Drag-back Flavors

[Rougespear]

I see two distinct type of drag-back arms: (1) a solid arm about 8" or so, and (2) multiple pieces of steel hanging down to form "fingers" that catch the blade.  I see WM, TK, and Baker all use the solid arm type, but Cooks uses the finger setup.  I think I've seen older TK's using the multiple finger style, but all the new ones utilize the solid type.  Are there reasons why one is better than the other.

[paul case]

I think it depends on what mill you look at. I know of WMlt70 and baker mills as well as TK that have fingers for drag back. I have a LT40SH that has the one arm and mine is not orange anymore as we have rewelded it a time or 2. The dragback kinda gets in the way of seeing the log real well to level it up and guess the first cuts. The single arm on our WM is fixed so you can raise it up when needed. I dont know of any of the finger type that do this.

I think the finger type is much more robust.

PC

[drobertson]

The fixed arm on the(most) 40's could be modified with fingers if need be, many of the production 70' s have the head sawyer pulling the carriage to them, sawing backwards   I call it☺ so visual is a luxery , knowing log size and the mill helps too. I do prefer fingers over the fixed bar(angle iron) but the idea of movable fingers could work.

[4x4American]

I watch alot of finger draggers drag back with the blade spinning.  I can't do that..too many times the board sneaks back and pokes the board.  I like that I can raise and lower the single bar though. 




Paul if you think you can't see with the dragback arm down, you oughta try looking through some homemade steer fingers!

[paul case]

I think I  have seen some of the ones with fingers that were set up so that you saw towards the operator. I bet that does help with the seeing thing too.

I usually saw with my fingers covering my eyes so it isnt a real BIG deal! ;D

PC

[4x4American]

lol lol lol thats a goodun!




I forgot to mention, if I pick my head up just a hair too high before pulling a board or slab back, often times my head will get pinched and jack that head up and stop short.  So nowadays I just bring the head to the workpiece, let it just tickle it, then give it full power.  It's annoying but rewelding my dragback arm is worse. 


So far since my last fix (which I did differently than my past few ones), it hasn't broke yet (knock on wood).


I would love to be able to dismount my control unit and make it so I can saw with headrig coming towards me...every time I mod my sawmill I make it more and more like a 70...my worker doesn't understand why I'm wasting my time modding it and why I don't just trade up for a 70...I finally got the bugs worked out of this one for the most part, I don't wanna go through another bug workout program!

[reedco]

First post, Half the fun 4x4 is thinking and fixing, anybody can through money at something!

[tnaz]

First post, Half the fun 4x4 is thinking and fixing, anybody can through money at something!

Well to the forum reedco.  Lots of truth in your statement.

Terry

[Rougespear]

Thanks everyone!  I'll try my hand at fabricating some of the "finger" type and see how they go.

[Brucer]

There's two kinds of dragback components. The actual dragback usually has either a rigid arm or a set of fingers. These are hinged so they will float over the top of the log/cant while sawing and will then drop down to catch the slab or boards on the way back.

The second component is a guide that has jointed fingers and sits a few feet behind the dragback. It's only found on some mills (like the LT70). The idea is to have something hanging down on either side of the slab or board to keep it from shifting sideways as the board is dragged back.

My dragback (scavenged off an LT40 Super) is supposed to be mounted so it hangs about 1/8" below the blade. That ensures the blade is always above the surface of the cant when the carriage is returning so you can keep the blade engaged all the time.