Useful sawmill mods

[VictorH]

So peter, does your log roller just lay between the loader arms or is it attached to the loader arm ground supports?  I like it!!

[Peter Drouin]

So peter, does your log roller just lay between the loader arms or is it attached to the loader arm ground supports?  I like it!!

It just lays there :D

[rmack]

I bought a horn and button for my mill, not sure exactly where to put it yet, will have to wait till I get the mill out of storage.

May come in handy preventing somebody from getting hurt.

will post pics when I get it all together.

[Peter Drouin]

heres mine


 

[learner]

Peter, your log shifter mod is very nice!  I'm allready working on one for us.  Should save a LOT of time not having to move the log with the FEL.  Thanks Man.

[Barney II]

I don't know if this is in the 39 pages or not---I didn't see anything --I got tired of my rails looking all rusty after sitting for a few day so---   I took and sanded, brushed and got the rails looking nice and shiny.  Then heated just a bit and then applied that liquid gun bluing---walaa no more rust and when a nice bright streaks appear from using it I just go over the whole rail with the bluing----no sticky stuff or whatever.   I also did a few other parts but this was the main item

[Chuck White]

I just spray the rails (don't forget the bottom rail on a WM) with WD-40 and use steel wool, takes about 15 minutes and both rails are done.

[octam1]

This one is for the guy's that have the older WoodMizers... if you have an older LT40 you know that your last cut is not about one inch from the bedrails, it's 3" from the bedrails... that will always leave you with a 3" leftover piece...

What I did is make a set of rails that mount ontop of the bedrails out of 2"x2" heavy wall square tubing, added some tabs on to index them to the bedrails and put one pin in each of them... I stamped numbers on the ends of the bedrails and on the top of the addon rails, so that if taken off they can all be put back on the same rail it was made to fit on... These came in very handy and made it so we no longer had to plan around the 3" last cut...

we also added an electric winch to operate the turner we added on and also used it to load logs... we just used it with an extra battery and it worked out pretty good... just had to push a button to load or turn our logs... we never even had a problem turning max size logs...



 
I even put some cant stops on the addon rails to be able to clamp the cants down...



 
i made one for each bedrail



 
here you can see the pins that hold them on the bedrails



 
my LT40 didnt have a hand winch on the front, so this is where I chose to put the electric winch... Just a small 2k pound winch we had laying around...



 



 
we never had any problems with the turner/electric winch... even with logs that maxed out the mill...

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Very nice Mod, Octam1. More work for the mill.....less work for you. Good job! 

[octam1]

yah, those add on rails worked out good for us as did the electric winch... but we have since been able to upgrade to the LT40 super and now with hydro's we are loving it! lol... I'd like to say we are able to work smarter not harder.... but sometimes that is still not the case...  :D

[Peter Drouin]

I have tried all kinds of things to stop this


 
The back of the blade would cut in the wheel and mess it up  :D
so I had a bondo spreder and cut a piece off and put it on , just drill a hole . Works great



 

the blade is lose it will go up to it and when you turn on the lube it;s ok
the lube will cleen the blade,

[Peter Drouin]

The other day the mill would not start. No juice to the starter. The day before it was good. I called WM and we check the wires.  The cat has a lot of vibration.
And this is what I found . 



 

I removed the wire from the nut but look at the wires where they rub on each outher . the vibration broke off the brass pice that goes up in where the relay is. I have a new one comeing .


 
when I put it back together Ill tape up the wires and zip tie the so they wont move. can you imagine what would happing if the wires came together 
I did tape up some they all had the rub going on
so you guys best go look and see what you have  :D :D
the wires are in the black box on the loader side of the cat .

[drobertson]

Portable mills and vibration,  now there's a new one!  How long will it take to remedy this issue?  Lots of ideas rolling around here,    david

[Peter Drouin]

You have a cat David you should look to see what you have going on in there.
You won't like the fire in there.

[dboyt]

Norwood mills shoot the sawdust straight out.  It seems that no matter how the mill is turned, the wind blows it back in my face.  The sawdust deflector is a piece of a 12" tire from an Geo Metro, cut with an angle grinder.  It works great, and the rubber with steel belting should deflect anything that hits it.  Takes about 30 seconds to remove, but I haven't had to yet.

[Chuck White]

Now that's ingenuity, not only directs the sawdust, but should easily stop a broken blade!

[Dave Shepard]

Has anyone added a battery to the hydraulic pumps on an LT40? I get really tired of not having hydraulics when the head is at the other end of the mill. Usually, I just want to unclamp the last board. I have a new heavy duty battery that I'm thinking of putting under the hydraulic box and hooking up to the cables coming from the contact strip. I know WM says that there shouldn't be power to the hydraulics when you are sawing, but with the strip you have about 5' of travel with active hydraulics (and 5' on the other end with the LT70) and full time hydraulics with an external power pack.

[Magicman]

I'll bet that you could leave one of these hooked up:  LINK

I actually do not leave mine hooked up, but it is available.   

[stavebuyer]

Has anyone added a battery to the hydraulic pumps on an LT40? I get really tired of not having hydraulics when the head is at the other end of the mill. Usually, I just want to unclamp the last board. I have a new heavy duty battery that I'm thinking of putting under the hydraulic box and hooking up to the cables coming from the contact strip. I know WM says that there shouldn't be power to the hydraulics when you are sawing, but with the strip you have about 5' of travel with active hydraulics (and 5' on the other end with the LT70) and full time hydraulics with an external power pack.

I went with an external hydraulic power pack but another alternative would be a length heavy gauge wire that bypasses the contact strip altogether.

[Mapleman]

Yes, I did just what you're describing a few years ago to my 1999 LT40 super and I haven't had any negative issues with it so far.  If I'm not going to use the mill for a while, I disconnect the extra battery. 

[Magicman]

Has anyone added a battery to the hydraulic pumps on an LT40? 

That added battery might have to be charged at night because when the sawmill leaves the strip, the strip also looses the alternator.   A permanent setup would allow for a battery charger.

[DR Buck]

Has anyone added a battery to the hydraulic pumps on an LT40? I get really tired of not having hydraulics when the head is at the other end of the mill. Usually, I just want to unclamp the last board. I have a new heavy duty battery that I'm thinking of putting under the hydraulic box and hooking up to the cables coming from the contact strip. I know WM says that there shouldn't be power to the hydraulics when you are sawing, but with the strip you have about 5' of travel with active hydraulics (and 5' on the other end with the LT70) and full time hydraulics with an external power pack.

This is covered earlier in this thread.  A number of people have added a 2nd power power bar to the far end of the mill.

[Mapleman]

Its true that the extra battery isn't charging when the saw head is off the strip, but it seems to get enough during the times when the head is back and I'm setting up for another cut.

[Magicman]

   That's good to hear.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Has anyone added a battery to the hydraulic pumps on an LT40? I get really tired of not having hydraulics when the head is at the other end of the mill. Usually, I just want to unclamp the last board. I have a new heavy duty battery that I'm thinking of putting under the hydraulic box and hooking up to the cables coming from the contact strip. I know WM says that there shouldn't be power to the hydraulics when you are sawing, but with the strip you have about 5' of travel with active hydraulics (and 5' on the other end with the LT70) and full time hydraulics with an external power pack.

Yup!

I added a battery and run a generator I built out of a 5.5HP Honda and a 105 amp Delco alternator. I wouldn't run my mill with out them now.
I will go find the posts and put the links here too.



 
This picture shows the battery connected to the mill in the shop.

I disconnect battery at the end of the day/milling job.

FYI Adding the generator reduced the operating temp of the alternator on the mill from around 200 - 225 degrees Fahrenheit to around the 130 - 160 degree mark.  Alternators don't last long once you get into the 200 range and above. Also the gallon of fuel my little generator uses in a day is off set by about a gallon and a half to 2 gallons less fuel burned in the mill.

On my mill the alternator puts out about 70 to 80 amps at idle which is an extremely inefficient range for that alternator. My mill idles around 800 rpm which has the alternator turning at around 1600 rpm which is about 40 % of the ideal 4200 to 4400 Recommended RPM. that basically translates to Hugh heat build up because air flow with the fan on those alternators is about 25 to 30 percent of what it needs to be to keep them cool. The best performance range on the fan is 3600 to 4600 rpm.

When my head hits the strip it has a 1200 amp deep cycle battery on the ground that is getting a constant 14.48 volts at 104 amps out of an alternator that is always running at 4200 to 4400 RPM that maxes at 128 amps basically leaving the alternator on the mill as a booster that cut time required to get all the batteries back to max charge  about 50%. The difference it has made in my milling performance is nothing short of amazing. Also increased wire gauge to feed an lift motors as well. Haven't done a load test to date but  I can tell you t hat EVERYTHING  is so positive in response, operation and control at a level that did not exist prior to these mods and additions. I wouldn't be without it and would make the exact mods to new mill with the exception of possibly getting a 150 ish plus alternator to run on the generator and that probably will happen wheat he current one quits.

FYI all the external cables are 2-00 and the quik connectors are 225 amp fork lift connectors and all connections are silver soldered.