On the Road Breakdowns

[Magicman]

I did have a minor breakdown on this past road trip sawing job and during some previous trips I have also encountered maintenance issues.  Not necessarily any more than while sawing locally, but with more potential to cause lost time and travel cost.

Having the sawmill in tip-top shape is always our goal, but "stuff" can still happen and our "comfort zone" can be compromised as the miles from home are extended.

Other sawyers may wish to add their maintenance issues, all of which could help someone else to avoid the same problems.

My problem this past Friday was with my LubeMizer.  Knowing that I would need lube Saturday sawing Pecan, I did a workaround to provide a lube drip and finished the job.  I replaced the timer this morning, so I am back up to full speed again.


 
The timer can be seen in the upper part of the control box.


 
Here the timer, which is simply an encapsulated block with terminals, has been removed.   This unit provides the 12 vdc pulse to the LubeMizer pump.

Other road trip sawmill maintenance items have included:


 
A seized bearing in the Debarker motor.


 
A bulge on the sidewall of a sawmill tire.


 
A seized bearing in a blade guide roller.


 
A blown blade tensioner seal.


 
S1 power feed solenoid.


 
Power feed shaft and bearings.


 
Hydraulic microswitch.

Some of the above have caused me to be more diligent with preventative maintenance items, as well as carrying spare replacement parts for for some of the more common items.

       

[hackberry jake]

Of all the above, I have blade guide bearings... Which reminds me, I need to order some more grease for my blade guides. Boardwalk recommended I use "corn head" grease in my blade guides because of the higher speed of these bearings. He sent me home with one tube of it but it is now empty. The last couple times I ran the mill I used normal mystic red grease (what the rest of the mi gets) and Ed warned me against this. Thanks for the reminder mm.

[Delawhere Jack]

Lube timers, "Super" hydraulics, more than one cant hook........... Must be good to be the King!  :D

I rely on my two Russian friends to control the lube flow. Dr. Lubon and Mr. Lubov. Dr. Lubon is quite reliable, but Mr. Lubov is often distracted and neglects his job........... :-\

[drobertson]

Lynn, I almost hate to respond for the simple fact that you seem to run in a perfect mode all the time. That being said, bearings do go out,  even when you cut only a million board feet.  So get those replaced and you are good to go for another Million!

[Magicman]

 :D  Yup,  the above are just things that have happened on road trips and not what I would consider "normal" and with the exception of the microswitch and blade guide, not items that I would carry spares for.  Even with proper maintenance, stuff still happens, but proper maintenance shortens the list.   ;D

[slider]

MM had a power feed motor act up on a road trip one time .Took it to a shop and they could not find anything wrong .It would work fine then just quit.The culprit was a bad brush spring ,over heated and lost tension.The brushes were fine.I keep brush kits for all the motors just in case.You can't have too many spar parts.  That is when you are way out yonder.

[logboy]

I dont have all the fancy electronics to go wrong on a Lucas, fortunately, but I still keep spare parts along. I keep a couple tool kits with spare bearings (track wheels), air filters, blade screws, metric nuts, etc. I also make sure to bring 1/2", 3/8", and 1/4" tool kits with, and a tool bag with screwdrivers, battery impact wrenches (1/2" and 1/4" driver), pliers, etc. Call it a habit of growing up in a mechanics shop, but I've never regretted taking them with. The one occasion I didnt bring them the carb plugged up with gunk from a rotten fuel line (it sat for two years when I was deployed) and I had to borrow tools to drop the bowl and clean it out.  I also bring a full electrical kit with for my International Lo Pro and trailer which love electrical problems, apparently.

[WDH]

One can be fraught with problems  .

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Just Another Day In The Life Of A Timberman  ;) :D You just gotta tie er up with wire n keep that show on the road though  ;) ;D ;D 8)

J.R Thats why I love My Lucas & Manual Sawmills there aint much to go wrong with them and if it dose it aint anything dramatic  ;) ;D 8)

Regards Chris

[Meadows Miller]

I think the sadest thing you can ever see is a Sawmill where they have just kept doing dodgy fixes w/o going back and sorting it out properly  Why Are People So Unkind  :( :-\ :'(  ;) :D :D

[bandmiller2]

Probibly a pre-flight inspection before roadtrips would be valuable along with a well stocked pantry.Sometimes spit just happens.Electric mutimeter and good tool kit a must. Frank C.

[Meadows Miller]

Yeah but Frank If you have a Manual Circular there aint much at all to go wrong in the electrical department hey Mate  ;)  ;D 8) Sorry fellas could not help myself  ;) :D :D :D

[Magicman]

Yup, with a 14 year old sawmill, there are just some things that have reached the end of their lifespan.  Within the past year I have done such things as rebuild the alternator, rebuild both hydraulic motors, and replace the carriage cam followers.  Proper maintenance and upkeep is mandatory, but stuff still happens.  It can/will be more costly when you are 100+ miles from home.   :-\

Chris, how portable are you with the Manual Circular  ???   ""Sorry, could not help myself  ;) :D :D ""

[Chuck White]

I was sawing on a small job close to home last week and had about 4-5 more cuts to make, when the feed wouldn't work anymore.

When I'd engage the feed drum switch, the sawhead would just rock back-and-forth without advancing!

I took the battery cover off to access the feed motor and found that the feed motor was so hot I couldn't do anything with it, without my gloves on.

After a while I got the motor off of the mill and went to the customers garage and took the motor apart and changed the brushes.  Luckily I had ordered a set from Wood-Mizer a few weeks ago.

Spare parts!  8)

[logboy]

How portable are we? I've carried my Lucas in the woods a quarter mile where heavy equipment couldnt go and carried the lumber back out. I'd say thats pretty portable.  ;D

[logboy]

All ribbing aside, here are a few things I bring with for the Lucas.


This one has a few spare parts, belts for both the slabber and the 827 mill, the siding cutting attachment, etc. The wedges are for slabbing, keeping a 4' wide slab from pinching the chain.


The Lucas kit, with more spare parts, the blade grinder, etc.


The floor of the International is a mess at the moment. When I get around to it I'm welding on a 48" under-truck box to put all my straps and tools in.  Here you see the grinder for the slabber chains (for those really bad days when I go through 8 chains), the tool bag, and one of the socket sets. Eventually I'm going to buy a 1,000 watt inverter so I can run the grinder right off the batteries on the International. The grinder is mounted to a piece of 2 x 10 so I can clamp it anywhere, be it the truck bed, the bench, or a pile of slabs.

[grweldon]

I'm not trying to be disrespectful by any means, but are all the wires shown in this pic typical of an LT40?  That's quite a bunch of wires!

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20011/2410/DSCN1075.JPG[/img]

[Magicman]

Why would several bundles of wiring behind a control panel be disrespectful ?? 

As far as "typical", each wire is there for a purpose, and yes there is quite a bundle.  Remember also, that I do have one of the bundles "unbundled" so that I can replace the worn S1 solenoid.  A couple of connectors are seen disconnected.   When replacing components, you are only concerned with the wires going to the defective component, not the entire wiring harness.   Just dress them back up when you finish.     

[grweldon]

Being that I have a no-frills mill... I don't have much wiring to contend with, but I do see machine tool control cabinets very often.  They have neat little plastic wire boxes that have slits all down the sides and removable tops.  The wires run in the boxes and out of the slits to wherever the component is mounted.  I thought the days of wire bundles secured with wire ties or wrapped with tape were over.  I'm not trying to slam anybody or any manufacturer, but I would have thought with all those wires, a better method of organizing them would have been warranted.

Of course all the niceties that I'm used to seeing come with a price tag and I'm sure wire ties are much cheaper than the wire channels I mentioned.  It seems that when dealing with sawmills, my expectations must be too high.  As you have probably seen me write before, there are a couple of things on my mill that could have been tenfold better without any additional cost if somebody would have put a bit more thought into design.  Sure, my mill cuts good lumber and I guess that is all I should be concerned about, but it could have been much more convenient to cut good lumber if the "little things" were given more attention.  I'll get off my soapbox now!

Thanks Lynn (and the others) for sharing.  You are always among the first to offer encouragement and a kind word.  There are a fine bunch of folks here and I appreciate reading of your experiences and offering your wisdom.

[JustinW_NZ]

Good topic.

No ones mentioned fluids?
I carry a 4liter container of ATF fluid for wiping rails etc and replacing my hydraulic's should I bust a hose and leak some.
WD40 for covering anything I can that looks like it moves, can undo or go rusty  :D
Some teflon spray for spaying on the guide arm and a grease gun for greasing up here and there.
Water for me

And much like others, a toolbox with a light probe/multimeter spanners etc.
Some spare bits of wire (cause when you need some u need it)
Chainsaw and gear (falling belt etc)

Im writing down Magicmans list of woodmizer parts so I can add them to my kit so thanks for that!

The most usefull tool I have found so far i think would have to be a second set of hands to hold or help with stuff!

Cheers
Justin

[Magicman]

Im writing down Magicmans list of woodmizer parts so I can add them to my kit so thanks for that!

I don't know that I would necessarily stock all of the parts that I showed above except maybe the microswitch and a blade guide bearing kit.  I was listing stuff that had failed while I was on the road.

[JustinW_NZ]

Im writing down Magicmans list of woodmizer parts so I can add them to my kit so thanks for that!

I don't know that I would necessarily stock all of the parts that I showed above except maybe the microswitch and a blade guide bearing kit.  I was listing stuff that had failed while I was on the road.

Its always good to have bits on hand in my view.
Not as easy to get them here always as well :(

Cheers
Justin