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General Forestry => Sawmills and Milling => Topic started by: 4x4American on October 15, 2015, 12:37:31 PM

Title: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 15, 2015, 12:37:31 PM
Where can I get dead rollers to make a roller table with?
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: drobertson on October 15, 2015, 12:50:58 PM
sawmill exchange, salvage scrap yards, mills that have shut down,
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: fishfighter on October 15, 2015, 12:53:58 PM
Maybe find a store that is closing down. They use them to unload trucks. I been looking around myself. ;D
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 15, 2015, 12:54:06 PM
All the ones I've found so far are rusted so bad they aint worth the powder to blow em to hell
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: sealark37 on October 15, 2015, 01:57:10 PM
If you have access to a metal lathe, you can buy pipe or tubing along with shafting from the recycling yard.  Go on ebay and find the size bearing you need, and make rollers that will fill your need 100%.  If you cannot go that route, keep searching on CL and the scrap yards.   Regards, Clark
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: MP_Wall on October 15, 2015, 02:06:37 PM
The pallet racking resellers often have them listed in their stock but not on their craigslist ads. MPW
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: North River Energy on October 15, 2015, 02:13:41 PM
What kind of dimensions are you looking for?
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Brian_Rhoad on October 15, 2015, 02:37:06 PM
Surplus Center has them.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Wheels/Rollers/
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Larry on October 15, 2015, 03:15:08 PM
Industrial auctions.  I've bought maybe 20.  Going price is usually $60 - $100 for a 3' X 10' table.  Either skate or straight rollers.  I kept the best plus a couple more incase I bend a roller, which has happened.  Resell the others on craigslist for a couple hundred, sometimes more.



Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Tree Dan on October 15, 2015, 04:43:03 PM
Princess Auto :o
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 15, 2015, 05:44:41 PM
Quote from: North River Energy on October 15, 2015, 02:13:41 PM
What kind of dimensions are you looking for?


I'd get whatever I can get my hands on, I'd like a table that is fairly wide.


Here's what I wanna do, since I'm on the mend, I can't pull boards like I did when I was about 2 months younger.  I want to be able to saw, drag the board back onto some sort of a table, and let it roll and then fall onto a pallet and sort of stack itself and then I can pick up the pallet and move it close to where I'm stickering or onto a trailer to be hauled off.  For the slabs I will push them off the roller table into a slab rack that I can keep clean with a machine.  Not only will it be easier, but it will be more efficient, especially once I'm back to 100%. 
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Kbeitz on October 15, 2015, 07:12:04 PM
Sounds like you need a pickaroon....
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Larry on October 15, 2015, 08:04:47 PM
Get two or three roller tables and just put them down.  It won't be long until you change the layout, than change it again.

This is what works ok for me, a hobby sawyer.  I changed things around maybe four times before I was happy.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10125/slabs2.jpg)

Sometimes I add an additional two tables so I can flip a cant off the mill backwards.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 15, 2015, 09:11:00 PM
Quote from: Kbeitz on October 15, 2015, 07:12:04 PM
Sounds like you need a pickaroon....


I have two.   ;D


Thanks for the picture Larry!
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Brucer on October 16, 2015, 11:12:31 PM
I made a heavy duty off-loading table for timbers, using the same rollers that WM uses on their twin blade edger. I just bought them as spare parts. They were expensive but they stand up to just about anything you can throw at them, and are weatherproof (unlike the inexpensive ones I bought earlier).

A little tip if you are building your own roller table. A lot of rollers have hex shafts and I see people drilling undersized holes, then filing them out to a hex shape. The holes don't have to be hex shaped. Just drill round holes big enough for the hex shaft to slip into. The edges of the shaft will provide enough friction to keep the shaft from turning.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 16, 2015, 11:16:12 PM
Thanks, Brucer.  If anything I would cut a hole big enough for the hex to go through then weld a strip on the top and bottom to brace two sides before I got into filing out an undersized hole!!! Boy that must've taken half a year by the time you file out all the holes for a table!
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Dave Shepard on October 17, 2015, 07:30:28 AM
If it was actually necessary to have a her home, I would have made a broach. I bought a could of 2'x10' tables at a scrapyard. They had four galvanized ones, but they had been crunched into pretzels by the time I got there. I drag back onto one of them and push slabs over the side onto blocking. Boards go off the end to a stack and flitches go through the edger and then onto the same stack.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 17, 2015, 10:07:37 AM
Would love to see a picture of that Dave!
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Dave Shepard on October 17, 2015, 10:32:35 AM
I'll try to get one when I've got everything back together. Mill is moved to pour concrete.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 17, 2015, 11:01:14 AM
 8) concrete 8)

Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 5quarter on October 17, 2015, 11:42:37 PM
Ever since my hex hole drill bit broke, I do what Brucer does... ;)
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Brucer on October 18, 2015, 01:54:31 AM
Quote from: 4x4American on October 16, 2015, 11:16:12 PM
... Boy that must've taken half a year by the time you file out all the holes for a table!

There's only 3 rollers on my outfeed table. They're spaced 42" apart because there's no danger of a timber sagging between them  :D. It was a pain filing the hex holes, but they were actually part of the structure of the table. If I were doing it again I'd change the design and go with the round holes.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 18, 2015, 07:59:37 AM
Quote from: 5quarter on October 17, 2015, 11:42:37 PM
Ever since my hex hole drill bit broke, I do what Brucer does... ;)

lol lol  maybe u cud use a chisel?..heat up past cherry red, but not quite sheet white, and chisel it out! might go quicker!  But I'd try it on a scrap piece of similar material first.


Brucer I can't knock ya! Your setup and operation is what I'm gonna be modeling mine after once I can find somewhere to set it up. Do whatever ya gotta do, don't pay no mind to me!
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Dave Shepard on October 18, 2015, 08:36:35 AM
If you had the right size hex on a punch, you could heat the rail and use the handle end of the punch as a drift.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 18, 2015, 02:27:28 PM
yea well now that u mention it i have hex's on 3/8" sockets, could just put a 6" extension on it and bam theres your drift.  Heat up the rail nice and lukewarm then bang bang tap tap on to the next one
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Banjo picker on October 18, 2015, 08:00:46 PM
Here is my set up.  Couldn't make it with out the roller tables.  Slabs go off of the first table on to the rack you see that we made.  There is a rack by each of the other two roller tables.  If I am cutting long stuff I just open the space up between them so I can get the forks in between the two.  When I was cutting ties and pallet stock the pallet material went off the back of the last roller table where the ole Willys is setting now.  Banjo

 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18028/20151017_095050.jpg) 

 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18028/20151017_090244.jpg)   that's a front and rear view
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Magicman on October 18, 2015, 08:08:23 PM
Tim, you have the "lifting" situation well handled.  Don't lift anything with anything other than a FEL.   8)
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 18, 2015, 10:55:04 PM
me likes it, thanks for the pictures!
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on October 18, 2015, 11:13:05 PM
I picked my roller tables up at Target when they closed operations in Canada. Paid $50 bucks for 24 feet by 24 inch wide with rollers every 3 inches.

I have one 12' section set up about the way like I like it now and will be doing folding legs for it next.

This isn't a perfect pic but will give an idea of how I have it done at the moment.

5 rollers on 11 foot 6 inches of table. The missing 6 inches holds the roller on the stubby table above the hydraulic pump box. 



 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22409/IMG_1140.JPG)

I have enough rollers for about 100 feet of table with the above lay out. I have yet to find a reason to put the rollers any closer than I have them on this table. Makes it light enough to move by my self if I have to move it alone.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 19, 2015, 09:21:59 AM
Wow you got a good deal on them rollers!  I would think that with the least amount of rollers possible the lumber should roll better.  Nice setup, so how does your flow work?  Do you push flitches off into a rack, let the lumber roll all the way down to the end and stack itself, and what about the flitches?
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on October 19, 2015, 10:34:10 AM
 

 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22409/IMG_1008.JPG)

In this picture you can get the general idea of how I like to set up.

To the right of the roll table first stack is 1X6, next stack is wind/second cut slabs.
To the left of the roll table is first cut flitches/edgings/waste. I had just cleaned up this pile before I took this picture.

Straight off the end is 6X6, to the right of these is 4X6 and 4X4 respectivly

This wasnt ideal as it was spring thaw at the time and we set up on high ground to avoid mud so couldn't line up everything nice and straight as I would have liked.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 19, 2015, 04:51:52 PM
Looks good, and boy do I hate mud season
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Kbeitz on October 19, 2015, 06:15:01 PM
I hang a bucket on the mill to collect saw dust...
I then dump the bucket over the mud....

Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on October 19, 2015, 07:15:25 PM
yea Kbeitz thats what I do too but you have to cut a few logs to get the saw dust. A day of cutting often looks after the worst of it and the second day gives a good clean working area and it smells nice if it isn't poplar that your sawing :D
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 19, 2015, 08:09:19 PM
What do ya do in clay?
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on October 19, 2015, 09:42:59 PM
that set up was in a sandy but sticky clay that actually held up pretty good once there was a good layer of sawdust down which helps slow the frost thaw and there for did not go knee deep. most of the ground around here has a medium to hig sand content mixed in the clay. When its dry it turns to a very fine powder which is worse than the mud in some ways.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 20, 2015, 08:59:32 AM
Much of the land around me here is sand/gravel/boney item 4 type dirt, but you cross over the canal or go south a ways and there is some really nasty clay.  Some places you'd think its mud season year round (unless its been really dry for a while).  Where I'm set up now it's about 10-15ft of sand and then hardpan.  Lots of ledge in places too.  Up north at a few properties I was looking at, I couldn't hardly dig with a shovel without peening over the tip of the shovel it was so hard.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on October 20, 2015, 09:30:02 AM
Mostly #1 and #2 soil around here and get into some #4 grey wooded out west.

there are spots around here where the sub soil sand is so clean the the concrete guys actually add a portion of clay powder to the aggregate mix before they can use it for concrete.

I counted my rollers last night. I have enough to do 260 feet of table.
Title: Re: dead rollers
Post by: 4x4American on October 20, 2015, 09:38:50 AM
We have some of that nice stuff at our gravel pit in one spot, we call it beach sand and get a pretty penny for it.  That'd be enough tables I'd think!