Duplicating the 'Hydraulics Anywhere' Bibby-Mod

[pnyberg]

A couple of months ago I started a thread in which I expressed frustration with the contact strip arrangement that only lets me run the hydraulics on my WM LT40HDG28-RA sawmill while the head is within 6 feet of the front of the mill.  I proposed putting a second battery in my half empty hydraulics box that would  be able to power the hydraulics when the head was off the strip.  I was eventually convinced that this was a bad idea, and that instead I should run fat cables through the track as Bibbyman did and documented in the 'Useful Sawmill Mods' thread.

My post was here: https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,43515.msg628549.html#msg628549  and you can find links to Bibbyman's original posts in that thread.

My first challenge was to find the cable.  After much searching, the least expensive source I was able to find for the cable on the Internet was WeldingSupply.com.  I can't recall the 'per foot' price on the site, but 72 feet of 1/0 cable, plus 4 copper lugs ran the bill up to  $158.76.  They offered a variety of colors, and not all colors were the same price.  Among the cheapest was red, so that's what I ordered.

Next, I had to attach the lugs to the cables.  The website said the lugs could be soldered or crimped.  I didn't have a crimping tool and didn't know where to find one.  I haven't done a lot of electrical soldering (successfully), but decided to give it a shot.  I did some more internet searching, and found some advice.

The soldering seem doable, but it would have to be done in my shop.  The lugs would have to be attached before the cables were run.  Unfortunately, the lugs were about 1" wide, but the holes in the WM that they would have to pass through were only 7/8" wide.  So, I had to grind them down to lose the extra 1/8".  Good thing they were copper, not steel.

Then came the soldering.  I stripped about 1/2" of insulation from the end of the cable.  I fluxed both the cable and the inside of the lug.  I grabbed the tip of the lug in a pair of vice-grips, and put the handle end of the vice-grips in a vice with a couple of wood blocks (thermal insulation). I heated the lug with a propane torch, and melted about 3' of solder into the lug.  I then heated the cable end a bit, and stuck the end of the cable into the lug and held it until it cooled. This seemed to work.

The rest was mostly uneventful.  Running the cables through the track wasn't very hard.  The connections were pretty obvious, and when I was done the hydraulics appear to work regardless of where the head happens to be.  I expected to have to run some conduit for the new wires as Bibby had done, but found that they would fit in the existing conduit easily.  More testing is needed, but at the moment, my engine's not working too well after the mouse invasion, so we will have to wait on that.

In the end, I'm not sure why I found this wiring job intimidating.  It was really pretty easy.  That just leads to the question of why it is that WM doesn't just wire their control station mills this way to begin with?

--Peter

[backwoods sawyer]

Asked myself that question the day I bought my mill and the only reason I could come up with is "SAFETY". You sure don't want to bump the hydraulics when the saw is in the cut as that would be setting yourself up for a broken band. You should see an increase in production as well as ease of production now that you can operate then wherever the head is.

[Bibbyman]

In the end, I'm not sure why I found this wiring job intimidating.  It was really pretty easy.  That just leads to the question of why it is that WM doesn't just wire their control station mills this way to begin with?

--Peter

Should have known if I could do it, anyone could.  ;D (I did get guidance from Sparks as to wire size, etc.)

As to why WM does not wire their mills this way?  Not sure - best guess is that they build all heads and frames the same.  This mod only works if you have the Command Control and have a cable track.  And it could be safety and training.  Also,  be aware that all that cable adds a lot of weight to the cable track.  It may wear more sooner.  The cable track on our mill droops pretty bad when it gets down to the far end.

P.S.  I just borrowed a crimping tool from the supply place I bought the lugs from.   

[pnyberg]

After a dry spell of a couple of weeks, I finally got back on the road this past weekend. Two small jobs close to home gave me my first opportunity to try out the 'hydraulics anywhere' modification.

I milled for about 2 1/2 hours on Saturday, did about the same on Sunday before the mill quit.  The head would not move forward or back, and I got a error message on the console display.  It didn't take long to track the source of the problem to the power feed motor, which appears to have seized up.  I can force the shaft to turn if I put a big pair of channel-locks on the pulley, but it won't turn on it's own.  It was also initially too hot to hold your hand on.  I confirmed that I'm getting about 12 volts across the motor's wiring connections.

I did have a problem with this motor this past winter when it apparently literally froze.  After a few hours in my shop thawing out, it returned to normal operation, with no other signs of any problem until now.

So, I'm really hoping that this development is not connected in any way to the rewiring job that I did for the hydraulics.  I don't see how it could be, but my electrical knowledge is pretty limited.  If anyone with more knowledge wants to offer an opinion, it would be welcome.

On the bright side, I really enjoyed being able to use the hydraulics with the head in any position. 

Thanks,
    Peter

[Dave Shepard]

Asked myself that question the day I bought my mill and the only reason I could come up with is "SAFETY". You sure don't want to bump the hydraulics when the saw is in the cut as that would be setting yourself up for a broken band. You should see an increase in production as well as ease of production now that you can operate then wherever the head is.

Safety was the reason given to me by WM. However, you can still run the hydraulics for the first 4-5 feet of the cut, and an addition 4-5 feet on the other end if you have the LT-70.