Mixed marriage at Bibbyman’s – Baker-Mizer or Wood-Baker?

[sawguy21]

Naw, dat blue looks real purty.

[oakiemac]

I made a dead deck from old I beams. but the problem that I have is moving the log forward and aft. I can easily cant hook them and roll them from the deck onto the mill but I still have problems if they need to move forward or back a little bit. You can't cant hook them that way.
How do you all deal with this?

[Bibbyman]

I made a dead deck from old I beams. but the problem that I have is moving the log forward and aft. I can easily cant hook them and roll them from the deck onto the mill but I still have problems if they need to move forward or back a little bit. You can't cant hook them that way.
How do you all deal with this?

The "live deck" helps some as you put them on square with the mill and they keep square with the mill as they move down the deck.  The ones with a big butt or somehow odd shape may gain a little when coming down the loading arms but it's not as bad as they did when rolling them on a dead deck.

How we deal with logs not centered well on the mill?....  Well,  if it's not too far off and we can get it up and leveled ok,  then we'll take a slab off and turn it.  Take another slab off and turn it.  Now we have a cut face down and a cut face against the back supports.  We raise the roller toe boards and roll the cant/log to where we want it and let it down.  If the log is short and not on both rollers,  we have a 6' rock bar that we stick under it and lever it forward or back - at least far enough to get on the roller toe boards. 

[oakiemac]

Yeah, I have problems keeping them square. Some logs want to get crooked then go on bad and need to be moved a little. A long pry bar would probably help.

BTW-Nice deck. Have you got any firgures on increased production yet or is it too early to tell?

[Bibbyman]

BTW-Nice deck. Have you got any firgures on increased production yet or is it too early to tell?

I kind of answered that a couple of post back. 

I'm sure it will speed loading logs onto the mill - plus only have to load the deck about half as often. But I don't expect to see too much increase in overall production as we still have to do everything else.  It's just one more hard job that's been replaced by mechanization.   

[Tom]

What I do is put a log or slab directly in the center of the loader, on the ground and running away from the mill.\

If I've built a ramp using logs, I use a short piece of log that is just a little taller than the ramp logs and place it between the two rails of the ramp.  If the logs are on the ground, a slab cut from the flare of a log and placed with the flare toward the mill and the thin part toward the log works best.

When I roll the log down the ramp, it will get up on top of the little log and make a pivot point so that I can turn it easily one way or the other and direct its direction.

These pivot points can remain since you aren't generally walking in that area anyway.

[Gary_C]

That's another modification that could be helpful. Add an adjustable center roller to move logs that aren't centered. Even on 8 foot logs you have to roll them on exactly centered to hit the backstops.

Nice deck, blue and all. 

[Bibbyman]

That's another modification that could be helpful. Add an adjustable center roller to move logs that aren't centered. Even on 8 foot logs you have to roll them on exactly centered to hit the backstops.

Nice deck, blue and all. 

I fixed that problem years ago with my 4 powered back stop mod - now standard on the LT40 Super and available on the LT40 Standard HD.  Also available as a retrofit kit.

[DR_Buck]

I fixed that problem years ago with my 4 powered back stop mod - now standard on the LT40 Super and available on the LT40 Standard HD.  Also available as a retrofit kit.

Now all they have to do at WM is figure out how to do it on the new LT50.  Most likely needed on the LT70 as well.

[Bibbyman]

I fixed that problem years ago with my 4 powered back stop mod - now standard on the LT40 Super and available on the LT40 Standard HD.  Also available as a retrofit kit.

Now all they have to do at WM is figure out how to do it on the new LT50.  Most likely needed on the LT70 as well.

When I was down at Mt. Vernon last weekend I looked  hard at the way the LT70 pushes the back supports up and down.  As you may know from my other post asking questions about the LT70, we’re considering upgrading.  But haveing only two power back supports is a big show stopper.

Converting the two middle manual back supports to link in to the power one is more complicated than on the LT40. The linkage is quite a bit different and the pivot points are not common with the two manual supports.  It'd take some head scrachin'  to get the linkage and levers right to get power to the middle two supports.   I think it's worth a try but it’d take a lot of prototyping and it’d help to have a CAD system to work it out “on paper” first.

[Dave Shepard]

Bibbyman, just remember to send the research and development bill to WM.


Dave

[Nate Surveyor]

Did you know that the history of marriage licenses goes back to mixed marriages? Colored, or whatever. The church would not sanction the marriage, so the state did. It actually forms a 3 way contract with you, wife, and the state as the 3rd party. This allows the state to adjudicate in case of a disolution of license, ie, divorce!

Soo...

you may need a license to do this!



( I'm jes hackin on ya!) Not the miscegination history, but your miser and baker wedding!

Nate

[Mr Mom]

     I might have read over the answer but why a Baker and not Wood-Mizer??
     I dont want to make anyone madits just a question..


     Thanks Alot Mr Mom

[Bibbyman]

     I might have read over the answer but why a Baker and not Wood-Mizer??
     I dont want to make anyone madits just a question..


     Thanks Alot Mr Mom

Ah-ha!  I was wondering when someone was going to ask that question!

Wood-Mizer has two decks 12’ and 20’ long that will “plug and play” with an LT40 Super, LT70 or LT300.

 

CustomSawyer's Wood-Mizer deck.


We looked long and hard at the Wood-Mizer deck.  We checked with a number of Wood-Mizer owners with decks and they were happy with them.  All were LT300 or LT70 owners.  It’s the easy way for Wood-Mizer owners.

One main problem we had with it was that it is a two strand deck about 72” apart.  It also has two loading arms about 60” apart.  We saw so many short logs we felt it would be a problem keeping them from falling through the deck or off the loading arms.

 

The Baker deck has three strands basically 4’ on center.  It also has 4 loading arms.  Thus,  in theory – as we’ve not tried it yet,  we should be able to load 5’- 7’ logs on two strands and not have to worry about them falling through.

This was not a “standard” deck for Baker.  It is built special for the 30” deck height and they included the splitter valves so it could be operated with one valve (the log loading arms) on the Wood-Mizer.

[footer]

Hey Bibby,
Are the log loader arms on the WM still usable, or are they disconnected?

[Bibbyman]

Hey Bibby,
Are the log loader arms on the WM still usable, or are they disconnected?

 

We took the loading arms off the mill maybe three years ago and went back to a "dead deck" system.

[Gustavo]

    congratulations .... dont be afraid with the colour     never more backpain

im  have mixed colors too   lt40   resaw ax baker,  and another   home made equipments

dalton  was rigth

[footer]

Hey Bibby,
Are the log loader arms on the WM still usable, or are they disconnected?

 (Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

We took the loading arms off the mill maybe three years ago and went back to a "dead deck" system.

So how do you get the log against the back stops? Do you use the clamp? Or do you roll them by hand? 

[Bibbyman]

Hey Bibby,
Are the log loader arms on the WM still usable, or are they disconnected?

 (Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

We took the loading arms off the mill maybe three years ago and went back to a "dead deck" system.

So how do you get the log against the back stops? Do you use the clamp? Or do you roll them by hand? 

 

We just rolled them with a handy, dandy LogRite cant hook. 

See.... We saw a lot of short logs.  The loading arms don't work real well with short logs.  Even if they're long enough to load by the loading arms,  it's a chore to get them centered and on the arms to load.  The two steel tubes of the "dead deck" we had floated left and right. So if we had long logs we could spread them out.  If we had short logs we could put them close together.  We found it was less work to just roll the log onto the deck than to roll the logs onto the loading arms.

 

Then too,  we sometimes saw ERC that are pretty small and light.  We can mound a bunch up on the dead deck and then when it's time to saw the next one,  just flip in onto the mill by hand - most of the time.  We'd use the cant hook on the bigger ones.  Here we're squaring out 6x6s for a customer.  Note the squared out ones going down the line. Also note the 36" LogRite Mill Special on the ground under the two logs on the dead deck.

 

We used the Terex to load the deck and to catch the RR ties or larger timbers as they roll off the outfeed line.

 

It sure would be nice to have an outfeed system for the lumber.  Right now that's Mary.

[footer]

 

It sure would be nice to have an outfeed system for the lumber.  Right now that's Mary.

Thanks Bibby!

Thats the main reason I would want to go to an LT70, although for me the 2 back stops are a killer as well. I also cut a lot of short stuff.