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Sawmill Maintenance/Repairs

Started by Magicman, February 23, 2023, 04:25:03 PM

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Ljohnsaw, SawyerTed and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

CCCLLC

I noticed the calipers as part of of tools used. Guessing  you're  measuring the wear ( taper from back to front edge). What do you  find allowable?

Magicman

I was surprised to find negligible difference front/back on any of those 6 blade guides.  

In the past I have found guides with so much wear that they were difficult to vertically align.  This leads me to believe that either the guides are much harder than in the past or the bearings are much worse.  The guides are certainly outlasting the bearings.  The bearing kits are ~$18, and it only takes about 5 minutes for the rebuild.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

I suppose that today is my last opportunity for sawmill maintenance, so on to replacing my Operator's Seat:


Earlier this year it was the victim of a limb falling out of a Beetle Killed Pine which really made a mess.  I had replaced this seat only a couple of years ago so I tried various patch materials plus a seat cover but nothing really worked.

My main (actual only) obstacle was attaching my umbrella bracket. 


I use these "nut rivets" which work very well in metal but...


The frame/back on this new seat is plastic.  Exact same seat that I bought from TSC a couple of years ago but changes have been made.  I know full well this this ain't gonna work, so my challenge is to find or devise a stronger insert.  Because of the cushion, etc. here is no way to get behind that back.


Anyway, it is replaced now and I will deal with the next failure, not if, but when it happens which may be Saturday morning.  :veryangry:

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

TimW

Lynn,
   Get a 3 or 4 inch wide steel strap and bend it to bolt where the seat attaches to the sawmill.  Maybe 3 feet long.
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

Magicman

I fixed it.  I went out and gave it a shake and it promptly came loose so I did what I was reluctant to do:


Pulled the seat cushion away from the back and inserted a bolt.  The seat back was actually double walled, I reckon for strength.

I added a jam nut and tightened my bracket down.


Then used GOOP to seal it back up.


I used straps to hold the cushion into the seat back which I will remove tomorrow or Saturday morning.  I also straightened the bracket up which I had not noticed until I uploaded the above picture.  Didn't matter but it looks better straight.

Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

LeeB

Still waiting on a fan belt. I found one today on eBay. Supposed to be here in a week or so. No telling about the other one i ordered. I left it on order to have a spare in case I ever need one. 
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

WV Sawmiller

   I mentioned the Hydraulics Hot Rail in another post and we talked about how to remove the burned spots caused by arcing when I used the hydraulics while the head was moving. These dead spots caused my hydraulics not to work properly and of course they were in the most common spot where I'd stop the saw head. Last week I tore off the front outrigger when I was towing the mill home on a rough road. When I went to replace the outrigger, which was undamaged except for the 4 sheared off carriage bolts, I had to remove the hot rail to replace two of the sheared off bolts. While it was off I took the opportunity to reverse/flip the copper rail exposing a totally clean face. 

    Since I have flipped the rail I have not encountered any hesitation or slow performance from the hydraulics because there are no dead spots. It has caused me to adjust my sawing technique a little though. I used to hold on to the head  and controls with my left hand while I toggled the hydraulics with my right hand. Now before I touch the hydraulics I completely remove my hands from the saw head. I checked the rail this morning and after the last 2 sawing jobs I see no burned spots so that seems to be working.

   While I had the outrigger off I had an additional hole drilled at a bottom of the outer cover where the jack rod goes in. I have complained about this dead spot for 10 years because if I went to unload the mill off the truck ball as often as not the bar would land on the dead spot and I could not jack up the tongue. I'd have to move back to the next outrigger nearer the center and lift from there(where the mill was heavier).
IMG_4176.JPG
    you can see the hole with the filings still showing. This modification has already proved its worth by solving the problem I mentioned earlier.

   I'm hoped WM sees this  post and makes this design change on future mills as I am sure others have had the same problem for many years.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

TimW

Brought the sawmill home today with the Yanmar not fixed.

So I ran the Yanmar at high idle for an hour then low idle for cool down. It never burped 1 rpm
higher or lower than 3030 rpm

When I took the mill
 to them Sept. 20th,
 it would start
loosing rpm at
startup,cold and
not hit idle target.


Shop's invoice said it would run 28 minutes and start running erratic.

Am I missing something here? :huh?  Seems the running normal time is increasing!  Will refuel and run again tomorrow.  It that runs fine, I will move it to the sawing spot and load a log.
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

TimW

Today.......... Removed the fuel tank and dumped about 3/4 gallon. There was trace water
and a dime size glob of black ooze. Not sure what it was or where it came
from.  Could be slime.
Put diesel in and ran it for 2 hours.  All normal operation and rpm.  Gonna put a log on it tomorrow.
Tim
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

Magicman

That glob of black is what you do not want to see.


I add the proper amount of the BioKleen shown above to prevent it.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

TimW

Lynn,
    I saw on the Shade Tree thread you posted on the Bio Kleen.  Already read up on it and want to get it.
    That black blob showed up since it was at the engine shop.  Not sure if they added any diesel without additives.   But 3 hours of running and no issues seems to point to that black blob as the gremlin.  I pray it is/was.
Thanks!
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

TimW

Got my bottle.  Tractor Supply is $10 more than O'reilly Auto Supply.
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

TimW

Got my bottle of Bio Kleen.  Tractor Supply is $10 more than O'reilly Auto Supply.
Had half a tank, so I added 1/2 teaspoon and ran it another 1.5 hours with no burps.
Gonna saw a log tomorrow!
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

TimW

Got my bottle of Bio Kleen.  Tractor Supply is $10 more than O'reilly Auto Supply.
Had half a tank, so I added 1/2 teaspoon and ran it another 1.5 hours with no burps.
Gonna saw a log tomorrow!
Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

Magicman

No pictures but I had a hydraulic hose to fail today.  It was the "up" side of the log clamp.  I called Wood-Mizer service desk while in-route to the hydraulic hose shop and got the lengths for the two hoses because I replaced both the up & down hoses.  I got two "tweeners" (double male) to connect the old and new hoses together and pulled the old ones out and the new ones in.  Total time lost was ~1 1/2 hours which included the 24 mile round trip.

In 21 years of sawing this is only my second hose failure.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

TimW

Mahindra 6520 4WD with loader/backhoe and a Caterpiller E70 Excavator.  My mill is a Woodmizer LT40HD Wide 35hp Yanmar Diesel. An old Lull 644D-34 called Bull

Magicman

I had a (fuel) situation yesterday morning where my engine would not start.  12.7 volts battery and it was spinning over correctly.  Just sorta pop and puff smoke but not run, like it was out of fuel.  Glow plug lamp on so it was glowing.  I cracked the "out" line on the lift pump, hand pumped, and there was fuel there when I pumped.  On the second try afterwards it popped off and ran & cranked/started as normal for the rest of the day.  Dunno??  Clean clear fuel ran out of the water separator filter.  The two filters are well within their replacement schedule but I will replace both of them this week. 
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

The engine fired off like a champ this afternoon but I still replaced both the primary (water separator) and secondary filters.  Nothing ran out of either filter but clean clear fuel.

I also checked the drive belt and found it to be only 15# @ 7/16", so I brought it back up to 18#.  

It appears that the weather/rain forecast for Monday & Tuesday of next week will back that job up to Friday and Saturday of this week.  It would be nice to go ahead and knock it out.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Magicman

Quote from: Magicman on November 11, 2024, 05:06:35 PMIt appears that the weather/rain forecast for Monday & Tuesday of next week will back that job up to Friday and Saturday of this week.
How very quickly plans can change.  The customer is having difficulty getting help so rain or shine, we are back to the Monday/Tuesday, etc. schedule.

I plan to move the sawmill and set it up at the sawing site which will save some time whenever we do saw.  This is a many times repeat customer that is only ~6 miles away.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

terrifictimbersllc

Things have started picking up in the last several days. I hope this trend continues.

Have a job tomorrow to saw 30 -40 12 to 16 foot 2 x 6 is into two by threes single cut down the middle. Chunky battens is what contractor wants for his customer.

Expect it'll be about two hours in and out, minimum charge is 325+ mileage and sales tax. About 20 miles away. I think it's a good deal for everyone involved.



DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Magicman

I hope that they do not noodle on you.  :uhoh:
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

terrifictimbersllc

Chemist in me hopes for a high yield.  :sunny:

Wasn't my idea. If the first few are bad, I'll offer to just cut one out of the center.
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Resonator

I was finishing up sawing a white ash log recently, when I heard a weird rattling noise coming from inside the drive-side blade wheel enclosure. Then I seen some thick black rubber strands fly out onto the mill deck. I opened the blade covers and checked the B 57's and drive belt were still intact. Upon closer inspection I discovered that one of the ribs of the drive belt that go through the pulley grooves had "left the chat" as those youngsters say. ffcheesy
I ordered a new one from Wood-Mizer, and in a few days had it in hand. I don't know that I've ever replaced the drive belt, I've just tensioned it and it kept working. Watched a you tube video of a guy with a LT-35 do a belt change, and copied his procedure. Only difference he pulled the idler pulley/brake arm off the mill to put the new belt on, but mine didn't want to come off. So I twisted the belt, and was able to slip in on behind the pulley.
Guesstimated the belt tension (gotta find where I left that tension gauge tool ffcheesy) and it all seems to be working good now. :thumbsup: 
Independent Gig Musician and Sawmill Man
Live music act of Sawing Project '23 & '24, and Pig Roast '19, '21, & '24
Featured in the soundtrack of the "Out of the Woods" YouTube video:
"Epic 30ft Long Monster Cypress and Oak Log! Freehand Sawing"

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

Peter Drouin

A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

LeeB

My fan belt finally came last Tuesday but I was too sick to go to the mailbox and get let alone put it on. Finally felt well enough this morning to get it installed but the mill battery was dead when I went to start it. Managed to jump it off with the truck but the battery wasn't charging and the hydraulics and most of the electric motors wouldn't work. I figure I have a bad connection somewhere but by then my battery was low also. Maybe I'll feel up to messing with it tomorrow. I really could use a sawdust fix. 
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

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