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Author Topic: Old iron  (Read 39426 times)

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #25 on: February 25, 2016, 06:14:03 AM »
I've never been much for spending good folding money on mill accessories. My sawdust "doodler" is a length of 2 1/2" fire hose with the couplings cut off and clipper laced. It picks up the dust on the bottom belt under the saw and dumps it as it goes around the back pulley. The dust forms its own chute. Uses a fraction of a hp. to operate and its quiet. I've go a blower in stock but the belt works so good why complicate things and have to listen to it howl. Frank C.

Offline HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #26 on: February 25, 2016, 06:24:49 AM »

 Just sayin, Frank. Everything I had came with both purchases.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #27 on: February 25, 2016, 07:56:07 PM »
Hal, what did you use to turn the logs and cants on the carriage.?? I've always just used flip up triangular pieces where you roll the cant to you and it slides bank on the carriage with a quarter turn. I have thought about a couple of log turners but the wedges work so well and fast I have little incentive. Frank C.

Offline Stevem

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #28 on: February 26, 2016, 01:21:52 AM »
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The best way to handle sawdust

Mushroom growers love circle sawdust from oak to grow their shrooms.  Probably other woods too but have no info.
Stevem
Because you can doesn't mean you should!

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #29 on: February 26, 2016, 06:14:16 AM »
I should try mushrooms in my dingy old cellar. Your right Stevem come to think of it I collect wild shrooms from rotting oak stumps. Frank C.

Offline HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #30 on: February 26, 2016, 08:05:17 AM »

 Believe it or not, I had 3 teenage boys helping at the mill. I used old engine oil and diesel to keep the blade clean, and, ran a small bead on the bunks of the carriage for 30" + logs. Used a 24" cant hook, mostly.

 People just don't realize how easy it is to spin a log with a dab of diesel/oil on the steel.  That power receder would do a good job pulling the log/cant back as I gigged back.

 I had a 50" blade and had to chainsaw the first slab off the log. I didn't like big logs. Now, with that oversized band mill, we cut up to 37" wide logs with little sweat. My Son kept a sharpened bar to slip under the 2" to 4" thick slabs and I would jam a 3/4" iron pipe roller in the slot and he would pull the slab onto rollers we built, right onto the trailer we hauled lumber to market with.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #31 on: February 27, 2016, 06:54:14 PM »
The dreaded run away carriage can be a real problem. Most carriages weigh about a ton and a good sized log weighs a ton. You have the weight of an American car giging back at a good clip if your not paying attention or doing something else it reaches the end of the track. More than one carriage has kept going or at the least jarred the mill when it came to an abrupt stop. Your feed works is the usual brake. Both of my circular mills used leaf springs to give a softer landing. My current mill I buried a section of utility pole deep with a truck leaf spring attached to limit carriage travel, if you hit the end it just fires the carriage back with no shock to the mill frame. Frank C.

Offline HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #32 on: February 27, 2016, 08:01:47 PM »
 You ever see a power headblock receder in action, Frank ?  Fisher carriage on the first mill was a hand powered receder/ It was OK but nothing compared to that power jobbie .

Offline backwoods sawyer

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #33 on: February 27, 2016, 11:35:17 PM »
All the same concepts seem to apply.
We pulled out an end dogging carriage that had a top rail and a bottom rail and replaced it with an end dogging carriage that had two top rails and no bottom rail. The top rails were supported in the upper part of four "A" frame cement pillars that stood on the second floor and reached the fifth floor. The office over looking the mill floor was attached to the two middle "A" frames and swayed with the movements of the carriage.

Cables brake when used day in and day out and a runaway carriage with a 200hp DC motor driving it would spill your coffee ::) even with a pair of shocks mounted on each end of the rail and if you were lucky the slack cable would lay down between two block chippers and the four vertical bandmills (two opposing each other) with out hitting a chipper or a saw, If you were lucky!!!

The new rails sat on I beams laid on their side, the tracks had adjuster screws every few inches and they were painstakingly aligned with a laser, once it was all aligned the I beam's was filled up to the bottom of the rails with a cement based setting compound that held everything solid.

All of the chippers and bandmills moved in and out at the computers whim and were mounted on one flat way and one inverted "V" way. They used a "shoe" at each corner (air pressure on plastic pucks)(shear point) to hold then on the ways. Fastest way to have to  reset a chipper and change shoes was to overfeed a big block thru the block chippers.

Real good info keep it coming.
  
 

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #34 on: February 28, 2016, 05:56:57 AM »
Never seen a power recede in person only you tube vids. My old Chase D' Lane has a foot operated manual recede. 90% of my milling I only use a screw dog usually you can flip the cant if you leave it clamped and recede. Never seen a new automated mill in person, by the time they came into use lumber operations had moved west from here. Old growth pine is pretty much gone but we have some fine big w. pine second growth. (third?) Many loads of logs are trucked from Ma. north to Maine for milling. Frank C.

Offline HaroldCR - AKA Fla.-Deadheader

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #35 on: February 28, 2016, 08:20:05 AM »
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My old Chase D' Lane has a foot operated manual recede

 This sounds like what I had. Mash down on the foot lever and a rail on the outside of the carriage engaged a wheel that ran the headblocks back. I used it as much as I could figure out ways to do so.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #36 on: February 29, 2016, 07:21:17 PM »
Its a sad state of affairs with bits and shanks today, we have really only one manufacturer, Simonds up in Fitchburg Ma. They have systematically bought out the competition and discontinued their bits and shanks. I have a nice old Diston 48" saw that will be useless when I run out of my modest stash of bits. If you have a saw that's hard to find bits and shanks for I would stock up when you can, their are some patterns that are on the edge. Saws last a long time most of mine are as old as I am and I'am crowding 70. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #37 on: March 04, 2016, 06:30:58 AM »
I've said it before but any mill worth owning should have a roof over its head. Its good for the machinery and the sawyer. Never work around a mill with ice and snow where your standing. Both my mills just have/had a roof with open sides. If you live in an area with cold winds put some sides on your mill and get as much advantage from the sun as you can. Its real nice especially if you run Detroit diesels to build a dog house for it to tame the noise. This lockable house is a good place to store tools. If you can, duct hot air from the engine house to the sawyers box and offbearer too. I'am talking northern mills you sunbelters have your own set of problems I know little of. A comfortable place to work make the days seem shorter. Have everything handy in its own place. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #38 on: March 06, 2016, 05:46:54 AM »
Tension in a saw is of the upmost importance. If your restoring an old mill take the saw to a good hammersmith  before you use it, that will eliminate many problems starting out. I'am no authority on this but think of saw tension as a slight cupping of the saw at rest that centrifugal force straightens out at its hammered speed. A saw with no or not enough tension will wobble snake and not cut straight. Never allow a slab wood chip or anything else rub on the saw plate, heat is the big enemy of saw tension. Most old mill saws are comfy around 600 rpm. If your driving your mill with a farm tractor direct, of course 540 would be your desired hammered speed. You have an allowance up or down supposedly of 50 rpm I like to hold it less than that. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #39 on: March 09, 2016, 06:22:15 AM »
Does size matter.? It does with saws, problem is you can only use less than half the diameter of the saw. If you start with a 50" saw cut that down to 25" reduce that by half your collar diameter plus a little clearance and your down to about 21". Its not as bad as it seems you should have no problem reducing even a large log. My first mill had a 44" saw and I can't remember ever finding a log I couldn't slice. Every slab cut reduces the diameter and that 21" is the widest board you can mill. Most places other than the pacific NW a 21" board is a wide board. Another factor is the larger the saw, as a rule, the harder to maintain and the more bits to sharpen and replace. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #40 on: March 11, 2016, 07:57:04 PM »
Its important to use an engine with a good governor. Auto gasoline engines are the least desireable mill power, no governors and they lack torque. There are two basic types of governors limiting speed and variable speed. Limiting speed just limits the max RPM wile a variable speed unit will hold whatever speed you set the throttle. Needless to say a variable speed gov. is what you want. I have heard you can use cruse control on a auto engine but I have no experience. Most over the road truck diesels use just a limiting speed gov. Farm tractors and diesel power units like they use in shovels and cranes have the variable speed governors that are desirable. I know nothing of computer or hydraulically governed engines. If you have a 6-71 Detroit diesel with a limiting speed governor and adjust the top speed down to 1800 rpm and hold the throttle open it should maintain that 1800 rpm for example. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #41 on: March 14, 2016, 07:52:49 PM »
There are several ways to turn logs and cants on the carriage. Modern mills have hydraulic turners that work well but tend to pound the carriage unless its built real heavy. Manual, you just grab your cant hook and flip it. Third, and the way I do it, is to use flip up wedges. With the wedges you flip them upright and pull the cant towards you it flops down on the wedges and slides back on the carriage with a quarter turn faster than I can explain it. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #42 on: March 25, 2016, 06:54:18 AM »
A circular mill engine is of upmost importance too small an engine will set the pace. If you have to slow the feed for the engine to catch up you don't have enough ponies. Two cycle diesels ( Detroit) are a good choice if you can hack the noise. Its popular in the fire service to have older fire trucks refurbished that usually involves an engine change as the EPA has driven the old Detroits off the highways. Companys that do this work seem to always have good running engines out back. Frank C.

Offline bandmiller2

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #43 on: April 05, 2016, 05:43:31 AM »
Line lasers, they help, especially if you don't mill a lot. Of course I'am talking about hand set manual mills I have no experience with the new stuff. My current mill has a mill designed laser that casts a red line zackry  where the saw will tread. Its especially helpful on slab cuts. If you saw every day your eye is as good as the laser. A cheap weak laser will wash out in the sunlight, in fact they all will if the suns bright. I would rate lasers as a nice to have item, but far from mandatory. Frank C.

Offline Leeroy

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #44 on: October 06, 2017, 05:33:01 AM »
Frank I just wanted to let you know how informative this thread is for me.

Offline joasis

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #45 on: October 06, 2017, 06:17:20 AM »
This sounds like what I had. Mash down on the foot lever and a rail on the outside of the carriage engaged a wheel that ran the headblocks back. I used it as much as I could figure out ways to do so.

My Meadows #1 had a foot operated power receder also. It allowed for really fast turns.
Ladwig Construction
Hennessey, Oklahoma
    405 853 1563

If anyone has any issues, I can be reached at the number above, anytime.

Offline joasis

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Re: Old iron
« Reply #46 on: October 06, 2017, 06:19:51 AM »
Its a sad state of affairs with bits and shanks today, we have really only one manufacturer, Simonds up in Fitchburg Ma. They have systematically bought out the competition and discontinued their bits and shanks. I have a nice old Diston 48" saw that will be useless when I run out of my modest stash of bits. If you have a saw that's hard to find bits and shanks for I would stock up when you can, their are some patterns that are on the edge. Saws last a long time most of mine are as old as I am and I'am crowding 70. Frank C.

One of the reasons I sold the Meadows. It was a 56 inch blade, and the selection of bits was limited, plus I was no expert at sawing.

In Oklahoma, circle mills are really scarce, especially in the area of the state I am in.
Ladwig Construction
Hennessey, Oklahoma
    405 853 1563

If anyone has any issues, I can be reached at the number above, anytime.