Hello all, This is my first post to the forum. I have studied and read so much information from the members of ff and i wanted to take the time to thank you all for the willingness to help and be a blessing to so many. I have, after studying and planning for almost a year started my sawmill build.
Not to get off topic but just so you know what my intentions are, I intend on relocating to the mountains of idaho and building my own log home. I have been planning all of this with varying levels of intensity for about ten years now and have started on putting together tools and other things i will need.
A little background information on the mill im putting together, i am using a 18 hp kohler magnum off of a wheel horse 418-8 that i had sitting around. The sheaves are the 18.75 pulleys from surpluscenter with the taper bushings on 1.5 inch shafts. I am looking into getting an electric pto clutch to drive the system. The tension is applied to the blade with the electric piston for the deck height adjust off the wheel horse.
The part i am having difficulty with is the deck lift system. I intend on using 1"4 acme rod to allow for ease of expansion if i want to add a setworks later. I will most likely use the rod and nuts from surplus center which are both steel and i will follow the advise of floridadeadheader in a previous post by another member when he said he uses steel for both the rod and nut and lubricates them every day without issue. We shall see. Right now i am driven by cost so we'll find out. The issue is how are the acme rods mounted to the mill? What bearings / end bearings are used at the top and bottom of the rod that will support lifting a couple hundred pounds? I will attach a few pictures to show where i am at and my log arches that are most of the way done. Thanks in advance, Clint
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You can use standard pillar block bearing with a thrust bearing on
that bottom for your acme rods.
So if i lathe the top and bottom of the rod down to 3/4 or whatever diameter is just shaft and use a pillow block for the top support and a thrust bearing on the bottom, that should be sufficient?
I used 1 1/4" acme rod 4tpi had it machined down to 3/4" on the ends and used a standard pillow block bearing on the top and wheel bearing on the bottom seems to work well for me. Bearings came from surplus center as well.
BraschBrothers,welcome to the forum.
I know one thing,you better get busy. That little one looks like he/she wants to get thier hands on it. ;D
I have done what you are intending 2 different ways with 1/4 " UHMW and a 4 bolt flange bearing. I either cut a square piece to put under the entire bearing(wasteful) or cut a small piece to fit inside the bearing. You can grind it round with a standard bench grinder. Handy stuff - UHMW.
Thanks for the tips and advice guys :) Ive never heard of the uhmw plastic before, im going to have to try to get my hands on some.
I found this site while looking for thrust bearing applications, thought some of you guys might get a kick out of this. http://www.mattcremona.com/making-lumber/bandsaw-mill-build/the-lifting-rods
Over on Instagram, I have been watching Matt Cremona's mill build. With a little persuasion, he had joined here a few months back. Quite an impressive undertaking. Hopefully, he will speak up and share some details.
Thanks for the mention, guys.
I used 1.5"-4 acme rods which I coupled to a stepped shaft that I made out of 1" round stock and 1.5" OD DOM tube. I left the end of the round stock protruding out of the DOM tube to create a step that a thrust bearing could make contact with. The thrust bearing I used: https://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-rolling-element-thrust-bearings/=160jzly
That post on my website provides more details on what I did but feel free to ask any questions.
Braschbrothers, welcome to FF you have an impressive mill as well. 8)
Mattcremona, also welcome to FF! You should start a new thread telling us a little about your woodworking 8)
Thank you fishfarmer and you are most welcome matt, i love your build and have followed it for some time now. Great job! One new question i have is what rpm is ideal for the band wheels / blade to be running? I have a 18 hp kohler magnum which should run at 3600 rpm and i have a electric pto clutch with a 6 inch pulley attached to it. I am trying to determine what diameter driven pulley i should purchase which should set the rpm for the saw. I just dont know what rpm the blade should be running at. I found a few posts that discuss this but didnt answer it clear enough for me. Thanks for your time, Clint
With a 6 inch pulley on the engine you are at the right sfpm (surface feet per minute) to run your belt on the same pulley or same size pulley as you use for the blade to ride on.
Thanks Clint! I went with 4500ft/min for my mill.
I found this article helpful in making my decision: http://cookssaw.com/index.php/sawmill-blade-insight/how-fast-should-a-bandsaw-turn-and-does-that-change-for-frozen-logs
Also this sfpm calculator is helpful: http://vintagemachinery.org/math/sfpm.aspx
Quote from: mattcremona on January 28, 2017, 11:31:01 PM
Also this sfpm calculator is helpful: http://vintagemachinery.org/math/sfpm.aspx
Also chances are your engine won't be running a 3600 rpm even though that is what it is rated for. It will more likely be running around 3000-3200.
ok, i read the article and checked out the sfpm calculator, does it make sense to anyone else to do my sfpm calculations based off 2500 rpm so im not maxing out my engine all the time to achieve 4500 sfpm?
I was told it's best to run the newer engines at max rpm to keep
them cool. Another reason I don't like the newer stuff.
Your engine is small,i agree with K ,run that baby wide open.....
I used 1-5" ACME thread with pillow block bearings on top and I custom-made a nylon housing to accept standard NAPA thrust bearings at the bottom (I think BR2's). I will probably never change the bottom bearings... they were way overkill, and are grease-able and all. For the nuts, I custom made some Delrin nuts about 2" long - I see very little wear on them after 25mbf of cutting, but they do require a lube of some kind. I use ATF, and am reminded I need to lube them when I hear the hyd pump engine groaning a little more when I ask it to raise the head. Bronze nuts are best I think, and given the amount of time I put into making a 1" ACME tap would have used bronze... that being said, I am 100% happy with the performance of the Delrin nuts.
Nice looking fab work! A constructive observation: may I recommend you test to make sure the electric actuator can adequately tension a blade before settling on that design. I only suggest this because many designs use a hyd cylinder in the same place and generate upwards of 2000 PSI for proper tension. Just a thought.
Quote from: BraschBrothers on January 29, 2017, 07:05:28 AM
ok, i read the article and checked out the sfpm calculator, does it make sense to anyone else to do my sfpm calculations based off 2500 rpm so im not maxing out my engine all the time to achieve 4500 sfpm?
I would use 3200 rpm in your calculations. Even though the engine is probably rated for 3600 rpm. Several years ago there was a class action law suit because small engine manufactures were falsely claiming higher power than what the engine would ever be capable of producing in real life (I think one of the tricks they used was to feed oxygen into the carburetor to get it up to the rated 3600 rpm)
With that said small engines are designed to to run at full speed so I wouldn't try and reduce it below what it normally is. The best way to find out what rpm it will actually be running at would be to get a tachometer for it and find out.
When I built my mill I aimed for 5500 sfpm but ended up closer to 5000 and it drops more if I push through the log to fast.