950cc 45 hp car engine. suitable for bandmill

[fallenoak]

Ive got a 950cc ford fiesta popular just sat on my drive.

Cylinders
    L4
Displacement
    957 cm3
Power
    33 KW @ 5750 RPM
    45 HP @ 5750 RPM
    44 BHP @ 5750 RPM
Torque
    50 lb-ft @ 3700 RPM
    68 Nm @ 3700 RPM
Fuel System
    Carburetor
Fuel
    Petrol
CO2 Emissions
    155 g/km

it looks pretty small.

anyone used  small car engine on a bandmill? and have any advice?

i know id be running at well under peak rpm but its gotta be good for 20-25hp hasnt it?

[Ianab]

Issue is rigging up a governor to keep it at a steady RPM, and hence band speed. If you just set the throttle it will wind out to redline with no load, then bog down once you start cutting.
There are various after market governors that can be adapted to the job. Industrial versions of various engines have something like that built in.

So yeah, there is some electromechanical engineering needed. Then you can set the engine to run at a sensible 3-4,000 rpm, making 20-30 hp, and it will drive a saw with the right gearing.

[ladylake]

I'd try and run it at 3700 rpm where peak torque is, should be putting out around 30hp there. They make belt drive governors or a cruise control off a car might work to keep the rpm steady.  A car engine might not last a long time ? plus I'd be concerned more than a little about side load on the crankshaft, might need a jack shaft setup.   Steve

[pineywoods]

Are you talking home-made mill or to replace motor on an existing mill? An aftermarket cruise control should work fine as a governor. Most older farm tractors had a belt driven governor that would be easy to adapt. If replacing an existing motor, weight will probably be a problem. I would definitely plan on some means to take care of the side load imposed by belt drive. The bearings might tolerate it, but the crankshaft probably won't.

[Swatson]

I am having to make a mod to my mill to deal with side load from a belt tensioner clutch.  I think the best thing for my situation is going to be to run roller chain from the motor to a second shaft in pillow blocks then run my belt tensioner system from there.  Its a diesel so rpm are low enough a chain should do fine.

[BCsaw]

I new of a guy who installed an inline 6cyl. Chev on his circular mill. He made and used a pneumatic governor. He ensured that the fan shroud was channelled as tight as possible. It operated on the air flow from the engine fan. As engine rpm dropped as he started sawing, the air flow would drop as well. The governor would automatically request more fuel. It was quite sensitive and took a while to get it to an acceptable level of performance.

[backwoods sawyer]

I am looking at doing the same thing with the Cooks mill, replacing a 62 hp purkins with a 1800cc 4 cylindar car motor, jack shaft and cruise control. Preffer a deisle but will use a gas motor if I can't locate a good one.

Biggest issue is shifting the motor forward to make the extra room for a short jack shaft will take adding an extra bump out in the frame shifting the center of gravity 6" forward as well.

[Joe Hillmann]

I think it should work just fine.  There are factory made sawmills with as small as 7 hp engines so yours should have plenty of power at any rpm.  If the car has cruise control that would work for a governer.  You could use the entire drive train of the car to build your mill.  That way you have the clutch already made.

[fallenoak]

i wont lie im not great with engines and stuff, not bad a bodging mechanical type parts and fabrication so this may be a really stupid question.

with the car engine being carburetted can i not just have some sort of motorcyle twist rev, or quad thumb rev or even just a brake lever attached to the carb with cabling. and then limit the ammount of travel so as to aquire the required revs at full throtle?


im guessing no....but i dont know why?


Sam

[fallenoak]

i can rig up some kind of jack shaft easy enough

its just the engine rpm liliting thats really stopping me from pursuing this as an option

[ladylake]

i wont lie im not great with engines and stuff, not bad a bodging mechanical type parts and fabrication so this may be a really stupid question.

with the car engine being carburetted can i not just have some sort of motorcyle twist rev, or quad thumb rev or even just a brake lever attached to the carb with cabling. and then limit the ammount of travel so as to aquire the required revs at full throtle?


im guessing no....but i dont know why?


Sam

No you cant as the carb will have to be opened up more when you start cutting.   Steve

[Ga Mtn Man]

No, that device just limits the max RPM's.  You need some type of governor.  Look for an after-market cruise control kit.  Here's one:

http://www.carparts.com/details/Rostra/Steering_Wheel_Cruise_Control_Kit/ROS2501775.html

[Hilltop366]

Fallenoak perhaps your thinking of a rev limiter governor to protect it from over revving, but what you need is a governor that keeps the engine at a constant speed like a lawnmower where you set the engine speed by setting the governor which is attached to the throttle linkage, as the load increases on the engine the governor mechanism will increase the throttle to keep the engine at the set speed.

[fallenoak]

right got it

something like this?

 


one more question about the car engine could i not just limit the throttle enough to prevent overspeed and then just control it on the throttle to maintain a fairly good cutting speed? "using the force" if you will

[Ianab]

Problem is getting the band speed reliable and steady.

Having the engine running @3,000 rpm with no load will only need about 5 or 10% throttle. Then when you are cutting you will need to give it more gas to keep the revs up. 30%? 60%? Power needed will vary from log to log, and even within a log as you hit knots etc. And if the speed wanders, so will the band in the cut.

Now I guess you could fudge it and adjust the feed speed and throttle manually, but that's going to get old fast, and result in some miss-cuts for sure.  Some sort of governor or cruise control is really needed. Looking at ~100 year old steam engines that powered mills, they all have a little centrifugal governor on them some place to keep the revs steady.

[DaleK]

My Amish friend has a band mill he runs with a 45 hp Subaru diesel he got out of a car.