homemade mill and autofeed

[fishfighter]

Even after reading your build, I saw that. Will do in the future. ;D

I did rerap the rope yesterday, it worked, but it crossed the rope under the motor and kind of put things a bind. I will order what KB has today. Mean time, I really  need to get my sawmill back in action. So, I'm going to do just set things up so I can get it back in action today.

[revid]

Hey Josh3760,I ordered this drum switch but its not spring loaded,the handle stays in one position till you turn it off or other way.I thought when I ordered the *DanG thing it said momentary!! Can you show me how to wire it,they included a picture but it shows nothing.Got to go looking again. Well an update on progress:took motor off autofeed cause I couldnt get a speed controller to work even though I did everything you guys suggested and told me.I still dont know whats going wrong. Moved motor up to my vertical travel,atleast thats working pretty good.Could be a bit faster buy it will do,just got to change steel nuts for bronze.trying to find some wheel chair motors,joystick,controller on ebay but not easy or cheap. This has been a lot harder than anticipated.

[fishfighter]

I did order those controllers. Just haven't installed them yet. Still using the joy stick.

[Josh3760]

If this is the pic u got it tells u everything. Ignore the line closest to the lever that goes straight through. Not used in this application. The other two red lines  one side is +/- from speed controller and on the other side +/- to motor.

[revid]

ok thanks Josh and I am assuming + from controller or battery goes across from one another on either side of switch? BTW do you think I should hook up a relay between controller and switch? The last controller didnt last a round so I am grasping at straws to understand what happened and to get this to work. I got a friend who is trying to get me to change to a hydraulic setup but I dont know anything about that. The only advantage is that i can get everything here. Although I see a few guys got that setup working good. Food for thought.

[Josh3760]

U will have to wire it up and see. If u wire it up + across from each other and u flip the switch and the motor goes the wrong direction u want it to then u just flip +/- on the motor side of the switch. I know a lot about hydraulics as I work on and run heavy equipment everyday. I chose not to do hydraulics on the caridge mainly for $ reasons. If u think buying a DC speed controler for $15 is bad go buy a hyd flow control valve any where from $400 to $800 plus motors, valve, pump, lines.

[revid]

lol I hear ya bud!! Thats what I told him that it would be way to expensive.I just got to figure out whats going on with my setup. Waiting for controller to come from china now. As I understand it as you slow down the motor theres more heat generated in the controller?? Is that right and if so how do I get around that. desperately need to get this wotking

[Kbeitz]

Try to gear your motor so that your speed setting is at 2/3rds full when your running
at your desired speed.

[never finished]

Ok I'm starting my auto feed build. Going to use both wheel chair motors, one on each side. I would like to use rope instead of cable or chain. Problem is I know nothing about rope. Size, stretch, or strength. Would appreciate any suggestions I can get. I like the thought of rope because I feel like it would be a little more forgiving in a bind, and I wouldn't have metal fray to deal with.

[fishfighter]

I'm using 1/2" elcheapo rope. :D I did have to retie it a couple times from stretching which was no big deal. Good thing about using rope, if it gets in a bind, the rope will slip. No need for limit switches. One wheelchair motor is more then enough.

[Kbeitz]

I use 1/8" cable with no problem. I only drive one side and one motor. One wrap around
the pulley. If I hit something that stops the carriage the cable will slip. Used about one year
so far and I have no frays. I put a turn buckle at one end and a large spring at the other
end of the cable. Everything works great. My rails are 32 feet long. I don't use cheap cable.

[never finished]

 I'm starting to lean a little more that way Kbeitz. After looking at the price of winching rope. Is there a term for the more flexible type cable. I'm using both motors for ease of wiring and looking ahead to adding a drag back. Some day I might get it finished. (na) I'll find something else to start before then. 

[Kbeitz]

The best standard cable is aircraft grade cable and is typically made up of  7 strands of 19 wires.
This is my setup. I still dont think that you need both motors.
You can read a lot about cables here.

http://towprofessional.com/article/winch-lines-the-heart-of-the-pull/





 



 

[revid]

I have chain but thinking I will change mine to cable also so if it gets stuck or hits something it will slip.Whats your sprocket teeth count on drive and driven sprockets?

[fishfighter]

After yesterday of sawing long logs, I started having problems with the rope binding up(over rapping) and slipping to where I had to give the mill a push. :( Now, I think I will redo mine to chain. This will also include me installing a speed controller and install the other motor to raise and lower the head. ;D Also, looking at installing two toe boards, one at each end. That will be ran by 12V wenches I already have or, find another wheel chair motor and use that to control both toe boards. ;D

Oh, did I say this is a build in progress? :D

[Kbeitz]

I have chain but thinking I will change mine to cable also so if it gets stuck or hits something it will slip.Whats your sprocket teeth count on drive and driven sprockets?

Tooth count doesent matter. Just go 1 to 3 ratio. Smaller gear on the motor.

[never finished]

 I'm going to try to use my wheel chair rims to wrap the cable on. Sort of direct drive. If I have power or speed, or speed problems I'll try to remedy with larger or smaller pulleys. 

[Kbeitz]

I'm going to try to use my wheel chair rims to wrap the cable on. Sort of direct drive. If I have power or speed, or speed problems I'll try to remedy with larger or smaller pulleys.

That sounds like a gteat idea...

[fishfighter]

Kbeitz, how did you make the tooth gear that mounts on the motor?

The only place around me that carries those gears is a Tractor supply store. Raining here today, so I am planning on a trip to see what they have on hand. Guess to just kill some time today. ;D

Oh, what size chain? Don't know anything about them, so school me. :D

[fishfighter]

Schooled myself on sprocket gears and chains. The web is a wonderful thing. ;D

Made my way over to Tractor Supply. Was going to pick up everything I needed to swap over to chain drive. They had everything but short one idle sprocket. :( They told me about a week. OK, no biggie.

So, I took one of the wheels/rims/hub apart. After mic the shaft of the drive motor, that is when I went to TC. Nothing to match. So, after a little grinding, I was able to fit the sprocket on the hub and then weld it.



 



 

Then spray paint it. ;D



 

Well, now the rain again has shut everything down. :(

[Kbeitz]

After years of maintaining textile factory's I have 100's of sprockets and pulleys.
I used number 35 chain on my motor. Thats the same as gocart chain.
If I don't have what I need my first stop is E-bay. There is 1000's there for sale.

[fishfighter]

I did go to ebay and checked things out. Price wise, I could of saved about $20 over all. I do try to support local stores when I can. Besides, one of my buddies owns this one. He does work with me on some things. ;D

[revid]

Kbeitz,got a couple of questions for you if you dont mind,why didnt you mound the pulley directly to the motor and wrap your cable around it? Do you ever get the cable lapping over itself on the pulley? I see by the pic above that your using a wheelchair motor and plugin,so your setup is motor,speed controller,switch and battery?? I orderd another one of those controllers to try again to get it to work but this time with a wheel chair motor and 24v

[Kbeitz]

Yep I used a controller for the carriage feed. Every tree likes a different speed and I
like to go wide open when returning the carriage. The reason I did not run the cable
off the motor shaft was that I needed to reduce the gearing 5 to 1 so I'm not straining
the motor. Both the carriage lift and carriage travel runs with the speed control around
the middle setting off the control boards. This also makes for less amp draw and it's
so much easier on everything. I don't have any problems with cable over lapping.



 

[Kbeitz]

With the gear reduction and less amp draw your control board
will last much longer.