Useful sawmill mods

[Peter Drouin]

Next time I am at Danny's I will have to look at his grease gun. I think he is worrying about it to much.

:D :D Maybe it's low on grease and he doesn't want to open it up :D

[Ga Mtn Man]

This thread has gotten so huge it needs an INDEX!

[DR Buck]

Next time I am at Danny's I will have to look at his grease gun. I think he is worrying about it to much.

Isn't Danny's grease gun solar powered?

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

So...we are back to the grease gun.  :D :D :D :D :D
Thats good, I'm running out of material.

[barbender]

Peter, I may have to fab one of those since the kit isn't available for my Lombardini engine. I've never been able to crank the drive belt tension as high as I would like. It seems like the recommended tension is in the area of "just barely enough". I want the working limit to be my engine horsepower, not how much the belt will transmit.

[Peter Drouin]

All morning to get all apart and not break something :D
And I mean all apart. Have lunch and go out and put it together.
I'll have pics later.

[Peter Drouin]

Got the new thing on. I did it alone, but to have  someone to hold things would help :D
Looking at the ring I did not know how it came off so I called WM.
The small bolts come out and you put them in the other holes and it pushes the pulley back so the split ring will come off the shaft.


 
And set screw.


  

 
But with rust on the shaft I had to use the puller some.


  

 
I had to put heat to get the 3 flat heads out, then It was easy till when I had to line up the pulleys to the drive pulley and the alternator up. No way, you line up one or the other. I lined up with the drive wheel and I was ¼" away from the alternator
Called WM and what to do , Go with the alternator they said,
I put in all new belts. I think I was an hr on that, see when you tighten the pulley moves. I'm sure the guys at WM can do it with their eyes close  :D


  

  

  

  

 
When you put the big plate on leave all the bolts loose, just start them, or you fight it  :D
The other thing , With a new drive belt make sure you back off on the auto clutch  :D


 
And you have to play with the brake band too :D
And when the time comes to change the belts It won't be bad
not a bad job I had 6 hrs in it, And thats with customers stoping in too.
Now that I know how 2 hrs more or less to do the job. I'm glad I did it. 8) 8)

[ElectricAl]

Nice Mod ! 
The photos help show the steps it takes to get the job done.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

 

If you ever get on the service loop, you can come do mine. 

[Peter Drouin]

If you ever get on the service loop, you can come do mine. 

300 and lunch :D :D

[Peter Drouin]

No wait, you will have grits    :D

[Dave Shepard]

You might want to specify what "lunch" is. Goats have been known to eat some rough chow.
:D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

No wait, you will have grits    :D

:D :D :D

[Dave Shepard]

You beat me to it.  :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

You might want to specify what "lunch" is. Goats have been known to eat some rough chow.
:D

Today I had 2 V-Belts, 6 bearings from an old guide roller, a broken spring from a KOHLER 29G and washed it down with a cool glass of ATF.  :D :D :D
I need a Rolaid.

[Nomad]

     Nice pictorial and write-up, Peter.
     David, I don't think a Rolaid will help what's wrong with you... :D

[backwoods sawyer]

Nice job on getting it changed out and documenting the steps ;)

You will want to make sure those bolts don't loosen up like the alternator bolts do from the vibration as a little side movement at the bolts will translate into movment at the bearing making the whole contraption useless
Just not the level of engineering I was hoping to see. As a much more robust unit that would solve the side load issue is realy needed, or at the least a better braced unit for long term stability of the out put shaft :-\


sorry just not impressed with the fix for the side load issue.
:( :( :(

Over time watch for signs of rust dust at all ends of the bolts that will let you know the bearing is moving and not doing it's job.

[Dave Shepard]

I agree with backwoods. There is a lot of leverage on those hexagonal studs, and with the sideloading issue, you are worried about misalignment in the hundred thousandths of an inch. It's got to help some, I suppose, and if they CAT is good to go with proper belt tension, I guess a little bit of help is enough for a little peace of mind.

[Peter Drouin]

WM told me not to tighten the belt more than what I had before.
I'm sawing w oak today and I will keep an eye on all of it.
Will see if it was money well spent.

[Peter Drouin]

When I had all the covers off I put in a new brake on the up and down motor. To stop the head drift.


 
See the old one was starting to hog out. And the pin has wear on it. 450 hrs on it.


  

 

And one of the roller guard had to be replaced too. Sometimes the sawdust stops it from turning and the blade makes a groove in it.


 
I put them on a lathe and dress them up.


 
And don't forget to grease the auto clutch .


  

 
My GUN  :D :D :D :D :D

[Bandmill Bandit]

Fine adjust out rigger Mod in progress!






There will be more Pics and Possibly a Vid of the Jack in use. planing on doing at least 4.

Jacks cost me 5 Bucks each. The rest of the material is coming out of my scrap pile.

The jack crank will be either cordless drill driven or manual hand crank if you don't have a cordless drill handy. Jacks are 10 ton jacks out of GMC SUVs.

[drobertson]

Nice show there Peter!  I hope it works for you!  pretty sure it will, you've been successful to this point for sure.  Just have to ask, not you but myself, if the belt tension is the same? then what is then advantage?   I have an idea on making it more of a rotary stress than a side load. but then weight and room to fit might become an issue.

[Peter Drouin]

The advantage Is knowing I did all I can for my mill to last a long time.
Or when I can get a wide head 70. ;D

[Bandmill Bandit]

The Proof of concept and checking a couple of ideas.



 



 

Well from test results on just one modified jack ready to test I am calling it a great success! 8)  3 more to go at this point and then a milling test run. The 2 middle ones under the head rail will be a bit more of a challenge. I am hoping I wont need to do those, but I am sure I will not be happy till I do.

Travel on the jacks is 12 inches but I set them to use about  max 3 inches when milling.

The idea I am contemplating is on the jack mounting pin. Do i cut em to fit and spot weld them in or make em as pins so the jacks can be removed easily? (would sure keep the jack tubes easy to keep clean)

[Peter Drouin]

I like it,