Timberking 1600 Modifications

[Coltbodi]

I got this mill from my cousin, who didn't take very good care of it. I have a welding and fabrication shop, so the 1st thing I did was go thru the mill to make sure everything worked, was square, and set correctly. It was all pretty simple and not very costly, but I did everything myself.

I started out by changing out the plastic chain that the hydraulic lines run thru. The one that was on it was all busted up. It was pretty starlight forward. One trick I figured out was that when putting on the new chain, lay it sideways. The hoses went right in and didn't hang up.

Then I took apart the log stop assemblies, applied neverseeze to all the bolts, since that is what the tubing rolls on, then I put grease fittings on the log stops themselves. Now I can keep them greased and WOW! it is so easy to work now.

After that I got the log stops square to the frame. I'm not sure why they have all the adjustmeants on the stops, but I got them square and then put a few stitch welds on them so they can't move. If I ever bend one or something the welds are easy to get to, so I can just cut them and go from there. But a trick to squaring  them to the frame. I took a 12" piece of channel iron I had in my shop and laid it across the log deck, that way I could put my framing square directly to the log stop. They are all as close to square to the frame as they will ever be.

The battery was dead and I soon figured out why. The way the bracket was made to hold the battery caused the battery to be squished. You could see where the battery had bulged. So I built a small frame out of angle iron, put the new battery in a plastic box and strapped it in the new frame, works great and keeps the battery protected.

Next I had to square the guide rollers to the frame and make sure they deflected the blade 1/8". I figured out a simple trick to this. I put the blade over one of the cross members and put it all the way down. Then I loosened the bolts on both sets of the rollers and raised them so they had no pressure on the blade. I tightened the blade up and measured down. To the crossmeber. The measurement should be 1&1/8" to the bottom of the blade, altered I had that locked in I took a piece of 1" tubing I had and put it on the crossmember. Then i used 2 big clams on either side of the corssmember to clamp the blade down on top of the tubing. Now my blade is sitting exactly 1" on top of the crossmember and is square all the way across it. All I had to do after that was slide the guide rollers down to the blade and tighten the bolts. Extremely simple and accurate.

I also added in a solenoid valve to the lubricant line and wired it to the clutch. Now the water cuts on and off with the clutch.

I also noticed that while cutting the wind would blow the sawdust back at the operator. So I fabbed up something to weld to the shroud where the dust comes out. I used some 3" tubing I had and put some 4" corrugated drain pipe on it. It fits really tite, so no need for clamps. Which makes it really easy to yank off the piece of drain pipe and clean out the tubing should it ever clog, which is very possible since the sawdust gets wet from the water. But I would rather have to take 30 seconds to clean that out every hour or so instead of haveing sawdust in my face constantly.

I am going to be milling finished lumber and I am pretty particular about things being square and as close to perfect as they can be. I will post some pictures soon on these mods. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Or if you have done something to your mill that made things easier or work better please let me know!

[xlogger]

sounds like you did a good job. You might want to think about 1/4" down pressure and keep the back of the blade 1/4" away from the back of the guide rollers.

[thecfarm]

Coltbodi,Welcome to the forum.
What's the plan for the lumber?

[Coltbodi]

I actually set them at 3/16". Timberking said between 1/8" and 3/16" so I went with 3/16". I also set them at 1/8" from the back roller, that's what timberking recommended. But I plan on changing them to the new type of roller with the flange on back to do away with the back roller.

The lumber I mill for myself will be for a house I'm building. The lumber I mill for other people will be for whatever they use it for, mostly barns and such I would imagine.

[1938farmall]

my 1600 came with the loader arms more than 8' apart - and i changed that.  if you run the saw solo it would save 1,000 steps if you could figure out how to lower the squaring arms from the clamp location

[ladylake]

I actually set them at 3/16". Timberking said between 1/8" and 3/16" so I went with 3/16". I also set them at 1/8" from the back roller, that's what timberking recommended. But I plan on changing them to the new type of roller with the flange on back to do away with the back roller.

The lumber I mill for myself will be for a house I'm building. The lumber I mill for other people will be for whatever they use it for, mostly barns and such I would imagine.

Both the 1/4" down pressure and the flange or bearing 1/4 behind the back of the blade are real important. You'll saw straighter and break less blades.  Steve

[DDW_OR]

..........I also added in a solenoid valve to the lubricant line and wired it to the clutch. Now the water cuts on and off with the clutch..............

will be doing the solenoid valve mod to my TK-2000

here is a link to some Useful sawmill mods
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,7789.msg1397352/topicseen.html#msg1397352

[Coltbodi]

my 1600 came with the loader arms more than 8' apart - and i changed that.  if you run the saw solo it would save 1,000 steps if you could figure out how to lower the squaring arms from the clamp location

I don't understand what you mean. I am assuming you are talking about the log stops as the squaring arms. Mine lower from where all my hydraulic controls are from the back of the machine.

[Coltbodi]

I actually set them at 3/16". Timberking said between 1/8" and 3/16" so I went with 3/16". I also set them at 1/8" from the back roller, that's what timberking recommended. But I plan on changing them to the new type of roller with the flange on back to do away with the back roller.

The lumber I mill for myself will be for a house I'm building. The lumber I mill for other people will be for whatever they use it for, mostly barns and such I would imagine.

Both the 1/4" down pressure and the flange or bearing 1/4 behind the back of the blade are real important. You'll saw straighter and break less blades.  Steve

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if I start breaking blades or it isn't cutting straight.

[xlogger]

my 1600 came with the loader arms more than 8' apart - and i changed that.  if you run the saw solo it would save 1,000 steps if you could figure out how to lower the squaring arms from the clamp location

My toe boards that raise the log to level it where like that. Don't know what they where thinking designing that. I just move one in closer so you could level a 6 ft log. I wish the loader arms where 5 ft apart so it would be easier to load a 6 ft log.
But on the 1/4 down and 1/4 away from the back flange you should listen to myself or Steve (ladylake) we have TK and put some hours on them. TK is a great machine and I think you will be happy with it but they make the machine and don't run one and see what we run into each day.

[Coltbodi]

my 1600 came with the loader arms more than 8' apart - and i changed that.  if you run the saw solo it would save 1,000 steps if you could figure out how to lower the squaring arms from the clamp location

My toe boards that raise the log to level it where like that. Don't know what they where thinking designing that. I just move one in closer so you could level a 6 ft log. I wish the loader arms where 5 ft apart so it would be easier to load a 6 ft log.
But on the 1/4 down and 1/4 away from the back flange you should listen to myself or Steve (ladylake) we have TK and put some hours on them. TK is a great machine and I think you will be happy with it but they make the machine and don't run one and see what we run into each day.

Ok thanks, I'll drop the guides another 1/16" and move them back to make it 1/4"

[Tom the Sawyer]

I, too, found that 1/4" down on the blade improved stability in the cut.  I don't go a full 1/4" away from the flange, it is more like 3/16", for my new-style (w/zerk) rollers, that way the back edge of the blade is still supported by the roller (not over a groove). 

On my B-20, there are two mounting positions for the loading arms.  I wondered why the hoses for the forward arm were so long... it is because you can move that arm to a position farther forward on the mill, for those who frequently load longer logs.  At the closer position, my arms are 5'3" apart.  I have never needed the wider position.

[dean herring]

I would like to put hydraulic log stops and log dog on my TK 1600. It sure would make things easier. Has anyone done this?

[Coltbodi]

Here are a few pictures of what I have done. I will eventually put hydraulics on the log stops, but that will be after some major fab work to make them move vertically instead of the circular motion they do now. It is really easy to move the log stops now that I have made these mods, the problem is when sawing a log that has knots on it. The stops can hang as you try to lower them due to them have to move in that circular motion. But I will save that for a day when I have nothing else to do.

Well I was going to add the photos to this post but I don't know how to get them from an album on here to the post. So If you want to see pictures just go look at my album.

[thecfarm]

coltbodi,the hard part with pictures is done. This should do it.
I like to go to whatever post or start a new topic first to include a picture.Go to your gallery,it will open in a new window.Click onto your album,then click onto whatever picture you want,it will get bigger,than scroll down a little to find,Insert Image In Post,click onto that,click Yes and that is it. Some have to copy/paste the link to work.I like to hit the enter key at least once or twice to move the picture down away from what I am typing. The enter key really helps to leave some white space if posting more than one picture or posting a comment. Use the preview button to see how it looks and modify it if needed

[FireCpt]

I know this is an old post but I'm hoping to find out what all has to be welded on the Timberking 1600 log stop brackets to improve them. Is it just welding the bracket to the frame or is there any welding required on the moving parts of the bracket itself? Thanks for any advice