Amerika-Sågen works!

[Swede]

Yesterday I made the final adjustments after uppdating my saw mill with hydraulic logloader and remote controls. Had to change more than i was up to now but all preparings for fully hydraulic is made.
All hydraulic was placed on the saw unit, pump, controls, cylinders for up/down and a hydraulic motor pulling one of four wheels on the Enercraft frame.

Now three tubes are haging on a wire, hydr. pressure, return and one for the up/down cylinders.
The old 2-lever valve and the speed control for feeding is moved to the frame front end and a new 6-lever valve beside for loglifter and other functions in a future. The 6-lever valve is set at 150 bar for heavy work as loglifter and rotation. the 2-lever valve is set at 80 Bar and is enought for lifting the saw and feeding motor.
The feeding motor is moved to the frame front end. It pulls a long 5/8 chain. One end is fastened in front end of saw unit, (front end of saw unit faces to rear end of frame) goes around a sprocket with rubber torsion in the frames rear end, inside the frame, around a sprocket on the motor and to the rear end of saw unit. I like that the old feeding forwars just pulled with 7-10 Kp. so I reduced the pressure on that side of the motor to 4-5 Bar.

One problem was that the motor started and stopped with a jerk so the saw unit jumped of the rail, I´m happy just one wheel get derailed. Now there is a adjutable flow-valve between the sides of the hydraulic motor, the pressure to feeding forwards is increased to 15-20 Bar and now the feeding motor stops and starts without any jerks!

The log loaders woks fast enought and easy lifted a log at 800Kg. so I don´t need a biger pump. It takes less than 6 seconds to lift the logs and the same time to let the lifters down. There is no jerks in the frame, the cylinders is fastened to plates on the ground. I bolted the lifters to the frame in two bearing with Ø30 mm. shaft.The plates on ground are fastened to the shaft with four brass buschings.

This evening I went to a job just for try how it works. Made my first wavy boards! Had a used Monkey blade on and the engine wanted to slow down. There wasn´t two teeths gone away, it was nine! Took a new Suffolk Chiesel Steel ( Håkanssons) and no waves in double feeding speed and the engine didn´t want to stop.

I move a short scale along the main scale. An electric circuit breaker touch a knob on the movable scale and stop the saw on way down. Much easier annd faster than try to get the right measure with a hydraulic lever!

One log later I couldn´t see the measure settings and had to go home. Tired, lucky and hungry!

I want no rain tomorrow........... /Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Sounds like ya done good, Swede. NOW, get to work on posting PICTURES ;) ;D ;D :D :D

[chet]

Pictures..........Lots of pictures.  

[Norm]

Sounds like you've got the mill working well Swede...but! we really need pictures for proof. ;)

[Swede]

Yes i know! I KNOW you want pictures! Have been looking for battery for my old Canon camera. Have you ever heard about what %%#""/[~% >:((  >:(it is to get right battery? Heard any storys about it? heh?? Was at some shops today and in one of them they told me:
 We don´t have that battery but of you take this two and use together........and they´ll last much longer. It´s litium batteries, thats why they cost that much.
They didn´t fit the camera! >:( To short! >:( And they cost me $17.33!  >:( And I can still not take photos at the mill, the logs and the saw dust! >:( >:( >:( And my customer can´t take any pictures at me to show at that american saw dust site! >:( >:( >:(

So no Swede-pictures yet but Amerika-Sågen worked well today too! Had to stop at 21:30 because of darkness, no more gas, hungry, tired, my sawing muscles hurts. But it´s morning again in some hours! Bought gas at my way home!

  Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Now, LOOKY HERE, Have ya ever thought about shopping on the I N T E R N E T ???  I will betcha SOMEONE has them DanG batteries ;) ;) ;D ;D ;D

  The I N T E R N E T is also open 24 hours, every day, so, NO excuses  : : ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Swede]

Fla._Deadheader;

 I just made some drawings  first,  . :D :D  ;D ;D ;D :D :D :D ;D ;D :D

NEVER use that DanG vegetable oil! There is some in the tank for blade lubrication the former owner of my mill used + some diesel I´ve let in there. I blow, I suck, it comes a dasch and then it stops!

Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Stuffs not so "slick" huh  : : : : :D :D

[Swede]

Fla. D; Nice to see You are awake!  ;D

I´ve never bought anything on internet. I look for stuff I need but don´t buy. There is a photo shop but just open some evenigs a week. I´ll try there.
And I have no web-camera so you have to wait untill the pictures comes in my mailbox. I´ll buy a hydraylic motor, chain and sprockets for  a log turner before i buy a web camera!

Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Swede]

Some weeks ago a man I don´t know called me for some sawig. Told him I was up to add some stuff on Amerika-Sågen and  I´ll call back in a couple of weeks. He sounded angry and I asked a friend ( it´s on his farm I´m sawing now) if he know that man. My friend  laughed "For You to find out"  

Today the angry man called again and asked when in %%"!/[@*!!  I´m coming. Told him I took another job first, didn´t want to come to him and get plenty paid with a saw mill I don´t know if it works. He said: We are %%"!/[@*!! 3 farmers in this village with logs we want splitted! When %%"!/[@*!!  can You do it?  I told him to come and take a look at the job I´m doing now and 2 men came in the after noon. No respect for the blade so I had to tell them 3 times and look angry at them. For %%"!/[@*!!! 4 meters away! >:(
When I slowed down the engine for turning a log one of the men came to me, asked some questions and  we had a nice talk.  They looked for an hour, said I need to call  two days before I come and then they left.

I stopped the engine and asked my  friend what they said to him. "It don´t go fast but he´s doing a good job".
Also had  to ask:  "who of them was the angry one".
" The one You where talking to"  
Hard to belive it´s the same man who called this morning, not angry at all! ??? And not one single %%"!/[@*!!

Tonight my arms is hanging on the floor!

Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  You're a better man than me, Swede. Anybody uses that language to me and I will tell them where to stuff them logs. >:(

  We left at 7 AM, today and drove 3 hours to the camp. Jumped on the backhoe and hauled 4 logs outta the muck. Ed nearly got stuck. We carried the logs to the mill, sawed 523' of 1X Pecky Cypress, and just got in at 7:10 PM.

  My BUTT hurts. : : ;D :D :D

[Swede]

Fla._D ;  :D :D :D

I´ve not given any warranty not tell him ............ before them logs is sawed!  ;D ;D ;D
I lived 2-3 years with a woman who was chronic raging, found out that to late. So I know some people just are and I don´t want to reform them.

There is just one thing that´s more dangerous than a chronic raging woman or customer. A temporary raging Swede!  ;D ;D ;D

Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 :D :D ;) ;) ;)

[Swede]

This evening I made a new discovery!  8)

I set the thickness for a board, let the blade down and started the feeding at Amerika-Sågen. Then I took the board I just sawed from the mill and went over to the pile and let it there. I turned around and was on my way back to the mill again when I heard a noise I´ve never heard before. It was like a high-pitched scream and the engine was working hard. Ran to the front end and stopped the feeding, yes the niose was not so loud but still there.
Scratcing my ear (wich means pulling saw dust and resin into it) I went over to the middle  of the frame, located the strange sound and there i saw where it came from!

Are the log poles different high on every saw mill with manual/individual adjustment and in that case..........WHY?
 ???  :P : :D :D :D


Swede.

[Fla._Deadheader]

You didn't saw yer log stops, did you  ??? : : :

[Swede]

Fla._D; YES! I did! :-/
But thats not the whole story. *would I tell em this*  :-/ : ???

Less than 2 hours earlier I was thinking about these honest men on FF, talking about sawing logdogs and log stops. Asked my self:    
 How do they do that mistakes?
 Why haven´t I if it so easy to make. It´s just to look where these things are.
 Can I realy trust them saying you´re not a real sawyer before you have made that experience?
 :D :D :D :D :D :D

Today I know i can trust you and I found out more yesterday sawing 10x11/8" siding boards. If I buy a 35Hp aircooled Vanguard diesel for Amerika-Sågen I can use that little 18Hp gas engine for my boat. I hope you have forgot every talkig about big engines...............

 :D Swede.

[EZ]

After 2 or 3 years of sawing, I thought the same thing, Swede. Then one day when everybody and their brother was watching me saw, it happen. ;D
EZ

[Tom]

Things like that only happen when a lot of people are present or when there is another sawyer and your trying not to look amateurish. :D   It'll happen every time. ;D

The "bigger engine" realization is what we call, here in the USA, "The Tool Man Syndrome".    ARGH-H-H-H   :D

http://www.grudge-match.com/History/vila-taylor.shtml

[Fla._Deadheader]

  Hope yer drive system can withstand all that POWER : :D :D

  Yer gonna KILL yer offbearer : : : ;D ;D

[Swede]

EZ 2 0r 3 YEARS? I´ve been sawing a week!

Tom; I was all alone. And what will then happen if another sawyer is looking? ??? !!!
And we HAD  a talk here about big engines, I´m the one who then could not understand why a big engine is needed.

Fla._D; Yes I´m thinking about that but sawing a 10" wide kerf takes some power. Also the speed  for feeding isn´t quite stable and I don´t know yet how hard I can pusch the blade. The book says 7KP
The blades has not broken because of pushing I think. It´s possible to cut a log stop in Ø25mm solid steel without blade is breaking.  : The blade that broke today just get off when it was running free while I was loading. ??? One has broken because there was no "Swede Lube" (oil/diesel mix 50/50) washing the bladeguides. There was some dust build up between the plates.

I´m not shure I want any offbearer to look after all the time not jumping into the blade. For the moment there is just time for me to stack the boards while the saw is running. I know that chronic raging  man want to "help". Thinking about write on the blade cover, facing to cuting direction where no one need to be:

"Operator, 4 M from this sign. audience 20 M away!"

If he want to help I´ll give him the instruction book ant tell him: "I´m shure You´re not very intimate with Your whifes washing machine and this thing is some more dangerous. Any offbearer know this safety book by heart. The others is audience."  ;D ;D ;D

Who did say that I´m a better man..................? :D

This afternoon there came a Ford tractor on the little road out from the forest. My friend said: "That man I´ll not wave to" and turned around looking the other way . I understand they are not very good friends. But the tractor stopped and the man  jumped off. He said he had seen the other evening the blade is very thin. I have been there to 21:30 every night, the saw mill is in the yard and this farm is placed so no one need to be there after dark................ : I didn´t ask about it.
He told me that he have one big log and need some wide boards. I gave him a paper about Amerika-Sågen.   He told me that a " is 2.6cm and a ' is 31cm. He said the logs is 6,5 M. I told him I can saw 5,8M. Then he asked if I can saw 5,5M. :D :D :D

Sawing is fun!

Swede.

[Swede]

Yesterday the engine (Vanguard 18hp) didn´t "answer" but  slow down when the regulator opened the carburetor. It don´t get enough gas, works when the shoke is a little closed but then it doesn´t give 18 hp. Get "the book" for the engine on internet and found that here is no nozzle to adjust for that. Called a good work shop for these engines today and they told me that we had some calcium in the gas for one period that built up in the nossle. They don´t have time for my engine in 2 weeks!.
I let some STP cleaning to the gas today but It doesn´t help at all. Think there is less than 14 hp now. :-/ It´ll take me some time i don´t have to take the carburetor off and learn that stuff .

Do anyone have experience of anything  to let in the gasoline to clear the nozzles? A dash of diesel fuel?

Swede.

[Haytrader]

Swede,

I know what I would do if I thought the carb was needing a good flushing. I would remove the air cleaner and with the engine running, spray some carburator cleaner in it. Spray till it nearly kills the engine, let it straighten out and repeat 3 or 4 times. Now that is what I would do. Not sayin you should.

 ;)

[Fla._Deadheader]

  We use a product made by Berryman. It is a carb cleaner, like Haytrader says. It will clean a LOT of stuff out of a carb. Don'T know if it is available to you.

  Calcium? in the gas??? That's one I never heard before : :

  We don't usually stop our blade, except when we are loading a log or moving some heavy boards off the mill. We had 1 Munks blade break, while running "Free". Never while sawing, have we broken a Munks blade. Only broke the 1, so far.

[Swede]

Fla._d; I´ve not seen that Barryman stuff here, only STP.  I´ve used a bottle for 60 litres gasolie in 20 litres now. Some times the engine works good, sometimes not. Checked the gas filter today, found some saw dust and more in it but not stop, very easy to blow through. Moved it so I can change it without taking the gas tank off.
By this engine problem I´ve also learned to feed enough now!  :D Pulling  hard so  the regulator don´t let the supply down and the engine work better. Found I can saw more that way but a log (spruce) with a lot of big knots gets a little wavy kerf :

I´ve used Håkanssons (Suffolk Chiesel Steel) blade at this job but next week I´m up to use Monkey. Does Monkey cut my logstops off?  :D :D :D I have get the 2:nd notch in that log stop now. Shure it JUMPED up! ;D Is that normal?
 
Working without any help I usaly just turn the supply down. With other people runing around the mill I use to stop the engine. The blade runs slowly even if I let the gas down and release the belt tension.

Asked the customer if he know how much boards he has got. 5-6M³ he said. Thats what he has in 1 1/8x10" I told him, + all the other dimensions. He had a cirkular saw mill some years ago and think Amerika-Sågen works slowly. But he don´t know how much of his logs it saves. To morrow I hope we can sample all I´ve thrown aside and make another 3-4 M³ of it. I´m very intrested of counting how much boards he´ve got and he´ll bring the list of the logs. People around there is diging for bad things to talk about, they´ve never seen a band saw mill before.  I want to give my costomer the facts to show them. ;D
This evening it came some rain but I didn´t want to lose more time, so I´m wet and feel frozen.

Swede.