Frick Mill Identification

bandmiller2 · February 03, 2011, 07:39:58 AM

KTF where do you suppose they got the shape of the football?? Frank C.

bandmiller2 · February 03, 2011, 07:55:05 AM

Dave,looking at your pictures,I always liked to put a wood table over the husk.It keeps bark, slivers and pieces of slab from messing with the feed and its a dandy place to stack boards that need to be edged.Level should be a little below knee hight,with a hinged section on your side of the saw so if something gets between the saw and board you can just flip it up.On the two mills I've set up I always made up a bar of 2" pipe fastened to the left side of the husk up 2' to 3'the ellbow and pipe in front of you like an "L" on its side.Outher than keeping you from falling into the saw its a spiffy place to mount throttle and clip boards. Frank C.

ddcuning · February 03, 2011, 08:29:08 AM

Frank,
The saw has one, I just took it off getting it ready to move. The one it has is not hinged like I have used on two other mills I have sawed on. I plan to build a new one once the mill gets on site. By they way, I found the original manual that came with the mill in the shed. It is moth eaten on the front and rear but all of the inner pages are intact. It looks like the original mill may not have been a Frick, but it has the 4headblock Frick carriage. I haven't measured the headblock opening to see what size it is. I am headed there this weekend to work on the mill again and can check. Also, I can scan what is left of the cover of the manual and see if anyone can identify it.

Dave C

Woodbuzzer · February 16, 2011, 07:19:59 PM

Nice looking mill-Im jealous!!!Looks like a 00 to me.Have you got her moved yet?You cant beat them old Fricks-Buzz

ddcuning · February 18, 2011, 11:53:38 PM

I haven't moved it yet. Just found out that my samill shed has to meet residential code since I am less than 10 acres. Lovely, just means more cost and get nothing out of it. A pole barn has to meet residential code...who makes these rules. Looks like I am in for a few months before I can get the mill moved and start setting up.

Woodbuzzer · February 19, 2011, 12:59:23 PM

Uggggh,those *DanG codes >:( >:( >:(What are they going to say when you start setting up the mill?We need more rules and regulations .No wonder why this country is in such a mess-Buzz.

D._Frederick · February 19, 2011, 02:13:54 PM

ddcuning

For my 2 cents worth, with the amount of teeth you have in the blade that you show in your pictures, that 3-53 is going to be on the small size. It will not have enough torque to hold saw blade speed.

It would be a good power plant for an edger.

You would be much happier with a 4-71.

Woodbuzzer · February 20, 2011, 08:21:29 AM

Just what the fellow needs-more bad news that the power unit is to small. I do have to agree that the 353 will be to small.It will probably do ok on softwoods up to the 15'' range,but youll have to feed really slow on the big ones.Ihad a 471 that ran the main saw,edger,blower,and hydrolBuzzlic log turner.It did a good job most of the time,but there times when I wished that I had a 671.The 471 was pretty good on fuel too.We could saw about 4000'' on about 15-20 gallons.If I were you I would try running the mill with the 353,then get something bigger later on. 8 Buzz

ddcuning · February 20, 2011, 09:10:11 AM

I run a 4-71 on the mill I am using now and it saws fine. My uncle who is a diesel mechanic and sawyer has sawed with both 4-71 (2100rpm) and 3-53 (2800rpm) on his Frick OO and he said due to the higher rpm of the 3-53 you can get into the maximum toruqe range on the 3-53 better than the 4-71. Besides, the 3-53 was free in a trade so I can't complain. I am working on a project where they are throwing away a 6 cylinder Cummins HRC series 2100rpm engine with 160HP. If I keep the Cummins, I need to pull the 100kw generator head off of it and convert to a clutch and bell housing which is about $1000. I was thinking a straight across trade for a 3-53 with clutch set up for a sawmill was better than spending $1000 on conversion of the Cummins. Anyones thoughts?

Dave C

D._Frederick · February 20, 2011, 07:34:56 PM

dd.

If you put the correct set of pulleys on both the 3-53 and the 4-71 so that they are in there torque range, you are working a 159 in-cu. against 284 in-cu. The 4-71 wins hands down.

I would try and to find out how many hours the cummins has on it, then make a decision based on that. If the cummins has 2 or 4 K hours, I would go with it, if it has 10K hours forget it. I seen the 150 hp cummins running the small sawmills in the 1950 to 1970 time frame and they did a good job.

bandmiller2 · February 20, 2011, 08:16:53 PM

Dave,you could keep the Cummins as a generator and use a three phase electric motor to run the mill.For what you will pay for clutch and housing you can find a used motor.Set up the gen in its own small building and have a quiet mill to work around.Easy to run auxiliaries with motors,even run a line to the house if power fails. Frank C.

ddcuning · February 20, 2011, 08:50:43 PM

I had thought about going electric but the generator is 208/120 three phase and I am not so sure I want to mess with the cables, etc. I think if it were 480V it would be easier to get a motor for tunning the sawmill. The cummins only has 1600hrs on it and being a hospital generator, it was very well maintained and kept at running temp its entire life. The key point is that the cummins is already set up with a variable speed govenor so I don't have to change that out which would be another cost. I have been a little hesitant to give up a 160hp engine with only 1600hrs on it. Haven't made the swap yet and the swap is with my cousin so he will understand if I back out. He has the 3-53 that was sitting at his shop and has another with a bad cylinder that he was going to pull the clutch setup off of.

Dave C

D._Frederick · February 20, 2011, 11:25:21 PM

dd.

Check around the surplus sawmill supply outlets in your area and see what a 75 to 100 hp motor sells for. I see them in the $300 to $400 range.

The 208 3 phase would require heaver cables to carry the load, but is a lot safer to be around than 480 volt equipment.

If you plan on leaving the mill in one location, electric is not a bad way to go.

Woodbuzzer · February 21, 2011, 07:28:17 PM

The 353 has 101hp @2800rpm,and the 471has 160hp @2100rpm.If you ar looking to saw as a hobby the 353 will do ok,but if you are looking for full time production youll need something bigger.Just remember the rule of thumb- 3hp per saw tooth.Buzz

Don_Papenburg · February 22, 2011, 10:39:53 PM

The 3 53 can run faster than the 2800 . A little tuning and it will pull as well as the 4 71 stock.

ddcuning · February 23, 2011, 09:05:27 AM

After thinking it over, I am wondering if I should stay with the 160Hp Cummins. My uncle likes the 3-53 on his mill over the 4-71 but, he only saws pine for the most part. I on the other hand only saw oak for the most part. That being said, I think that the 160Hp Cummins would serve me better than the 100Hp 3-53. Anyones thoughts?

Dave C

Woodbuzzer · February 23, 2011, 08:10:34 PM

I think that the 160 cummins will be the way to go.When I sawed oak with the 471,it would make her work hard,and thats when I wished I had a 671.One other thing you could do is take some Oak logs over to your uncles mill and see how the 371performs. Just a thought :

Buzz

bandmiller2 · February 23, 2011, 09:11:13 PM

Oak is very much harder to cut than pine and very likely bring a 3-53 to its knees, the big Cummins is a better way to go. The 3-53 would require a very slow feed in hardwood.Frank C.