Inherited a Frick

[arsascusa]

I have inherited a circle mill. A distant family member gave me the "you can have this ol' mill but you have to move it" line and I took it. 

Comes with edger too. (Have to move that too) 

I can't wait until it's done. I have milled about 200 bf with a chain saw mill and this is a nice upgrade. 

Photos as I can. 

I need some help with disassembly. How do I disassemble the mandrel? 



 

 




 

That's what it looks like after several hours of brush clearing. 

Any help with the mandrel disassembly would be greatly appreciated. I have diagram from Frickco. 

[trimguy]

Welcome to the forum. Great score, but I don't know the answer.

[Southside]

Welcome aboard, and yup - nice score.  How long has she been sitting? @moodnacreek  and @Don P come to mind as guys who might be able to offer advice.

[Don P]

Take the blade off and take care of it.
Can you just pick it up as a unit and move it? Although it looks like the outboard end is on a concrete pour?
If backing out those outboard bearing adjusting nuts releases that bearing, I'd spray paint them first then back them off. Hmmm, I musta hit the italics button :. The marks will be wrong but somewhere to start when reassembling. Or are there bolts under the bearing? If not take the mount with it. From there it looks like you could just pick up the husk.

If you want to take the entire mandrel out, the middle bearing is a regular pillow block. Often a third bearing on a mandrel is a recipe for alignment woes. If there is a way to move that drive pulley in and get rid of the outboard 2' of shaft end. Put that adjustable bearing where the current middle bearing is and it'll make it easier to adjust the lead.

Or I'm misunderstanding what I'm looking at. And I must be, I'm not seeing how that middle bearing can move with a lead adjustment? The shaft must be dead level and able to slew side to side a bit to dial the blade in with the track and carriage when you reassemble everything.

The inboard is probably another pillow block. The diagrams might show the details of the assembly but yours is probably customized to some extent there.

You really need a big truck or trailer and rent a small Lull for a weekend unless you have some lifting toys. Looks like big fun in your future  

And photograph everything, the wind direction and number of wraps on the drum, etc. Can you tell I've had to take a wild guess when hooking the carriage back up :D

[mike_belben]

Must the arbor come out? Probably safer left in.


I would not try taking any sheaves off the mandrel but i also am fortunate to have some big iron to shuffle big junk around. If you have a skid steer with forks and a deckover trailer i would probably make a little wooden trasport crate to keep the shaft from getting bent.  Pluck the entire arbor up gently from overhead with some slings at each end on with a 3pt or bobcat jin pole attachment and set it in the transport cradle.  It looks like the whole saw head will fit on a 102" deckover from the pics to me. 

[Ron Wenrich]

You're going to get as many opinions as there are old time Frick users.  My experience with 3 bearing mandrels is that the middle bearing is adjustable.  That is what your's looks like.  The back bearing support is connected to the husk by the support underneath.  It looks like when you dismantle, the back support will be free floating.

How I would do it is to take the blade off.  If you have a blade board, put it on it.  The blade will be a lot easier to handle.  I would also remove the mandrel.  You'll have to make your adjustments after you install the mill, regardless if you leave the mandrel on the husk or you remove it.  A lot easier to mount the husk without the mandrel.  I wouldn't attempt to remove the pulley from the mandrel.  Just added work.

Anytime you adjust your mandrel on a 3 bearing mandrel, you have to loosen the center bearing.  Make your adjustment, then tighten the center bearing.  Doing it without loosening the center bearing will put a stress on both the bearing and mandrel and will cause a lot of grief.  

The current setup looks really sound.  I would take lots of pictures for reference, as well as measurements.  The way the walls are set up under the husk and track is what you want to make in the new location.  

[Don P]

Reading Ron's, I agree. One thing, if the carriage is still rolling true. Run it up to the blade. Mark a tooth and a point on the carriage, measure the distance between them. Roll that tooth to the rear and bring the carriage with you. Measure the gap again. The difference is the lead, record that. Now remove and store the blade.

Reading Ron's description and looking, this guy was good with where he had the husk locked down on that pour. At the end of that long shaft he was dialed in and pretty well in the center of the end bearing adjustment.

[moodnacreek]

Success depends on accurate resetting of the mill and the condition of the mandrel. Keep the collars clean and oiled or greased and the bearings covered. This is the heart of the sawmill and will make it or break it. Get a booklet on sawmill trouble shooting, there are several being reprinted. The time and effort to set this up properly will be taxing but if you have ripped with a chainsaw your not afraid of work. Good luck, post often.

[Ron Wenrich]

Here's the handbook that most guys use on circle mills:

https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/misc/circsaw.pdf

[arsascusa]

Thanks everyone. I apologize if I don't respond to everyone. The information is so helpful. 

Yes! It's a great score. I am so excited. I have spent hours pouring over it examining it. I am expecting a year or so to get it all set up. Been watching videos and reading. 

Thanks for the link to the sawmill guide pdf. Havn't seen that yet. I was hoping someone would send me stuff like that. 

Taking the blade off was another question. Looks like a 2 1/4 nut. Is it left handed or right handed thread? Don't know what a blade board is but the plan was to clamp a couple of fence pickets to it and handle it with that. i will google blade board. 

And thank you for the blade to carriage measurement. I didn't think about that. I don't have a plan yet for squaring the track to the husk yet. but that's months in the future. 

Yes, the guy did great installing it. I have a video of it running about 8 years ago. Tired all 4 people out at the end of the day, so it works great. 

Tractor will be lifting everything for me, I just have to disconnect it all. It will be a long and fun day. 

I have those supports above it that i can hook a come a long to to lift it. But how does it come out of the bearing? 

I am mechanically inept. Do i need to pull the long spindle out of the bearing on both the large red pulley and the center bearing or just the center bearing? And how does it pull out?

[moodnacreek]

I am not a Frick man but I think if you back off 3 press screws, all on the same side [leave the others to get back against] the complete mandrel can be lifted up and away. The saw nut should be std. thread on a r/h mill so get a big wrench on it and whack it c.c. with a hammer. Put an oil soaked rag between the collars and put the nut on hand tight. Look at the saw [and collars] to see exactly where they touch, hopefully at the extreme outer edges. When the time comes don't over tighten the saw. You are lucky you got a steel husk.

[sealark37]

A blade board is a piece of  1/2" plywood with a hole in the middle, and a perimeter frame of 3/4" X 2" boards.  Dismount the blade.  It is a right-hand thread.  Leave the mandrel on the husk, and move it as a unit.  Disconnect the cable feed, and take the tracks in three pieces.  If you can, chain the carriage to the center section of track for loading.  Your heaviest piece is the power unit.  A roll-back wrecker will make the move easier.  Save all the little pieces in a bucket.  The edger is easy.  Good Luck!

[arsascusa]

Ahh, thanks for blade board idea. That will work better than a couple of fence pickets. 

I am still debating on whether to take the mandrels off before transport or not. I hate to add extra work if I don't need to, but I am scared that something will twist or tweak if I don't. 

It will be the first week in Jan before I can do much else to it. 

And Sealark37, what's the purpose of chaining the carriage to the track? not tweaking either part or just convenience? I do know i don't want to have a carriage issue. (Please don't take that as being confrontational or whatever, just trying to understand more) 

Also I am seriously considering placing a 4x6 under the husk and the outlying pulley. They are already attached and perfectly aligned, i hate to lose that. 

[moodnacreek]

I recently pulled my sawmill out. The husk is about 7' 6' wide, a 3 bearing set up like the one to be moved here. I unbolted it from the husk 'timbers' because they are staying. Problem is the feed shaft hangs down so I lagged timbers under it. This 3 bearing husk has run since '96 when the mandrel was new. What I did was make it adjustable on the husk timbers [steel I beams] so I never touched the adjustments once it was dialed in. What I am talking about is changing the lead without risk of putting a bend in the mandrel. 3 bearing [or 4] are touchy to set up and getting the shaft straight is not a sure thing unless you have a machined surface. I used a dial indicator and a machinist's level and it took a long time.

[Don P]

What is the reason for the outboard end not being a larger "box" of channel... all one unit.  It looks like that would sure make it easier to move and set back up. What is hooking up to the flat belt?

What I'm wondering is it easier to weld it into a single solid unit, cut it free of the concrete and pick the whole works up.

[arsascusa]

The outboard end is so far out to allow room for the edger. If it was any closer the belts or the offload rollers would prevent edger access. 
Hopefully this picture explains it better. 

The husk is lag bolted to the treated board which is bolted to the concrete. That was my thought was to slide a 4x6 between the concrete and the treated board to create a larger box and keep it all intact. It's already lined up, already working right so why mess it up. I just gotta do it so that the left side is raised at exactly the same height and time as the right side so it doesn't twist. 

Moodnacreek, do you have any pictures of what you did that you can post? 

 


We also found this broken sprocket. It's available from frickco I found. It's part of the cable system under the husk. 

[arsascusa]

The flat belt goes to the sawdust chain. 

[Iwawoodwork]

That gear tooth would be easy to weld/build up with a mig or stick. Mike Belbin would have that welded up in a short time.

[moodnacreek]

That gear tooth would be easy to weld/build up with a mig or stick. Mike Belbin would have that welded up in a short time.

But it is cast iron so you would need nickel wire. I would drill, pin and braze it.   I am not good at posting any thing not typed, it would take all night and a helper and I can't sit long with my back. The husk bolt's down with 4 5/8" bolts. One of these holes , closest to the spreader is round, the other holes are oval in the direction needed to shift the husk to change the lead. Remember the point or nose of head block is 1/2" from saw tooth when you start.

[Ron Wenrich]

Am I reading this right?  You shift your husk to set lead?

[luap]

leave it intact and move the husk as one unit. Call a local mechanical contractor and ask if they have a retired amillwright that could advise you. these guys have moved all kinds of industrial equipment. powerplants. factories. big.heavy stuff without breaking anything.

[Sixacresand]

I love watching circular mills run. 

[moodnacreek]

Am I reading this right?  You shift your husk to set lead?

Yes, that is what I did. The drum shaft has a self aligning bearing so I could do that. The saw guide and splitter would go with it. The problem was I would keep looking at the guide pegs to see how much I moved it, out of habit, no change there. The mandrel was over 8' longand had 3 bearings but should of had 4 because if you gigged really hard you could scrub on the blade.  Those center bearings are hard to get the windage and elevation right. The mighty C. Creamer told me I could not ever do it so it had to be done [by Me].

[arsascusa]

Hey so what is "lead" that you mention? 

Looked all through my pictures and I see where there are two lag bolts attaching the husk to the foundation on the opposite side of the blade. You can see them in the pictures i posted. Next weekend I will take more detailed pictures of the blade side. 

[Ron Wenrich]

Page 42 of the Efficient Sawmill booklet that I had linked earlier. Explains it pretty well and how to set it.