Sawmill Maintenance/Repairs

[doc henderson]

We closed the peds ED at midnight but had to clean the rooms for the next day.  To make the beds all day between patients and at the end of the day we had a linen cart.  The cart was 7 feet tall and 8 feet long on rollers with 4 shelves.  so, a Nurse would ask someone to grab some sheets off the cart, knowing that another had climbed in on a shelf and hid.  the whole thing was covered with a plastic cover with zippers to access.  of course, no patients were there, and we all waited to hear the rrrrh and then the scream.  

We also offered coffee to new workers, and said "careful it is hot", and then pretend drop the empty Styrofoam cup on them.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Other common tricks were to take one of the cone shaped Dixie cups out of the holder by the water cooler and add a pack of salt to it then slide it back on the bottom of the stack. The next user would pull the cup out, fill it with water then take a swig of salt water and start spitting it out.

    Another common trick was to cut the tip off the bottom of the cone. The next user would take the cup out, fill it then as he drank the water would be dribbling down on to his shirt and chin.

[barbender]

 I've been in on dome fun pranks. I've been the victim of a few. I've also seen things go sideways and get way out of hand!

[TimW]

We had an ex Braniff inspector become our head inspector.  One night shift we were painting red and white touchup paint on the fuselage, the left overs got mixed and his box got painted pink.  He sold it to one of our female mechanics before we closed down.

[Magicman]

I noticed a sorta rumbling sound yesterday while sawing.  It sorta echoed and I was not able to pin it down, but I knew that anything unusual is usually not good.

During a blade change this morning I saw;


Yup, a puddle of ATF below the drive wheel.  I whistled in the dogs, did to the fire what coon hunters do to the fire, and then called Wood-Mizer and whatdoyouknow, Doug answered.  He recommended a complete bearing unit rather than parts and by the time I paid for machine shop time pressing bearings, I would be ahead anyway.

He said that their shop time to replace the entire bearing unit was three hours, but I have probably spent that much time just clearing the shaft of the old unit.


I used square headed push bolts to remove the collars.


And finally got the two pulleys and the brake drum removed.


The old unit looks sorta nekkid.  I may wait until the new unit comes Thursday before I remove this old one.

What the old unit sounded like after I remove the brake and drive belt:

https://youtube.com/shorts/9sz4p4cl3

[Ljohnsaw]

Yeah, that don't sound good. Did you have them rebuilt before? More than once? How long did they last? Will you rebuild these yourself for the future or not worth it?

[Magicman]

That original cylindrical bearing is 26 years old and has never been low of fluid and has never been rebuilt.  Buying new bearings that has to be pressed off and on plus the seals my decision was to pay the $386+ and get the entire unit.  My time is worth that plus I should be sawing next week instead of screwing around with a machine shop.

I went back and read this topic:  LINK

Doug told me that they never rebuild the bearing unit, just replace it.  This one will outlast me so I am not concerned.

[TimW]

A wore out washing machine mechanism comes to mind.

[Stephen1]

Sounds a little rough! I bet you could got another day or two.

[Magicman]

Actually probably so and if I was just finishing a job I could/would have but not this one.

Since I only had one tailgunner Monday no stickering was done.  This down time is giving the customer time to get his organizing in order so that he can handle the lumber as it comes off of the sawmill.  He had never realized how quickly I can break a log down.  It takes a minimum of two tailgunners.

[Magicman]

The new Cylindrical Bearing unit came today:


So the ball will be in my court tomorrow. 

[LeeB]

I rebuilt mine when the seal gave up and toasted the bearings. I seem to remember the u-bolts being kinda fidgity. 

[LeeB]

Thought I had some bad rail rollers because the head was getting to where it was hard and slow to jig back and stop and gp going forward. Checked the rollers and they were good. Took the cover off the drive motor and found that everything was looked up with fine sawdust including a lump of it on the drive pulley. Guess that was what was causing the stop and go. Cleaned it all up and now all is working well.

[barbender]

I've had that happen on mine too, Lee. Especially in the cold🤷 I doubt that's your issue right now😊

[Jim_Rogers]

When I got my new bearing block they said in the instructions that I should remove the alignment pins. 
However, I didn't and I just installed it with those pins in place and it was aligned as it should be.
Good luck with the installation.

Jim Rogers

[Magicman]

My alignment pins also stayed Jim.  I did tweak the horizontal a bit to move the blade tracking inward about 1/8th inch but this is allowed with the alignment pins in place.

I got the drive sheave on before the rain came so I am making good progress.  Weather Underground shows rain most of tomorrow so I may be Monday finishing.  Don't matter because this 100+ Log job is gonna take a while anyway.

[Magicman]

I got ahead of the rain today and was able to lay it by.


Afterwards I did a blade guide, etc. alignment and found a rough bearing in one of my blade guides.  I reached in my box and produced a 1 1/2" roller.  It was a ****99 where mine are ****25.  Nope, that will not fit because the blade teeth would be contacting the roller if the blade is against the flange.

When  a guide bearing goes it is quicker for me to switch out the entire roller and keep on keeping on.  This afternoon I noticed that I have 4 rollers that need bearing replacements so I need to spend some bearing time.  The one today had very little frontal wear. 

[randy d]

We had blade guide roller go bad last Friday. The mill had set for about 2 weeks and quit rolling I had a new one stashed away but where did I stash it away it took awhile but it turned out well. We have Wood Mizer field team coming some time in August for a tune up. 

[Magicman]

I can accurately make any and all adjustments/alignments that are in the Service Manual but sadly we are no longer in the Service Loop.  I did it every ~3years and always felt that it was $$ well spent.  Bob always showed me what he was doing and why.  Heck, he did stuff that was not even in the book.

[Magicman]

I did have to tweak the blade drive belt tension and also the brake adjustment today but I sawed for 7 hours today and all is well.  I am a happy sawyer. 

[Stephen1]

Great to hear

[Magicman]

I have not decided what or if I will do anything with the old cylindrical bearing.  It lasted 24 years and including what the previous owner sawed, over 4 million bf of lumber sawed.  To spend anything on it seems to be a total waste.

[barbender]

 It should be given a medal or plaque and retired to a place of honor!

[terrifictimbersllc]

Pig roast raffle item.
I would bid on it.

[Magicman]

I would certainly give it to anyone that wanted it but the shipping cost would probably exceed it's worth.