Homemade saw mill#2

[Vautour]

The bolt is an interesting idea. Where did you get the ram and gauge? What are you using to push it?

oooh, closer looks shows the nut as a stop. thats a kool idea. Still need somthing on the slidey part though.

The parts are from our cheap china parts place called Princess Auto... equivalent to your Harbor Freight in the US.. as far as the sliding goes and when everything is greased and having the ram closest to the wheel should make it slide ok,..time will tell if the sliding tubing cause a dragging effect and give a false reading on the gauge.

By the way Crusarius... how was the snow storm in your area??

[charles mann]

I was having a binding issue with my tension box. I rebuilt it, making it 1/4" bigger. I ordered some 1/8" uhmw as a test trial and it will slip off the beam with ease. I will next attempt 1/6" sheets, adhering the sheets to the saw beam frame and the tension box, hoping the adhesion compound will help take up the wee bit of slop, yet still provide for a very slippery surface

[JoshNZ]

I found the math to be not as simple as youd hope. Better to forget it altogether, borrow a tension gauge or clip some verniers to your band and set your reference on your ram gauge like that. If it was all in alignment with the centre of pressures it might be calculated but there is a large torque on the sleeve of unknown magnitude, and there is a lever between the ram and wheel bearing effectively.

I had to more than double what I'd worked out I needed, once I got a strain gauge on it

[welderskelter]

I also have a home built mill and it looks a lot like yours on the lift. If you want more increments on your clicker style lift system. Then put a pulley on the bottom of the cable and run it back to the top. It will double line it and will lift a lot easier as you keep adding iron. Thats what I did to mine.  Just a suggestion. Nice job tho. I have cut and welded on mine so much it doesnt look good at all. But it sure cuts lumber.

[charles mann]

I found the math to be not as simple as youd hope. Better to forget it altogether, borrow a tension gauge or clip some verniers to your band and set your reference on your ram gauge like that. If it was all in alignment with the centre of pressures it might be calculated but there is a large torque on the sleeve of unknown magnitude, and there is a lever between the ram and wheel bearing effectively.

I had to more than double what I'd worked out I needed, once I got a strain gauge on it

I too had to do the math with a 12" digital caliper and some extension metal to get me out to 36". For the recommended strain of 25-30,000 psi on the tensionmeter, it worked out to 3300psi and almost 4000 lbs of force and i was as close to center as i could get. I wasnt tracked yet, but i did bring the bottom of the gullet even with the face of both wheels, to ensure i didnt take the set out

[Vautour]

Tks for the Good pointers guys....adding rollers on the far tubing might make for smooth sliding...hmm

[Crusarius]

The bolt is an interesting idea. Where did you get the ram and gauge? What are you using to push it?

oooh, closer looks shows the nut as a stop. thats a kool idea. Still need somthing on the slidey part though.

The parts are from our cheap china parts place called Princess Auto... equivalent to your Harbor Freight in the US.. as far as the sliding goes and when everything is greased and having the ram closest to the wheel should make it slide ok,..time will tell if the sliding tubing cause a dragging effect and give a false reading on the gauge.

By the way Crusarius... how was the snow storm in your area??

not nearly enough. I still made it to work :( Still have about 6" give or take. Plow worked perfectly.

[Vautour]

Got my rollers done up.... i kinda like the idea of just using rollers without having the need of machining those grooved sleeves like most people have...bearings are 6205's 1''ID and 2''OD... and one could easily put 3''OD... RAYRAY has them on his mill. having a couple of bearings in your back pocket while on a job site and it takes about a 1min and 30sec to change em..hmm  not bad... your thoughts?? 

  

[RAYAR]

Got my rollers done up.... i kinda like the idea of just using rollers without having the need of machining those grooved sleeves like most people have...bearings are 6205's 1''ID and 2''OD... and one could easily put 3''OD... RAYRAY has them on his mill. having a couple of bearings in your back pocket while on a job site and it takes about a 1min and 30sec to change em..hmm  not bad... your thoughts??  

  

Hey Vautour, where's the 6305 bearing? It goes on the shaft first, it acts as the back-stop for the blade, then the two 6205 bearings. The two 6205 bearings stacked together are the proper width for the 1-1/4" blades. I did a little research on bearing sizes and these ones were the only ones adequate for the 1-1/4" blades.

[Vautour]

@RAYAR . i was gonna add that 6305 but princess didn't have them on stock so i was gonna drop in at Fundy Bearing and pick up a couple on my way out of town but completely forgot... anyways i decided to add a horizontal bearing as the back stop for the blade as a lot of You Tuber's have done it this way... more work but less friction on the blade when it is backed up against it...

[Crusarius]

you know, its funny. I kept looking at the guides I got from Linn Lumber. All they are is a machined roller with a bearing pressed inside. I never thought about just using the bearings straight. I can't tell you how many times I looked at rayars build and never even realized it. Something that size would be very easy to place in an adjustable arm to.

Thanks guys  I love other ppl's builds. it helps with ideas.

[mike_belben]

Yeah but that wheel increases the OD.  With the blade running at a constant surface speed, the bearing RPM is lower than going right on the bearing so they should last that % longer.  Plus a bigger OD spreads the curvature over more blade area so it should be kinder to band life too. 

[RAYAR]

@RAYAR . i was gonna add that 6305 but princess didn't have them on stock so i was gonna drop in at Fundy Bearing and pick up a couple on my way out of town but completely forgot... anyways i decided to add a horizontal bearing as the back stop for the blade as a lot of You Tuber's have done it this way... more work but less friction on the blade when it is backed up against it...

I picked up my 6205 spare bearings at PAL too, but I didn't find the 6305 there either. Almost don't need it now, I've increased my blade tension slightly and the blade very seldom contacts the back (6305) bearing any more, even when starting to get dull, so not much friction happening there.

[RAYAR]

you know, its funny. I never thought about just using the bearings straight. I can't tell you how many times I looked at rayars build and never even realized it. Something that size would be very easy to place in an adjustable arm to.

Thanks guys I love other ppl's builds. it helps with ideas.

It's not my build, but it's a sweet set-up none the less. The one thing I find is that the wider flat surfaces on the bearings gets packed with a thin layer of sawdust, but easily cleaned off by carefully running something across the surface while the blade is turning them at idle.

I need to install a scraper with a very slight clearance to keep the sawdust from passing under the guard that's there now. There's probably close to a 1/8" gap there now.

[RAYAR]

Yeah but that wheel increases the OD.  With the blade running at a constant surface speed, the bearing RPM is lower than going right on the bearing so they should last that % longer.  Plus a bigger OD spreads the curvature over more blade area so it should be kinder to band life too.

I thought of this also and researched for a larger set, but didn't find anything that would work for the 1-1/4" bands with this type of set-up. I'd have to use a horizontal back bearing to be able to use a larger diameter blade support bearing as they get thicker with larger diameter. So far, no issues using this size bearing with approximately a 1/4" blade deflection.

[RAYAR]

Note: the pic in reply #18 appears to have the blade de-tentioned because you can notice the deflection of the blade at the blade support bearings when tentioned.

[Vautour]

Tks for the info RAYRAR... knowing that you were running strait bearing and not having a problem confirms that it's not a bad idea and practically a DIY project which anybody with a welder and a grinder can make...  

[RAYAR]

Tks for the info RAYRAR... knowing that you were running strait bearing and not having a problem confirms that it's not a bad idea and practically a DIY project which anybody with a welder and a grinder can make...  

It's such a simple and easy set-up and it works great. Blade support and back-stop bearings stacked on one common shaft, it doesn't get much easier than that. It's also a very solid set-up.
Keep it simple and solid.

[RAYAR]

Have you seen this yet? https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=113365.msg1781737#msg1781737
Quite some interesting ideas. It also has the stacked 6205/6305 bearing set-up.

[Vautour]

Interesting but but how many times do you leave the logs half way in the wood that you need a log hauler for a job :-\?? with time this would become cumbersome...i'll give him an "A" for craftsmanship and a "D"for the ideal.. (my opinion)... but i did like the song with the children singing...@  RAYAR.. yes he has the rollers idea just like yours and the adjustment is a great idea and about as simple as it get too. 

[Crusarius]

that is definitely pretty kool idea. I have not seen that one till today. Thanks for linking.

[Vautour]

  Got my roller guilds done today... seems to work just great for now. got 6 roller bearings on the 2'' tub that slides and got a short eccentric shaft on top attached to the lever to bind the sliding assembly with roller guild  at the desired location.. shortest distance between the rollers is about 16'' 

  i think this method gives a solid roller system because it cannot got upwards compared to the other method,   my 1.5'' tubing is fixed on one end and has a 4way adjustment on the other end and really solid at the most crucial location when the log has been squared up and cutting your desired lumber.

   

[Crusarius]

That is looking pretty sweet. I have just been playing with AutoCAD for my design. I think I finally have something I like.

are you band wheels going in front of the frame or inside it? I kept bouncing around on which way was better. I think I decided with the feature creep that wheels in front of the frame makes the most sense. At least for this version.

[Vautour]

@Crusarius the wheels are hanging in the front yes

[Crusarius]

wow. ya look at the picture and ya answer your own question. Thanks though. I am a little slow