circle mill ?

[tbish]

i bought mill off older gentleman its belt driven on the arbor it has 20 inch belt pulley belt runs back about 6ft to a axle with a 20in rim and tire outside diameter prob 30in or so on the other side of axle is a 16in tire and wheel there would be a belt from there run back to a tractor  my question is  is this a form of reduction system so u can run less horse power?

[Ianab]

May have been run off a stationary engine running at a higher RPM? More like 1800 rather than a 540 of a tractor PTO.

Gearing down the drive would give you more torque, but it drops the blade speed below what it should be running at.

If you have to run a saw with less power, used less teeth. If you want 100hp to properly power a blade with 50 teeth, then cutting back to 25 teeth should let you get away with ~50hp, and 1/2 the feed speed. Each cutter is then working the same, but the saw needs less power. This is how a small mill like mine can cut with 13hp and 5 teeth.

Ian

[jimparamedic]

It sounds like they used the rear end as a reverser. Not a step down. when you lock the drive shaft and spin one wheel the other turns in the other direction. Fox Fire books have alot of imformation I dont remember which book but it has water powered sawmill on the cover.

[thecfarm]

Took me a minute to find it,book 6. I was looking for a picture of a water powered sawmill. Mine says shoemaking,100 toys and games,gourd banjos,and sang bows,wooden locks and a water powered sawmill.
Mine shows a man knelling with a toy wagon on a stump on the cover.

[jimparamedic]

that be the one