Swingblade safety?

Started by Spalted, April 24, 2012, 11:24:22 PM

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Spalted

Just wondering if any Lucas owners had any words of wisdom about safety. 
I'm not just asking about the sawyer's safety, but saw safety too.  In other words, what to watch out for, things not to do or you're goin be sorry, techniques that bend or break saw parts - you know, all the disasters that look clear as a bell in hindsight. :P

WildDog

I only crank up my lucas occassionally, but to help with your questions.

Re: Personal safety, I have a real dislike for sawdust in the eyes, so I wear fog proof gogles and a visor + hearing protection etc. Trip hazards, don't have your log bunks too long so as to trip over them and ensure all cut timber is removed at each pass. To save your back try to have the vertical cut/pull stroke down hill.

Re: Mill, I have had no real problems other than my choke tends to ride out and engauge as I increase the throttle, (27 hp Kohler) I have tried crimping the cable with no luck, so just hold my fnger on it. I lent my Lucas to a neighbour and it came back with one of the winches failing, 2 new ones appeared in the post so I didn't bother questioning it.
A couple of basic things: I tend to proceed slowly into the cut untill the riving knife is in, I adjust the rails with the saw sitting central and the stop engauged.With our hardwoods if I am cutting 5inch and over I do 2 passes. Working solo and tailoring out my self (final cut in the horizontal) I carry a couple of wedges to keep the cut piece from laying on the blade, usually I just pull apart a handfull of my wifes orange clothes pegs. 
If you start feeling "Blue" ...breath    JD 5510 86hp 4WD loader Lucas 827, Pair of Husky's 372xp, 261 & Stihl 029

paultmckay

- keep the daily checklist and complete it each day and add to it - eg we write down the machine hours so we know when to sharpen
- go slow, dont work in the very hot, or when pressured or angry...
- dont work alone
- complete a jsa for every new site and have a safety person check it
- take one day in 10 as a scheduled maintenance
- keep a book with a list of all those things you need to maintain
- work with people who add to your safety rather than detract from it
Had my Lucas 618 with slabber, weatherboard attachment,  planer and a logrite fetching arch stolen. 

Bought another (minus the log arch.  And then bought a 10-30.

Dakota

If the blade starts to get hot, for any reason, stop cutting and cool it off.  If you try to "just finish the cut", the blade could get hot enough to take the tension out of it.  Then it's useless, until you have it hammered.
Dave Rinker

Ianab

Make sure your off loader and any bystanders know where to stand. The mills can throw loose debris (loose knots and bits of edging) quite a distance downrange, or off sideways in the horizontal cut. Have your off bearer standing on the "off" side, and bystanders behind you. If I was sawing in a more public area, I'd set up some stakes and safety tape around the "down-range" zone to keep lookie-sees back a safe distance. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

dgdrls

As others have mentioned,

 get and use good PPE

Build fat log bunks and if you use chocks get the aluminum ones,

Use the carriage brake always!!  Make sure the E-brake functions and the clutch doesn't drag too much.  Warmed up at idle the blade shouldn't be spinning, creeping at most.

When using the pull handle, pull with the handle in line with the blade, rolls easier 

The lifting handles work much easier when the carriage is in the middle of the span.

Check the blade bolt/nuts every day and have a full set of spares and then 2-3 more. DO NOT over tighten them. Put a light coat of anti-sieze on the bolt threads and the shoulders.

Keep the blade keen-sharp, easier to touch-up a blade than to have tune it from dead dull,
you should be throwing mostly spaghetti not just dust out of the chute.

figure out your sawing pattern first and where you will 
stack slabs and lumber.

Keep 2-3 wedges in your pockets for holding finishing horizontal cut lumber up off the log.

when you get to the bottom of a log, saw slower and watch to see if the slab is starting to sag.
Its possible to have the log sag, bind the blade and stall it or move the remaining log and throw it.

If you saw alone tell someone where u are and check in,

D

timbatrader

Quote from: Dakota on March 01, 2018, 08:31:18 AM
If the blade starts to get hot, for any reason, stop cutting and cool it off.  If you try to "just finish the cut", the blade could get hot enough to take the tension out of it.  Then it's useless, until you have it hammered.
Hey a tip if you have accidentally over heated a saw make sure you keep it spinning at full rev's while it cools the centrifugal  force will keep the outer part of the saw stretched as it cools and put tension back into the saw 

Runningalucas

Make sure via the user's manual that your blade is cutting as recommended.  Also, a straight edge, like a framing square, can be useful in determining whether the blade is true, or warped.
Life is short, tragedy is instant, it's what we do with our time in between that matters.  Always strive to do better, to be better.