Horse powered sawmill

hackberry jake · October 29, 2012, 03:52:12 PM

I thought this was pretty neat.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTNtCWXccQ

Amelia Farms · October 29, 2012, 04:11:53 PM

Makes me look at those lazy hay burners out in my pasture in a whole new light :D

mad murdock · October 29, 2012, 04:21:42 PM

Thanks for posting H.J. That is a very cool video! I know that there were a lot of Mennonites and Amish in Bolivia, I didn't realize there were communities in Belize as well. Very cool!

Misfit · October 29, 2012, 04:24:00 PM

Very cool video! Thanks for posting it, HJ.

lyle niemi · October 29, 2012, 05:08:07 PM

That was just tooooooo coooooool!!!!! thanx!

levans · October 29, 2012, 05:24:52 PM

That was just cool as a moose!!!

POSTON WIDEHEAD · October 29, 2012, 05:33:35 PM

My mill came with ORANGES too. :D

Red Clay Hound · October 29, 2012, 05:39:07 PM

Cool! I did some consulting work in Belize several years ago. I recall their being quite a few Mennonites, especially in the northern part of the country. They are very industrious people. And very good farmers. If it weren't for the Mennonites, I don't think they would have had any dairy products in Belize!

grweldon · October 30, 2012, 08:39:08 AM

I'm not an alarmist...really! Take note of how it's done because there is coming a day when the power grid will be non-existant! Great video!

Magicman · October 30, 2012, 08:58:34 AM

Thanks for that video Jake. That was amazing and it really emphasizes how things were/could/should be. Everything working together. I liked the kid that was keeping the "slackers" going while looking up to the older guys and imagining where his place would eventually be.

Chuck White · October 30, 2012, 09:52:58 AM

Nice video, thanks for posting!

Leigh Family Farm · October 30, 2012, 12:12:22 PM

Would love to see the designs for that mill. Their gear box has to be phenomenal to get the necessary RPMs from what looks to be about 5 revolutions per minute on the power side. very cool video.

Solomon · October 30, 2012, 01:33:39 PM

Quote from: hackberry jake on October 29, 2012, 03:52:12 PM
I thought this was pretty neat.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTNtCWXccQ

That is really awsome, Thanks for posting that Hackberry.

Ianab · October 30, 2012, 02:31:06 PM

Cool

Interesting to work out how much power they actually have to run the mill. I think a horse can actually produce 3 or 4 hp pulling like that, so 8 horses, they actually have 18-24 hp available. Enough to run a band mill for sure.

Ian

steamsawyer · October 30, 2012, 03:35:04 PM

I love it. look at that pile of lumber. Thanks for posting this.

Of course you know... The youtube nut case that I am... I had to watch the other horse power videos like this one.

I don't need no horse....... I got steam.

Alan

POSTON WIDEHEAD · October 30, 2012, 03:58:49 PM

Quote from: steamsawyer on October 30, 2012, 03:35:04 PM
I love it. look at that pile of lumber. Thanks for posting this.

Of course you know... The youtube nut case that I am... I had to watch the other horse power videos like this one.

I don't need no horse....... I got steam.

Alan

If you got STEAM.....you got Horses. ;D

Charles135 · October 30, 2012, 04:01:52 PM

That is slicker than Stewed Okra, Sorry Okrafarmer, I had to go there.

hardtailjohn · October 30, 2012, 11:44:08 PM

Horsepowers are awesome! Someday.... :

I wonder how well it would work with a circle saw? I've seen them running threshers and stuff.
I almost bought an 8 horsepower a few years ago. I thought then that it'd be the next best thing to a small steam engine....and I do have the horses.......
One thing about that video... I didn't see one animal that couldn't stand some groceries in my opinion!
There was a good long thread over on Smokstak about horsepowers a while back, with quite a few pictures and videos as well. Interesting stuff!
John

Okrafarmer · October 31, 2012, 01:34:57 AM

Quote from: Charles135 on October 30, 2012, 04:01:52 PM
That is slicker than Stewed Okra, Sorry Okrafarmer, I had to go there.

That's ok. Say, do I know you? I should if I don't. You're practically across the street. Well, not too far away.

The key with those horse powered units is to keep your friction to a minimum, and eliminate unnecessary moving parts. The horses are putting a lot of leverage into the outer drive wheel, a lot of torque. You're right, what does it do from there? With all that torque, they should be able to wind up the drive shaft to at least ten times the RPM of the horse-wheel. Maybe more.

I don't know how the physics all work, but I do know that the same basic units have been used for over 100 years, especially to power threshers. I know a lot of parts in a thresher have to move fairly fast, so it must be the shear torque and leverage being exerted by the horses to be able to up-gear the drive-shaft. Just remember, you have between 4 and 8 tons of horseflesh there with a lot of leverage.

The gears and shafts have to be very strong to transfer that kind of torque and put it in over-drive.

hardtailjohn · October 31, 2012, 11:44:30 AM

Hopefully this will work, and is ok here. This is a thread over on Stak that I posted some pictures to, that show the gearing of a couple different "sweeps". It's certainly not that complex and not terribly "overly heavy".
NOTE FROM ADMIN:Links to offsite photos are not allowed. Please make use of your Forestry Forum gallery by uploading to the forum gallery and posting the photos here if you would like to share, as that way this topic retains its integrity, no matter what happens to the offsite photos. Thank you.
John

beenthere · October 31, 2012, 12:00:36 PM

hardtail
Post the pics with your comments here, so we don't have to chase to another forum. Thanks.

fuzzybear · October 31, 2012, 01:16:04 PM

Thank you hardtail, I was trying to visualize the way it worked and those photo's answered a whole lot of questions....but unfortunately They led to a whole new batch of questions. :D I wonder if something like this could be used with dogs?
I have seen tons of gearing that large on old junk equipment....time to do some scrounging.
FB

Okrafarmer · October 31, 2012, 10:34:15 PM

Quote from: fuzzybear on October 31, 2012, 01:16:04 PM
Thank you hardtail, I was trying to visualize the way it worked and those photo's answered a whole lot of questions....but unfortunately They led to a whole new batch of questions. :D I wonder if something like this could be used with dogs?

I don't know how many dogs it would take to run a sawmill, but I suppose the same idea could be adapted for use with dogs, at least to do smaller tasks. Grinding oatmeal or grits, for example, just hook them up, and say "MUSH!"

hardtailjohn · October 31, 2012, 11:00:52 PM

Quote from: beenthere on October 31, 2012, 12:00:36 PM
hardtail
Post the pics with your comments here, so we don't have to chase to another forum. Thanks.

Well sorry about that. I was trying to get some things done around here and just didn't have time to download them to here, then post them.... normally, I can just link from --Photos MUST be in the Forestry Forum gallery!!!!!--, but that doesn't work on this forum.... I just didn't have the time, but will try to do that always in the future.
John