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Carriage wheels

Started by bandmiller2, July 17, 2015, 08:08:05 AM

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bandmiller2

It pleases me no end to see so much interest in older circular mills, I hope this post will lead into more information on practical rebuilds. Any endplay in carriage wheels cannot be tolerated its like poison to the saw and mill. Usually one wheel is the guide wheel the other flat and only support for the other side of the carriage. The guide wheel can be ether on the saw side or the backside both will work. Most old mills the wheels will be worn, if they all wear togather and theirs no endplay well and good, usually theirs play. The old timers used babbit for bearings because it was all they had. The best are tapered roller bearings, pillow block bearings on the axle come in second. Heavy mills use mine rail for track(that looks like mini train track) with  grooved guide wheels that straddle it but don't bottom out on it. When this system is worn it should be remachined or the parts replaced, this may not be affordable for the small time sawyer. My current carriage uses this system, lucky for me I had a metal lathe large enough to remachine the wheels. Many old mills had wheels solid on the axle both ends, not good as they don't wear the same and their has to be slippage, one should be fast to the shaft and the other free to turn. My current carriage has two pillow block bearings under each axle guide wheel fast and flat wheel with a bronze bushing and grease zerk to compensate. I have made wheels from body builder weights (run fast if they catch you taking them) but you will need a lathe. My first mill had castor Vee wheels rideing atop inverted heavy wall angle iron just dandy for a lighter duty mill. Will continue when I have time please feel free to add or correct me. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Ron Wenrich

We use to replace our wheels about every couple of years.  We found our flat side would mushroom out and the guide side would become grooved.  How you mount your logs on the carriage will also point to the ones with the most wear.  I designed the carriage around having most of the mounting on the center of the carriage.  It improved efficiency.  But, the old hand mills would generally be loaded on the front of the carriage.  Since they took all the weight, they generally wore out the quickest.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SPD748

I'm glad I read this post. Though I'm not currently experiencing any issues, I think I'll go check the preload on my carriage wheel bearings just to make sure.

-lee
Frick 0 Handset - A continuing project dedicated to my Dad.

410 Deere, 240 Massey... I really need a rough terrain forklift :)

Sawing Since 1-19-2013 @ 3:30 pm
Serving Since 2002
"Some police officers give tickets, some gave all."

loggah

Back in March a big sawmill burned over in Ely Vermont,It employed around 60 people and i believe it is going to be rebuilt. The building was 50' x 250' and must have been absolutely full of machinery, because we had over 150 tons of twisted scrap metal come into the junkyard!!! That stuff cut unbelievably hard,i believe the water from the fire departments basically tempered the hot steel.the frame work the carriage rode on ,had a flat on the back and 2" hexagon on the front rail that the flanged carriage wheels rode on,that stuff was almost imposable to shear.I really hated shearing up that mill, but someone was going to do it, i really hope they rebuild. Don
Interests: Lombard Log Haulers,Tucker Sno-Cats, Circular Sawmills, Shingle Mills, Maple Syrup Making, Early Construction Equipment, Logging Memorabilia, and Antique Firearms

bandmiller2

My first mill I built the carriage and used castor Vee wheels for a guide. The castors had a long straight roller bearings, I put a large washer both sides and two thin nuts so I could adjust the play and lock it. Mechanical log turners are hard on wheels and track, I have always used flip up triangular log turners so theirs little shock on the carriage and mill foundation. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

ddcuning

My axle/carriage wheel issue was puzzling. When we ran the carriage back and forth with no log it ran fairly straight. With a log it moved side to side but not enough that the eye could tell. The saw sure knew it though. Even without the weight of the carriage you could not grab the wheel and push it towards or pull it away from the carriage frame. But turn it, and it would move towards and away from the carriage frame depending on the direction it was rotated. This was due, I believe, to a slight worn taper in the axle that was worn there by the bearings. New axles, wheels and new bearings did the trick.

Dave C
We're debt free!!! - Dave C, Nov 2015

SPD748

I checked my wheels last night. A few were a little loose however, since I wasn't experiencing any issues, I suppose they weren't too loose. The bearings appeared to have plenty of grease so I tightened them all down with a little pre-load. That's one less thing to worry about I suppose  8)

-lee
Frick 0 Handset - A continuing project dedicated to my Dad.

410 Deere, 240 Massey... I really need a rough terrain forklift :)

Sawing Since 1-19-2013 @ 3:30 pm
Serving Since 2002
"Some police officers give tickets, some gave all."

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