Method of Choice

[Gearbox]

I have sawed with every thing from a A John Deere at 32 HP to a 120 hp Detroit . You can run a circle mill with whatever you got . Just can't feed it as fast .

[Ianab]

in my post earlier i said we used 2-3 hp per tooth and it should have said per inch of blade sorry :-[ ;D i will go back and fix it

That was my "rule of thumb"..

But when you do the maths on a conventional circle blade, you end up needing a similar sized engine in the end.
20" of cut capacity @ 5 hp per inch =~100 hp.

40 cutters @ 2.5 hp per cutter = ~100hp.

It when you take things to extremes that those models fall down.  For example my old mill had an 8" depth of cut, with only 8 hp. Admittedly it wasn't fast, but because it only had 4 cutters it was still working efficiently (as well as you could expect 8hp to cut). But obviously not as fast as 20 cutters and 40 hp would have.

But in theory you could design a full size ~20" cut saw blade, with less cutters, what would take a lot less power to drive it. OK it's only going to feed at 1/2 the speed, but it won't be bogging down and having to slow down drastically. 

[sandsawmill14]

my hudson bandmill has a 8hp engine it it cuts just as good of lumber as the timberking or the s&w but when you were making a 18"+ wide cut it was REAL slow i think we can all agree more is better up to a point ;D but you can almost always get by with what you have

[Brucer]

...and 48 pto hp is more than 48 engine hp because if gearing....

Actually, it's not. Horsepower always decreases through a power train (due to friction losses). If there were no friction, HP would remain exactly the same.

What changes is the torque. As you gear down the drive to a slower speed, the torque increases. It's the torque that drives a blade through the wood.

[sandsawmill14]

     sort like downshifting a truck ;D

[Kauff44]

Wow that's a lot to take in. Well the mill I thing I'm going with is a circular sawmill 40' long with a 48" blade. It come with a blower, an edger, and a power unit. The pwr unit is a 6 cyl international  and and would run all three units at the same time. I will send pics when I get it home. Might be in March, we just got hit with about 12" of white stuff so will have to wait till its gone.  Thanks for all the info. It been a big help!!!!

[CX3]

I have a vance 52 inch circle mill. Handset. I am fairly new as well, and let me tell you there are many things to account for when operating a circle mill. The main thing is maintenance and preventative maintenance on the saw.

[Kauff44]

OK so how do i add pics to my post? it only lets me put a path in not the actual pic

[Kauff44]

Well here is my Circular mill. looking forward to getting it set up and going.

[Magicman]

The "path" is the picture.  Click on the "Preview" button and scroll up to see what your post will look like.  Then you scroll back down to make any adjustments necessary.  After you post your reply, you can click on the "Modify" button to make any corrections that you may see.

[Bricklayer51]

Kauff are you setting the mill up on thiem road?

[Kauff44]

Yep  hopefully going to get started soon. Waiting for the weather to break for a bit. It needs a few things yet but I would like to have it running in a month or so. My job keeps getting in the way HA

[Bricklayer51]

Been awhile since you posted wanted to give you a heads up their is a auction the 14th at the cedar mill selling two complete mills with edgers and cutoff saws. I am taking my splitter to my goddaughters this weekend its a mile or so from you I might swing by .