Useful sawmill mods

[WV Sawmiller]

  Looks good. Have you thought about adding a 1" or longer piece on the back to increase the clamping surface? Looks to me like you are only clamping against about a 1/2" on the stationary back right now. If it is too long you can always saw it off when you get too close to the bottom. :D

[caveman]

I was putting a flimsy piece of flat aluminum across the bed rails and a board in front of the backstops.  The way it is now, the black clamping point in line with the clamp hits whatever is being sawn about 3" up which gives a much more secure hold when clamping small pieces.  we have wooden vee blocks too but have not needed them much with the hydraulic clamp.  I think this will work okay but time will tell.  I have also set the pieces down between the rails but if I am sawing alone it is a challenge to hold them and clamp them.

[donbj]

My Woodmizer LT40 being spec'd for 1.25" blades and I run 1.5" I did a bit of modification I have been wanting to do for some time. Changing blades is a bit tricky in avoiding banging into metal as they are being maneuvered into place. The room is very tight for 1.5" to get in there.

What I did was trim some metal off to open it up more. It made a significant difference in getting a blade in there more easily. This didn't affect the integrity of things at all and was well worth the effort. I just used a cut off wheel in my side grinder.

Here are some before and after pics. The black line was my guide.



 

 

 

 

[GAB]

I have sworn off those "big" logs.  I always end up tearing up something.

Yeah yeah and along come the little lass that says GrandPa can you .....
GAB

[Bandmill Bandit]

Bandmill Bandit-- I am fully aware of all of the programming/setting options that are available to the user on the stock SS...hacking is a different matter entirely and I wish I had the knowledge to give it a go.

Are you planning on running something other than the AK22 pulley?

I will start with the AK22 But my son is going to down load the existing code to determine what is possible with the system. If I can find an AK28 plate pulley and still be in the accuracy range I think I will be happy.

Lift rate is now 8 secs for 12" and drop rate is 6 secs for 12". I am pretty happy with it.

The physics of head movement and momentum from the higher speed and torque thereof is what needs to be compensated for.

Finally got the chance to bump the drive pulley to an AK25 from the AK22. The results are favorable and I am running lift/drop cycles at about 90% of the speed of a factory Super. I did have to make an adjustments in the programing section of the SS computer. Speed set is now at #3 And i did need to adjust the I setting to 1.0 as it was set to 0.1. Not sure if it was a set that way from factory in error or if I messed it up at some point.  

[Crossroads]

I've taken screenshots of the board return mod pictures several times over the last few years with intentions of fixing mine, but it kept getting put on the back burner. Until today! Dug the board return out of the corner of the shop and welded a 1/4 x 1" piece of flat bar along the bottom edge. Didn't make any changes to the angle or elevation, just added the flat bar. Also, added 1" tabs to the side of the bolts that go behind the blade. On mine, there wasn't room enough around the bolt head to get a socket on. Now I won't have to worry about it. 

[caveman]

Bunk extensions: have any of you made them?  Sometimes when sawing wide pieces we will need to cheat them towards the mast/drive side guide roller to get maximum width on the LT/50.  Generally, on long heavy pieces, we just place stickers under the cant and shift it over the bunk stops and let gravity hold them in place since there is nothing to clamp to.

Yesterday while cutting a short crotch log and attempting to do this, the blade would pull wood towards the drive side guide.  I have been thinking of a simple spacer jig with a small backstop that should allow about a 3.5" wider cut and still offer the ability to clamp.  If someone already has something that works well, I'd like to see it.  What I have in mind will be simple enough to make but it will likely go through an evolution or two before it works as intended.  Thanks.  

[doc henderson]

I have not done this, but have thought of making a "Z" piece to make my 2 plane clamp reach further back for those really wide logs.  I have a TK so limited by the 4 post head.

[caveman]

I'm not limited on the clamp side but on the backstop side one can gain a few inches if one cheats it towards the mast side on WM mills.  On most of these, they don't need to be clamped to saw but would benefit from something to keep them from getting pulled into the drive side guide.  I may have a chance to work on something tomorrow.  

[terrifictimbersllc]

I put full 2x on 2 or 3 bunks and leave the last several slabs in place while making the last cut. I slow down if I detect possible movement. A few times I just run a couple 2-5/8 screws up through the 2x into the bottom. Doesn't take much. I can get 33-34" width on my mill if it's worth it to the customer 

[Tristen]

I 



 

 

I don't know if this is useful but it sure is necessary !   Feel free to change the flag to whatever country you are in.   

[quadracutter222]

Gotta have clean wheels!  Added pieces of conveyor matt in behind the plastic guards.  The plastic rides a hair above the rail, and the rubber sits down hard on it


Used some old high volume fire hose to try out a deflector for where the frame rails meet the tracks.  You can see in the pic from the back how there is a gap between the rail and the frame.  Cutting horizontally blasts bark and chips right into the track.


Installed.  Might have to switch to some sort of bendy plastic.

[D6c]

Modified my old LT40 to have an automatic shutoff for the blade lube.  The new jug is bigger than the original so I reshaped and lengthened the strap and added a board under it for support.



 

Mounted a "Cherry" switch that will trip when the blade is engage and a toggle switch so I can deactivate it when not in use.



 

 

Got a cheap solenoid valve off ebay and wired the set-up off the switched power side of the starter switch and added a second in-line ball valve so that I can set the flow rate and not have to readjust it when removing the jug for refilling.



 

 

Once I cleaned the bug nests out of the metal tube down by the roller guide it seems to work fine.
Haven't had a chance to saw with it yet but hopefully it will help with the buildup on the blade from sawing Ash.

[High_Water]

This thread is now 81 pages long and I haven't looked through them all so I apologize if this has been talked about in depth and I just missed it.

I'm looking for a way to adjust the blade guide on my TimberKing 1400 while the blade is moving, or is that a bad idea. I'm thinking it would be as easy as just clamping a piece of pipe as a handle because I really don't want to reach across the log mid cut and grab something right behind the blade, its hard to move the whole mechanism from the T-handle that locks it in place.

[Ljohnsaw]

bad idea?

YES!  Although, I plan to use an actuator to adjust my moveable guide while cutting - like WM does.  But I won't have any body parts near that moving blade.

[doc henderson]

@High_Water call and talk with timber king.  they tend to have good recommendation regarding there mill.  I always start with Matt, and he will answer or get me to the best resource they have.  It may be a fix specific for that TK mill.  they are a sponsor and number is in the red box at the left of the page.  @Will_Johnson

[DDW_OR]

Modified my old LT40 to have an automatic shutoff for the blade lube.  ............
Got a cheap solenoid valve off ebay .......

rain may destroy that valve. rain water is acidic.

this is exactly what i want to do to my Timberking 2000.
hook it up to the blade clutch switch. that way it only drips when the blade is moving.
what are the part numbers?

my blade guide adjust motor rusts out. POOR water proofing
I have replaced it and now the second one is rusted out

[Tristen]

81 pages and still No cup holder ?     I know you have to have the right size cup for this mod, but the Stanley cup is worth it.  It will keep your drink cold or your coffee hot all day long.   You can stick the tiki torch in the ground to any height and any location you want.  



 

 

 

[doc henderson]

looks good @Tristen maybe wood-mizer will send you some orange paint.  

[High_Water]

bad idea?

YES!  Although, I plan to use an actuator to adjust my moveable guide while cutting - like WM does.  But I won't have any body parts near that moving blade.

That's exactly my point, I don't want to reach anywhere near the blade so I was wondering about a mod to manually adjust the guide from a safe distance.

[lazyflee]

 

Great ideas on this thread. Got sick of trying to get a wood block level and in the right place for the scissor jack. Welded up a bar and put some flanges on the jack. Slides to wherever I need it. Kubota blue(had no orange) but at least it matches the jack. Cordless impact driver works great. 

[Satamax]

Guys, i found the swing arm for the winch, and the height control portal to be quite clever. 

In french thought. 

Scierie artisanale - YouTube

[Brob1969]

Boy that French guy moves quick! :D

[Magicman]

I recently added a horn/buzzer to my tractor so that I could get the attention of someone on the ground and this got me to thinking, what about the sawmill?  Often there are times when I need to get the attention of my tailgunner and my only option was to yell which was/is not very professional.  So what about a horn on the sawmill?


 
This $25 kit contained everything necessary to add the horn.


 
The horn is mounted below the control box.


 
And the horn button is mounted in the board dragback switch position.  I removed all of the board dragback before I completed my first year of sawing and I will not reinstall it so the position was available.

Can you hear me now??  ;D

[firefighter ontheside]

 @lazyflee where did you put that?  Starting end of the mill.  That could be a time save, especially when I'm working by myself trying to level a log.  I'm always using a lever to raise the log.  My arms aren't long enough to push down on a long lever and place a shim at the same time.