New guy looking for a smith in the pacific north west.

[circlesawn]

Guys, thanks again for all the great info & wisdom.  I downloaded the suggested reading material and what I see so far is great stuff. 

I am going to try the blade as is and if it's a no go I'll be hunting down a LH blade for sure.  Before I get a new blade and if I can find a local smith I will try having it bumped the other direction.

Right now I am about a month out on getting the old jackson running.  I am going to drive the mandrel with a drive shaft to the engine and this is going slow.  So far I have found suppliers for the flanged couplings that are on the mandrel and engine output.  The cost is killing me, maybe I'm a tightwad but the pair of couplings is around $600.  They're so simple?  The bid I have for the driveline is also around $600.  I am thinking I can do better and am planning to cruise some salvage yards and see whats laying in the weeds.  Most driveline shops get confused when I mention that it only needs to turn 600 rpm and that a high quality tractor pto will work.  Being a LH mill the old Jackson's are perfect for a tractor driven pto setup.

[bandmiller2]

Circlesaw, are you sure your engine will be turning the right direction for a left hand mill,its worth double checking.HD tractor PTO shafts would be a sensible choice.Some heavy trucks use flanged "U" joints.Somewhere in the driveline you should have a shear pin or a slip clutch.In most mills the belts take care of the weak link and absorb shock.Belsaw sold a driveline with a shear pin.Some farm impliments have a slip clutch that would serve you well.The Jackson I saw used a tire and rim for a flat pulley on the arbor and a crossed flat belt from the 3-71. Frank C.

[circlesawn]

Bandmiller2 -----  You are right, the old GM is turning the wrong direction for a LH mill.  I caught on to this when I was dynoing it.  However it has a belt reduction on the engine platform and to make it work I have to turn the platform 180*.  The bad thing is this puts the radiator intake next to the mill and makes for a longer driveline.  I am in the process of reversing the fan right now.  I haven't measured the pulleys yet but with the engine turning 1400, the output shaft is 600.  You gave me another thought,  I will keep an eye out for some flat belt pulleys.  This mill came with the wheel/tire pulley installed but the diameter is too large.  I am thinking another 30" pulley would produce some pretty good belt velocity.

If you look at my photo a few posts back you can see the tire pulley.

[reride82]

I don't know how far you are from Missoula, MT circlesawn, but this is the saw smith I used. They are only 1.5 hours from my house and I end up there every once in a while. It might save you some in shipping.

http://www.missoulasaws.com/

[bandmiller2]

Circlesaw,its been a long time since I've watched or even seen a carriage ride Jackson.As I mentioned before could you feed the log in the outher direction changing it to a right hand mill solving two problems at once,saw hand and engine direction.I kinda forget how the feed rope is setup.If your going to use a flatbelt mayby a smaller tire/ rim could be mounted on the engine output.I guess when the Jacksons were new back in the 40's flatbelts were popular on farm tractors,although I think most came with Detroits. Frank C.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

No Worries its nice to see one coming back into action like your doing and mine will have something done about it in due corse to But just email Jackson and they have a Parts and Maint book they will email or post out for $55 i think was Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8)

With the driveline your mills almost ready to run as you have a Tyre Drive Mill  if your motor has a flat pulley on it  ;) what you do is that tyre on the mill shaft fit new rubber on it and leave it alittle low on air  slide your motor underneath pump it up so you have a good mesh between the pulley and the tyre and run it as a tyre drive your mill will be spinning in the rite direction then and your good to go  ;) ;D ;D 8)

if it was me Id take the $600 od bucks and put it into getting the saw exchanged for a left hander seeing as they are very finniky between hands there from the sounds of it  ;)

Regards Chris

[dgdrls]

Circlesawn,

Have you made progress with the JLH Mill??

DGD

[circlesawn]

DGD, yes I have made considerable progress with the old JLH.  Things have been moving kinda slowly though with putting a new roof on the house, a nasty bout with pneumonia, and several honey-do's, I have been slowly hammering away on it.

I have found 2 saw smiths within a couple hundred miles so I can get the hand of the blade changed if necessary.

I have purchased all the driveline parts, this includes welding the yokes to the tube and assembling everything myself.  My shaft length is 100" which by most driveline dealers recommendation is too long to be safe.  I bought enough parts make this a mid-ship setup if there is too much whip.  Everything will be inclosed in a large steel tube so if anything goes wrong I will be safe.

I have replaced most of the carriage bearings which on this mill are mounted on the main frame.  I am in the process of buying a 2.94" pillow block for the output shaft of the power unit.

Getting the old tire pulley and pillow block removed was a terrible job, I ruined a huge puller in the process and had to revert to the old faithful back up, the burning torch.

At this time I am getting bids from a couple of machine shops to cut some key ways and bore out a couple of companion flanges for the completion of the driveshaft.

Thanks for the interest, maybe I should have been updating this post with progress pictures.  I actually am going to do this when all the rusty bolts are removed and assembly starts.  So far the progress has been boring for onlookers as I have countless hours standing in front of a blast cabinet.

I enjoy doing this kind of restoration as my hobby was collecting antique and classic Oliver tractors, now the sawdust has moved out of my veins and settled in my brain.

This has to be the greatest forum ever, Roger