

[Crusarius]

Right after I bought my wheelchair motor off ebay I found a pair of wheelchair motors for $75. If I had seen that I would have got that instead of the single. Then I could have used them for the raise lower and the toe board. or the backstops.

[Kbeitz]

I see wheelchair motors come into the junkyard often .

[Kbeitz]

I can't control the size of the print tonight. If I try to fix it It just gets worse...

[jwh f-100]

I may have to switch from the worn gear to a standard boat winch.. That worm gear is kinda slow..

[ktm250rider]

I went with the worm gear winch found on various internet suppliers.  Found its way too slow so i removed the handle and use my power drill at the moment.  Still at the mocking/grinding/welding/disassembling/welding again stage.  Mine is currently mounting on the horizontal beam and rises and lowers with the head.  Since going to the drill, ive decided at some point ill add wheelchair motor.  
I dont think i like my cable route.  Currently it goes up from the winch to a pulley on the top mast, down to a pulley on the horizontal beam, travels across the horizontal to another pulley and then up to the top mast where its fixed.  It seems to lift from the winch side first and at one spot binds up.

[Kbeitz]

I have the same setup. I also had the problem of one side moving before the other.  I fix it when I add the bearings to the side. 

[jwh f-100]

I dont think i like my cable route.  Currently it goes up from the winch to a pulley on the top mast, down to a pulley on the horizontal beam, travels across the horizontal to another pulley and then up to the top mast where its fixed.  It seems to lift from the winch side first and at one spot binds up.

That's the same routing I was thinking..   BUT I don't want tilting issues.. AND I don't like the idea of all those pulleys.. AND I don't like the idea of the cable running horizontal under my engine plate..
Hmm. I may do the garage door torsion rod set up, minus the spring (not needed.)

[ktm250rider]

It was actually working better until I tried to fix another annoying problem i should have left alone.  I had a little bit of slop in the head assembly but it would raise and lower smoothly.  I set out yesterday to finish weld everything before i started to add the motor and all other accessories.  Before welding, i took the sliding assembly off and drilled a couple more holes for adjustment bolts.  Picture a porter cable drill press on a couple 2x's on the trailer in the basement with a 50lb assembly hanging off the work plate of the press.  I had to have the drill press up off the ground to fit the assembly under the drill press motor.  Not OSHA approved.
Its all welded back together so im hoping with the new adjustment bolts i can fine tune it.  
The cable and pulleys are all out of the way.  They could be easily run across the top.  I was thinking maybe a couple more pulleys to change the run from up-down-across bottom-up to up-down-up-across top-down-up.  Not sure if that would even out the pull.  Its really a cheap setup, or add a ball bearing tensioner.

[Crusarius]

Turnbuckle would work good for evening out the pull.

[jwh f-100]

I was thinking maybe a couple more pulleys to change the run from up-down-across bottom-up to up-down-up-across top-down-up.  Not sure if that would even out the pull.  Its really a cheap setup, or add a ball bearing tensioner.

Just remember every "loop" you have adds more cable to draw in.. This would create a slower movement... But maybe a good thing in some instances..

[Kwill]

I have the same problem with one side moving before the other. My thought was to mount the winch in the center and put 2 separate cables going down to the out edges of the slide tubes. Josh aka Mazda thumps setup is kinda like that. He also has turnbuckles.

[Kbeitz]

The winch would not have to be in the center just the tackle pulley.

[Kwill]

Your bearing idea looks like it would work good for taking any slop out if the sliders but I wonder how it fixed the lifting issue?

[jwh f-100]

The winch would not have to be in the center just the tackle pulley.

I have the same problem with one side moving before the other. My thought was to mount the winch in the center and put 2 separate cables going down to the out edges of the slide tubes. Josh aka Mazda thumps setup is kinda like that. He also has turnbuckles.

Both good thoughts..  I ordered a couple drum pulleys to do a torsion setup but maybe I'll take this route. It sure would be a cleaner look..

[Kwill]

I have couple of those drum pulleys from a garage door spring. Those mounted on each side should make it raise even but I'm wondering how a guy would hook the to either a motor or winch?

[Ljohnsaw]

Kwill,
Have the winch cable (unwound from the winch) wound up on the garage door rod and that cable down to your head (fully down).  Winch the cable in, it winds up the garage rod and its cable.

[jwh f-100]

I have couple of those drum pulleys from a garage door spring. Those mounted on each side should make it raise even but I'm wondering how a guy would hook the to either a motor or winch?

My theory yet to be proven lol....
On the winch side the cable would go from the saw head up to and around the drum equivalent to needed lift then continue down to the winch. Would have to make sure cable tracks properly on drum, and drum has double needed cable capacity.
On other side go from saw head directly up to drum.
A motor could be hooked to winch or directly to torsion rod with the correct gearing...

[Kwill]

Kwill,
Have the winch cable (unwound from the winch) wound up on the garage door rod and that cable down to your head (fully down).  Winch the cable in, it winds up the garage rod and its cable.

Or you could put a gear on the garage door rod and chain over to the winch

[Kbeitz]

Your bearing idea looks like it would work good for taking any slop out if the sliders but I wonder how it fixed the lifting issue?

The lifting issue was caused by the slop from the slides.

[Kwill]

Your bearing idea looks like it would work good for taking any slop out if the sliders but I wonder how it fixed the lifting issue?

The lifting issue was caused by the slop from the slides.

Ah OK it was binding. Do you have them on both sides?

[Kbeitz]

Ah OK it was binding. Do you have them on both sides?

It was not binding but the slop left the easiest part move first. I put one on both sides but one presses 90 degrees from the other. One pushes to the side the other pushes towards the front. That also took out any shimmy that I had.

[Kwill]

Ah OK it was binding. Do you have them on both sides?

It was not binding but the slop left the easiest part move first. I put one on both sides but one presses 90 degrees from the other. One pushes to the side the other pushes towards the front. That also took out any shimmy that I had.

Ok  so are their 4 or 2. 

[Kbeitz]

Ok  so are their 4 or 2. 

Just 2