fairbank-morse

egel · June 07, 2007, 11:34:09 PM

Last year I rebuilt a fisher davis saw mill for our historical society.We had the mill up and running for our spring show,with advice from you guys.We tryed our steam engine but not the r.p.m. we need,the tractors were under powered. We have an old fairbanks-mores engine that came off of pump down on the leave.We were thinking of trying to get it running.Do you know of a web site that could help?
EGEL

Chris Burchfield · June 08, 2007, 07:25:54 AM

You might start with Yesterday's Tractors Web site. They have a good member base. Try this link: http://www.ytmag.com/station/messages/archive6.htm on your address bar.

Fla._Deadheader · June 08, 2007, 09:50:11 AM

There's several guys right here that could help. 8)

Tremel · June 08, 2007, 01:38:49 PM

Egel,

I'm a collector of hit and miss engines and run an American mill at home. However, I wouldn't bother to run my mill on any of my hit-and-miss engines. I use an old White truck engine. The hit and miss engines can't keep up a constant speed under load.

What size and model is your Fairbanks? I have a 15HP Z in my shop.

Older Mills have babbitt bearings are built to run at slower speeds that Steam and early gas engines produce. My mill is set to 450 RPM and I wouldn't dare run it any fasters. A steamer of around 15HP should hold the mill well if you're cutting light stuff. Our club mill uses a 50HP Peerless single action steam.

If you do choose to use an old single cylinder gas engine, I would recomend no less than 20HP and either a throttle governer or 2 cycle. Some older mills in my area where powered by old Oilfield engines. These engines run at 180RPM. Note that the clutch pulley on the engine was 2 1/2 times the size of the mill pulley, brining your speed to around 400RPM.

Shoot me a personal message and we can disscuss offline.

--Bill

Fla._Deadheader · June 08, 2007, 02:18:15 PM

Why go offline ??? ??? There are folks here that like to read about the old way of doing things, AND Old Iron that is being used today ???

WH_Conley · June 08, 2007, 03:22:05 PM

Like Harold said, keep it here, the ones that know about this stuff can teach the rest of us.

Tremel · June 08, 2007, 04:17:27 PM

All of us antique engine guys hang out here: www.smokstak.com
I just did a search and everyone that talked about sawmills run off of steam or tractor power.

My wife is from Maine and we travel to New England often. I saw a mill in northern NH that still had an old 20HP hit and miss engine on it. The engine was modified a bit with electronic ignition, yet it was still being used to drive a 48" blade. Again, the trick is to have a drive pulley 2 1/2 times larger than the saw pulley. This will assure the right RPM. The problem is locating a large clutched drive pulley. They are hard to find and if you do find one, they are not cheap.

Most stick with steam. No need for a clutch and usually much smoother.

egel · June 08, 2007, 11:29:40 PM

OK! If you guys want to help me with this project here goes. The fairbanks_morse that we have is a vertical two cylender the pistons look to be about 10or12 In. the flywheel is about 5 feet the engine stands 8 ft tall.The only tag that I have foound.Burgess_manning co. Catalog #x-b334,coding pe 260. Any help identafing this would be good.
Thanks EGEL

Tremel · June 09, 2007, 06:44:29 AM

Ahhh, you have a mill engine. Very common in mills and power plants. Now the question is, what model. Is your engine gas or diesel? Can you post a picture? At least with a picture, I can tell you what you have.

These engines run real smooth. Each cylinder is typically rated around 50HP. So, if you have a 2 cylinder, that's 100HP. Our club has a 3 cylinder 32-E. You can download a manuel at www.oldengine.org/docs/FM_32E_OM.pdf

NOw the question of power transfer. Do you have a clutch on the engine?

sawguy21 · June 09, 2007, 09:28:47 AM

I enjoy watching and listening to the hit and miss engines but I wonder what the reasoning was behind them. Like Tremel said, the speed is not steady under load.

Chris Burchfield · June 09, 2007, 10:05:03 AM

I have my Grand Dad's FM model Z 7HP @350 RPM that I restored. Poured split babbit bearings, brazed the busted head, had a head shop install refabricated valves and new cast iron valve guides. Ordered a fuel tank that went under the mounting shell. Start's off on gasoline, when the head is hot you switch over to the tank for kerosine. Has a magneto, suction intake valve and cammed exhaust valve with an open crankcase and an open water jacket for the cylinder. First time I got her running, I was so happy, the only thing it didn't have was a train whisle to blow. :D

Dave Shepard · June 09, 2007, 10:25:55 AM

The only FB experience I have is with the FD38's at the ski area I used to work at, 10 cylinder, 20 piston, twin opposed crankshft. 1600HP, 1200KW. I never got to see them run, but they sure are neat. I read through some of the manuals for these monsters,and it seemed like a task just to get them running.

Sawguy21 , the reasoning was, that was all they had in the infancy of ICEs. A friend of mine is into these single cylinder engines and has a number of them from different points in the evolution, from early ignitor hit and miss engines to throttle governed magneto engines. He has 15 and 20 HP Famous engines, and may set one of them up on a sawmill.

At one time there were several sawmills run by IHC 15 HP Famous engines in my area. There was one on my farm and my neighbors, as well as one a few miles down the road. This last one was in a barn that burned down. It ran all through the fire, just chugging away.

Dave

egel · June 09, 2007, 05:03:05 PM

TREMEL,Wedo have a cluch.I also know that the engine startes by air.Where on the engine do i look for the model # ?How do I tell if it is gas or diesel? All I know is this big engine is seting out side of one of our building,we need an engine to run our mill, and itlooks like it would be a neat think to get going.
egel

JV · June 09, 2007, 05:44:13 PM

egel

The Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Assn. at Portland, Ind. has a 100 HP FM. It starts

on air after the heads have been prewarmed with propane burners built into the heads.

There are photos on their website in the 2002 photo archive. I have seen this engine in

operation several times. Quite impressive.

Dave Shepard · June 09, 2007, 06:19:06 PM

The show I used to go to has an Ingersol Rand 110 HP single cylinder compressor. Requires a Farmall M or larger to start via belt.

Dave

Fla._Deadheader · June 09, 2007, 07:24:56 PM

Anybody here been to Kinsers, in Pa. ??? They have a couple that the flywheel is down in a pit. Exhaust pipe is 6" or so ???

That USED to be a good show, back in the last century ??? :

;D ;D