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Useful sawmill mods

Started by Bibbyman, July 25, 2004, 08:27:09 AM

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Woodpecker52

Used #40 roller chain 28 tooth sprocket (Main) 17 tooth on the idlers. I mostly used existing holes already there on the unit.  mostly scrap square and channels.  Just used pieces of pipe with pins to connect gearmotor out shaft to 3/4 sprocket shaft.  I guess they make connection units but I like to do it the redneck engineered way most of the time.  If it does not work the first time not very expensive and just another problem to solve another way.  The trick is to start the project then solve the problems as they arise,if I don't then I will spend endless time thinking over thinking and things never get done there are always other projects to distract.

 
Woodmizer LT-15, Ross Pony #1 planner, Ford 2600 tractor, Stihl chainsaws, Kubota rtv900 Kubota L3830F tractor

SawyerTed

The brushes are an interesting solution. I like them.  Glueing them doesn't seem like the best solution. I'm thinking small carriage bolts and nylock nuts might be better.

The power feed is well done!
Woodmizer LT50, WM BMS 250, WM BMT 250, Kubota MX5100, IH McCormick Farmall 140, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 455 Rancher

thecfarm

Like the little train. What does it have for power?
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Woodpecker52

The train is powered by 7 grandchildrens imagination!
Woodmizer LT-15, Ross Pony #1 planner, Ford 2600 tractor, Stihl chainsaws, Kubota rtv900 Kubota L3830F tractor

Woodpecker52

Also built them a imagination steam tractor from old horse drawn, part of bushhog, butane tank at junk pile stuff.  Wagon was built with tether steering on front and wheel chair wheels. Wanted to build Henry fords first auto but now just hook it to the riding lawnmower and pull them on hayrides.

 
Woodmizer LT-15, Ross Pony #1 planner, Ford 2600 tractor, Stihl chainsaws, Kubota rtv900 Kubota L3830F tractor

jovol

I think I saw this kinda mod further back in the thread, but after playing around with my new-to-me LT-40 hydraulic, I sheared off of the lower hydraulic fittings on the loading arms by letting them fall to the ground (I think a block of wood down there interfered with their path). Unfortunately this meant replacing both velocity fuse fittings to the cost of $40.

To prevent breaking the expensive fittings again, I added an extender between the cylinder and velocity fuse fitting. Now (hopefully) if something does happen again, it will be the $3 extender that shears, and not the fuse fitting.

 
2017 LT50 wide, stihl ms362 & ms660, echo cs7310, Logrite fetching arch, 2000 New Holland LS180, Ford 6.0, kubota L48, kubota KH-70, Ford F800 8.3

Magicman

Somewhere back up in this topic Bibbyman re-threaded a broken velocity fuse.
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

jovol

Quote from: Magicman on January 10, 2019, 01:53:24 PM
Somewhere back up in this topic Bibbyman re-threaded a broken velocity fuse.
Like finding a needle in a haystack! I'd enjoy seeing that. I don't know how it could be done, since there's only about 3 threads left on the fitting, so not much room for it to thread and seat in the cylinder.  smiley_huh
2017 LT50 wide, stihl ms362 & ms660, echo cs7310, Logrite fetching arch, 2000 New Holland LS180, Ford 6.0, kubota L48, kubota KH-70, Ford F800 8.3

Magicman

I did not find the pictures in Bibbyman's gallery so apparently I was mistaken about which member it was.  Anyway the fuse was chucked up in a lathe and turned down so that it could be threaded.  I ain't looking through the haystack.  ;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

Magicman

@jovol  Well it was Bibbyman and I did find it, except it was not in the "mod" topic.  Just call me the "needle in a haystack man".  ;D   Also read the next few replies after that Reply #68.

Handy things around the mill in Sawmills and Milling
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

jovol

I knew he would have had to of turned it!  :D I'll hang on to my broken fitting in case I befriend a generous machinist in the future.
2017 LT50 wide, stihl ms362 & ms660, echo cs7310, Logrite fetching arch, 2000 New Holland LS180, Ford 6.0, kubota L48, kubota KH-70, Ford F800 8.3

Magicman

I made a sorta ho-hum mod to my sawmill today.  The old tail/stop/signal lights were wobbly and sometimes lost their ground resulting in.....well no tail, stop, or signal light, not good.


 
I had already removed the lens, but they were sorta pitiful.


 
I wanted to also add a flasher so a template was needed.


 
I believe that will work.


 
Instead of painting I added 3M reflective orange tape.


 
That works so now the flasher.

 
Yup, OK so on to the other side.


 
Both sides done with the flashers off.


 
New LED tail/stop/signal lights with programmable flashers on.  I can program 6 different flasher sequences by touching the pigtail to ground.

Blade guides and blade guide arm adjustments are scheduled for tomorrow.
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

bags

Dang Lynn--- your gonna be "the talk of the town" (old say'in) now with all those fancy lights on your mill. LED's are nice and bright and last a long time. I see your directional safety tape is installed proper--- you might think about give'in WM a call to give'em a couple pointers--- most of their mills I see they have their directional tape on their adjustable blade guide arms on backwards.



Magicman

More sawmill maintenance and mods today.  After checking my blade guides and blade guide arm, I moved on to replacing the lube tube on the LubeMizer.  Age and cold weather had cracked it so it was either replace the tube or the tape patch.  While replacing the tube I noticed something that had been giving me some trouble for a while.


 
The wiring harness on the Debarker was hitting the stored travel pin which was preventing the Debarker from swinging freely.


 
I showed this because it could easily happen to anyone.


 
I have always heard that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so Dennis, @terrifictimbersllc  this one is for you.  These LED clearance lights came from eTrailer.


 
First I had to decide where the most visible spot would be and drill pilot holes.


 
Then take the "step" bit and enlarge the holes to 11/16".


 
Then built a mini wiring harness to connect the LED's to the hydraulic solenoids.  Yup, that pressure gauge needs replacing.  About all of the glycerin has leaked out. :-\


 
The LED's are held in place with a dab of Goop.


 
One more little slick item for heating the heat shrink tubing.  Looks like the common butane lighter but a bit different.



This one has a nozzle and makes a torch flame.  No smoke or smut, just a hot flame.

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

Peter Drouin

What are the lights for?
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Magicman

To instantly show that the two solenoids are supplying 12 volts to both hydraulic pumps.  I had a solenoid to start sticking a few weeks ago that caused the pump to run continuously at times.  Of course I knew it when the non-running pump overflowed hydraulic fluid and it started running out on the ground.  This way I would know if a solenoid started sticking. 

I suspect that the diode went open but of course it got replaced when I replaced the solenoid.  I always carry a couple of spare solenoids in the truck.
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

Peter Drouin

I had that happen to me too, I do keep extra solenoids. Like you, I keep a whole bunch of parts around so to keep running. ;)
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Magicman

I finally finished all of my repairs, adjustments, and mods this morning.


 
The last items to be addressed were the torn, worn, and tattered straps on my sawmill engine cover.  Age and UV rays had done a number on them and they were finally beyond patching.


 
So new straps were riveted into place.  Good for another 20 years.  ;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

terrifictimbersllc

Last fall I repaired my sawmill head cover with some 30# Trilene and my father's hand sewing awl.  Stitching totaled about 2 feet overall at 3 places to restore seams that had opened up.  Not hard to do, should have done it years earlier though.


 

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

Magicman

I used the same type of sewing awl several years ago to reattach the exhaust/muffler tube to my cover.  The actual cover is sorta heatproof but I suppose that the stitching was not.
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

JB Griffin

Magic, I have a hammer just like that, do you happen to know what it was used for or who made them?
2000 LT40hyd remote 33hp Kubota with 6gpm hyd unit, 150 Prentice, WM bms250, Suffolk dual tooth setter

Over 3.5million bdft sawn with a Baker Dominator.

Magicman

It is a drilling hammer and was used primarily with Star Masonry Drills:

Star Drills are the forerunners of today's electric masonry drill bits. They are designed to create holes in masonry, brick, stone, and concrete. Star Drills are for hand use only. They are not to be used in power drilling equipment.

Hitting the Star Drill hard was not the object but constant lighter strikes did the job.  The short stubby handle gave us the control that we needed.  The pointy end was used to drive the lead anchors into the hole.  I have both the 1½ lb. and the 2 lb. drilling hammers, but this one is my favorite.  It was a specialty item and does not have a manufacture's stamp.
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

starmac

I use similar lights quite a bit. I get the ones at truck or trailer parts houses and you drill a 3/4 hole for the rubber mount the light pushes into, no goop needed. Some guys I know have just welded 3/4 flat washers where they needed a light.

I put them on my log bunks, as they are legal for clearance lights and make a smaller target for loader hands.
Old LT40HD, old log truck, old MM forklift, and several huskies.

Magicman

Actually these lights were intended to be used with the rubber grommet, but I went in the other direction.  In the first picture of them you see the little barb and in the next I have whittled them off, hence the Goop.  ;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

terrifictimbersllc

Quote from: terrifictimbersllc on December 21, 2018, 10:19:43 AM
I've had two 1/0 cables for hydraulics everywhere (about 26 ft) from the solenoid through the cat track back to the hydraulic pumps for many years now.   Plus a 1/0 cable from battery negative back through the track exiting to the frame (ground) at the track support.  Also kept the sliding ground from battery negative to the lower rail.

But I have disconnected the positive cables and re-installed the hydraulic strip recently when my battery started to fail (battery 2 yr old, its failure nothing to do with the hydraulic mods, but that's what brought this to my attention).  Reason is that I see that there is an automatic constant voltage drop of about 0.5-1V during hydraulic use.  One can look this up in wire tables, a 1/0 cable 26 ft long will drop that much when 50-150 amps run through it. I have also measured it both the voltage drop and the current.    This seems to be a constant impairment which should be better with the much shorter stock setup.  I will check the voltage drop of the stock setup, before I pull the cables, but that's where I am now.  

I am much more experienced now than I was before installing the hydraulics everywhere and am thinking that I can better deal with the less versatile hydraulic situation going forward,  than before.  I will keep the 1/0 ground cable as an auxiliary backup.  My cat track should be a lot lighter again.
3 months ago I removed the hydraulics everywhere cables and re-installed the copper strip at the front of the mill, to ensure the highest voltage at my hydraulic pumps.  Well, following a comment by @Yellowhammer (thank you)  that I could have BOTH the strip and the added cables (DUH ::) ::) ::)), and 3 months of missing my hydraulics everywhere, yesterday I reinstalled the two 1/0 cables as a supplement to the standard hydraulics.  I'll still do most of my heavy lifting and turning with the head at the front, to maintain highest voltage, but now have restored the added luxury of hydraulics anywhere.

To summarize, now I have
-two 1/0 cables running from the hydraulic solenoid in the fuse box through the track, into the hydraulic box, one to the bottom of each solenoid,
-one 1/0 cable from battery ground through track exiting the track support tray at mid-point to the mill frame (this was not removed earlier),
-the Woodmizer-upgraded ground button from battery ground to the lower rail, and
-the brass button from the hydraulics solenoid contacting the copper strip with its two cables separately going to the lower solenoid studs.

The re-install involved drilling three new 7/8" holes.  Here's the fuse box and the hydraulic solenoid showing the two large studs.  The right stud now has 3 connections, the stock one to the brass button (top wire), a second is one of the 1/0 cables (3 oclock), and the third the other 1/0 cable (coming in at 6 o'clock from the bottom of the box).  I already had the two holes on the right side of the box and decided the only reasonable way to get a third hole was to come up from the bottom.  I was able to drill a 5/32 pilot hole then a 7/8 hole from the bottom without damaging anything.  My cables already had the connectors soldered onto each end.



Here are two new holes going into the hydraulic box at the front.  Drilled the same way from the outside of the box. The two cables on the right are the stock ones from the copper strip.   All of the new holes had grommets with a 3/32 slot for a 7/8 hole with a 9/16 hole in the middle.  



 

The rest of the work was re-routing the cables under the main electrical box, into and through the track, around the box at the far end of the cable tray, inside the cable conduit alongside the 2 x 16 wire harnesses and the Accuset cable, into the hydraulic box, and to the solenoids.  Some pix:

Feeding the cables through the track to the fuse box.



 

The existing ground cable exiting at the end of the track support tray (3 o'clock) to the frame.  Excess Accuset cable and the 2x 16 wire harnesses are also shown.



 

The ground cable coming up the tray support bracket and attached to the inside of the frame.



 

The box at the end of the track support tray AFTER the two +12V hydraulic cables AND conduit bracket were re-installed.  Note the two +12V cables go inside the bracket, the ground cable exits at the top of the picture.



 


It was a tight squeeze getting the conduit cover back on, I started by laying the two +12V cables in the tray (shown) then positioning the harness and Accuset cable over them (not shown).  Patience Patience did it. There isn't room in there for anything else.



 

Afterwards I wire tied the three 1/0 cables back together every foot through the whole track.   The 2x 16 wire cables are also tied together with the accuset cable between them on the bottom. Can't have any funny business with a cable looping out somewhere when the head is going back and forth.  Especially funny business with the Accuset cable.  The most dreaded "Check breaker and cable" message could result.  ::) ::)



 

Not shown is the careful routing and arranging of the +12V cables inside the hydraulic box.  Used wire ties and little rolls of rubber roofing to keep them away from the pumps and the hydraulic lines everywhere.  Hydraulic lines vibrate and must be kept away from any +12V source should their grounded metal coatings get energized somehow sparks and fire could result.

Finally, at some point my track began to sag at  full extension (when the head is at the back of the mill). Not sure if this is a result of the cables in it or not.  The bottom of the track was catching on bolt heads on top of the track tray cover.  

To give smooth track travel I fashioned this cover out of a battery tray and fasten it down using two out of 4 of the machine screws that hold on the flat cover underneath.  However you can still see bolt heads projecting above the top of the track that still cause problems.





 

Many years ago I started having trouble with the track grabbing these bolt heads.   On the job where that problem started, my farmer customer cut me this piece of  blue plastic from a barrel and we installed it with 4 wire ties (not shown) and ever since the result has been smooth travel of the track over these bolt heads.



 


Looking forward to sawing again with hydraulics everywhere.   Advantages:
-releasing the clamp before the head return, customer won't be grabbing at a clamped board
-stopping the head mid way back to deal with edging, don't have to walk around the head to clear strips and handle boards for edging
-can operate the clamp with chain and hook to pull logs sideways WITH the head over the center of the mill, to minimize mill movement with that strong sideways force...
-can operate hydraulics with the head partway in a cut when backstops or clamp too high, or log can still be scooted over a bit to get clearance....
-can shift a large log to the left with the mast blocking it so it can't fall off the side of the mill....
-can close up the loader feet with the head in travel position when packing up- the loader assembly is easier to lift up up when the arms are partway up,  for this aging sawyer).

Like I said at the beginning,  I'll try to keep the bulk of my loading and turning with the head on the hydraulic strip, to minimize voltage loss to the hydraulic motors.   But with hydraulics everywhere, some operations can go faster. 



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

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