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Adding Hydraulics to EZ Boardwalk 40

Started by etroup10, March 30, 2015, 08:13:36 PM

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etroup10

I decided it was time to start planning the hydraulics I want to add for my new EZ Boardwalk 40. I have some ideas but I thought it would be a great idea to ask on here and see what others think. I want to make a two plane clamp, a claw turner(with a spring rather than two cylinders) and roller toe boards. I'm plan on making the backstops operated with a manual lever. I would like to have the turner and clamp bolt into the mill so I can remove them if I ever need or want to. I'm planning on have quick connects for each hydraulic function. If the hydraulic system has the power, I'm thinking I could use one of the toe board valves to run a hydraulic log deck?

For the hydraulic unit I just purchased a non working pressure washer with a 5hp Honda for $75 from my boss!(the motor still runs great) I'm planning on running a 5gpm pump. One of the things I don't know is what size lines I should be using to run from the pump to the valves and from the valves to the hydraulic cylinders. I also was wondering what type of valves I should be looking for? I know I will need a 5 or 6 spool valve, and I'm hoping to find a used one.

Once things start coming together I'm hoping to put up pictures to update my progress. I think the first function I want to complete is the two plane clamp, followed by the roller toe boards. If the two plane clamp is sufficient for turning logs, I may not build the claw turner. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Eric
NHLA 187th class, lumber inspector. EZ Boardwalk 40 with homemade hydraulics; Gafner Hydraloader; custom built edger, Massey Ferguson 50E, American Sawmill 20" Pony Planer; Husqvarna 55 Rancher

Dave Shepard

hackberry jake has done some extensive hydraulic mods to an EZ.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

pineywoods

click here for an extensive post on add on hydraulics for most any manual mill. All bolt on, no welding to mill. 2 plane function clamp and claw turner, all combined. Several running on Boardwalk, lt15, lt28, lt40, and others. There's full drawings with dimensions in a pdf file attached to one of the posts. Original is on my manual lt40, in daily use, I'm quite happy with it.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,39860.0.html
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

bandmiller2

Eric, I hope your just planning to use the pressure washer engine and not the high pressure piston pump to run your hydraulics. Unless you know someone that has used a piston washer pump I would be leary, don't think the more vicous oil would work well. For what your doing 3/8  hyd. lines would work well. Wile your at it Eric why not power feed. They sell stackable hyd. spool valves add as many as you need. If your short a valve you can put a diverter valve for a function uses intermittently. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

york

Albert

etroup10

Thanks Piney, I've read that topic many times! Thanks for sharing how you did it!!

Thanks Frank!, I'm planning on buying a new hydraulic pump from surplus supply. I've thought about adding hyd feed, but if I do that wouldn't I also have to add electric up and down for the saw head? I'm not sure I could pull off the up/down. And I like how quickly I can lower the head on my mill by releasing the break. Maybe I will do it in the future. I will have to ask hackberryjake how he likes his setworks.

For the surplus supply stackable valves I have no idea what options to select for the valves. I found prince valves for $430 for 5 spool and $540 for 6 spool. They are only 8 gpm but should be fine. And they seem like a good price.
NHLA 187th class, lumber inspector. EZ Boardwalk 40 with homemade hydraulics; Gafner Hydraloader; custom built edger, Massey Ferguson 50E, American Sawmill 20" Pony Planer; Husqvarna 55 Rancher

pineywoods

I am a firm believer in the stackable valves. Unless you know some reason to do different, specify the open center valve with spring return and power beyond option..That makes for a simple system that is easy to expand. I have built three mill hydraulic systems and a logging tractor hydraulics with stuff from surplus center.  Never a complaint, good folks.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

etroup10

You certainly know more than I do Piney, you've done it a couple times! I gave the stackable valves another look, I guess I was just trying to save a little. I think I might just pay a little more so I can expand if I ever need to!

Thanks, Eric
NHLA 187th class, lumber inspector. EZ Boardwalk 40 with homemade hydraulics; Gafner Hydraloader; custom built edger, Massey Ferguson 50E, American Sawmill 20" Pony Planer; Husqvarna 55 Rancher

bandmiller2

Eric, the big problem adding hydraulics to a mill is getting hoses from the carriage to the base. You are just going to have hyd. for the base much easier. Hydraulic power feed is a real work saver and with a needle valve adjustable. You can mount the hydraulic motor on the base, rail section, of the mill think of the old close line setup. If your head adjustment works well why change it, simple is good. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Rougespear

I plan to hang hoses on a cable to the head to get hyd out to the saw carriage.  I think 5 gpm might be a little much for 5hp.  I'd shoot for more around 3gpm.  Also, on here somewhere Bibbyman detailed his new hyd setup (7.5hp electric motor running a 6 gpm pump).  While he said the actuator speed was very quick, there was a subtle hint that it was too quick (ie: throwing logs over the backstops).  From all I've read, slower is better with a mill.

I also plan to do pineywoods' claw turner... can't go wrong with two functions in one and his design seems very workable.  Re: stackable valves - they are nice and modular no doubt.  I went with two monoblock Prince setups of 4 spools each personally.
Custom built Cook's-style hydraulic bandmill.

pineywoods

There have been several variations of the basic design. One ff member ran a couple of hoses over to the aux hydraulic ports on his farm tractor. Said it worked well, but climbing up on the tractor to turn a log got to be too much trouble.  ;D Another ran the hydraulic pump off a scrounged vertical shaft lawn mower engine so he could go portable. I put a 12 gpm log splitter pump on one. That was too much pump...
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

hackberry jake

I would leave the setworks alone. I spent a lot of time and a little money building mine and now it is just abandoned in place. I would use the power feed and setworks all the time if i had an offbearer, but most of the time i am a one man show. As far as setworks, the factory system works great. I also went with stackable valves and like the versitility and rebuildability. I agree a 5gpm pump on a 5hp gas motor is a little too much pump. A 2 or 3 gpm would make the motor easier to start and allow you to use smaller diameter hyd cylinders as you will be able to produce more psi.
https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

jmouton

i dont know about  the ez board ,   but we put hyd  on our lt-25 and it was the best money we spent  in a long time ,,hyd are awesome


                                                                                                           jim
lt-40 wide ,,bobcat,sterling tandem flatbed log truck,10 ton trailer, stihl 075,041,029,066,and a 2017 f-350,oh and an edger

etroup10

Well I ordered everything I needed to build the hydraulic unit and my valves about a week and a half ago! They arrived this past Friday so I just put everything together quickly to make sure everything fits! Its looking pretty good and I got it together in maybe half an hour. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to mount everything and I'm good to go! After I get it all mounted I'll start working on making my two-plane clamp!

NHLA 187th class, lumber inspector. EZ Boardwalk 40 with homemade hydraulics; Gafner Hydraloader; custom built edger, Massey Ferguson 50E, American Sawmill 20" Pony Planer; Husqvarna 55 Rancher

Magicman

I even see some "sugarplums" in that picture.   :D   8)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

etroup10

Well it took me awhile, but I finally got to build a pineywoods turner. Its not completely done yet but I was finally able to hook it all up and give it a test. I made a few modifications compared to the pineywoods turner and I'm excited to get it on my mill!!

https://youtu.be/q3VacyPhQII
NHLA 187th class, lumber inspector. EZ Boardwalk 40 with homemade hydraulics; Gafner Hydraloader; custom built edger, Massey Ferguson 50E, American Sawmill 20" Pony Planer; Husqvarna 55 Rancher

DDobbs

EZ Boardwalk 40
Ez Boradwalk Jr.sold 11/7/2015
Stihl 650 Stihl 290

paul case

This is what mine looked like.

  

  

  

 

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

pineywoods

Looks good.  8) Use some good bolts to fasten it to the mill frame. What size is your pump ? The original is on my mizer lt40, still in daily use.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

hackberry jake

It looks like you may not be able to go low enough to clamp the bottom of smaller cants. I built mine so that it can go below the bed in the full range of motion. It is handy being able to get up under logs and cants. I may just be wrong since it isn't on the mill yet.
https://www.facebook.com/TripleTreeWoodworks

EZ Boardwalk Jr. With 20hp Honda, 25' of track, and homemade setworks. 32x18 sawshed. 24x40 insulated shop. 30hp kubota with fel. 1978 Massey ferguson 230.

york

It looks like he will cut to length the part the claw attaches to,after he get her on the mill....
Albert

pineywoods

Jake has it right. If you can't get the claw underneath a log or cant, you loose a lot of the functionality. There is a learning curve to using this thing, it's NOT a "pull this lever and the log/cant will roll over" design. I have no idea how many have been built since I posted the drawings. I know of only 2 failures. On one, the builder used carriage bolts to fasten the assembly to the mill frame. First big log popped the heads off the bolts. The other failed where the pivot pin goes through the claw arm. The operator got a big cypress log up on top of the backstops and let it roll off on the claw..Yes, you can roll a log over the top of the backstops..You can also roll a log off the other side of the mill..I need to make a video of some of the other tricks I've learned, like hands-off edgeing .
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

CaptainBob

Is there a recommended grade of bolts to use for this type of project,
(e.g. in changing broken lugs on my truck, i needed a Grade 8 to separate the hub & axle) ?

etroup10

Jake, you are correct, I'm having some clearance issues. I wanted to try to use the original clevis that came with the cylinder instead of drilling the hole. Right now, when the lift arms are all the way down, the claw arm cylinder is limited to 5". I think what I'm going to try is to find a 1" nut that fits the cylinder and try to make a single clevis. I am also going to extend that clevis a little further than the current clevis to allow me to clamp in closer. I was also throwing around the idea of making different attachments to the claw arm that would change the range I could clamp. For example, have one arm for clamping from 32" down to 2" and have another attachment for clamping larger stuff in the rare cases when I mill something larger than 32". And Pineywoods, if I remember correctly my pump is 4 g/min and it's all powered by a honda gc 190 engine.
NHLA 187th class, lumber inspector. EZ Boardwalk 40 with homemade hydraulics; Gafner Hydraloader; custom built edger, Massey Ferguson 50E, American Sawmill 20" Pony Planer; Husqvarna 55 Rancher

pineywoods

etroup you are finding out like I did, that just about every dimension is a compromise. Mine will only clamp down to 6 inches. I drilled an extra hole for the claw arm pivot, 3 inches closer, and fabed a removable pin. I never used it, so the plans don't show the extra hole. I keep a chunk of 4X4 under the mill and throw that between small stuff and the clamp. I figured the bolt through the cylinder rod would be a high wear point, but have found that to not be a problem. I use plain old grade 5 bolts everywhere. I tried a 9 gpm log splitter pump, too much, 3 or 4 gpm seems to be about right. Once in a while, I manage to stall mine, but my motor is a 1 hp electric driving an old worn out 3 gpm pump.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

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