Circle saw track cleaners

[Jeff]

Here is a drawing of the track cleaners I built and I swear by them. They are simply two straps of steel with holes punched in each end 2 3.5 inch 3/8ths bolts nuts and washers, and 2 blocks of whit oak cut slightly thicker then the thickness of my carriage wheels. Just bolt them around your wheels. They scrape the track, plus the cut of the block scrapes your wheels. You make them so you have about 1 to 1.5 inches of end play. I have a set on each axle.

[ADfields]

Hay, thats slick Jeff!! :P
Andy

[Don P]

Mine are on each end of the carriage. Made from the rubber conveyor belt material. This is the inboard front one.

[Jeff]

My wheels are probably a tab bit bigger. Around 8 or 9 in diameter.  Our old mill simply had a peice of square tubing welded on each end of the carriage over the track and you dropped in a piece of hardwood to scrape. It didn't help the wheels though. The one I use now, scrapes the track and the wheels.They also help knock sticks or other small debree off the track that might go unnoticed that otherwize could cause a derailment. Those are not purty.

[woodhaven]

What did I do wrong?
When I built mine I ask a lot of guys which side to put the guide rail on. Next to the saw or the other side. The answers were about 50/50 so I figured if I put the guide rail next to the saw the saw dust would just fall off. 15 years later I have never had a need for these cleaners but see them all the time. Just lucky I guess.
Which side do say the guide rail should be on? It doesn''t really matter now but what do you say?  ???

[Don P]

That pic was of my Timberking M-14 guiderail. It is on the blade side. It's different from most, just 2 pieces of angle welded back to back and atop a piece of C channel. The thing that makes this mill so portable is it can be broken down into 10' sections, carried in 2 truckloads and reassembled in only a few long days. ;D The pic is where 2 sections of C are joined by a leg section. My carriage passes over the arbor so the carriage is very low (and light). The wheels are only about 2" dia.

[woodhaven]

I had to move mine 1 time. Only because I moved into my new house when I finished it. I would almost give it away before ever moving it again. I did build it so I could move it but it would be just about as easy to take apart and move a freight train.

[UNCLEBUCK]

JEFF and DON P  thanks for the pics of your track cleaners,all i am going to do is drop wood blocks in and take out the floating noisy screachy smaller box pipe and then i got, sure is nice to get a idea from you guys, so simple, i cant believe i never thought of using wood blocks or rubber, thanks ! :P

[Ron Wenrich]

The older mills used to have the guide track on the saw side.  Newer mills have the guide track on the log side.  I'd say it is safer to have it on the log side.

I was at a mill one time that had an old Frick carriage with a guide track on the saw side.  They also had a saw that had every shoulder knocked off but one.  

What happened is that a piece of bark fell onto the guide track.  The sawyer didn't see it, and the carriage ran over it.  They had solid scrapers that scraped the grooved wheel, but no track cleaners.  The carriage shifted toward the saw.  The sawyer hit the rear headblock.  Luckily, he wasn't hurt, but had a pretty good light show.

My thinking is that there is less chance of debris on the log side, since there isn't as much activity back there.

[Jeff]

I gotta agree. There is no suspension on a mill carriage so if one wheel runs over something that whole side of that carriage picks up. I would say 99.9% of the time if something is on the tracks its on the rail closest to the saw. I sure want to have the guide rail on the outside if all my wheels on the saw side are in the air!

We have had to put our carriage back on the track more then once as it is and its a job. Luckily we have never got into the saw on a derailment.

[woodhaven]

I agree, the same thing happened to me once. A piece of bark that I didn't see scared the hell out of me when the carriage jumped up and sideways. I said to self this ain't good so I made 2 brackets and attached them to the carriage and they float under the 8" channel that supports the rails. Now if the carriage tries to jump it can only come up 1/4" not high enough to clear the guide rail. I had a heck of a time getting it back in place when it jumped that time the saw was locked in the log and the carriage off the rail. Took 2 comealongs and some choice words getting it back right.
But I'm still thinking it is less likely for something to lay on a rounded rail than a flat rail. With the rounded rail next to the saw where most things do end up falling everything just hits the rail and rolls off to the ground.I'm probably wrong I usually am.

[Ron Wenrich]

I had a saw stuck in a log just as you descirbed.  It was just when I was starting to saw.  I fed a hickory to fast and hung it.

Instead of trying to pull everything out, I just took a chain saw and cut the slab off of the saw.  That freed up the saw, and the rest was easy.  Gotta be pretty careful with the chainsaw, though.

[UNCLEBUCK]

wow great topic ! i think its just as quick and simple to put on track cleaners like  Jeff  and i  will unbolt my creations asap and do like he did . thanks  definately something to watch for :P

[Jeff]

Hey, Unc, be sure to leave your self some side clearance and end play. THe side clearance comes from using hardwood stock about 1/4 to 3/8s thicker then your wheels. You want your wheels to turn it there easily. If you get them tight, shim out your plates with some flat washers on one side.  THe end play allows the cleaner to slide against the forward motion of the wheel to scrape it a little, the gap left on the other end allows for any traped sawdust or debree to get out.

I rarely have trouble with mine. Sometimes if the logs are right and the temp is right for sawdust to freeze everywhere, I will have it freeze between the plate and the wheel acting as a brake. I just go out and smack em with a hammer against the wheels and it clears the built up frozen stuff.

[UNCLEBUCK]

thanks Jeff, I knew that metal to metal like I had just didnt sound right, sure looked good for awhile until I joined the forum, each and every little thing on a mill really has to be looked at and I am happy with your kind of track cleaner, I only have a few small bolt holes in the original wood carriage from my track cleaners so no big deal .thanks ok !

[mitch]

Guide wheel placement: A moot point with the old mills like mine for which the travellers are just flanged wheels like railroad wheels.With modern day production mills and their massive carriages and high speeds, it is probable best to have the guide wheel on the log side away from the saw. For older hand set mills with light weight carriages the weight of the log should be over the guide wheel, thus the guide wheel should be on the saw side.