circle mill power ? sawdust blower ? with pictures !

[D._Frederick]

Uncle-,

I don't know if they are still being made, but there were sheet metal pulleys that were made in halves that would clamp to a shaft. They clamped tight enough that for low power drives that no key way was needed.

I notice that you have blocks on both the front and back of yoursaw blade so that you can drag cuts back to be edged. The American mill had cast iron rollers for what your wood blocks are doing. They worked real good, when you get time, weld together a couple of rollers, they will make thing go better.

I would watch the temp. of your engine, your radiator looks on the small side for a stationary engine.

[UNCLEBUCK]

I took this motor out of the crane thats holding it , I just put the boom all the way up and swung around and flipped up the hood and give it a jerk and then got the torch out and cut off anything that was holdin me down  .  Hey D. I will check that split pulley out or I will split one myself ! I got the plwood cover off right now that goes over those 2x4 blocks but I did find a old roller your describing , that must be where it came from once upon a time. J_T  this motor has a big hyd pump and all I have to do is weld a bracket on the new cradle and it would work. Sounds like youre happy with your hydraulics and I better think hard tonight and slap that hyd pump on while I have the opportunity because if I think I will do it later I will never get back around to it.  Harold I torched the exhaust pipe off and its laying in the weeds but I will do that and get that stack up through the roof . I bought this crane for 1,000$ and I drive it anywhere until I peeked under the hood last year and thought hey now there is the power I been wanting so I parked the crane so I can reach the slab pile and the log pile and it will never move from that spot ever again. There is a 371 detroit in the upper and it runs good too but the tires are all rotten so it was time to park it before I got caught roaring down the roads at 50 mph or blow a tire . I am just wild with the torch lately because I put a new tip on it and I been torching just about everything in sight ! I had a torch tip that had 3 plugged holes that were like welded shut but this new one is just wild.                                                                                                                                                                   

[UNCLEBUCK]

As long as I got the sawdust bug happening here is a picture of where I use to stand when sawing . You can see the big red stick if I go the amish way and there is 2 flat belt pulleys fixed to the shaft that the blade is on if I need a power source otherwise I can just put the 2 belts back on and it would be simple ,just pull the stick to send the log through and pull the stick to gig it back . I had so much crap in the way for protection when sawing I could hardly see what I was doing . Now I have to figure out how and where to weld all that crap back on so it is more operator friendly !                                                                                                                                             

[UNCLEBUCK]

I meant to say pulling the stick sends the log through and pushing the big red stick gigs the log back ! Yeah me tired ! Thats the same way I pulled and pushed the hyd lever too . So is everyone saying go hydraulic and stay that way or should I use the big red stick and start smokin swisher sweets and find me a pair of broadfall pants in a size "5x tent"   

[WH_Conley]

Swisher sweets are are cheaper by the carton,

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Never used a Hydraulic rig. Usin that big red stick let ME control the "feel" of the saw. I've seen guys jam a log into the saw and hope for the best. 

[Don P]

UB, what isn't working on the hydraulic feed for you? I figured that would have better speed control than the stick 

I was looking at the blower, can't really judge the size from the pic. If the impeller wheel is under a foot I kinda got my doubts. Speed will at some point get the suck you need but diameter does the job better. If you look inside the outlet side, the closest point of the wheel to the housing is called the cutoff point. If that gap is huge, you can get a little more by closing it down a little more. Too close and its just a danger and the noise increases dramatically.


Don't know if you've seen them or if these will help,
Pulley calc;
http://www.forestryforum.com/members/donp/pulleycalc.htm

Blower calc;
http://www.forestryforum.com/members/donp/Blowercalc.htm

[tnlogger]

UB you still have the big flat pully there can't you just put a short line shaft below it to run your blower?
I did that with the dust chain on my edger i just twisted the belt to change the direction the way i needed it.

[rpg52]

Unclebuck,
FYI, I mounted my 3-71 on a truck frame, then bolted it to a concrete foundation with some 1-1/2 pipes about a foot long.  I wired some 1/2" j-bolts to the rebar and poked horizontally through the form boards.  After I moved the engine on the concrete, I put some bolts horizontally through the truck frame.  Then I burned holes through the top and bottom of the pipe and slid it over the j-bolt and the bolt through the frame.  The pipes are vertical with the bolts going clear through them.  I hope that makes sense - It was a lot easier than putting the j-bolts vertically and trying to line up holes in the metal frame.  Also put a piece of tire between the frame and the concrete, to provide a little cushion for the vibration.  Hope this helps, good luck with your project.  A muffler will help with the exhaust, it'll still be loud, but maybe you'll be able to hear yourself think that way.
Ray

[UNCLEBUCK]

Don P thanks a million for that those pulley and blower links ! I am hauling the blower out to the mill later today to find a spot . I thought all night about hydraulic versus the big red stick and this morning I went out and got rid of the big red stick and took the hyd pump out of the crane which was still hanging on the old hoses and I found a 7 gallon reservoir in the barn . I lowered the hyd valve set up down so its by my feet and I will put a long aluminum stick on that . Before I had the valves right in my face and was using the short little lever that came with the valve so maybe thats where my problem started due to such a short lever like 8 inches long . So I feel good now about going with the hyd . rpg52 I am going to study what you said here thats interesting stuff. tnlogger I am going to end up with something like what youre saying . I need to get one radiator hose at napa in the morning other than waiting for that I am ready to fire this beast up . Harold this means I dont have to start smokin those funny smellin amish cigarettes ! It sure looks more open and clean now where the sawyer stands with those valves down on the floor , now I have to figure out where to put the bullet proof shield at . I have 3 different size flat pulleys now for power with the big red stick gone ! Lots of room to slide a board back across unlike before.                                                                                                                                               

[UNCLEBUCK]

Here is the little drive gears that I torched off underneath for a drag chain , it was right below the blade and 2 feet in front . It looks usable but a better mounting location for it would be much better like down deeper a few feet . I better get with it and check out this free blower I found . Talk to ya"ll later and thanks for the info and suggestions and tomorrow night I should have a better report here . I sure hope to be sawing by next sunday I hope .  Hey feel free to show some pics of your mill set ups and power stuff ok !                                                                                                                                                     

[D._Frederick]

Uncle-,

Your picture of right angle gear drive looks about like we had on the American for a sawdust drag. We drove it with a belt off of the arbor shaft, it did a good job getting rid of the sawdust. Once in a while a stick would get in the chain and cause the belt to be thrown.