Useful sawmill mods

[mesquite buckeye]

You should link this to the useful sawmill modifications thread.

Looks good. ;D

[addysdaddy]

Yes. The Forstner bit just slides into the end of the screw. That way it sits in place while you tighten the screw and the screw shaft will spin around it and tighten.  I would have liked to get the end of the bit closer to the screw but the larger section of the shaft of the bit is between 30 and 31/64 of an inch and no drillbit that size... you could probably machine the shaft down but for my purposes it works so i'm not messing with it.

[Peter Drouin]

Think I have to do something.


  

 
Adding or subtracting steel here will ajust the arm 90°to the cant I think.
The arm is less than 90° now and will wedge into the cant sometimes on a return.

Has anyone had to fix this before.

[Magicman]

No, but I did fix my bumper splitting issue several years ago.  Reply #561 on this thread:  LINK

This was over 5 years ago and I have never split a bumper since.  ;D

[Dave Shepard]

I haven't had any issues with mine. I have had it jam into the cant if you get the height just right, err I mean wrong.

[Bibbyman]

Makes me glad to see this old topic come to the top again and again.   I've not come up with anything that's  needed changed on our mill in years.  Right now it just needs a good cleaning out from under.

[WDH]

8) 8) 8) So I think I have finally cured the clamp problem with my LT-10...  :snowball:It was always an issue trying to get the clamp to stay tight and when just trying to keep it snug as some folks recommended it would vibrate loose which was even less fun.  >:( There was also the issue of it pushing the CANT up and out of square... also a tad aggravating. So as I sat with my Coffee this morning I thought that if there were teeth on the end of the clamp screw and they didn't spin with the clamp screw and if it was as large as the clamp housing (Yeah I know that's a lot of ands but bear with me)... All those things being correct then it would hold straight and allow me to lower the clamp and get a better grip on the log or cant. OKAY so here goes.

First I measured the screw to see what size adapter I would need... turns out 3/8 is the perfect and convenient size for the project. The clamp screw housing is 1 1/2 inch threaded pipe. So I droped in to the local hardware store and picked up a new 3/8 steel drill bit. also a FORSTNER style bit with a 3/8 shank and a 1 1/2 inch head with teeth. I took both of these out to my handy dandy gunsmith since he has the nice drill press and had him drill me a nice straight 3/8 hole in the end of the screw.



 

Then I just replaced the screw post in the clamp. inserted the FORSTNER bit and WEE HAW 8) 8) 8)I can clamp the cants or logs without them riding up or having the clamp shake loose... I can also now cut within 1 1/8 inch of the bed so my last board is 1 1/8 thick...



 

This may not be earth shattering for some folks but it's sure gonna make my days easier... And as the topic states... It may be my idea but I'm not patenting it so everybody feel free to copy as you wish...    ;D

Check out reply #948 from addysdaddy.  It was merged in, but since it was first posted on July 25, it did not merge as the most recent post.  It is a great idea for manual mills with screw clamps, so check it out.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Good day to all

I have been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to sit down long enough to sign in to the forum.

This will be short.

Here is my latest mod to resolve the annual $35  PIA with a $120 solution that will likely last about 10 or 15 years or more.

The new water tank holds 7 gallons CAD.  You will notice that the Gas tank is not the Woodmizer version either. That tank is already about 25 years old and its been on the mill now for 4 seasons and its still as good as the day I put it on and it was around 20 years old then. Holds 6 Gallons CND and has the vented gas cap.




New tank!





The tank cap is from a plastic boat gas tank that has a vent that you can adjust in the gas cap.

Tank walls are about a 1/4 in thick and has lots of UV inhibitors. Cost me $120 CND so would be about $95 USD right now.

Tank is made locally and is a standard model for a pickup camper and includes all the fittings and the handle.


Will get a new base plate made this winter when I have more time. Needs to be 1.25 inches wider and 3.5 inches longer.

[Magicman]

Welcome back BB.   

I am assuming that the new tank is filled in place rather than removed for filling?

[Bandmill Bandit]

I have done both ways.

I have a little 3 step ladder that goes where I go with the mill. The tank is heavy with 7 gallons but with little step ladder it isn't bad to get up there. I think I may see if the can change the handle to go the the long way on the tank. Have to get a few hours on it to figure out what will work the best. I am not 100% happy with the handle arrangement yet. May also put the filler hole on the corner if I did another one.

I am finding that I am a bit more liberal with the blade lube with the larger tank and i still only fill once a day.

[Magicman]

I once tried one sorta like this to pump the tank full from the ground, but is was too slow for me.

[drobertson]

No help here for now, but a thanks to you guys for sharing your tips and tricks to mods'  I'm pretty certain now we have all seen just about the same issues from head to toe, I enjoy seeing how you guys approach these issues,  and I still ram my bumpers! :D :D
and they do split :D :D :D I reckon a dog would learn quicker than me ;D

[4x4American]

Scully,
That mod is an amazing time saver.  My sawing output jumped significantly.  If you are going to use the board return, then don't forget to weld the board carrying strip to the bottom of the paddle.  It will really save steps, too.
YH

Will you enlighten me as to what a board carrying strip is please? 

[Ga Mtn Man]

4x4, look at reply #845 of this thread.

[4x4American]

Thanks Paul.

YH smart mod, I like the fingers you put on, did you make em up yourself or order lt70 fingers and mod them to fit?  Have you come up with any recent advances to your dragback lip or pretty happy how it is? 

[4x4American]

For doing the hydraulics anywhere mod, running a welding cable through the cat track in a remote mill, what is the smallest gauge wire I could run without restricting amperage?

[YellowHammer]

For doing the hydraulics anywhere mod, running a welding cable through the cat track in a remote mill, what is the smallest gauge wire I could run without restricting amperage?

I used a 1/0 welding cable, and its really a good idea to both a hot and a ground wire.  Its important to use welding cable because it is designed to be flexed a lot.  Also I had the weld shop professionally crimp the connectors because I didn't want them working loose or heating up.  I did not remove the contact strip, I left it on the mill.  The mod is very useful, and allows the operator to do lots of movements when they want, not just when the head is on the strip.  I had an opportunity recently to run a new, stock LT50, and I felt handicapped and frustrated because it used a contact strip only.

Thanks Paul.

YH smart mod, I like the fingers you put on, did you make em up yourself or order lt70 fingers and mod them to fit?  Have you come up with any recent advances to your dragback lip or pretty happy how it is? 

I bought one finger from WM and fabbed up the rest using it as a template.  Its necessary to have the fingers to guide the board with the dragback mod.  Although I've tried several different configuration for the bottom strip on metal n the dragback, the original design still works fine. 

I have done some interesting things with the welded on drag back strip, just experimenting around.  For example, I spent a little effort to level the bottom of the dragback strip to lay perfectly flat on the cant (there are 3 bolts that allow its height and angle to be adjusted) so that as the next board is being sawn, the dragback strip is being dragged forward across the top of the board, and it acts as a wiper and scrapes the sawdust off the top of the board being sawn.

Also, for a while, I mounted a push broom, bristles up, to the end of the offload table, so as the dragback plate held and pushed the board down the table, it would drag it over the top of the broom and knock or sweep the sawdust off the bottom of the board.  It worked very well, but since then, I mounted a roller to the end of the table and the dragback will push the board off the table onto a pallet with very little effort on my part.     


     

[4x4American]

Great info thanks!


One more q- does the ground wire have to be done out of welding cable?

[Bandmill Bandit]

Hey 4X4
On cable type and size I wouldn't go smaller than 1/0 and welding cable is durable and has great flex life. its designed for the type of applications where flex life is a factor.

[boscojmb]

One more q- does the ground wire have to be done out of welding cable?

Same size and just as flexible. 

[4x4American]

Thanks

[YellowHammer]

These mods really shine if you can build or install a dragback table for the wood to be offloaded on so you can be sawing while someone else handles the lumber.  Or just use it to do a full return and drop the lumber off the table pretty much onto the board stack or pallet with minimum handling.

In the video you can see me take advantage of the power everywhere feature several times. In the last cut, with the saw head at the far side of the mill, way off the power strip where the hydros would normally be dead, if you look close, you see where I released and dropped the clamp, used the metal strip on the dragback to grab and pull the last two boards back at once, and while doing so, raise the toe board roller so the board angles up a little, clears the bunks and lands in the table.  Also, on one of the cuts, you can see where the loader arms and edging boards were getting too close the guide arm, so I was able to drop them a few inches on the fly. 
Another thing I did was cut a taper on the left most finger and it can be seen on the video.  Sometimes when edging on the mill, the  left edging wants to bow out and not stay in line with the fingers so will drop inside on the cat track.  The taper allows part of the finger to drop down the side of the edging or cant and get foothold on the edging to prevent it from falling off to the inside into the track.  Normally, also, as soon as the head passes the last side support, I will raise all the side supports to also help trap the edging from falling, something I couldn't do with a power strip. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpO3njUNe4g

If I would have had another log on the arms, I would have started raising them as soon as I started traversing back and would have had the log rolling onto the saw about the time the head cleared and dropped the last two boards on the table. 

[4x4American]

Very interesting.  Is your dragback arm still at the angle or did you make it so that it pulls back flat?

[YellowHammer]

Very interesting.  Is your dragback arm still at the angle or did you make it so that it pulls back flat?

It's still at an angle to the board but it doesn't matter as the fingers will keep the board straight.  Also, on the dragback there are a couple of little 1/4 inch square bar stocks welded to the sides of the back plate, with their corners facing forward.  These function as little teeth that dig into the end of the board to keep it from sliding.  As long as they engage the end of the board anywhere, then the board is trapped and stuck and isn't going anywhere.

[4x4American]

My dragback has one bar and its welded the whole width of the dragback.  I don't think I'd fuss around with the angle too much anyways, haven't had any issues with it anyhow.  So for the board to catch that piece of square stock I'd need to weld the carry arm a bit lower, eh?  I like where I have it set now, so I only have to pick up the head 1/8" to clear and dragback.  If I remember correctly, that's about all I can bring it up with the adjustments.