A wheel diameter question

[redheadwoodshed]

I have a chance to dismantle a metal bandsaw that has 13" wheels.In the opinion of the forum, are these worth using on a bandmill that will be powered by a 17 h.p. Kohler with about a 28" cut? I know a bigger wheel is better, but the price is right and I have logs waiting.Thanks for any and all input.

 

[qbilder]

13" is really small. It might be ok if you're running thinner kerf blades, but would be a lot of strain on say a .045" blade.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

It has a 1 1/4 " blade on it now, I don't know how thick it is, but it's used for cutting large round stock in a machine shop.
What would be a common size that might be good for wheels this size, and would running at a lower rpm be helpful to blade life?

 

[mikeb1079]

i think the general consensus is that a wheel that small puts undue stress on the band leading to premature breakage. if i were you i'd just bite the bullet and buy a set of 18" wheels from linn for 350 or similar. the wheels are the heart of the mill and milling/drying/stacking/planing/jointing/selling/finishing is enough work without jacking around with under sized wheels. don't mean to be negative i just think you'd be happier in the end.
cheers
mb

 

[redheadwoodshed]

i think the general consensus is that a wheel that small puts undue stress on the band leading to premature breakage. if i were you i'd just bite the bullet and buy a set of 18" wheels from linn for 350 or similar. the wheels are the heart of the mill and milling/drying/stacking/planing/jointing/selling/finishing is enough work without jacking around with under sized wheels. don't mean to be negative i just think you'd be happier in the end.
cheers
mb

It is what it is and I thank you for your input, and your concern for my happiness:biggrin:.I didn't know about Linn and didn't realize I could get them for 350.I'll look into that, I think the budget will allow it since, like you say, that's the heart of the mill.
Would these 13" wheels be good for anything?

 

[M.R.]

This thread brings up a question for me & not meaning to take it to far off track.

What would a used pair of Carter 30" wheels be worth?

 

[redheadwoodshed]

This thread brings up a question for me & not meaning to take it to far off track.

What would a used pair of Carter 30" wheels be worth?

How used?And how much do you want for them?

 

[peacmar]

Would these 13" wheels be good for anything?

Forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject here, I am curious as to why these would not work. At my work we cut 4140 prehard tool steel on a marvel saw, 13" wheels, blade at 450 IPM, 100 lbs cutting pressure on a 1.25" x.065" thick bi metal blade. average life span of a blade is 500 hrs under very rigorous conditions. I would think wood would be easy as they generally dull and not break. Would love to hear some experience on the subject. Not trying to jack the thread here just working on plans for my own mill rig and insight would be much appreciated on the subject.


To the O.P. you may be able to sell them if it was a decent brand saw. We just put a new lower drive wheel in ours a month ago and the replacement from marvel was $2900 for a keyed shaft mounted wheel. Big pain in the wallet for someone else but maybe help fund your project?

 

[redheadwoodshed]

Forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject here, I am curious as to why these would not work. At my work we cut 4140 prehard tool steel on a marvel saw, 13" wheels, blade at 450 IPM, 100 lbs cutting pressure on a 1.25" x.065" thick bi metal blade. average life span of a blade is 500 hrs under very rigorous conditions. I would think wood would be easy as they generally dull and not break. Would love to hear some experience on the subject. Not trying to jack the thread here just working on plans for my own mill rig and insight would be much appreciated on the subject.


To the O.P. you may be able to sell them if it was a decent brand saw. We just put a new lower drive wheel in ours a month ago and the replacement from marvel was $2900 for a keyed shaft mounted wheel. Big pain in the wallet for someone else but maybe help fund your project?

It's some korean brand, and I will use them on a saw, at some time or another.

 

[qbilder]

Forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject here, I am curious as to why these would not work. At my work we cut 4140 prehard tool steel on a marvel saw, 13" wheels, blade at 450 IPM, 100 lbs cutting pressure on a 1.25" x.065" thick bi metal blade. average life span of a blade is 500 hrs under very rigorous conditions. I would think wood would be easy as they generally dull and not break. Would love to hear some experience on the subject. Not trying to jack the thread here just working on plans for my own mill rig and insight would be much appreciated on the subject.


To the O.P. you may be able to sell them if it was a decent brand saw. We just put a new lower drive wheel in ours a month ago and the replacement from marvel was $2900 for a keyed shaft mounted wheel. Big pain in the wallet for someone else but maybe help fund your project?

Your mill is doing a cross cut on metal, a uniform material and a pretty short length of cut. With logs, the grain goes this way or that, pulling on the blade, and the blade is in there for 10 feet plus. Even the slightest stress or dullness will cause weird cut patterns that are anything but straight. From my experience in machine shop (about ten years), I have never seen metal cutting band saws get the severe stress cracks that saw mill blades get. We changed them when they dulled but otherwise they were fine. I can only speculate on the reason for bigger wheels, as I did above. The larger wheels seem to significantly reduce the stress on the blades, giving them longer life & more chances for sharpening. Cook's Saw site has a pretty fair stated reason for larger wheels. You might check it out if you have time. Even there it's stated as opinion.

 

[scor440]

Surplus center has cast iron sheaves for way cheap.All you need to do is get the bore machined for bearings or use as is with pillow block bearings.350 is out of line for me.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

Surplus center has cast iron sheaves for way cheap.All you need to do is get the bore machined for bearings or use as is with pillow block bearings.350 is out of line for me.

Thanks, I looked there for the shafts and pillow blocks, but didn't think about the wheels.I wonder how balanced they would be, or would it make a difference?

 

[redheadwoodshed]

Surplus center has cast iron sheaves for way cheap.All you need to do is get the bore machined for bearings or use as is with pillow block bearings.350 is out of line for me.

They didn't have anything near big enough for a band mill.The biggest one I could find on e-bay was 14", I'm thinking 16" should be the minimum I should even consider.The price was 50$ odd dollars on the 14", and maybe it will work, but I'd rather spend 350$ on a purpose built item than a little over a 100$ on a maybe.
My mill is being financed by my extensive collection of junk cars and trucks.I've picked up a few over the years and now they are worth something.
I want to do this right the first time, if at all possible.

Now earlier a tiller was mentioned. Picture if you will the drive shaft of a bandsaw mill.If you left some shaft sticking out behind the pillow block, you could mount another pulley to drive the drive train of the tiller.With the tines removed and one output shaft extended you could put a gear on the shaft to run in a rack mounted to the rails, creating a drive system.Of course you could run a cable and pulley drive like that too.

 

[scor440]

They have 18" sheaves.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

They have 18" sheaves.

I must have missed those, I did look.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

They have 18" sheaves.

Yes, I had to find them here before I could find them there.Thanks!

 

[Jim Timber]

What's the desired blade speed for hard wood?

 

[scor440]

My mill runs at 3800 fpm for all species in my area.

 

[redheadwoodshed]

If the pulley on the clutch is 3" and you are turning 18" band wheels, what would be the best diameter drive pulley?
The engine is a 13 hp that turns 3400 rpm.I figure it will run at maybe 2800 rpm under a load. I'm shooting for 3500 to 4200 fpm.
Thanks!

 

[scor440]

blade speed

Calculate Band Saw Surface Feet per Minute (SFPM) | VintageMachinery.org has a calculator for blade speed