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LT40 Mods...Phase I complete (pics)

Started by D6c, May 20, 2017, 12:21:47 PM

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D6c

Had a little time over the last few days to build some components for the toe boards and side stops.  Pretty much got all the pieces to begin putting them together....cylinder mounts, arms to weld to side stops, mounting brackets for toe boards, toe board rollers, shaft & links, etc.

As long as I didn't make a mistake measuring the frame, things should go together.  I designed the linkages in Solidworks so that I could refine the motion and get it to work like I think it should.  (never know for sure until you try it out)



 




 

pineywoods

That's pretty much the way I did mine. Hint,,,Adjust the linkage between the 2 backstops so that the height of the downstream stop is 1/4 inch lower than the upstream..  that way, if the blade misses the first one, it;s definetly gonna miss the other.. ;D
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Chuck White

~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

D6c

Yes, that sounds like a good idea...then I'll only have one stop with scars on it. 

Brucer

There's a bonus if you follow Pineywoods' suggestion. As long as the downstream side stop is even a little bit lower, you can sight along the tops of the side stops; if the blade is above your line of sight, you won't hit either stop.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

D6c

I welded up the toe board assy.  The roller is a 2 1/2" OD x 2" ID DOM tube and the shaft is 2" (turned about .020 undersize) and with the ends turned down to 1 1/2" to fit the links.
Probably overkill on size....I just scaled pictures that I'd taken and got it approx. the same size.

It's permanently welded together and I don't want the roller to get to sticking with rust, but with grease zerks on both ends I don't think I'll ever have trouble with it rolling freely.

 



 

Peter Drouin

A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Darrel

That looks really good, my mill is begging for a set of those, guess I'd better get busy.  8)
1992 LT40HD

If I don't pick myself up by my own bootstraps, nobody else will.

D6c

Got one of the toe boards mounted today.  Not sure if it will make much difference, but I decided to mount them on the inside of the outer rails rather than on the outside.  The rails are just a little under 8' outside to outside so if I have a log right on 8' the toe boards wouldn't catch the end if mounted on the outside of the rail like I've seen on factory WM setups.
I'm guessing the newer mills may have the rails a little closer together but I don't know.

The roller raises about 4 1/2" above the bed rail when all the way up.



  

  

 

Not as much room on the inside of the rails but i think it'll work.  The only problem I ran into was cylinder length.  I measured one of the cylinders center to center to design the mounting arm but didn't notice there is a difference between the two cylinders I got from WM.  Of course I happened to measure the long one which caused a little interference when I mount the shorter of the two.  Not a big problem to clear the arm a little.  That will teach me not to design things close on clearance.

47sawdust

Heads up thinking there on the roller placement.I've been sawing a lot of 8' logs and the front toe roller doesn't catch the log.
Mick
1997 WM Lt30 1999 WM twin blade edger Kubota L3750 Tajfun winchGood Health Work is my hobby.

Ga Mtn Man

You do some first-class fab word D6c.  What are you using to cut out the parts?
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy." - Red Green


2012 LT40HDG29 with "Superized" hydraulics,  2 LogRite cant hooks, home-built log arch.

Crossroads

With the right fulcrum and enough leverage, you can move the world!

2017 LT40 wide, BMS250 and BMT250,036 stihl, 2001 Dodge 3500 5.9 Cummins, l8000 Ford dump truck, hr16 Terex excavator, Valley je 2x24 edger, Gehl ctl65 skid steer, JD350c dozer

D6c

Quote from: Ga Mtn Man on July 13, 2017, 05:58:23 PM
You do some first-class fab word D6c.  What are you using to cut out the parts?

I have a some equipment in the corner of my shop...lathe, bridgeport, drill press, vertical saw, & surface grinder.  It's been king of nice to do a little machine work on this project.  I don't get a chance to keep my skills up like I used to and it's amazing how rusty you get after a while.

Magicman

Quote from: 47sawdust on July 13, 2017, 03:25:12 PM
Heads up thinking there on the roller placement.I've been sawing a lot of 8' logs and the front toe roller doesn't catch the log.
D6c has that covered by mounting both of his toe boards on the inside.  The rest of us have to remember to always load short (8') logs "butt to the front".   ;D
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

D6c

I'm down to figuring out how I want to modify the side supports....lengthening the arms and adding rollers.
With raising the bed 2" the supports are a little short at about 7 1/4" above the rails.

How tall is WM building them these days?  Any thoughts on how tall I should make them?
I made a couple of slip-in extensions a while back that added 6" so if I use them they'd be around 12 1/4"



 


Since the supports are square tubing, I was thinking of adding a single roller on the top instead of the 2-roller arrangement I seen WM using.  Any reason why one roller won't work?

Here's what I had in mind.....


 


I've got all the linkage for the side supports and toe boards put together.


 
In case it looks like everything has gone exactly to plan...it didn't.  I made a error in measuring the center to center length of the side support cylinder.  Had it about an inch shorter than it actually is, which made the mounting bracket too long.
Not a disaster.....just had to cut an inch or so out of the middle of the bracket and weld it back together.


  

  

 
Squirt a little paint on it and it'll never show.....



Ga Mtn Man

They are 11" above the bed to the tip.  Longer would be better but I'm sure you're aware that the ones on your mill aren't built as stout as newer mills, so that should be a consideration when going long.
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy." - Red Green


2012 LT40HDG29 with "Superized" hydraulics,  2 LogRite cant hooks, home-built log arch.

D6c

Quote from: Ga Mtn Man on July 17, 2017, 06:57:41 PM
They are 11" above the bed to the tip.  Longer would be better but I'm sure you're aware that the ones on your mill aren't built as stout as newer mills, so that should be a consideration when going long.

Thanks....I'll probably stick to about that height.  The adjustment brackets aren't real strong and I may end up having to build heavier ones if I can't keep it in adjustment.
Spent half the afternoon adjusting the side supports.  Kind of a tedious job getting them all straight & square.  Had to weld up the end of one of the pipes to get it to line up with the others.  It had been cut a little short on the end that mounts to the main frame tube.

The pipes that the side supports pivot on look to be just sch. 40 pipe and aren't very round.  It always caused a problem with getting the tension set right.  Too loose in one spot & too tight in another.
I put the supports in the mill and "bored" the outside of the pipe to make them truly round on the end.  MUCH better now....nice even tension all the way up & down.   :)

Chuck White

On my mill, with the sawhead height scale set on 11¼" the blade will "just" clear the uprights
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

D6c

I'm going to call Phase II of this project complete...(adding toe boards, side stop linkage, and cylinders)
I finished up modifying the side supports and assembled all of the components (at least temporarily)



 

Made the side stops about 11" to top of the roller with the front support being just a touch taller than the rest to make it less likely that I'll cut into them....at least not All of them.



 

In the 2nd photo you can see I put blocks on the rails so the short stops are in line with the side supports.  I think newer machines are already like this.  It was necessary because the stop on the hydraulic clamp is designed in that position.  I could have modified the hyd. clamp but decided to see if this easier solution works ok.



 

Next up will be starting work on the hydraulics.  I've got the pump, 6-section stack valve, & hyd filter.  I need to start designing an enclosure with enough room to house the components and all the hoses etc.  I'm going to leave room for a 7th valve in case I decide to add a log lift later.   I spent part of today sorting out what hydraulic fittings and hose ends I'll need plus got a rough measurement of how much hose it will take.


Magicman

That is first class fabrication. 

Get a couple of larger pieces of square tubing ~18" long that will slip over your side supports.  Use these when you are turning (too) large logs or logs with irregular flutes.  Slip them on, turn the log, and then remove them.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

paul case

I dont know why but neither of my mills have the ''cant dogs'' on the inner bed rails. I think they thought they wernt necessary  since the back of the clamp would catch a cant there. However on short logs they would be nice. You may have a ''better than new one'' when you are done.
Quote from: Magicman on July 23, 2017, 10:25:55 PM
That is first class fabrication. 

My thoughts exactly.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

Chuck White

No idea why, but I guess they didn't put them on any of the two inner bed rails, just the main two!

I've thought about making a cant dog for each of the inner rails, but that's still "just a thought"!

Would definitely be nice when sawing short stuff!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Crossroads

That will be a dream to run when you finish it, keep up the good
Work!
With the right fulcrum and enough leverage, you can move the world!

2017 LT40 wide, BMS250 and BMT250,036 stihl, 2001 Dodge 3500 5.9 Cummins, l8000 Ford dump truck, hr16 Terex excavator, Valley je 2x24 edger, Gehl ctl65 skid steer, JD350c dozer

D6c

Finally found time to do a little work on the hydraulic part of this project.  There is sheet metal shop nearby that does nice work with really nice laser cutting machine.  I designed up an enclosure for the valves & pump etc. and sent them an electronic file.
They cut out a flat blank and bent up the box and cover for me.



  

 

They couldn't completely fold up the box because of the depth but used the laser to rip a line along the bend line so it would be easy for me to fold up the ends....worked really well.  The laser cut rips were amazingly thin...less than .010" wide.



 

I clamped it in the hyd. press and bent it up by hand ,finished with a little rubber hammer work, and welded it together.



 


  

 

Added stiffeners, mounted it to the frame, and started getting the components in place.



  

 

Still have to make a cut out for the hyd. levers and an opening for the hoses to enter the main frame tube.

Crossroads

You've done some nice work since the last time I checked in. I decided to upgrade in a big way last week and ordered a new LT40, if all goes well, I'll be picking it up tomorrow and be home in time to saw a 10'x12x12 cedar beam for a customer.
With the right fulcrum and enough leverage, you can move the world!

2017 LT40 wide, BMS250 and BMT250,036 stihl, 2001 Dodge 3500 5.9 Cummins, l8000 Ford dump truck, hr16 Terex excavator, Valley je 2x24 edger, Gehl ctl65 skid steer, JD350c dozer

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