Electric sawmill setup?

[busenitzcww]

I'm trying to do a little research on how guys are running electricity to their electric mills. Mine is going to to be outside with no roof until I can build a shed for it, so I don't really have anything to hang the cord from. How are you guys keeping your cord out of the way so it's not a trip hazard or getting in the way from loading/offloading yet can travel back and forth? I'm wondering if I set a pole and ran some sort of boom from it maybe?

[wisconsitom]

I'll be watching your thread, busenitzcww, as I may face the same situation.  Dearly want to run electric, if and when I get my bandsaw mill set up.  I may not have a building at that time either, so thanks for this post!

tom

[tmbrcruiser]

I have an electric mill and may have some thoughts for you. It would help to know what mill you have and if it is hydraulic. I am very happy with my mill being electric.

[Woodpecker52]

Hang overhead and use a swing arm  attached to a pole, Like you were fishing. If slack is a problem just use traction reels (ebay) to constantly take up line and let it out. About a 2 to 3 pound pull is all that's necessary.  I use them on the base of my mill to keep a cutoff switch line from interfering with my feet.

[Woodpecker52]

I have also seen some use a straight steel  winch cable hung from above the length of the mill from which the cord is attached about every 4 feet with small pulleys just attach the cord with plastic straps to pulley outlet( it will hang upside down)  then use  a traction pulley to keep it manageable.

[busenitzcww]

I have an electric mill and may have some thoughts for you. It would help to know what mill you have and if it is hydraulic. I am very happy with my mill being electric.

I have a LT 15 wide on the way, so no hydraulics right now. Thought about getting a 120 volt hydraulic pump sometime. 

[Kindlinmaker]

I have an LT15 electric and use it outside as you describe. The mast on the carriage is about 7' high and holds the power line securely. I still haven't found a permanent home for the mill so I just have a big loop of power cord extending along the ground from one end of the mill frame to the other and back again. It works fine with no stress on the mill. I keep the length of of cord from the source outside my walking area and the length to the mast tends to stay of the way as we work.  The cord tends to get buried in sawdust so it wouldn't impact it if you did step on it. 

When I place the mill permanently, I will hang the power cord from an 8' or 10' pole positioned a few feet away from the mill dead center of the track. A loop in the wire that nearly touches the ground, when the carriage is in the center of the track, would easily allow the carriage to move freely to either end of the track on a 20' track set-up. I rarely use more than 3 6'8" track sections. I will use a pulley to raise and lower the cord on the pole so I can remove for storage. 

I only use for hobby work and the electric is great for this application.  Dependable, quiet, simple, and not another engine to deal with. Plenty of power. I am beginning to work on hydraulics for it using a second motor. 

[busenitzcww]

I have an LT15 electric and use it outside as you describe. The mast on the carriage is about 7' high and holds the power line securely. I still haven't found a permanent home for the mill so I just have a big loop of power cord extending along the ground from one end of the mill frame to the other and back again. It works fine with no stress on the mill. I keep the length of of cord from the source outside my walking area and the length to the mast tends to stay of the way as we work.  The cord tends to get buried in sawdust so it wouldn't impact it if you did step on it.

When I place the mill permanently, I will hang the power cord from an 8' or 10' pole positioned a few feet away from the mill dead center of the track. A loop in the wire that nearly touches the ground, when the carriage is in the center of the track, would easily allow the carriage to move freely to either end of the track on a 20' track set-up. I rarely use more than 3 6'8" track sections. I will use a pulley to raise and lower the cord on the pole so I can remove for storage.

I only use for hobby work and the electric is great for this application.  Dependable, quiet, simple, and not another engine to deal with. Plenty of power. I am beginning to work on hydraulics for it using a second motor.

I'm in the same situation where I'm not 100 percent sure where I want to put it/orient it. I also need to run the power to it in conduit so it's not super ideal. I do have a 30' flex cord I'll run from my disconnect to my mill so I guess as long as I get it close I'll be fine.

[tacks Y]

What hp are you guys running? I looked at a "97" Baker that had a 40hp and 1 1/4" blade and 10hp for hyd seemed over kill?

[wisconsitom]

For saw motor only, 10 HP is enough.  I've been told;  figure 2X the rated HP for an electric motor when compared to equivalent gas.  So for an application requiring a 20HP gas motor, an electric at just half that rated power-10HP- will work.  Of course, once one wishes to run hydraulic pumps, etc....the need goes up considerably.  Do you happen to know if you have three-phase power supply at your location, busenitzcww?  Not an absolute requirement, but can make life easier.  Otherwise, you may be looking at the need for rotary phase converters on your various pieces of equipment.

Good luck and keep us posted.  I think electric is the way to go for non-mobile applications.

tom

[busenitzcww]

For saw motor only, 10 HP is enough.  I've been told;  figure 2X the rated HP for an electric motor when compared to equivalent gas.  So for an application requiring a 20HP gas motor, an electric at just half that rated power-10HP- will work.  Of course, once one wishes to run hydraulic pumps, etc....the need goes up considerably.  Do you happen to know if you have three-phase power supply at your location, busenitzcww?  Not an absolute requirement, but can make life easier.  Otherwise, you may be looking at the need for rotary phase converters on your various pieces of equipment.

Good luck and keep us posted.  I think electric is the way to go for non-mobile applications.

tom

I was wondering about the 10 hp as well and wanted to run enough amps that I could possibly go to a 15 HP especially with the wide model, or just get a bigger mill all around. I have a rpc already, for up to 25 hp so I'm set there. 

[Kindlinmaker]

My LT 15 came with a 10HP single phase. I had the same question about enough power but I don't have any reservation now.  Keep in mind that it is electric and will draw more amps under load but is probably not going to bog out much like a gas engine. We regularly cut 24" - 28" hardwood yard trees with no problem. But it is a hobby mill and we push (crank) the carriage so production rate is not a priority to us. 

We wired it with 6 AWG SOOW. I installed a kitchen range outlet (most cost effective 50 amp connection I could find) beside my breaker box in the house. Ran about 50' of 4 wire to a throw switch with slow burn fuses by the saw and another 40' or 50' of 3 wire for operating cable around the saw. We didn't skimp at all on cable quality. We were a bit concerned about drawing too many amps or voltage drop across the run so we put a meter on it one day while operating. No real voltage drop across entire run. Draws mid 30 amps when running; bumps up to around 40 on start or real heavy load. 200 amp service into my rather large house. It will flicker my house lights for a split second on start-up but no worse than when I start the dust collector and 5HP planer in my shop. No complaints from my neighbors on the same transformer which was also a concern. 

[busenitzcww]

MI forgot to mention that I already have a big roll of 6 gauge THNN wire so I'd like to use it, but that means I gotta run conduit to my pole were I will put in the disconnect box/sub panel, so that's why I'd like to figure out how I want to set everything up.