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Trying to make sure i have the flat belts right on my circular sawmill.

Started by youngsawyer, May 01, 2012, 10:58:33 AM

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youngsawyer

So after a slow winter ive finally started working on my sawmill again... And this is what Ive come up with for how the belt system should work to enable the carriage to have both forward and reverse.  I really do not want to get slapped in the face by a belt because of bad intuition, or buying belts that are too tight of too loose.  Buying properly measured flat belts I think will be my next step in the rebuilding of this mill.

How does this look to yall? I assume that the forward motion belt should be just barely less then touching when the weighted handle sinks to reverse the carriage.  Do I have this about right? Or should it just barely be touching to keep a tiny amount of tension of the forward motion belt?  Its challenging, but also fun going about this rebuild, so thanks in advance for any information or suggestions given.

-Luke

  

 
Business owner of www.humanitreeservice.com . I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.  ~Thomas Jefferson

davey duck

looks right do you still need belts ,you can get 4" smooth rubber belting at TSC or Equipment dealers that sell round balers they have the lacing vice to put the belts together.I just put a new 91" belt on my edger and it cost about $35.00.
David G.Fleming

ALWOL

   It's almost right, but you need more wrap around the mandrel pulley for the feed belt. The gig belt is routed properly. See if you can route the feed belt like this:


 

  The length of the gig belt is fairly critical, as there is no idler to adjust, but the feed belts idler can be adjusted a little bit, by sliding it along the frame.

  It looks like 4" belt will be to wide for your pulleys. You may be able to cut down the 4" belt with a razor blade or a very good pair of shears. I have also had good luck with baler belting in many applications.

    Alan
There's a big difference between staying busy and making money.

bandmiller2

Luke,you have the classic Heacock drive,they take some head scratching and trial and error to get just right.The biggie is when your in the center neutral position that the carriage doesn't want to creep ether way.Your doing good with narrow test belts until you get the legnth just right.I like ruberized cotton belting as its not quite as "grabby" as leather,you want to be able to feather the feed and gigback.It will also be your carriage brake.You want the "johnson" bar to move the same distance from neutral to tighten the belt but still have travel left.Sorry I can't do better but its a cut and try deal. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

apm

Alwol has shown the right orientation for the belts. There is a balance point for the pulleys and counterweight. Where the pulleys gravitate to, naturally, with no belts installed will be your "neutral" position. You will want to find that position, then install your belts to both be slightly loose at that point. You want both belts to slip or be disengaged at the balance point.

Greg
Timberking 1600 now

dblair

mine are cotton belts and I have a spring that keeps the stick in the neutral position . see it at Appomattox Sawmill on youtube .
old Appomattox Iron Works circle mill.

youngsawyer

 Thanks a ton for the pictures and all the info, its starting to make alot more sense now.  So if I've got it right,  the simple gig belt is responsible for reversing the carriage and the mandrel belt ( that i need more wraps on) is responsible for the forward feed and the cutting...... I must have my cable drum wraps reversed then, because I have feed set up the exact opposite.   

One quick question that ive had able the cable drum is if there is a limit to the amount of wraps to put on it... ive got ten now create as straight at a line i could to the cable pulleys at each end of the tracks, but read in an old Frick manual  that four is the right number.
Business owner of www.humanitreeservice.com . I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.  ~Thomas Jefferson

ALWOL

   It is important that you change the cable direction, as the carriage will gig back about three times as fast as it feeds forward. In order to do this though, the cable will be winding/unwinding from the bottom of the drum. This may cause some cable-routing problems.
   All of my mills have 2 to 4 wraps of cable around the drum, but I don't think this is nearly as important as getting it operating in the proper direction.

     Alan
There's a big difference between staying busy and making money.

apm

The problem with 10 wraps on the drum is that the cable "walks" from side to side as you feed the carriage. 10 wraps is so wide that there will be a tendency to walk off the edge of the drum if you're not careful. Two to three wraps provides plenty of friction to feed the carriage. If it doesn't, there's other problems somewhere.

Greg
Timberking 1600 now

bandmiller2

As stated 2 or 3 wraps is enough the biggie is you don't want the cable climbing over the outher wraps. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

youngsawyer

Thanks again everyone, Im going to head out to the mill and do some more tweaking and measuring as soon as we get a a day when I will not have to monkey up another tree that needs to be removed.  Bring on the rain!
Business owner of www.humanitreeservice.com . I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.  ~Thomas Jefferson

captain_crunch

Makes me appericate my hyd drive not as fast on gig back but it will stay put in neutral and with hyd pump off tractor I can move my carrage without saw turning makes fine tuneing set works to blade. Also if you get hung up can fight carrage back without saw running 3 wraps should be plenty I have 4 and hyd dont slip so I have more power on drum and dont have a problem
M-14 Belsaw circle mill,HD-11 Log Loader,TD-14 Crawler,TD-9 Crawler and Ford 2910 Loader Tractor

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