# Lookie Lookie what I found at work!



## Brmorgan (Aug 6, 2008)

My supervisor/maintenance man tipped me off to something I might want that was just sitting out rusting in the boneyard of our chipper mill down the road from the sawmill I work at. So I went and checked it out, and hellz yeah, I want it! I should be able to pick this bad boy up for practically nothing.






It's a power-feed bandsaw system, which looks like it was set up for cutting slabs off the bottom of cants or something. The bandwheels look to be about two feet in diameter, and spin very freely so the bearings are still good.. They're much too close together to be of much use for cutting logs right now, but I have a torch and a welder!





Just a view from the other side. The belt that feeds the bandsaw is hydraulically driven, so there's already an electric hydraulic unit installed on it. You can see the reservoir tank and some hoses etc. just to the left of the tire here - the motor and pump are in behind. It has a 575V motor which I obviously can't use at home, so I'd have to swap that out. But I would use the hydraulic system to lift the powerhead and possibly to turn logs. The drive motor mounting plate is above the bandsaw wheels right above the pulley visible in this pic.






This thing will require massive modification to do what I want to do with it - basically, to turn it into a regular bandmill like a Woodmizer. I'll have to widen the gap between the wheels rather significantly I think, not to mention build them onto a movable carriage and use the existing frame as a log bed. I also need to get rid of the belt system. Or I could just make cants with the CSM and use this to slab them. The whole thing is only about 12 feet long at most but it could easily be extended. And it's already on wheels which is convenient. At any rate, it would be worth a couple hundred bucks just for the bandwheels if nothing else, and the hydraulic capability only sweetens the deal.





Just a view from the outfeed end of the mill. The belt looks way longer than it is due to my wide-angle lens. The belt is about a foot wide, maybe a bit more.






I managed to find the other wheel guard after searching through the overgrowth. As you can tell, it hasn't moved for years and I don't even know if my boss (owner) knows about it. I could probably just haul it away and nobody would notice, but I won't do that. He's been really good at giving me other "junk" from the mill for free, so who knows. Nothing this big before though. So now if I manage to get it, I'll need to find a power source for it. I'm not sure yet if I'd rather put a 10hp electric on it and just use it at home, or a 15+ HP gas engine so it's portable. I wonder if I could just do electric for now and then get a good generator to run the electric later on.

I know she ain't pretty right now, but I think there's major potential depending on what my boss wants for it.


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## Brmorgan (Aug 6, 2008)

Oh, and if that bandmill isn't big enough, I also found this guy:






That blade is at least a 60" but is set up for bucking and not ripping. Looks like a 75HP or larger motor on it.


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## Leroy in Kansas (Aug 6, 2008)

*What a deal.*

Man I had to get the mop to clean up the floor and desk. Can't wait to see how this story develops. Hope you score large. Leroy


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## Barnie (Aug 6, 2008)

the top saw looks like a horizontal re saw used for those thicker slabs to get an extra board out of it , just lay the slab on its flat side and let the belt take it through the saw. the lower saw looks like a slabbing saw used in conjunction with the main circular saw which was usually set @ two inches to make two inch boards. I used on horizontal re saw similar to the one pictured but computer controlled and a lot larger to.


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## Adkpk (Aug 6, 2008)

Did somebody say project? Wow, looks like you'll be busy. Good luck and I for one will be waiting to see how this turns out for you. opcorn:


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## woodshop (Aug 7, 2008)

Very interesting... hope you have lots of free time to play opcorn:


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## Trigger-Time (Aug 7, 2008)

I see potential................



Gary


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## Backwoods (Aug 7, 2008)

I see potential................
Road trip to BC.


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## harrygrey382 (Aug 7, 2008)

Brmorgan said:


> My supervisor/maintenance man tipped me off to something I might want that was just sitting out rusting in the boneyard of our chipper mill down the road from the sawmill I work at. So I went and checked it out, and hellz yeah, I want it! I should be able to pick this bad boy up for practically nothing.
> 
> 
> It's a power-feed bandsaw system, which looks like it was set up for cutting slabs off the bottom of cants or something. The bandwheels look to be about two feet in diameter, and spin very freely so the bearings are still good.. They're much too close together to be of much use for cutting logs right now, but I have a torch and a welder!
> ...


hmm, do you have a day job...?opcorn: 
Well, if I was you I wouldn't anymore! 
Great find, and good luck


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## Brmorgan (Aug 7, 2008)

Barnie said:


> the top saw looks like a horizontal re saw used for those thicker slabs to get an extra board out of it , just lay the slab on its flat side and let the belt take it through the saw. the lower saw looks like a slabbing saw used in conjunction with the main circular saw which was usually set @ two inches to make two inch boards. I used on horizontal re saw similar to the one pictured but computer controlled and a lot larger to.



Using that to resaw my edge slabs would be a helluva lot easier than resawing thru the Alaskan. I'm actually skeptical that simply the belt with no hold-down system has enough grab to push the piece thru the saw.Has anyone ever developed a system where you can turn an Alaskan upside-down, install a table of sorts, and feed the slab thru the mill instead of moving the mill over the slab? I've had the thought but have never tried it. Safety might be a concern.

Re: the big circular - I guess that's possible, but the saw doesn't look like it would make a good ripsaw - I'd say the hook angle of the teeth couldn't be more than 5-10 degrees. Looks very similar to the bucksaw on my stepfeeder at work, except mine isn't carbide toothed and is a bit smaller.



harrygrey382 said:


> hmm, do you have a day job...?opcorn:
> Well, if I was you I wouldn't anymore!
> Great find, and good luck



Since you mentioned it, that's one of my main motivating factors for wanting to get a bandmill. The sawmills around here will eventually close down or severely cut back due to the falloff in the housing market, lumber prices, and the pine beetle epidemic, and when they do I want something to fall back on. There are very very few specialty birch, cedar, hemlock, and fir mills around anymore so I figure I should be able to at least supplement my income fairly well, and maybe eventually quit altogether. Last year I talked to the forestry ministry about getting a small-scale salvage timber license. They will do them up to 50 Cubic Meters at a time. That may not sound like much, but one cubic meter is equivalent to a 6X6" beam about 100 feet long. Salvage licenses were at about $12.50 a cube last year, and considering that the cheapest I've ever seen a 6X6 beam for sale is $2/linear foot, that's a huge margin. 

Now I have to wait until my boss gets back from fishing out on the ocean. I might be losing some sleep until then! Not to mention if I do end up getting it; I tend to obsess over projects like that sometimes. I thought of something else of interest - a saw grinder in the basement in the sawfiler's room. Actually there are two of them. They're swingarm grinders designed to do the circular saws from the edgers, but they could be easily adapted to doing chain or bands, I think. I would just have to add a table/clamp to hold the chain that can rotate to change the angle of cut. We have our saws professionally ground elsewhere so all that equipment has sat idle for 6 years at least. We'll see...


Also, I'm interested in seeing anyone's ideas for a hydraulic or winch-driven lift system for the head unit. I can get probably get a couple hydraulic rams pretty cheaply, but I'm not sure how you could make them hold position mid-stroke. I'll have to look into that more. I also thought of using an electric winch to drive a sprocket & chain to jackscrews on each end of the carriage. Might be slower though.


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## Backwoods (Aug 8, 2008)

If you look at it, there is a hold down arm with a stop welded on to it. The Large resaws that I have run used weighted rollers before and after the saw to hold pressure on the flitch, with hydraulic up only that activated off the photo eye. On a set up like that you could use a manual lever to lift the roll until the end of the flitch starts in the let the weight hold it as it passes thru the saw.


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## Brmorgan (Feb 20, 2009)

*Yay!*

OK, so here's the scoop. The mill I work at is shutting down on Feb. 26th, so I'll be out of a job after that point. The only saving grace I have there is that I'm at the top of the seniority list and can do pretty much any job on the entire site including maintenance, so if they ever need anyone I'll probably get the call. At any rate I wanted to get a concrete answer about this saw before quittin' time, so I managed to speak to one of the owners about it yesterday. He basically said, "well, what will you give me for it?" Since times are tough everywhere I don't have a ton of money kicking around and need to save all I can for downtime, so he's going to let me have it for *$750*! He might even throw in an engine from the old-style Lincoln gasoline welders if it works, and a couple hydraulic components, but we'll see about that. I might also try to get him to give/sell me a couple straight 20' channel steel pieces that I found that would make nice rails, but that might be stretching my luck. At any rate I think it's a helluva deal. There's tons of work to be done rebuilding it, as I want a carriage mill and not a stationary saw head, but I have a torch and a welder and probably lots of spare time pretty soon. Now to wait for the snow to melt out so I can actually go GET it.


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## wdchuck (Feb 20, 2009)

Get everything in writing, or at least a receipt so no one can acuse you of theft after the fact, including a reasonable timeframe for you to remove all the parts after your last day on the job/payroll.


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## olyman (Feb 21, 2009)

as wdchuck said---as things can go to hell in a handbasket in short order---and man--would have i ever liked the chance to buy it---lucky you--


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## Brmorgan (Feb 21, 2009)

I don't anticipate things going sour as I know both the owners (they're brothers) quite well apart from work, and they're both really easygoing and not the type to screw someone over. But the advice is still good, and I will definitely get a receipt for it.


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## Leroy in Kansas (Feb 21, 2009)

Hey man, sorry about the job. Things are getting tight here also. I lost on of my largest accounts last wk. Bummer. Looks like your going to have something to occupy your time for the next few mo. Good luck. Let us know how this all plays out. Leroy


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## redprospector (Feb 21, 2009)

I didn't have the luxury of finding a deal like you did (you lucky dog). I built mine from scratch. Don't scrap the conveyor system, you'll want it later.
I studied the same delima you have on lifting the head in a way that it wouldn't creep. What I came up with is a chain lift system. I used a hydraulic motor, and a worm gear. A shaft run's across the top of the frame work with sprocket's on each end. A chain (on each end) runs from the head, around the sprocket's, and an idler to a light piece of strap iron that also comes from the head. The strap is just to keep slack out of the chain and give it somewhere to go. Here's a few pic's.










You can see the lift chain in this one.









I used a 1600cc VW engine, plenty of power and way cheaper to maintain than any gas engine I've ever messed with.





Andy


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## Brmorgan (Feb 21, 2009)

I won't be scrapping the conveyor totally but it will not be part of the first saw build. I will be re-using the hydraulic system to power a log turner and dogs for now. I think I will use the spare 12V winch I have lying around to lift the head up and down. Whether I end up using a chain or cable system as you have, or a jack screw system, is up for debate still. Both have their advantages. Once I have it to a workable state, then I'll be searching for a way to drive the carriage so I don't have to push the darn thing.

Leroy - I might not be out of work for a long time, as we're working on a shavings bagger that makes compressed bags like you would buy for a horse stable etc. Only problem is, we found it in a scrap metal yard in town and while the bagger and associated hydraulics/electrical are all there, there is no documentation as to how to hook it all up, and it's so old even the manufacturer doesn't have a lot of info on it. I might ask if I can work off the price of the bandmill after we officially shut down by helping out with that project. Alternativel,y I've acquired some woodworking jobs recently. Right now I have to build a fireplace/mantel/hearth or whatever you may call it for a lady my mom works with, and after that I got a job to build a dining table for my friend's girlfriend. As side projects I have a set of nesting tables that were in my cousin's house fire that she wants refinished, and I might have an order for a couple dozen picture frames as well. So I might be Broke As %&*# for a while but I won't be bored!


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## redprospector (Feb 21, 2009)

My head is driven by a hydraulic motor. I built a drum for it so it works like a capstan winch, 3/16" cable to each end of the frame with a wrap around the drum. Works pretty good.
Just throwing a few options out there for ya.

Andy


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## Brmorgan (Feb 22, 2009)

Yep, that's pretty much what I've been throwing around too. Although right away, I will only have one hydraulic system to work with, and I'd rather have some help with the logs than moving the carriage first off. I was thinking of building a setup like you have and driving it with a winch or 12V motor of some sort at first and then switching to hydraulic later when I get the money. Though I am going to see if I can manage to score a second pump and motor out of the deal somehow.

I assume that the drive system is only on one side of your carriage? If so, have you had any problems with it "racking", that is, one side binding and the carriage wanting to go crooked?

Also I forgot to mention that I've been on the lookout for a Beetle engine for years. Apparently you can cut them in half, install a couple new bearings etc., and have two 800cc engines? Long ago, my uncle back east had a log splitter he built using (he says) half a Beetle engine. I've never looked into it much so I don't know if it's totally true though.


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## redprospector (Feb 22, 2009)

Yes, the drive system is only on one side of the carrage. I haven't had any problem's out of it as far as racking or binding. I'm running V-groove wheels on 1" angle iron to carry the carrage so it would probably be hard to bind it up even if it did rack a little. I need to rig up a second hyraulic system for the bed to handle log's. It shouldn't take a very big pump if my figures are right.
I've never seen a VW engine cut in half, but I have seen them run on 2 cylinders and using the other 2 for an air compressor. It was amazing how well it worked.

Andy


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## mkwish (Mar 7, 2009)

*Lookie*

I had a hydraulics shop and steel fabrication business doing this kind of work. If I were you (I don't get that lucky ever) I would power it with a gasoline motor of about double the killowats as the electric one on it now. But if you widen the cut to say double than you can expect to double the power requirement. Stay with the hydraulic drive to all components because that will provide stop/go and pressure relief, saving the need for slip clutches, which always get messy to design, thereby making the thing a bit more idiot proof.
One word of advice learned the hard way. Use generously large hydraulic hoses on equipment intended to run continuously, as this is.


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