Band mill on Peterson Tracks

Timo · February 23, 2005, 03:38:12 AM

Just curious if anyone out there has tried adapting a bandsaw cutting head onto a Peterson (or other) swing mill track? I'm not sure if this has any practical application, as the track is not the expensive part, but still - it would alow you to cut the same log with both setups without moving the log at all, which might be an advantage. Or, you could run two saws/logs at either end of a long track setup and really keep your off-loader in the middle busy ;D ;D

NZJake · February 23, 2005, 04:11:03 AM

Gidday Timo,

Our previous canadian distributor sold what your describing as an upgrade with our mills. He used a production frame to cradle a Lynn bandsaw. Also Sawmillsi in aus. has a similar setup.

There's nothing stopping you from doing something like this at all. In fact both the ATS and Lucas frames would be the cheapist to do this. You don't need the WPF's stainless frame, all you would need is the alloy bed with a bracketing system for the bandsaw. Heck, if you've got a tidy little bandsaw send us some pics and I might be able give you some ideas on the bracketing.

Cheers
Although a cheaper setup would be the microkerf circular blade.

D._Frederick · February 23, 2005, 10:40:43 AM

With the aluminum track, I think the weight of band saw and engine would cause the track to sag. You are looking at about 300 - 400 lbs, I suppose that parts of a band saw could be made of aluminum to reduce the weight.

Timo · February 23, 2005, 12:17:00 PM

I thought about that as well, but the Peterson WPF is about the same weight. I was thinking more along the lines of a light, all manual cutting head with a 11-15 hp motor like you would find on a base model. You would have to line things up well, most bandsaws are not 8 feet wide, and the Peterson is designed to have the log off-sett from center (so you can walk along side). Still it looks like it has been done.... which was my main question.

Ianab · February 23, 2005, 03:54:32 PM

The weight of the head wouldn't be a problem, the tracks are supported in about 4 places, either by adjustable feet or on the old models skillfully chainsawed blocks of wood. If the rails are just left to span end to end they will sag under the weight of the powerhead for sure.
Only problem I see is that you dont have a solid bed with backstops, toe boards etc. It's going to be tricky to turn a log and do all the bandsaw tricks without that. I find if I roll a log over (to cut a solid slab ) I've got to spend a couple of minutes lining it up again to get the cuts parrallel. The bunks the log sits on aren't attached to the rails in any way, so unless you are in a permanant setup, they are seldom lined up exactly.
I guess if you just wanted to cut slabs from medium sized logs it would work though, would cut faster than a chainsaw slabber for sure.

Ian

Timo · February 23, 2005, 04:40:23 PM

Yeah, that was kind of my thought - a slabbing attachment, and also to speed up cutting wider boards/ beams. If the band head was running on the same tracks, then is should be parallel to the cut of the swing blade, so leveling for height would be the only issue. It might be an answer to a question nobody asked! :D

Fla._Deadheader · February 23, 2005, 11:31:22 PM

I would sure use more than 15 HP. Our 24 HP Honda pulls OK on 37" boards, but, still cuts slower than I would like. Hardwood might be slower yet. 24HP Honda is 100 pounds.

Arthur · February 24, 2005, 02:12:58 AM

We have a bandsaw cradle designed and being tested at the moment.

We have adapted the EcoSaw HydroDrive unit to power a hydrostatic powered bandsaw. This puts the power unit, water supply and fuel in a remote unit with the drive being reduced to 9kg (20kg with all the control levers - although they can also be remote located).

The cradle is also designed for virtical or horizonal use mainly as a slabbing device.

As the engine is remote and the hydrolic motor handles high torque you can run this with over 100hp engines.

The cradle would be easy to adapt to any rail system.

arthur