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Resaw Attachment Questions

Started by Bluejay27, November 26, 2016, 02:01:38 PM

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Bluejay27

We just bought a resaw attachment to saw for a customer who will have a steady demand for reclaimed flooring. My brother and I have plans to also use it for regular portable sawing and we're wondering how it has worked out for anyone else.

We figure we can breakdown logs into smaller cants (like 3x10s for pine boards, whatever won't kill us) using our LT70 and either resaw on that too or have the LT40 set up to resaw at the same time.

We tried this with some ash logs sawing 4-6" flooring stock and got around 800 bdft/hr resawn on the LT40, with the log breakdown taking about 2 hrs with just my brother on the LT70(no helper). So 200 bdft/manhr roughly, and the resaw even let us follow the bow in the cants rather than having to correct for it.

We have a large softwood job to try this out on and at least think we can get the LT40 sawing "as fast" as the LT70 with 4 guys on the job. It seems like a good way to leverage the hydraulics on one mill to constantly feed the other.

As far as wear goes, how well does the attachment hold up? Does anyone have longevity estimates for the belt? I figure it and bearings are the main wear items. Regardless, it should be a step up from the 1/4hp power feeder we were using to push pieces through the mill. We finally wore out the brass worm gear after about 10mbdft. Only a $40 part on a $650 power feeder, but the resaw attachment is so much faster and easier to work with that it is well worth the cost.

Also, for anyone running a portable (or light stationary) disassembly line, how much does an edger improve that? Kind of the next logical step for us if it is worth having to take another trailer with us.
'98 Wood-Mizer LT40HDD42 Super, '08 LT40HDG28, '15 LT70HDD55-RW, '93 Clark GPX25 Forklift, '99 Ford F550

4x4American

An edger saves alot of time...plus it keeps your blades out of muddy bark so you get more blade mileage which also increases production. 


I am curious to find out how you like the RS2(?) because I've been thinking about one especially sawing more and more pallet stock
Boy, back in my day..

Percy

I have had WM's belt type resaw for about 5 years now....same belt, same motor etc. It does have its issues compared to the old ladder type they had previously. Its too short for longer boards(12 foot and up) without additional support rollers at each end. The person feeding can hold on to the board till it balances properly but shortly after that, the person receiving has to hold their end up to keep the cut accurate. This can make feeding and stacking less effecient as having the boards end to end is desirable imo. You can increase the down pressue of the hold down roller(s) but that increases the friction between the belt and the surface the belt slides on to the point that the motor gets so hot it will destroy itself. Ive constructed  rollers that make it work well and have had good results since . Out of the box, its only good for shorter boards unbless production isnt an issue...
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

Bluejay27

My brother cut some 5"x6"x12' ash cants so I was quick to add an infeed roller to help support the weight. And we had a few thin ends at first getting used to the limits on the hold down.

Good to know the belt lasts a while. I'll try to work with the hold down as is although we might be stuck hitting metal often, and I know from the power feeder that it can still cut for a bit as long as the piece isn't allowed to lift out of the cut. We easily hit 15 nails before giving up on a blade, resawing barn rafters sucks when someone mixes the denailed pile up.

And I like the attachment (yes, RS2) so far, keeping the belt tracked has been the biggest issue and it just takes a little diligence (not allowing the belt to start climbing up the fence) and a quick adjustment. The only other annoyance is getting at the controls. Autoclutch is on the Christmas list, and I bought a cheap 12v motor speed controller so the control is right at the infeed. Wood-Mizer makes a rugged speed control, but it's not needed when the motor draws at most about 12 amps (I had to lean on the belt to get that, rather blow a fuse in testing than cook the controls on the job).

Now I just need some roller tables, we want all the production we can get. If only WM had some that just drop on the other rails, tilting bed and all.
'98 Wood-Mizer LT40HDD42 Super, '08 LT40HDG28, '15 LT70HDD55-RW, '93 Clark GPX25 Forklift, '99 Ford F550

Percy

Heya Bluejay.
When you make your auxilary rollers, make them so they attach firmly to the other bunks at the right height of course. you could actually just use an aluminum ladder wthe some slippery surface material instead of rollers. especially for the out feed. Tilting for beveled wasnt an issue for me. I just left mine flat during this process. If you build/attach  a fence on the infeed side that lines up with the fence on the RS2, your belt  tracking issues will diminish bigtime...
GOLDEN RULE : The guy with the gold, makes the rules.

Bluejay27

I'll make sure to include an infeed fence, I hadn't thought of the blade pulling the piece around causing tracking issues. And I can probably find some used gravity roller conveyors cheap enough and I've got plenty of scrap steel to weld up some mounts.

The only hard part planning it out is I want to eventually throw a 2nd saw head on the frame to have a 2 head resaw. I'll keep the reasoning behind that for a separate thread, I'll just say I need to saw a lot of nails and would rather run half as fast with twice the saws.
'98 Wood-Mizer LT40HDD42 Super, '08 LT40HDG28, '15 LT70HDD55-RW, '93 Clark GPX25 Forklift, '99 Ford F550

4x4American

Quote from: Bluejay27 on November 27, 2016, 06:14:20 PM
I'll make sure to include an infeed fence, I hadn't thought of the blade pulling the piece around causing tracking issues. And I can probably find some used gravity roller conveyors cheap enough and I've got plenty of scrap steel to weld up some mounts.

The only hard part planning it out is I want to eventually throw a 2nd saw head on the frame to have a 2 head resaw. I'll keep the reasoning behind that for a separate thread, I'll just say I need to saw a lot of nails and would rather run half as fast with twice the saws.




Are you gonna be able to fit two headrigs inside the gap they give you on that RS2?  Have you thought of just looking for an actual resaw maybe a used one?
Boy, back in my day..

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