LT-15 Modifications - Manual Mill Conversion

[WmFritz]

Welcome br549.

To the younger folks, here's what Magicman is referring to...  :D
Goes back a couple years.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9xhTomqDTzE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9xhTomqDTzE

[YellowHammer]

I used el cheapo winches for this build and they had quite a bit of use on them and were working great when I eventually sold the mill.  The reason they lasted is that that useing a doubled claw turner rigging didn't load them very much even though it could turn big logs.
The cable hook goes to the mill frame on the right, and then the cable goes down around a snatch block pulley on the claw arm, back up to a pully on the frame next to the hook, and then to the winch.
You can just make out the doubled cable path in the picture.

Its important to mount a spring to the claw arms so that it keeps the claw against the log until it digs in.  You can see its mounted right in the crook of the elbow, and was about 6 inches long.

A hand winch would work too instead of electric, except it might be a little slow.
This rig easily turned some monster logs. If you look close in this picture,you can see the claw turner at the bottom of this big white oak, in position to begin rotating the log

YH

[br549]

Thanks for the quick reply. Seldom do I toss anything that can be used or could be added to another project. That's where I got the BR549 handle. A friend was hauling off an old boat that still had the hydraulic motor lift intact. That should work for the lift part of the sliding clamp. Still have the Harbor Freight winches. They just stopped working like maybe the switches died.  I have for a while thought of cables for movement but haven't taken time to figure it out. When I happened on this post my mouth dropped because you have already designed and worked out the bugs for me and others I would think. Since weather hasn't been friendly we've been doing some maintenance on sawmill. It has 23 horse Vanguard with centrifugal clutch that slipped since new. Found an electronic magnetic clutch and just swapped them. I don't know of anyone using electric clutches on band mills. Hope it's better . Oh also plan on linking the standards together with a lever on the operating side. Like everyone has before thinking all the standards are down out of the way and hit one. If you have any videos of your mill working please do pass it to me. I'd love to see your engineering in action. As I add these upgrades I'll try to post pictures as it comes to life.

[marcusthgault]

Wow YellowHammer, the well executed modifications of my dreams, if I owned a mill.
Makes me re-consider buying a newfangled all hydraulic mill ;D
Much more ownership satisfaction in modding a basic spec mill.
Cept "I" would never actually get round to the modding :-[
ps
br549
Do TimberKing not use electric blade drive clutchs?
regards,
Marcus

[Po-Jo]

Yh do you have a video anywhere of that log turner in action? that is very nice, awesome job . Got me to thinking! Trying to get my head around how it works

[Sixacresand]

Yellowhammer,  I always wanted to add all those things to my LT10, but don't have the skills, patience and know how to get it done.  Good job. 

[br549]

Thanks for the quick reply. Seldom do I toss anything that can be used or could be added to another project. That's where I got the BR549 handle. A friend was hauling off an old boat that still had the hydraulic motor lift intact. That should work for the lift part of the sliding clamp. Still have the Harbor Freight winches. They just stopped working like maybe the switches died.  I have for a while thought of cables for movement but haven't taken time to figure it out. When I happened on this post my mouth dropped because you have already designed and worked out the bugs for me and others I would think. Since weather hasn't been friendly we've been doing some maintenance on sawmill. It has 23 horse Vanguard with centrifugal clutch that slipped since new. Found an electronic magnetic clutch and just swapped them. I don't know of anyone using electric clutches on band mills. Hope it's better . Oh also plan on linking the standards together with a lever on the operating side. Like everyone has before thinking all the standards are down out of the way and hit one. If you have any videos of your mill working please do pass it to me. I'd love to see your engineering in action. As I add these upgrades I'll try to post pictures as it comes to life.

[YellowHammer]

Sorry, I don't have any videos.  Here are a couple more pictures that might help show the cable routing.


  

 

Here's a picture of how I bolted the manual backstops together so they all pivoted together.  These were then run to a simple lever handle that I pulled to raise or drop all the backstops at once.  It worked great and saved me countless walking steps.  Real quick mod.



 

[Po-Jo]

yh do you have a pic of this?   

"I mounted a winch under the tubing on the trailer frame and use it like a windlass, with a pulley mounted on the opposite side. The cable ends are attached to either side of the shuttle and looped through and around the winch drum.  As the winch rotates one way, the shuttle moves toward the backstops, as the winch is reversed, the shuttle reverses direction."

[timberjackrob]

Wow!! Im glad this older thread was revived I would like to try the clamp on my lt28 I already have the turner with electric winch.

[YellowHammer]

I built the shuttle clamp as a single removable unit that could potentially mount to any style of mill, instead of my old Lt15, and here are a couple pictures of it dismounted off the mill, and after I had removed the winch.  I put all the pics I have of my old mill in my gallery. 
I built the shuttle clamp as a completely independent and self supporting unit so that none of the 2,000 lbs of clamping force would be transferred to the mill rails so there would be no way to damage or bend the mill.   This first picture shows the assembly, just a short piece of square tubing sliding on another longer piece of square tubing serving as a rail. The 2,000 lb winch was mounted under the rail.  The winch cable is shown by the black cartoon line on the second photo, and you can see how it was wrapped around the winch drum a few times, and each end attached to the shuttle eye, much like a windlass.  In order to keep the cable from slipping on the drum, I passed it through a hole in the drum arbor.  So as the winch drum rotates one direction, it pulls the shuttle one way and clamps, when the winch is reversed, the drum rotates the other direction, pulls the shuttle the other direction and unclamps. The wear marks where the paint has been worn off the rail are easy to see, and show how the clamp moves back and forth on the rail.  I welded a piece of square tubing to the end of the rail to clamp against.  When clamping logs, and before I added the power up/down I would manually raise the sliding clamp head up or down and tighten a wing nut bolt to hold the clamp head in position.  When clamping cants, I would just loosen the wing nut bolt and the clamp head would fully drop to the correct height to just clear the blade for the lowest cuts.
 

  

 

I used the manually height adjusting shuttle clamp with the electric winch for quite some time before I added the hydraulic cylinder and hydraulic power pack for remote up/down.  That's why its a hybrid of winch and hydraulics, I didn't build it all at one time and used scavenged parts.  This addition turned it into a true two plane clamp, and allowed me to really manipulate logs and cants, very much like the two plane clamp on my LT-40.  Having a very sturdy and effective remote control clamp worked great, and I never used the manual clamps again, and took them off.

I hope this helps explain the setup
YH

[AKday]

New to the forum.  I was wondering if there was any chance of getting some rough dimension for the log turner? Doesn't have to be exact but something to get a guy started for fabbing something up? 

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum AKday.  This should get his attention: @YellowHammer

[YellowHammer]

Welcome, 
AKday, 
PM sent, I'll help where I can.
Robert

[jb616]

@Yellowhammer , I could use a set of those plans as well. I am really interested in the clamp as my manual clamp and handle get in the way of my lower blade guide unless I am really watching to make sure it will clear. I am trying to picture how the clamp is mounted in the mill. I will look over the pics again and increase their size to really check them out but any dimensions you have would be greatly appreciated for the clamp and the turner. 

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, AKday!

[YellowHammer]

Unfortunately I sold that mill a few years ago, so don't have any dimensions but here are some pictures.

 
The clamp cross tube is made from 2x2 square tubing and welded to two 6x6 flat plates which are bolted to the bed rails of the mill.  A sleeve is slid over the cross tube so it will slide from one side to the other.  Then another piece of 2x2 is welded perpendicular to that, in which a 1.5x1.5 square tube is inserted.  This is the upright of the clamp to which is welded the clamp tooth, which is just a flat piece of metal with a negative grind.  So now the 1.5 tubing will slide up and down, and the sleeve will traverse back and forth along the 2x2.  For the powered traverse I mounted a small electric winch to one side of the piece and a small pulley to the other.  I shortened and rewound the cable to serve as a windlass.  The winch turns one way and it pulls the clamp, the winch turns the other way, the clamp reverses. Here is the system with the winch dismounted, the black lines show how it operated.



To the upright I mounted a power steering hydraulic ram, which had enough force to lift and flip logs or cants.
It was a pretty easy build and was done with spare parts.  

[Studdard]

Thanks for all the infor.  I am like some of the others.... will need time to digest. .but I certainly want to incorporate some of your practical ideas esp...saving money.
Many thanks.  Studdard

[YellowHammer]

Thanks, the mods on this mill worked well and saved a lot of back ache.

Durf700
has recently told me that his very effective log turner idea was inspired by the winch claw log turner pictures on this topic.

looking at 7 year old Woodmizer LT15 in Sawmills and Milling

Actually, some of the most useful mods in this thread require the least amount of work.  Just being able to raise and lower all the side supports at once by pulling on a single lever was a great timesaver.

The little wheels on the backstops are a significant help, also.

 
That little log deck was a huge help, also.

[Lostinmn]

Nice mods!!  I think I hear the welder in the shop calling my name....

[biggkidd]

Great old thread lots of food for the ole noodle!