Simple homemade setworks

[Hilltop366]

Looks that easy and can easily be re-calibrated also.............

Thanks for the link!

Looking back at the link for the digital readout, one of the problems would be setting zero on a sawmill because the blade would have to go to the log deck but the readout for the planer is made to be set to a planed thickness which I think would work much better, a longer sensor strip than the one that would come with it would be required. Not sure if the system would hold up to a sawmill environment.

A power steering pump would have enough pressure if the cylinder were large enough .It wouldn't be very fast though .

I was thinking that using the existing lift system and using a hyd motor to turn it would not require a lot of power, after watching a youtube of the Ez Jr mill it looks like little effort is required to turn the lift because of the spring pre-load. However if going through the trouble to add a pump it would make sense that it could run the feed as well.

[hackberry jake]

I already have a pump for the turner/clamp and backstops. I also have a hydraulic motor and enough chain to build the hydraulic feed. I just don't know about hydraulic for precise positioning. Electric would seem to be easier in the sensor/switch regard.

[rs1626]

Jake if you build it with a hi- lo speed hyd. you can get close in hi speed switch to lo  Cooks do it that way there set works is a plc that gets close in hi speed than switchs to lo to creep up on setting

[bandmiller2]

Jake,I described this somewhere in the past.I have used my homebuilt bandmill for 12 yrs. with complete satisfaction using hydraulics.My sawhead up and down uses a good hyd. cylinder and wire cable,a pointer on a yardstick.You can feather a spool valve easily lowering it to your desired mark with 1/16" accuracy.Finish the cut and it raises the head quick and easy,engine weight is no problem.Cables are 3/8"and easily adjustable with a nut on the end of an eyebolt,use a new cylinder and settling is no problem.For feed I used a hyd. motor and needle valve to control speed plus it has full speed gigback.You want a pump a little bigger than a power steering pump,although one out of a large truck would be fine. Frank C.

[pyrocasto]

My mill is gas powered with electric drive and head raise/lower, homemade. I will be doing an arduino enterface on it soon where it will cut through the log, raise up, and come back. That way while it's working you can dealing with the last board or scraps. I dont care to have vertical measuring just yet, as I vary how thick I cut a lot depending on species, width, and end use. Staying away from steppers and just using some sensors makes things easier, and cheaper. But steppers are definitely ideal.

[pri0ritize]

Steppers have the inherent downside of having no feedback. If for some reason you lose a step you'll have no way of knowing if it happened. Servos are ideal, but slightly more difficult and expensive to implement. Woodmizers setworks seems to use an optical encoder on a DC motor. The pulley on my WM has quite a few holes and I'm fairly certain their scheme is to count those to determine the amount the pulley has turned.

[Al_Smith]

There have been some great ideas but in just general conversation it appears most or a majority of the bandsaw crowd run commercially built high quality machines on this site 

Now a little tip of which I will not provide a link simpley because it would get deleted more than likely .However if a person where to do a Google on the subject of home built  bandsaws there are several souces of information .

One site for example is totally about do it yourself machines with a few members who frequent this site as a matter of fact .

A little trip around the net can yield a zillion methods of makng setworks ,power travel and just about anything you can imagine concerning methods ,what "junk parts " to use .Including commercialy available parts from some sponsers on this very site .

Although not mentioned by the OP one of the neatest methods of power feed I ever heard of was using the travel motors from a power wheel chair which can be found on flea bay often rather inexpensively including the controls for same .

[Al_Smith]

 :D I get intigued over making stuff from recycled junk and a thought occured to me on this little project .

What if a person used a double set of recoil tension springs from a big roll up door ? They'd have to be wound the same direction and chained with roller chain beause you would not have enough room on a saw carriage to hang the duel springs of a 16 foot roll up door 12-14 feet high on a common shaft like a door .

Unlike the actual usage as in effect "balancers "on a door the springs would gain more tension the closer they were to the saws bed plate level .If they were set up correctly instead of lifting  the saw head you would effectively be pulling it down through the progression of sawing a log for thickness .

There's possibilites here .For example even  the smaller springs on a common 9 foot garage door might work if the lift mechanism used a two to one reduction .Spring wound for 7 foot but effectively only lifting about 4 feet .

No hydraulics ,no super duper encoder with a PLC .Just plain physics with springs ,roller chain and a rachet pawl .Might work !

[bandmiller2]

Almost anything can be made to work to raise and lower the saw head.Some just use a pipe with a crank handle and wire cables with a sprocket and pawl to hold position and gauge say each tooth 1/4"Its nice to have power lift.I do think some down weight makes for a more stable sawhead. A small hydraulic winch with a spool valve would work well. I would run a cable through an overhead door spring to cage it in case of breakage if they twang their violent. Frank C.

[Al_Smith]

Well yeah on a extension  spring that pot licker could knock your head off .A wind up spring  on a shaft won't go anywhere if it breaks .

My shop has 3 16 wide 14 feet high doors that have double springs about 4-5 feet long and 6 inches in diameter .They rate the things as per load per coil figuring in the diameter and what size the spring wire is as well as the drum size on a cable lift .Exactly how it's figured I have no clue ,yet .

Most use a one size drum but some get rather complex using concentric drums which can change the mechanical advantage as the door climbs .It compensates for the spring loosing tension at higher elevations on a straight vertical lift type door .
On a standard vertical lift to horizintal transition as the door goes up the weight actually becomes less as it transitions to the horizontal portion of the track .

[snafu3636]

Just food for thought.. What about a digital ruler with a  magnetic remote readout (dro). Just for the accurate measuring part ?