Hitting metal with a swingblade

[treebiker]

Have any of you swingmill owners ever been hurt from hitting metal in a log?
Thanks,
Treebiker

[Captain]

NOPE    That is what the blade guards are for.  I've heard teeth hitting the vertical guard...

Watch where a swingblades puts the sawdust...that's the same way schrapnel goes...away from the operator...

Captain

[Kirk_Allen]

Is that the case when doing a Double Cut?  If it is then wouldnt the operator be able to simply push or pull from the other side and be safe?

[Captain]

During a double cut, you stand on the normal or left side of the log, and the sawdust goes the other way.   If you go to the back of the mill, there is no opportunity to get to the controls and especially the emergency stop in the event of an emergency.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to wear chainsaw safety chaps, however, with the horizontal guard removed for the double cut.

Captain

[Ianab]

Not had anything happen from a metal hit, but I have had lumps of wood hurled around. Managed to stop one with my shin too, as I was standing on top of a big log and making the final vertical cut. Cut partway thru a knot and it broke off and launched. Like I said I managed to prevent it harmlessly flying off into the distance by using my leg.  >:( : Was wearing chaps and jeans though, so only a bruise. A few choice words were said though!

Ian

[Jeff Meyer]

Never had anything ever hit me other than wood.  I have hit lots of metal.  I have cut through 1/2" rebar and lots of nails.  I have found all my teeth before on the log after hitting something hard.  The weirdest thing I have ever heard of be hit with a mill is a sewning machine that grew into the crotch of a tree.

Jeff 

[jpgreen]

Jeff-  How's the weather out at your place?  It's snowin' like crazy here...  ;D

[getoverit]

When I hit the crossbar the other day while changing from horizontal to vertical, it just knicked the crossbar and removed ALL of the teeth on my 6 tooth blade. It happened to quickly that I almost didnt realize what had happened, but other than a couple of very small pieces of metal from the crossbar hitting me (more like parts of the galvanized coating), I didnt get hit by any flying teeth. The Peterson guard must have caught them all.

I'm no expert on the carbide teeth, but it appears that when you hit metal with the teeth, they simply explode into such small fragments that they cant even be found with the eye.

[TN_man]

getoverit,
That should not happen if your stops are correctly positioned.  You may want to check that before that happens again.

[getoverit]

I havent changed anything from the factory settings. When you change from vertical to horizontal, the blade actually goes a bit lower than  normal vertical cutting as it makes it's swing. It was during this time that the blade hit the crossbar.

[Troy]

Ken - Youv'e got the ten inch mill and that big blade gets you closer to the cross members than us with eight inch mills when swinging to the vertical position. 

[sigidi]

Ken I'm a bit surprised!! Let me get it right you where swingin the blade and it hit the crossbar? the crossbar which holds the end frames?

Very surprised if I've understood you right. THe guys who have put thess machines together are on the ball with all that kind of thing and i'm sure you'd find it in your manual about just how low the edge of blade travels in the swing (for me its in the region of 3" or 75mm) but it should be put together in such a way that this just can't happen.

I've hit a rock before when swinging the blade over and it wasn't pretty, but I'm more careful now, nothing foreign (excet the four batten screws I use on my log supports) is inside the reach of the sawblade once the engine is running, not even lying on the ground. THe only thing is the bottoms of my end frames and those 4 batten screws.

ANy chance you can post pics (no engine running! ;)) of how it happenend?

[getoverit]

ok, if ya want pictures, you will get pictures  ;D

The first one is a picture of the blade.... minus the teeth




next is a picture of the crossbar that I hit with the blade, and the slight damage it did to the crossbar



Here is a closeup of the blade in the middle of the swing between vertical and horizontal. Notice that it is touching the crossbar



and yes, I still had about 2" of room before I bottomed out on the bottoming bolts that are in each leg:




here is a view of the blade, resting on the crossbar, and still 2" above the bottoming bolts



I solved the whole problem by raising the log bunks another 4 " off of the ground by placing a 4x6 under them. Although you cant really tell how high they are for the sawdust, the logs are now a good 8" off of the ground when I mill them.



I hope that now everybody understands just exactly what happened, and how I solved the problem (except for having the blade retipped). I'll have the blade retipped sometime this week just in case I happen to ruin another blade on junk metal in a log.

[sigidi]

OUCH!!!

Hey Ken great pics  - pity about how you managed to get the pics. :(

Was this an 8" model you upgraded to a 10"?

Maybe Captain or one of the other Peterson fella's can shed some light???

Ken the good news is your blade will befine once it gets new teeth, I've replaced something like 12 sets of tips now >:(

[getoverit]

You cant convert a Peterson 8" mill to a 10" mill... the geometry is all wrong for that. This is a 10" mill from the start.  There are warning stickers to remind you not to do what I did, but I was distracted when it happened. I just pay closer attention to what I'm doing now.

[Nova]

Thanks GOI for the blow by blow pictures and your solution.  Although I will only be running an 8" blade this is one more thing that I (hopefully :-[) will not have to learn the hard way.

[Captain]

I've not run a 10" ATS...ever....only WPFs.  I'm always checking my swing clearances on any unfamiliar mill or on any unfamiliar ground.

Recently with the addition of metal skid in the WPF models, there have been stops placed to prevent you from getting low enough to the ground to impact the skids on a blade swing.  The stop is easily moved, and hte mill can be lowered, but hopefully that conscious effort will remind the operator to use extreme caution when swinging the blade.

I always recommend sawing at least 10" off the ground when you can,  keeps you above skid height easily.  I usually saw on an 8x8 bunk on top of a 2x8.  Using this method, logs, once in the notches in the bunk, are centered easier by sliding the bunk on the 2x8 INSTEAD OF the ground.

Swing on

Captain

[Ianab]

With my old style WPF that I usually set up Lo-Lo around the logs, and it's quite possible to hit the cross member with it when swinging the blade. I've not done it ..yet  :
I try and set up with the crossmember either right at the end of the rail or else tight in against the end of the log and just some wooden blocks under the end of the rail. Either way it gives you a clear space 2ft from the end of the log to swing in. If you clip the end of the log as you swing the blade, thats just embarassing, but nothing breaks.
The problem with stopping the mill from going right down to the crossmembers is that if you have a large log on the ground and have to have the mill blocked up a bit to adjust for slope then you end up with a bottom slab 12" thick.
Really it's something you just have to be aware of when cutting those last few boards, or make your bunks a bit taller if you are cutting smaller logs.

Cheers

Ian