Author Topic: Circular sawmill power units (Read 11322 times)

Frickman · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2006, 08:28:37 pm »

I've seen all kinds of motors hooked to mills over the years. Mostly I've run Detroit 4-71 and 6-71's. I've watched the mill run at Tremel's club. The old steam engine isn't a Detroit but it works pretty good.

dail_h · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2006, 08:36:13 pm »

I sure would like to get to saw behind a real steam engine. Every one of the real old time sawyers that I've ever talked to always talked about how "smooth" steam was. Like ta try it once before my time is up.

sawguyver · « **Reply #22 on:** January 30, 2006, 09:02:13 pm »

This is my 6 cylinder chrysler its putting out 40 hp at 2000 rpm that belt is 1/2" thick by 8" wide by about 18 feet long.

TexasTimbers · « **Reply #23 on:** January 30, 2006, 09:02:49 pm »

My manual circle came with a Mack front clip and tranny.
My hydraulic/electric mill has a Detroit 6-71.
I also have an Allison V12. Well, it's only a picture of one but I bet I made someones adrenaline go up a little

Dangerous_Dan · « **Reply #24 on:** January 30, 2006, 09:30:04 pm »

Nobody's mentioned natural gas.
When I went to college (graduated in 1994) I worked on a farm that had a natural gas well.

His sawmill was powered by a 6 cylinder flathead truck engine converted to run on natural gas.

His gas well made less than 100 psi and the 2000 foot pipe to the mill could not supply the engine enough gas at full load. Farmer fix = install a 55 gal drum as an accumulator at the engine. It worked well but was a little nerve racking catching boards off that big spinning blade and having that rusty old drum right next to you looking like it's gunna blow up.
I went back to visit this past summer and he has had a new gas well installed, he says it's over 1200 psi coming out of the ground.
The sawmill now has a MM converted to natural gas and no more 55 gal drum with the new well.

I can't remember the manufacturer of the mill but it's American ?something?

Michigan Mike · « **Reply #25 on:** January 30, 2006, 10:16:28 pm »

You guys are getting me all nostalgic . I am just in the process of picking out a band mill. But it all goes back to listening to my grandad talk about his younger days in Minnisota. He and his brother ran what he called a portable mill . I can imagine how portable it was steam powered . I dont know what brand it was but I remember himtelling me that he had fired it with dry wood green wood and coal at different times. Good memories

Sawyerfortyish · « **Reply #26 on:** January 31, 2006, 12:20:57 am »

Dan if it's around N.J. it's a American sawmill made in Hacketstown N.J. around the early 1900 s. Kinda looks like the one I ran except I had one more headblock.

RacinRex · « **Reply #27 on:** December 01, 2006, 02:13:13 pm »

Not sure of the Mill we used to work on but in 92-97 I was working for a crop farmer that sawed lumber in winter and early spring until we could get on the fields. We were powering with a 2-105 White Field Boss (Wakesha?? or perkins? turbo diesel) and put off a little over 10K bdft in a good day /w 3 guys in the mill. Burned about 35 gallons of fuel doing it.

The farmer was 72, I was 17 and my brother was 14. I can tell you that we went home for dinner, and fell asleep everynight before ever getting away from the living room at my parents house when we were sawing like that. Makes for trouble free teenagers.

Heading up to that old farmer's place this weekend to take some trips down memory lane with him and get some sawing tips, in person from a real oldtimer. He no longer has that circle mill, he's using a band mill like many of us now (he doesn't use it much as it frustrates him)

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #28 on:** December 30, 2007, 04:13:44 pm »

This subject deserves a replay ,some of the best power units come out of old cranes and shovels.They are on skids a complete power unit except for the fuel tank,usallly with a clutch.If you ever run across a Murphy diesel grab it they have torque you never dreamed of and will run forever they have one speed just above an idle.Steam is probibly the best power but boilers especially in the winter are a pain in the $ss.My old mill had a cat d318 power unit out of a bucyrus erie shovel it was a dandy ran around 1150 rpm pony start.

boulderridge · « **Reply #29 on:** January 21, 2008, 11:05:47 pm »

A couple of years ago I purchased a "0" Frick mill with a 52" blade. No power unit. After some thought, I deceided to use a spare snow-plow truck I had, consisting of a 1987 Dodge Dakota with a 3.9L V6 engine. The mill came with a 24 " diameter flat pulley.

The idea was simple, remove the bed and block up the truck so that the rear tire rubbed against the pulley. There were several preperations that needed to be completed first. The first, after removing the bed, was to weld the spider gears together in the rear-end. Even with a posi-traction rear, the clutches in the differential didn't allow for direct drive without slipping. The second was to determine the direction of the blade vs the direction the truck would have to set in order to run in a forward gear. Fortunatly the truck would set away from the log deck (right hand saw).

Next the proper speed needed to be derermined. I knew from Jeff's Saw Pounding what the blade RPM was and using the circumference of the 24" diameter pulley, backed into the MPH the 24" pulley would have to turn. If the tire on the truck was exactly the same 24" diameter then this would be the speed the speedodometer would have to display. I opted for a smaller tire on the truck to increase the torque delivered to the blade. In doing this I used the ratio of the 24" pulley compared to the tire size and increased the tire speed accordingly. The last major task was to install an aftermarket cruize control to maintain the speed.

Another major consideration with a setup like this is the amount of pressure existing between the tire and the pulley. Calculations need to be made using the horsepower requirment at the blade, the amount of surface contact between the tire and pulley and also the psi of air inside the tire.

Another option with this setup would be to use a tire-less rim. with a flat belt to drive the saw. the calculations would work the same and with a 180 deg turn of the belt the blade direction could also be reversed if need be.

Boulderridge

beenthere · « **Reply #30 on:** January 21, 2008, 11:58:39 pm »

Boulderrigde

How does that 'design' work for you?

boulderridge · « **Reply #31 on:** January 22, 2008, 08:06:10 am »

Beenthere,

It actualy works pretty well. Actual power units are hard to come by and expensive. A vehicle with the body shot but with a sound power-train is easy to come by and cheap. Best of all you can go to the local auto parts for parts to fix a breakdown. It comes with it's own instruments, enclosure to store tools (inside the passenger compartment) and an enclosure for the engine.

Boulderridge

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #32 on:** January 24, 2008, 07:16:19 am »

Boulderridge,do you get enough traction between the tire and the steel pulley so she won't slip in a hard cut.??Flat belts are quite happy rideing on rubber tires their is even some crown ,good traction too.

boulderridge · « **Reply #33 on:** January 24, 2008, 04:41:15 pm »

Bandmiller2,

The coefficient of steel on rubber is pretty good. It all depends on three things, the amount of HP needed at the blade, the amount of surface area of tire you have on the steel wheel and the amount of air pressure in the tire. The more air pressure the less tire contact you need. I’m operating at about 35 psi. I try to keep the pressure down. That way it’s easier on bearings.

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #34 on:** January 26, 2008, 07:47:28 am »

Boulderridge,thanks for the pics,I've learned a new trick.Most of the truck run mills around here just cut the frame and run the drive shaft to the arbor

treenail · « **Reply #35 on:** January 26, 2008, 10:33:43 am »

Back in the nineteen fifties, my father owned a Lane mill that ran six days a week and was powered by a Cat diesel that had a pony motor on top of it to crank up the Cat when it was below zero in the winter. Eventually, he replaced it with a three phase electric motor, so that the cold weather problems went away.

Norwiscutter · « **Reply #36 on:** January 26, 2008, 12:01:31 pm »

I think that the diesel from the fire truck in the for sale section would rip though some serious lumber if attached to a circle mill.

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #37 on:** January 27, 2008, 06:42:26 am »

Most diesel truck engines have plenty of power for a mill,only problem being they usally have just a limiting speed governor.All that does is prevent the engine from overspeeding.Some trucks [like bulk unloaders]have a variable speed gov.that will hold set RPM atsa the one you want.

jason.weir · « **Reply #38 on:** January 27, 2008, 07:34:34 am »

Here is a fix to the limiting speed governor.

Would be easy to retrofit.

http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2007101420262696&item=28-1653

-Jason

bandmiller2 · « **Reply #39 on:** January 27, 2008, 08:31:42 am »

Jason ,thats a good price for a governor.
sometimes their ment for carbs on a gasoline engine and don't have enough power to regulate an injection pump.I'am not sure on this but I believe a limiting speed governor like most trucks have could be adjusted to about 3/4 throttle and work on a mill.Frank C.

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Author Topic: Circular sawmill power units (Read 11322 times)