Sawmill Maintenance/Repairs

[CCCLLC]

I noticed the calipers as part of of tools used. Guessing  you're  measuring the wear ( taper from back to front edge). What do you  find allowable?

[Magicman]

I was surprised to find negligible difference front/back on any of those 6 blade guides.  

In the past I have found guides with so much wear that they were difficult to vertically align.  This leads me to believe that either the guides are much harder than in the past or the bearings are much worse.  The guides are certainly outlasting the bearings.  The bearing kits are ~$18, and it only takes about 5 minutes for the rebuild.

[Magicman]

I suppose that today is my last opportunity for sawmill maintenance, so on to replacing my Operator's Seat:


Earlier this year it was the victim of a limb falling out of a Beetle Killed Pine which really made a mess.  I had replaced this seat only a couple of years ago so I tried various patch materials plus a seat cover but nothing really worked.

My main (actual only) obstacle was attaching my umbrella bracket. 


I use these "nut rivets" which work very well in metal but...


The frame/back on this new seat is plastic.  Exact same seat that I bought from TSC a couple of years ago but changes have been made.  I know full well this this ain't gonna work, so my challenge is to find or devise a stronger insert.  Because of the cushion, etc. here is no way to get behind that back.


Anyway, it is replaced now and I will deal with the next failure, not if, but when it happens which may be Saturday morning. 

[TimW]

Lynn,
   Get a 3 or 4 inch wide steel strap and bend it to bolt where the seat attaches to the sawmill.  Maybe 3 feet long.

[Magicman]

I fixed it.  I went out and gave it a shake and it promptly came loose so I did what I was reluctant to do:


Pulled the seat cushion away from the back and inserted a bolt.  The seat back was actually double walled, I reckon for strength.

I added a jam nut and tightened my bracket down.


Then used GOOP to seal it back up.


I used straps to hold the cushion into the seat back which I will remove tomorrow or Saturday morning.  I also straightened the bracket up which I had not noticed until I uploaded the above picture.  Didn't matter but it looks better straight.

[LeeB]

Still waiting on a fan belt. I found one today on eBay. Supposed to be here in a week or so. No telling about the other one i ordered. I left it on order to have a spare in case I ever need one. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I mentioned the Hydraulics Hot Rail in another post and we talked about how to remove the burned spots caused by arcing when I used the hydraulics while the head was moving. These dead spots caused my hydraulics not to work properly and of course they were in the most common spot where I'd stop the saw head. Last week I tore off the front outrigger when I was towing the mill home on a rough road. When I went to replace the outrigger, which was undamaged except for the 4 sheared off carriage bolts, I had to remove the hot rail to replace two of the sheared off bolts. While it was off I took the opportunity to reverse/flip the copper rail exposing a totally clean face. 

    Since I have flipped the rail I have not encountered any hesitation or slow performance from the hydraulics because there are no dead spots. It has caused me to adjust my sawing technique a little though. I used to hold on to the head  and controls with my left hand while I toggled the hydraulics with my right hand. Now before I touch the hydraulics I completely remove my hands from the saw head. I checked the rail this morning and after the last 2 sawing jobs I see no burned spots so that seems to be working.

   While I had the outrigger off I had an additional hole drilled at a bottom of the outer cover where the jack rod goes in. I have complained about this dead spot for 10 years because if I went to unload the mill off the truck ball as often as not the bar would land on the dead spot and I could not jack up the tongue. I'd have to move back to the next outrigger nearer the center and lift from there(where the mill was heavier).

    you can see the hole with the filings still showing. This modification has already proved its worth by solving the problem I mentioned earlier.

   I'm hoped WM sees this  post and makes this design change on future mills as I am sure others have had the same problem for many years.

[TimW]

Brought the sawmill home today with the Yanmar not fixed.

So I ran the Yanmar at high idle for an hour then low idle for cool down. It never burped 1 rpm
higher or lower than 3030 rpm

When I took the mill
 to them Sept. 20th,
 it would start 
loosing rpm at 
startup,cold and 
not hit idle target.

Shop's invoice said it would run 28 minutes and start running erratic.

Am I missing something here?   Seems the running normal time is increasing!  Will refuel and run again tomorrow.  It that runs fine, I will move it to the sawing spot and load a log.

[TimW]

Today.......... Removed the fuel tank and dumped about 3/4 gallon. There was trace water
and a dime size glob of black ooze. Not sure what it was or where it came
from.  Could be slime.
Put diesel in and ran it for 2 hours.  All normal operation and rpm.  Gonna put a log on it tomorrow.
Tim

[Magicman]

That glob of black is what you do not want to see.


I add the proper amount of the BioKleen shown above to prevent it.

[TimW]

Lynn,
    I saw on the Shade Tree thread you posted on the Bio Kleen.  Already read up on it and want to get it.
    That black blob showed up since it was at the engine shop.  Not sure if they added any diesel without additives.   But 3 hours of running and no issues seems to point to that black blob as the gremlin.  I pray it is/was.
Thanks!

[TimW]

Got my bottle.  Tractor Supply is $10 more than O'reilly Auto Supply.

[TimW]

Got my bottle of Bio Kleen.  Tractor Supply is $10 more than O'reilly Auto Supply.
Had half a tank, so I added 1/2 teaspoon and ran it another 1.5 hours with no burps.
Gonna saw a log tomorrow!

[TimW]

Got my bottle of Bio Kleen.  Tractor Supply is $10 more than O'reilly Auto Supply.
Had half a tank, so I added 1/2 teaspoon and ran it another 1.5 hours with no burps.
Gonna saw a log tomorrow!

[Magicman]

No pictures but I had a hydraulic hose to fail today.  It was the "up" side of the log clamp.  I called Wood-Mizer service desk while in-route to the hydraulic hose shop and got the lengths for the two hoses because I replaced both the up & down hoses.  I got two "tweeners" (double male) to connect the old and new hoses together and pulled the old ones out and the new ones in.  Total time lost was ~1 1/2 hours which included the 24 mile round trip.

In 21 years of sawing this is only my second hose failure.

[TimW]

Duplicate

[Magicman]

I had a (fuel) situation yesterday morning where my engine would not start.  12.7 volts battery and it was spinning over correctly.  Just sorta pop and puff smoke but not run, like it was out of fuel.  Glow plug lamp on so it was glowing.  I cracked the "out" line on the lift pump, hand pumped, and there was fuel there when I pumped.  On the second try afterwards it popped off and ran & cranked/started as normal for the rest of the day.  Dunno??  Clean clear fuel ran out of the water separator filter.  The two filters are well within their replacement schedule but I will replace both of them this week. 

[Magicman]

The engine fired off like a champ this afternoon but I still replaced both the primary (water separator) and secondary filters.  Nothing ran out of either filter but clean clear fuel.

I also checked the drive belt and found it to be only 15# @ 7/16", so I brought it back up to 18#.  

It appears that the weather/rain forecast for Monday & Tuesday of next week will back that job up to Friday and Saturday of this week.  It would be nice to go ahead and knock it out.

[Magicman]

It appears that the weather/rain forecast for Monday & Tuesday of next week will back that job up to Friday and Saturday of this week.

How very quickly plans can change.  The customer is having difficulty getting help so rain or shine, we are back to the Monday/Tuesday, etc. schedule.

I plan to move the sawmill and set it up at the sawing site which will save some time whenever we do saw.  This is a many times repeat customer that is only ~6 miles away.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Things have started picking up in the last several days. I hope this trend continues.

Have a job tomorrow to saw 30 -40 12 to 16 foot 2 x 6 is into two by threes single cut down the middle. Chunky battens is what contractor wants for his customer.

Expect it'll be about two hours in and out, minimum charge is 325+ mileage and sales tax. About 20 miles away. I think it's a good deal for everyone involved.

[Magicman]

I hope that they do not noodle on you. 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Chemist in me hopes for a high yield. 

Wasn't my idea. If the first few are bad, I'll offer to just cut one out of the center.