LT40 with board return & conveyor/powered rollers ?

DGK · November 15, 2016, 12:31:58 AM

Hello All,

Does anyone have any experience with the Wood-Mizer board drag back system combined with some sort of conveyor and/or powered rollers on a walk-along LT 40 category of mill? I have only been able to find one video of such a set-up on You Tube, but the camera position is such that you can't see the head of the mill and how the conveyor is positioned. I am adding a manual board return to off-feed slabs at the head of the mill, and am wanting to automate the process somewhat. Thanks in advance for any comments.

paul case · November 15, 2016, 08:39:25 AM

No.

Our set up has the command control and we have dead rolls that catch the board. 1 man can deal with the slab, board or cant while the head is making the next cut. It works real well.

The only trouble we have is not every board or slab wants to drag back strait. With the walk along you could put a hand on it and keep it straight. Oh and we have had to weld up all the cracks on the dragback. They are not heavy enough for the abuse they take.

PC

drobertson · November 15, 2016, 09:00:05 AM

The fixed command has its ups and downs, to the issue of boards coming back in a jousting posture,(a pain) I did see a mod where a deflector ellimanated this problem.

DGK · November 16, 2016, 12:24:57 AM

I am bumping the post as there must be someone out there that has tried this. :-)

prittgers · November 28, 2016, 06:08:45 AM

One of my friends near the Canada/US border welded the WM dragback fingers to his 40 Super head. He seems to really like the modification. WM part number should be 034413 Board Guide Assembly. Available through the Alaska WM guy at 907.360.2497.

tawilson · June 14, 2017, 11:50:10 AM

Quote from: drobertson on November 15, 2016, 09:00:05 AM
The fixed command has its ups and downs, to the issue of boards coming back in a jousting posture,(a pain) I did see a mod where a deflector ellimanated this problem.

I searched for the thread about the deflector with no success. Anyone have a link?
I'm getting a little experience with the mill before I throw the board return into the mix. I'm wondering if when the board wants to kick the wrong way, is it solely because the butt of the log is sloped the wrong way or are there other things to look for?

derhntr · June 14, 2017, 12:04:56 PM

Sorry no help here. Never use my manual drag back always kicks boards on the plastic track. I have the remote command.

Grizzly · June 14, 2017, 01:41:17 PM

I do not have WM but we use the drag back full-time. The only reason I see for the board dragging back crooked is due to the log cut being crooked. All others seem to drag straight. Not a big issue as all I have to do is reach out and give some guidance but it is somewhat of a nuisance. The system I want to implement is found in youtube but I can't remember what I searched for. It was with a baker mill. Drag back onto a short belt which feeds live rolls with stops in drop off locations. Live rolls had the screw threads on them to act as side push. So after all that I guess my answer is: No I don't know how that would work with a WM.

paul case · June 14, 2017, 02:19:27 PM

It is not usually because of the cut for us. On tie logs it seems to work well most of the time, but in bigger grade and butt logs the first cuts are off center if the drag back and real heavy on one end with only bark on the other. They stear off the side. Scott will many times ''sense'' this and wait to drag back the slab with a board under it. I believe a set of guide fingers like the 70's have would solve 99% of this.

I have seen a few videos of LT70's with such a set up that would work just as well on a LT40.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMT-NRmAw-8

PC

4x4American · June 14, 2017, 07:06:59 PM

I made up this set of dragback guide finger steerer mabobber units that help keep the materials dragging back straight. This is on a 40 super de duper remote command station. I drag back everything I find it to be the quickest and easiest. I drag back onto a table I made up to another roller table made with a skookum AR plate top and then onto a dead roller case and from there it can easily be sorted. Yellowhammer made some for his mill too and I think he has a vidjayo of it in action. The video paul case put up is forum member youngstump's operation.

MartyParsons · June 14, 2017, 08:19:17 PM

Hello,
I have see many different ideas not sure exactly what you are looking for. Mild to wild . Sorry I dont have pictures for any of them.

You could remove the hydraulic box and set it on the floor so the incline conveyor would work on the 40 or 50. The LT 70 has the hydraulic pumps and valves in the center of the mill.

I see many with a steel plate covering the hydraulic box, some have rollers some not. Most have a support of some kind on the loader side.

Belt conveyor, one moved up and down and there was a opening for the slabs to go. And a air gate that was controlled by the edger man and or the saw operator. Gate up the rollers had strips welded so the lumber would move toward the edger, gate down the lumber would move to a green chain for accumulation, then stacked for grade.
Conveyor, short, long, inclined.

Steel rollers turning, soothe, belted and splined.

I don't think this may help you much with out pictures.

Marty

tawilson · June 14, 2017, 08:32:50 PM

Till I figure out what I am doing I just want to drag back to a skid or a roller conveyor to a skid to move and sort later and not smash the control box in the process. A deflector or some other protection is what I am asking about but will take any input l can get. I am not going to use it till I have a helper to keep a hand on it till i'm used to it.

YellowHammer · June 14, 2017, 08:34:02 PM

4x4 is right, I built a dragback with guide fingers, then modified a WM table, built a hip deflector plate to protect the operator in case a board gets cranky, and also mounted a board carrying ledge on the dragback so that it would not drop the board as soon as it clears the cant but will generally carry it the full length of the mill, onto and across the roller table, and then kick it onto a waiting pallet where the roller table assists with the offloading. No aux hydraulics, no handling or touching at all most times, unless it's straightening up the board on the pallet while making the next cut. If a board gets sideways, the hip deflector is a simple piece of metal, and has a slope cut onto it which will flip the board back into the roller table if it's out of position. It's a safety feature I would not do without.

It really shines when doing thick slabs because all I have to do is wait for the perlunk as the slab lands on the pallet and I can saw another. I've done entire logs with only having to hand touch the edgings and clearing the initial slabs to the slab pile.

When the pallet is full, to the height of the roller table where it will not automatically feed anymore, I remove the pallet with the forklift and start with a fresh one.