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Useful sawmill mods

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

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Bandmill Bandit

Ok I am going to try this.














A couple more of my lube tube mod and the finished gazebo.

Thanks for the help and thanks for the compliment on the gazebo but that has to go to my wife for the gazebo idea. I built it but she made made it fit the yard from more than a size stand point. I could not have built it with out my saw mill. I would hate to see what the price of some of the timbers I made would have cost even if I could get them at the lumber yard.



Skilled Master Sawyer. "Skilled labour don't come cheap. Cheap labour dont come skilled!
2018 F150 FX4, Husqvarna 340, 2 Logright 36 inch cant hooks and a bunch of stuff I built myself

thecfarm

Nice job on the pictures. You are right about saving money with your own mill.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Bibbyman

 



I've had this project on the back burner for a couple of years.  I had the guide build by a local metal fabrication shop.  He made a couple of major mistakes and over did a lot of it - taking upon himself to substitute heavier material than I asked for.

Anyway,  I got it mounted and it works ok except the fingers are too long.  And I'd like to make a way to quick detach it or hinge it up out of the way.

I need a distance from the blade to the end of the guide fingers so I only have to measure twice and cut once.  

Would an LT70 ower please measure the distance from the blade to the bottom of the aluminum fingers for me?  

I figure set the blade at 12" and then move the guide fingers over a bed and then measure from the bottom of the fingers to the bed.





Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

AvT

On mine the fingers are 3 inches closer to the bed.  But looking at the setup I think design may have been 2 1/2" as horizontal bar looks like it slopes down a wee bit
Wannabe sawyer, Cord King M1820 firewood processor Palax KS35 Ergo firewood Processor, 5403 John Deere, Bunch of other farm equipment,   LT70 Remote Woodmizer.  All good things but the best things in life are free.. If you don't believe me.. hold your breath for 2 minutes

Bibbyman

Thanks. 

We sawed 6x8 with the guide in place yesterday so there was no problem with the guide fingers being too long.  This morning I've been sawing some cedar 6x6 and again no real test.  But I've sawn a couple of small logs down to 1" of the deck and it seems to be working fine - even if they're a couple of inches longer than they should be.

It'll probably end up like most of my projects – if it works I won't mess with it.   ::)
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

beenthere

Guide fingers? I thought maybe they were for dragback.  What do they guide?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Larry

bt, they steer the board.

On my TK I hate looking through the fingers to see the grade on a cant.  My console is on the right, so sometimes I only use the left side fingers to keep the board from veering to the left.  It it veers to the right I can correct course with my hand without moving.  It works out better than two out of three boards behave.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Bibbyman

Quote from: beenthere on April 19, 2011, 01:52:13 PM
Guide fingers? I thought maybe they were for dragback.  What do they guide?

The LT40 Super comes standard with a dragback arm.  I think it's an option on the LT40 Standard.  It works well as designed if you've got a walk-along mill and can place a hand on the board being drug back.  But if you have a Command Control model,  the boards tend to shoot off this way and that depending on how the end of the log is cut or any number of other issues.  

The LT70 series solved this problem with the dangly down guide fingers that keep the board in line.  So far,  Wood-Mizer has not saw fit to design a guide system for the LT40 series.  There are a couple of others that have built their own guide system and have shown them here on this topic.





Here is a home-made model done by Tom Heidlege.  He used Wood-Mizer guide fingers and a bracket of his own design.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Bibbyman

They predicted rain all day today.  The wind was up high.  And Mary didn't want to saw.  She wanted to go to town to get "stuff".  So I spent most of the day hacking and welding on the dragback.  A little fine tuning may be required but I think I'm close.   I got it installed and pictures taken just as the storm came in.





I installed a hinge about midway.  I used a 1/2" bolt with a wing-nut I'd found so it can be taken off with little effort.   I also looked at the unit Tom handmade and noted that the cross bar holding the fingers was turned 90° from the unit I had built.  So when I cut the mounting bar off to install the hinge,  I turned the mounting angle to be like the same as Tom's model.  That brought the fingers up to what looks to be the right length.





I got hinge geometry just right so the dragback clears the motor about 1/2" when folded up.  Problem is,  the weight of the fingers out front make it want to fall back down.  I figure to drill another set of holes above the hinge to install a pin to keep it from falling back down.  Wouldn't do to let it fall on Mary's head!





Another view of it folded up.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

Magicman

This is unrelated to your project, but do you have to blow those electric motors out regularly to clear the sawdust from the cooling fins?  I know that I have issues with the radiator air filter on the Diesel.  I guess that I'm surprised that you don't have a filter on that electric motor.
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

logwalker

Those motors are fully enclosed with the fan on the outside of the housing.
They are referred to as TEFC motors.
Let's all be careful out there tomorrow. Lt40hd, 22' Kenworth Flatbed rollback dump, MM45B Mitsubishi trackhoe, Clark5000lb Forklift, Kubota L2850 tractor

Bibbyman

Almost 5,000 hours on the motor over the past 9 years.  Only a single squirt of grease in the bearing on each end yearly.   8)
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

DR_Buck

Bibby,   couldn't you use double roller chain for the guide arms?  It's seams a lot less mechanical engineering would be required and it would work just as well.
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

Bibbyman

Quote from: DR_Buck on April 22, 2011, 06:49:29 AM
Bibby,   couldn't you use double roller chain for the guide arms?  It's seams a lot less mechanical engineering would be required and it would work just as well.

Yes.  Would work great.  If you have the chain or can get some cheap without buying new.  Else even old flat link chain like used on old farm equipment??  Anything that bends one way but not side to side.  It don't take much.

I was trying to work something out by using fiberglass/nylon bars instead of aluminum.  Maybe from hammer handles?
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

paul case

use wood on a sawmill?  sounds like a good idea to me and maybe the cheapest option! pc
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

Bibbyman

 



Now I'm sorry I left this project go for so long.  It really works well.  We've sawn maybe 1mbf of 8' logs and it's not missed bringing the board back to the outfeed table. 

We've had to change our procedure a little to use the dragback guide.  For example, when we cut a slab,  the guide is in the way of removing it.  So we either have to run the head further forward or raise the head and return.  But overall it's an asset.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

AvT

Wannabe sawyer, Cord King M1820 firewood processor Palax KS35 Ergo firewood Processor, 5403 John Deere, Bunch of other farm equipment,   LT70 Remote Woodmizer.  All good things but the best things in life are free.. If you don't believe me.. hold your breath for 2 minutes

Brucer

There you go ... complete design details. Ain't the patent office wonderful?
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

zopi

Quote from: zopi on November 08, 2009, 09:24:31 PM
The best yet...electric lights in the sawshed! Next up, a toolshed for all the crap the mill collects...with acorner for my forge and anvil....but that must wait until
mama's storage shed is built...
Quote from: zopi on November 08, 2009, 09:24:31 PM
The best yet...electric lights in the sawshed! Next up, a toolshed for all the crap the mill collects...with acorner for my forge and anvil....but that must wait until
mama's storage shed is built...

For the record...none of this has been accomplished.. lol
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

bandmiller2

My bandmill is set up in a nice building with a smooth cement floor came in the outher day and it was spotless not a speck of sawdust. Seems one of the lads that was cleaning up used a backpack leaf blower,did a real nice cleanup job. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Slingshot

 Had to go back to page seven to find this thread.

Just want to show a little mod I did to my LT40 toeboards. Older type hydraulic.

They are usually OK as they are but sit a little too far away from the dogs for small logs.




And can't be moved any closer because of the inner brace beam.
But by installing on the opposite side of the bunk they can be moved closer to the dog.

I drilled one hole- bolt spacing over -and re-positioned the toeboard about 6 inches
closer for the front one and left the rear as is.




Small and medium logs can be loaded small end to the front and larger logs that need to be raised to center the
pith can be loaded small end to the rear.



________________________
sling_shot



Woodchuck53

You guys are always talking about a place for spare blades. This might be to bulky.

When I cut open some plastic drums to make my culvert collars I noticed that the base of the drum on each end tapers quit a bit. Would a drum cut down to about 12 or 14"  to make a lower bowl and then the other end cut about 2" to form a top slide in? I'm not home to try this but I will as soon as I get back.

My sawing partner has a LT40 and could probably use something like that. For now he just lays them in the back of his truck on the mat after sharpening. I think it will work with a little experimenting with the depth of each.
Case 1030 w/ Ford FEL, NH 3930 w/Ford FEL, Ford 801 backhoe/loader, TMC 4000# forklift, Stihl 090G-60" bar, 039AV, and 038, Corley 52" circle saw, 15" AMT planer Corley edger, F-350 1 ton, Ford 8000, 20' deck for loader and hauling, F-800 40' bucket truck, C60 Chevy 6 yd. dump truck.

Magicman

Yes, that should work very well.  It sounds like what I did with a garbage Magic Can.





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

zopi

Rubbermaid, I think makes a short round can about that size...seen em a lowes, etc...
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

pnyberg

Quote from: Magicman on November 21, 2011, 06:53:03 AM
Yes, that should work very well.  It sounds like what I did with a garbage Magic Can.

Since I now stock 3 blade profiles, and the blade cabinet that lives in the back of my pickup truck only has 3 drawers, I needed another solution for storing my dulled blades.  I remembered Magicman's Magic Can, and found it in the archives.  It seems simple, but first I have to figure out how to saw my garbage can in half.  Eventually I remembered that I own a sawmill.



So that was pretty easy.  But then I couldn't figure out how to take the two halves of a tall garbage can and turn them into one short garbage can.  Just laying the lower section inside the upper section left a gap of about 1" all around, which I clearly couldn't fix using pop-rivets.  But then it occurred to me to fill the gap with spray foam, which seemed to work OK.



Crude but effective.  To finish the job I'll need to buy another can of foam, and fill the lower part of the gap.  It seems pretty solid.

Quote from: zopi on November 21, 2011, 08:11:20 AM
Rubbermaid, I think makes a short round can about that size...seen em a lowes, etc...

Now you tell me  :)

--Peter
No longer milling

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