Bandsaw mill build

[Watercourse management]

11 hours ago, Malus said:

Nice. Do you find it worthwhile? 

 

Do you push your mill along as you saw or has it got some kind of drive? 

At the moment I push it along, the plan is to upgrade the engine to 24 hp so I can run a hydraulic de barker on the saw head and then I would like to upgrade the carriage to hydraulic drive and also all the stops and clamps.

The drag backs work well when planking but can get in the way if you want to back out of a cut so I need to add a way to hold them up when not in use.

[Justme]

11 hours ago, dumper said:

So you are saying my defender 12 n socket can’t tow a trailer wired with a 13 pin plug via an adapter

No I am saying you will only get the 12n 7 pin functions of your cars socket capability.

 

All 7 wires are in use.

 

Where will the 8th wire come from to make reverse work?

[Justme]

You can adapt 1 x 12N & 1 x 12S to make 1 x 13 pin.

 

Or the other way round.

 

You do not gain the extra functions if you go 12n to 13 pin & you loose functions if you go 13 pin to 12n.

[Conner]

Thanks! I hand't thought of that, I've followed a few threads on there. 
 
Yeah I have to say I'm dreading the IVA, the requirements for positioning of all the lights etc seem like they might be a bit of a pain on a sawmill. Also the thing that's worrying me most is that I think new trailers need a reversing light, but I highly doubt the 7 pig socket on my truck has a reversing light wired in. Thinking about it do any 7 pig plugs have reverse lights? 

7 pin plugs do not have reversing lights. They are either on a 13 pin or pin 1 on a 12s grey socket. Looks like all new trailers will be 13 pin

[Malus]

12 hours ago, Watercourse management said:

At the moment I push it along, the plan is to upgrade the engine to 24 hp so I can run a hydraulic de barker on the saw head and then I would like to upgrade the carriage to hydraulic drive and also all the stops and clamps.

The drag backs work well when planking but can get in the way if you want to back out of a cut so I need to add a way to hold them up when not in use.

Sounds like it will be a dream to use when you're done! 

 

Yeah I can imagine that. I guess you have to sort out some kind of workflow too so the board's don't pile up in the way? 

[Watercourse management]

4 minutes ago, Malus said:

Sounds like it will be a dream to use when you're done! 

 

Yeah I can imagine that. I guess you have to sort out some kind of workflow too so the board's don't pile up in the way? 

Haven’t got that far in the design process yet, maybe in a year or two I’ll work it out.

[Malus]

I cut the carriage apart and welded it all back together, so it's square again after falling off the rails. While it was apart I swapped the 90mm round tube top cross piece for a larger 115mm round with a thicker wall. I also added a gusset, hopefully both will help with stiffness. 

 

I clamped on the bearings, cut some axles and then put on the bandwheels to see how everything comes together. They're on top of the saw beam temporarily, but it's clear that the sleeves that slide vertically on the carriage frame will be in the way of the blade guides. So I've decided to get rid of those sleeves, and instead of having the ability to unbolt and remove them they will be welded in place. I've tacked up a couple of sleeves from angle and flat bar.

 

A third backwards step was realising that it's probably better for the blade tensioning screw to be under tension and not compression when the blade is tight. So I'll have to change my plans of how the screw will mount to the sawbeam. 

 

I ordered a couple of belts for the bandwheels. Surprisingly they look like they will do the job well. The pulleys are b450 and I ordered a c55 and c56 belt. The c55 is a tight fit, a bit difficult to get on and the c56 has a fair bit of slack. 

[Watercourse management]

My belts run very slack as I ordered the wrong size but they have never come off and as a bonus it stops the sawdust building up in the v of the pulley.

[Malus]

11 minutes ago, Watercourse management said:

My belts run very slack as I ordered the wrong size but they have never come off and as a bonus it stops the sawdust building up in the v of the pulley.

I've heard that a few times. I've ordered another tight belt but I'll try out the slack one too. The belt sits about 8mm proud of the pulley.

[Malus]

Been a busy week making the most of the good weather so barely had any time for the mill. I've been working on a few fiddly little bits that I can dip in and out of. I've welded up a sleeve for the idler bandwheel to slide on as it's tensioned. Not yet finished, it needs a couple of plates welding on the drilling and tapping for screws  to hold the pillow blocks on. 

 

I was planning on using the lead screw out of a big old vice from the scrapyard as the tensioning screw but I had a hard time figuring out how to attach the nut to the sawbeam. In the end I tried welding it but because it's cast the welds kept on cracking. Instead I'm going to used a long M20 set screw. I've welded two nuts either side of the bracket so I'm hoping there's enough thread engaged to prevent too much wear. I've got some conical spring washers so there will be a bit of give in the tensioning system. 

 

The other thing I've been doing is making some sprockets for the raise/lower mechanism. I marked and drilled holes in some 5mm plate then cut out and shaped each tooth a bit. I guess mild steel won't hold up to a lot of use but should be plenty good enough. I made up some collars, I'll weld them onto the sprockets so I can secure them to the shaft with a screw. The chain is scrap from a local motorbike shop. If my maths is right then one turn of the crank should raise or lower the head by 25mm.