Feed power?

[Satamax]

Hi everybody.

Well, i was wondering. How much power does the chariot feed need, to cut let's say 65fpm.

That would be the top speed i think.

The saw, vertical bandmill. 4 inch wide blades 23ft chariot. Actualy fed by a friction wheel.

I have two or three motors available. One 3kw, 3000rpm. One 4kw, 1420rpm, one 5kw 1420rpm.

Frequency inverters for 4kw and 5kw. Otherwise, i have two other motors, 7.5kw 2790rpm and 11kw 1420rpm. Tho, i don't have inverters for thoses. I'mm have to find proper gears to fit behind any of thoses.

Thanks a lot.

Max.

[drobertson]

Howdy Max, not sure, you have lots of numbers there, at least for a pea brain like mine, I'm thinking not as much as it takes for the blade for sure, my mill uses a 3/4hp dc motor to run a 1-1/4 blade, I would have to guess that the band speed and tooth geometry would play a factor in there somewhere,  hope all works out for you,  david

[Satamax]

Thanks a lot David.

3/4hp, that's about 550w.

What is the max feed speed on your machine?  Any idea on the weight of the head? Blade size will come into play too. But i think head weight will too. And may be more than anything else.

[Satamax]

Well, checked what they do on industrial sawmills over here.

There's everything, from 20hp, to 100hp. That sounds high!

[Ron Wenrich]

Not if you're pulling a carriage and log back and forth.  What David is pulling is a small band mill head.  What I think you're talking about is a full sized carriage.  What kind of weight are you talking about? 

[Satamax]

Not if you're pulling a carriage and log back and forth.  What David is pulling is a small band mill head.  What I think you're talking about is a full sized carriage.  What kind of weight are you talking about?

Hi Ron.

Well, i will be moving the saw head.

But along thoses lines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwxDlcYs9FQ

My saw head will be lighter than the one pictured above tho.



Don't know how much it might weight.

[Magicman]

Interesting to say the least.   :P

[Ron Wenrich]

The set up is very similar to a Sanborn Min-Max mill.  Highly productive mill.  You might want to look up other slant sawmill.  What size band are you planning on using?  Are you planning on using the angled carriage? 

If I'm building that setup, I'd look to power a lot of stuff with hydraulics, and that includes the feedworks.  You can use a centrally located hydraulic unit, and you can use it to move your headblocks, dogs, log decks, turners, conveyors and the feedworks.  Most big carriages use a hydraulic unit to run them here in the States.

You may even be able to get away with a hydraulic motor on the cutting head.  We have used hydraulic motors to run debarker heads and even our edger.  On our mill, we were running a 75 hp motor to run our pumps, and we were running a 75 gal/min and a 48 gal/min pumps on that.  We also had a 250 gal tank, and had to run coolers in the summer months.  Our mill was run with a separate motor.  This is a bigger operation than what you're looking at. 

The 65 fpm feed rate may be too slow.  I would opt to have a faster potential speed and control it with my feed lever.  Nothing worse than not being able to go fast enough due to design limitations.  You can always go slower.

[Satamax]

Hi guys.
Ron, Well!

I work fr a chairlift company in the winter, which opens some oportunities for scavenging huge parts, like electrical and secondary (or safety) diesel motors.

The plan is top have a sawmill, able to "produce" properly but the cheapest  possible. Actualy, the saw head i've shown, the guys sells me the whole outfit for 500 euros. And i've delayed far too much.

I'm trying to set up a mill as cheap as possible. As it is the best way. Go cheap, and ypou can't lose much. Well, that's where i'm standing now. Waiting for a friend to ome down with me to see if he can get to the mill shed with his boom crane truck, so we can get everything out.