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#1
Sawmills and Milling / Re: Horizontal slab shaver.
Last post by Ianab - Today at 03:31:36 AMFair enough, that's why I asked if there was a market. You can sell green pine off-cuts here, as long as it's cheaper. If you don't have that market. then yeah, don't go there.
#2
Sawmills and Milling / Re: Horizontal slab shaver.
Last post by Dave Shepard - Today at 03:12:09 AMIt's 98% pine, so not firewood here. I like burning pine slabs in my owb, but my time is more valuable than the benefit of running the owb, especially when they are completely rusted out. I don't know what they cost these days, but I hear you can get Central Classics if you have a brick of cash and don't ask any questions. I'm not going to cough up $10k, or more, for the privilege of spending every Sunday cutting up slabs and then being a slave to the boiler twice a day for six months of the year. I currently have a mess from the last ten years at my house that would probably cost as much to clean up as the fuel the owb saved in that time. 
#3
Sawmills and Milling / Re: Horizontal slab shaver.
Last post by Ianab - Today at 02:42:42 AMDo you have a firewood market?
A local guy running semi-portable had a rig on the back of a farm tractor. In-feed rollers, a big chop saw, and a conveyor / elevator out-feed. All the slabs and reject boards just got slid down a roller table and into this processor. An automatic advance 12", drop the saw, retract the saw, repeat. The cut wood went up the conveyor into his small dump truck. When it was full, $200 of random size green firewood ready to deliver.
I know everyone want DRY firewood, but there are folks smart enough to buy it 12 months ahead and dry it themselves, as long as it's cheaper.
A local guy running semi-portable had a rig on the back of a farm tractor. In-feed rollers, a big chop saw, and a conveyor / elevator out-feed. All the slabs and reject boards just got slid down a roller table and into this processor. An automatic advance 12", drop the saw, retract the saw, repeat. The cut wood went up the conveyor into his small dump truck. When it was full, $200 of random size green firewood ready to deliver.
I know everyone want DRY firewood, but there are folks smart enough to buy it 12 months ahead and dry it themselves, as long as it's cheaper.
#4
Sawmills and Milling / Re: 1989 LT40 hydraulic Valve ...
Last post by Ben Cut-wright - Today at 01:26:14 AMThe lever springs are prone to break at the severe bends where the stress is focused They just fatigue, don't give a warning. If these haven't been replaced in one while this would have been the best time.
The hydraulic "nut" below the valve holds the valve onto an adapter that screws into the manifold. "turned it out less than a 1/4 turn" would mean you didn't break the nut loose to rotate the valve? The threaded portion of that fitting which screws into the manifold is better left alone. If you did turn it, be sure it doesn't begin to leak. I prefer to tighten the nut enough to hold the valve secure enough to connect the plumbing. Then finish by tightening the nut properly.
The other control valve mounting nuts you describe as rounded off could have been easily *replaced while you had the entire assembly removed. As I mentioned previously, those are prone to freeze and then get rounded off when someone tries to remove them. That nut is part of a four piece assembly. When the nut is over-tightened onto the bottom piece it deforms the sealing ring. That wedges the nut and is often impossible to remove. Cutting the nut is the easiest method I've found, and least likely to do damage. This will permit the valves to be readily removed at a later date instead of requiring a lengthy downtime.
Where did you get the capacitor specifications? The purpose of that capacitor is to keep the high (er) voltage spark from the valve switch opening from going back into the wiring. That's why it's good to check all of them.
Might have missed you saying, did you check the brushes in the pump motor while it was off the mill?
The hydraulic "nut" below the valve holds the valve onto an adapter that screws into the manifold. "turned it out less than a 1/4 turn" would mean you didn't break the nut loose to rotate the valve? The threaded portion of that fitting which screws into the manifold is better left alone. If you did turn it, be sure it doesn't begin to leak. I prefer to tighten the nut enough to hold the valve secure enough to connect the plumbing. Then finish by tightening the nut properly.
The other control valve mounting nuts you describe as rounded off could have been easily *replaced while you had the entire assembly removed. As I mentioned previously, those are prone to freeze and then get rounded off when someone tries to remove them. That nut is part of a four piece assembly. When the nut is over-tightened onto the bottom piece it deforms the sealing ring. That wedges the nut and is often impossible to remove. Cutting the nut is the easiest method I've found, and least likely to do damage. This will permit the valves to be readily removed at a later date instead of requiring a lengthy downtime.
Where did you get the capacitor specifications? The purpose of that capacitor is to keep the high (er) voltage spark from the valve switch opening from going back into the wiring. That's why it's good to check all of them.
Might have missed you saying, did you check the brushes in the pump motor while it was off the mill?
#5
Sawmills and Milling / Re: Horizontal slab shaver.
Last post by fluidpowerpro - Today at 01:05:15 AMWhat I'm imagining is a feed system that clamps the log like a wood chipper. It feeds the log past a stump grinder wheel that sweeps across the top of the log, shaving it down. The log would likely have to move back and forth multiple times depending on how much hp you threw at it.
#6
Drying and Processing / Re: blower for mill
Last post by Ews - Today at 12:26:52 AMThanks very much for sharing. We have a similar system that is kind of a hodgepodge that developed over the years. We have 4" flex hose from the saw's discharge chute to a 5 HP 2,500 CFM Murphy-Rodgers blower positioned 8' up the wall, then transition to 6"(?) metal duct, blow the dust ~10 feet further up, 30 feet over, and then down into grain wagons. I rigged it so the out-feed end of the duct could be lowered or raised depending on the height of the wagon being used, but unless there is a large gap between the end of the hose and the lip of the wagon the velocity of air coming out of the duct blows fine dust out of the wagon. Of course, if you leave a large gap, that same fine dust gets blown about by the breeze. If anyone has suggestions on how to lessen the velocity at the end of the hose, it would be appreciated. I was thinking of putting a cyclone above the wagon with hose dropping from it to the lip of the wagon? Not looking forward to securing a cyclone to a 20'+ ceiling, though, so if anyone has other suggestions...
Any input on the best flex duct to use for this purpose? My second to last hose was 30 mil clear urethane and it completely failed after 10 months - the urethane was de-laminating from itself at points all along the entire length. So I got some 45 mil and 8-9 months later the 90% of the hose in the center is holding for now, but we've had to trim ends a couple times as they failed (again swivels should help) and it's going to get too short in the near future. Clearly I need to install swivels, but after that is 60 mil going to be that much more durable than 45, or because it is less flexible is it actually going to fail faster at the inflection points?
And does anyone also use a floor sweep around their mill/edger or does this just get clogged/introduce too much large debris to the blower?
Any input on the best flex duct to use for this purpose? My second to last hose was 30 mil clear urethane and it completely failed after 10 months - the urethane was de-laminating from itself at points all along the entire length. So I got some 45 mil and 8-9 months later the 90% of the hose in the center is holding for now, but we've had to trim ends a couple times as they failed (again swivels should help) and it's going to get too short in the near future. Clearly I need to install swivels, but after that is 60 mil going to be that much more durable than 45, or because it is less flexible is it actually going to fail faster at the inflection points?
And does anyone also use a floor sweep around their mill/edger or does this just get clogged/introduce too much large debris to the blower?
#7
Forestry and Logging / Re: Humboldt vs. Conventional
Last post by quilbilly - Yesterday at 11:45:36 PMQuote from: weimedog on Yesterday at 09:17:58 AMAnother discussion is about the species of a tree & fiber pull characteristics. Here they pull, out there in soft wood world they break so face cut angles can be less.We get pull in our DF all the time. WRC breaks usually and Hem usually but not always.
This is where I ended up after 25 years in this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed72a3ugc2I
#8
Forestry and Logging / Re: What are you cutting 2024?...
Last post by barbender - Yesterday at 11:19:41 PM I know that burn was a personal tragedy for you, but you're making the best out of it. Those are really nice looking skids behind the ol TJ!
#9
Shows, Events and Places to meet / Re: International Firewood exp...
Last post by barbender - Yesterday at 11:18:11 PM It is always a real challenge matching the available equipment in the market, to your available capital and potential selling market. I watched processors and splitters for years, there wasn't anything that really checked all the boxes for me. I just kept plugging away with an MTD splitter, periodically renting a processor to get split wood stocked up. I finally found a processor that fit my operation to purchase. The only reason it did fit, is because I watched and watched for the right deal. If I would've had to pay full price on a new machine, I'd still be waiting🤷
Those content creators...their real product is the videos (the content) that they are making. And I'll give credit where it is due- some of them are pretty darn good at it. I found quickly that I don't have the patience or interest in staging cameras and doing things in a way to make good videos. I can see it turning a one hour job into an all day thing.
YH is making great videos and actually knows what the heck he's talking about. A very rare combo.
You guys have better logging/firewood shows out that way, I'm kinda jealous😊
Those content creators...their real product is the videos (the content) that they are making. And I'll give credit where it is due- some of them are pretty darn good at it. I found quickly that I don't have the patience or interest in staging cameras and doing things in a way to make good videos. I can see it turning a one hour job into an all day thing.
YH is making great videos and actually knows what the heck he's talking about. A very rare combo.
You guys have better logging/firewood shows out that way, I'm kinda jealous😊
#10
Tree, Plant and Wood I.D. / Re: Cherrybark or Southern red...
Last post by Otis1 - Yesterday at 11:08:03 PMMagicman, not sure if you are using Vtree on a phone, tablet, or laptop but I find the app on my phone is fairly easy to navigate. The website is a bit clunky.
