iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Building a DIY Homemade debarker for my Woodmizer LT35HD

Started by MikeySP, February 23, 2019, 12:08:28 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

btulloh

Those leads are almost certainly added by (or for) Woodmizer to suit their application.  I would have to ASSume the same as you - that red goes to the plus side.  One way to confirm this would be to hook the red lead to the POS terminal of a battery, the black lead to a 12V bulb, and the other side of the bulb to the NEG battery terminal.  If the bulb does NOT light up, then your/my assumption is correct.  You could use a voltmeter instead of the bulb (it would read very close to 0.00v if wired correctly.  Some DVM's have a diode check capability (part of the resistance function.)

HM126

MikeySP

Thank you btulloh! I will run the test in the morning. 

MartyParsons

Hello,
   Red goes to + Black to - ground.
Nice job.
Marty
"A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." -Winston Churchill

MikeySP


Vautour

...Hey Mikey.. nice work.... was just wondering what motor did you use ... read your post and maybe missed it... where did you buy ,HP,RPM,volts..tks
the Gospel is WANTED by the people in 52 Countries but made illegal by their Government

MikeySP

Hi Vautour. I found the actual motor they use on these debarkers on Ebay $99 delivered. They had three. Two are still available, I just checked. I do not know what they cost from Woodmizer, but I am very confident it is multiples of this price. If I had the funds, I might have bought a second motor, but that is not close to a need for me.  

Below is a photo of the motor label. If you search ebay with this info it will pop up: Current Applications 4085-024 Motor 12V DC / .75 HP @ 1550 RPM

Three small notes you may already know, but for future readers: 
1. it is a hungry motor: requires 46 amps to feed it. My alternator produces 105 Amps and feeds the debarker and the power feed motor at the same time. Battery does it, but to keep everything happy, the alternator size is important.

2. Everyone needs to evaluate their facts to make a wisdom decision. If I had customers lined up to saw or even a little money left, I would not consider building one since I could increase my sawing skills which are in great need of development. 

3. for the PO man who can't afford another O or R so he can at least be po-o-r, planning it out really well can save more than a few dollars by finding cheaper, yet reliable alternatives. I just did not have time, so I probably spent $150 more than I may have needed (pure guess). I am just over $300 into it, I think. 

I learned a bunch. Glad I have a debarker... almost. Still a few hours to finish, assuming it works as I hope. 

I hope to have a report on Tuesday and maybe a video. I am glad to answer any other questions. 

Today it is honking winds with gusts to 40-45 and lot-o-rain. I don't work Sundays without a very important reason. 

So, Monday I plan to be DONE with it. Unfortunately the debarker blade holder had a machining defect, so the replacement will not be here until the afternoon UPS delivery. WM was very responsive and overnight sipped me one, but the weekend slowed it all up. 

-Mike



 

Crusarius

may be to late to tell you now but one of my thoughts for a debarker was an old 12 volt cordless grinder. have enough rpm's to effectively debark and easy to come by without batteries. can be plugged right into 12v battery and very little draw

now that you spent all that money :)

MikeySP

Crusarius, that is a good idea and actually, I looked into it early on. Even searched prices on ebay. But since I could not find an operational example running on a regular basis, I wanted to stay close to the OEM design since I knew it was tried and true. 

Since I was looking at 12V 3/4HP 1700+/- RPM motors for about $240, I was very happy to find the OEM model for $99. I am sure those who understand motors better than I would have more options they could confidently select from.

I did go with the cable control model which is the lesser performer vs the 1/30hp version. My friend has had a very successful use of the 2012 model, so I went with it as my model with a minor mod of extending the swing arm an extra 1.5" to stay out of trouble on larger logs. This was one problem the early model according to my friend. 

Most prototyping requires a lot of working out of bugs, and I wanted to avoid that, as much as possible. As it is, the biggest bleep on my radar as far as the debarker goes, is "will my chain, spring system work well?". It is probably the most significant mod from the factory design and though close, I am unsettled as to how it will work.

I appreciate you!

-Mike

terrifictimbersllc

The debarker on my mill 2001, has a leeson 3/4 hp with 7/8 shaft which is currently $478. If that motor was really OEM that was a long time ago.
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

MikeySP

Haha, TT, I was eyeballing the leeson, but it was $400+ as I recall. The generic copy was about half. The OEM version for 2012 (first year they offered debarker on LT35 is the current applications momotor shown above.




terrifictimbersllc

Sorry, I forgot we are talking about different mills. Mine is lt40 super, don't know much about lt35.
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Vautour

...thanks for the info Mike ... now i know what to look for thumbs-up
the Gospel is WANTED by the people in 52 Countries but made illegal by their Government

MikeySP

I am glad to report that I am very satisfied with the debarker so far and after using it on a few logs yesterday. I filmed some debarking on the very fist log, but I am not very adept at uploading videos, so i will try to get it done when the weather forces me inside.

Here is a pic of it the two blades making music together:


 


Finally a little sweat on the debarker after running a few laps.


 

Crusarius

That looks great. You probably mentioned this before but where did you get the blade? What diameter is it?

I am still thinking about angle grinder for my debarker.

Does that have a depth stop? or is it limited by sawing speed?

btulloh

Congrats on the debarker and the lumber.

Those grubs sound like pine borers.  They won't bother you later on, but PPB can part of your future.  They probably aren't there now.  FWIW, I had some pine logs that sat too long and got the borers in them.  I sawed siding for my sawmill shed out those logs and put the siding up.  After two years, no sign of any other issues.  I do have some nice peep holes to look through though.
HM126

MikeySP

Crusarius, I purchased Woodmizer blade ~$60 and the blade holder and nuts were another ~$20. I was going to use three 7-1/4" blades in apposing directions, but I had the arbor (blade holder) from Wm and it had a 1" diameter while the circular saw blades were 5/8" and I did not want to mess with balance on one side and on the other I was in a rush. The blade has negative angle teethe. I did not use the depth washer that WM sells because my buddy did not have it on his 2012 and it works fine. I was tripping my breaker within two feet of debarking every time. After speaking with him, I was going too deep into the wood by far. I found some proper sized springs and all is well. I think I will extend the handles as the additional leverage will make it a better experience. If I was to redo it, I think I would have probably gone with a 25w 12v dc 60rpm geared motor, or something close. I am not at all dissapointed. It works really well so far. I will expose any problems as time passes. I will also share any information I have as this forum is here so we can help each other. I hope to sit down and ad up my cost, time, pros/cons, observations, etc... so men can be informed as they weigh their options. I would definately say this is a poor man's option or a guy who likes to make stuff option. The first, poor man, may need to even reconsider it as he might do better to make money sawing with shorter life span to blade and make money to buy a debarker. For the maker, he would get the satisfaction, experience, and this camp also sees other opportunities that may come from engineering/fabricating. Thank you for helping me see the difference between these two terms. 

Btulloh, thank you for the response on the bugs, Very good. I hate for my son to spend $1500 on making a very tight little office and it is ruined because I gave him bug ridden wood  :(. I think this response was for my other thread. I will copy/paste your response there.

-Mike


btulloh

HM126

Southside

Mike - the success looks great.  However, the lingering question is did you remember to lower the toe board after that cut or did you end up making long wedges in all of the excitement?   :D

On your idea of a gear motor I would do a lot more research on that before using one in such an application.  I had to replace a starter last year on my buncher and the only one available was a gear motor, which was fine but the starter shop guy cautioned me that gear motors are not intended to run for extended periods of time without premature wear.  5-10 seconds is fine under load he said, but 30 seconds of cranking and they will heat up fast, FWIW 
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

MikeySP

SSL, I did mean to exchange the handle in/out lever for a motor and certainly not the debarker motor. 

Good point about motors burning out. But that is a specification of duty cycle, not geared vs non-geared.

I made a coffee bean mixer a few years ago that would stir 25 lbs of coffee beans at about 20RPM and it did not skip a beat even in a very warm environment for lengthy time periods and the manufacturer recommended that particular motor to me. 

The woodmizer 1/30HP motor used to swing the debarker in/out is also a geared motor, at least on the LT35. But I surmise also on the larger machines, as they use double gearing down - geared motor and pulleys. The gear motor gives the breaking power. If they used only pulleys the swing arm would just go move away from the log as soon as the switch was released. However, when the switch is released, the geared motor will not be budged so acts as a hold and only spring movement occurs. 

I may not feel like this once I extend my handles a little, but they are really stiff. 

-Mike

MikeySP

I am sorry for the delay on posting the video. I can't get my laptop to recognize my micro SD card off my phone. Finally took some time to learn the youtube app this morning. I don't know how to edit yet, but uploading was easy enough. Here it is:


Clip 1

and 

Clip 2

-Mike

btulloh

Nice.  Thanks for the videos.

Curious to see how the debarker behaves on uneven logs or stubs.  Is it spring loaded so it tracks the contour?
HM126

Ljohnsaw

 8)  So the depth of cut is determined by the strength of the spring and how fast you are traveling?

Nice wide gap but looks like maybe it should be raised just a tad?  It almost looks like your band blade is riding on the edge of the bark.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

alan gage

If you'd ever see a blade break you wouldn't have done what you did in the 2nd video. :)

Debarker looks like it's doing well though. Nice work!

Alan

Timberking B-16, a few chainsaws from small to large, and a Bobcat 873 Skidloader.

MikeySP

btulloh, I will film an uneven log. I have found I need to adjust the handle when there is a significant change in the log. Too much pressure will dig in too much and trip breaker. This will be easier once I extend my handles (More leverage).  It is spring loaded indeed. There are two springs, one on each side of the bycicle sprocket.  At this point, I can see putting a geared motor at some point after I have my shop setup. But this may get nixed after I extend the handles and have mor eleverage. 

BTW, since I had to wait a couple weeks for woodmizer springs as they did not have any in stock (only made this one year) I ended up using some hardware store springs. The woodmizer springs arrived a few days ago, so I will put them on (twice the diameter of the ones I have, so this may make it good to go with my current length hadles. Just been so busy, I haven't gotten to it, but I will do it and let you know how it went. 

ljohnsaw, that is correct, you swing the debarker around and it makes contact, then you ad an additional click of pressure tot he log. Sped is not a factor in depth that I can see. It may be, but I cannot tell it as I use it. I think the depth is from pressure and the limit is accomplished by the negative angle of the blade. The newer models have a depth guage (largedisck - think giant washer that rides next to the blade and limits depth of cut. I did not get it. 

Alan, you are right. I had actually had my first blade break yesterday and it was a violent moment indeed. As my dear wife says... no good Pepe! :)

Goodnight gents. 

-Mike


Ga Mtn Man

Man, that is awesome MikeySP!  My first mill didn't have a debarker and I had folks send me lots of pics of their debarker. After studying the pics I decided it was above my fabrication skills to try to make one.  Hats off to you. 

I think Wood-Mizer (or maybe it was somebody on the forum) recommends that the band travel near the lower edge of the debarker kerf, because that's where the debarker cut is the deepest.
"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.

Thank You Sponsors!