Circular mill power unit

[HPPDRoss]

I'm running a 3-71 on my #1 Meadows with a 48'' saw. It does really good for me and is pretty fuel efficient. I absolutely love the governor on it more than anything. No lag whatsoever.

[jpassardi]

Detroits sound like they are spinning 12K when they are at 3000rpm.

10-4, they're firing twice as often as a 4 stroke at the same RPM, 4K sounds like 8K.

[barbender]

Firing twice as much, then the sound pressure and high frequency whine of the Roots blower doubles that😂

[Tim]

Mood, you’ve got that right! Price of fuel sucks, I’m only 35 years old, but I never used to stress about buying fuel for anything. Dirt bikes, motor cycles, cars, trucks, heavy equipment. I think about it all the time now.

Well, there is a partial solution.
What do you do with slabs?

I really don't have the room to run mine on woodgas, but it is possible.
I run  a 144kw volvo Genset. And from the start, i was looking into woodgas modification.

I don't know if I would go the wood gas route with a diesel... I would try it with a gasoline powered engine in a heartbeat. However, I would process used vegetable oil to burn in my diesel.

At to the OP: I ran a Ford 300 6 cyl gas on our circular when we were sawing lumber... I had a Nissan Diesel on our edger and a 2.2l chev on the trimmers. We batched through what we were sawing so while all those engines could run at the same time if there was enough help around, they usually ran one at a time. We switched to shingles a little over 20 years ago and are currently running a Perkins 4.236 on the mill. It plays with it but, I really like Perkins. Easy on fuel, simple to fix and reliable except for not liking the cold.

My cousin a mile down the road is running a Cat L10 on his circular. It runs his whole line (head saw, hydraulic carriage, vertical edger, trimmers etc.)

My neighbour 2 miles in the other direction is running a couple 671 Detroits. One is on his debarker and the other on his sawmill (head saw, turner, hydraulic carriage, vertical edger, and trimmers) I can hear Ken two miles away and tell if he is sawing or debarking. The only way I can tell if Ken in the other direction is working is if I drive by. 

[Satamax]

Mood, you’ve got that right! Price of fuel sucks, I’m only 35 years old, but I never used to stress about buying fuel for anything. Dirt bikes, motor cycles, cars, trucks, heavy equipment. I think about it all the time now.

Well, there is a partial solution.
What do you do with slabs?

I really don't have the room to run mine on woodgas, but it is possible.
I run  a 144kw volvo Genset. And from the start, i was looking into woodgas modification.

I don't know if I would go the wood gas route with a diesel... I would try it with a gasoline powered engine in a heartbeat. However, I would process used vegetable oil to burn in my diesel.

The advantage of woodgas on a diesel, in a sawmill, is that you have plenty of fuel in form of slabs. Vegetable oil, either waste, or fresh, has to be scavenged or made. Mind you, it can also be used in conjunction with woodgas. I don't think woodgas can be used pure in a diesel.  You still need to have injection, to trigger the combustion. The injection acts as a spark plug more or less.
It's the same, pretty much, as propane injection in diesels.
If this make sense.

[handhewn]

I'm recently back to running my 60" circle saw powered by a  Detroit 6-71 two-stroke. Anybody out there know what my oil pressure should be at operating speed? It starts out at 30 lbs. and down to 20 lbs. after a few hours and stays there all day.

[moodnacreek]

Those screamin Jimmies are notorious for low oil pressure. If the oil pressure holds after warm up I would not worry. If the engine was shot it would keep going down. The 2 stroke heats to oil very fast and  very hot compared to many 4 strokes. Are you using 40 wt. ? That is what they call for unless cold season. When those engines are hot and dropped down to an idle there may be no pressure seen on the gage so don't idle too slow.

[handhewn]

I am not running 40 wt. I believe I'm running 15-40. I will change this before I run it again. Thanks much. I can't wait to see the difference. It seldom gets below 25 deg. here, is that cold?

[mudfarmer]

handhewn I don't remember what the book says but your oil pressure is the same as a healthy one I know intimately that runs about 8hrs a day most days of the year and has stayed the same apparently for at least a decade. moodnacreek as usual is right on the money including the bit about when you drop back to idle.

[handhewn]

Funny thing about low RPMs with my mill, I recently found out that if I screw up and drop my RPMs while running wood through the three blade edger, I will eat four v-belts at a total of $150. Now if I do drop my RPMs, I don't drop them much.

[dgdrls]

I am not running 40 wt. I believe I'm running 15-40. I will change this before I run it again. Thanks much. I can't wait to see the difference. It seldom gets below 25 deg. here, is that cold?

Handhewn,  look for straight 40wt with Sulphated Ash, %wt as far below 1.0 as you can find,

Delo 100 is a very good choice for 2 stroke DD Sulphated Ash, %wt is rated at 0.8.

D

[handhewn]

Thanks much dgdrls, I can't wait to try it. I would really like to see the oil pressure up where it was. 1939 and still running strong.

[moodnacreek]

1939?  I think that was the first year they where made. Does it have 3 air cleaners?