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Unconventional Sawmill Build

Discussion in 'Quitters' Club' started by ITLKSEZ, Oct 29, 2021.

  1. Nov 15, 2021
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    I was thinking exactly the same thing. :)

    You'll be hearing from my lawyers concerning copyright & theft of intellectual property issues. :steamed:
     
    Fireball likes this.
  2. Nov 15, 2021
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    :p:p:p
     
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  3. Nov 15, 2021
    Norcal69

    Norcal69 Out of the box thinker 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Northern California
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    If you know anyone who is traveling from Redding, Ca to Idaho I'll give you a bundle of kiln stakes.
     
  4. Nov 15, 2021
    tomasinator

    tomasinator Member

    Redmond, WA
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    This thread needs a video of the sawmill in action. Or did I miss it?
     
  5. Nov 15, 2021
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    givemethewillys and tomasinator like this.
  6. Nov 16, 2021
    Jay's WWII Jeeps

    Jay's WWII Jeeps Member

    Napa CA
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    This is great, but a day with out an update is too long!!
    Jay
     
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  7. Nov 16, 2021
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    I ran it for about two hours this morning. In between runs, I was bending the governor linkage to get some more rpms out of it. I noticed that it would bog down and never open to full throttle. I fixed that. It’s now walking the fine line between optimum cut and self-annihilation. :D
     
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  8. Nov 16, 2021
    SFaulken

    SFaulken Active Member

    Bellevue, WA
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    Self-Annihilation is always the right choice.
     
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  9. Nov 17, 2021
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    "Full Throttle and F- It!"
     
  10. Nov 17, 2021
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    A preview of things to come….

    [​IMG]

    I’ve had this Honda engine sitting behind my shop for around 14 years after a guy up the road gave it to me. It was part of a pressure washer that froze/cracked, and he thought I might be able to do something with it. Well, 14 years later, I pulled it into the shop, cleaned the carb, and it started on the first pull. o_O

    I’ve had this Subaru rear differential for about 16 years as part of a dune buggy project that lost steam.

    I’m working out the details to combine the two for a much stronger, much more stable setup.
     
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  11. Nov 17, 2021
    Snoops

    Snoops Making progress, slow but at least it's forward! 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Idaho
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    I'm guessing there is a bit of smoke coming out of your ears, you have so may gears running around in your head! Totally awesome build as always. :clap: Guessing you're in the market for some steel I-beams to replace the Al.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2021
    ITLKSEZ likes this.
  12. Nov 17, 2021
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    Yeah, the fabricator voices in my head drown out the bad ones. If I let my mind rest, things get pretty dark. :ninja::)

    I’m going to pull the Al off and sell it back to them. I think 2 pieces of channel or heavy angle would work better at this point for height and clearance reasons, but I’ll take what I can get! The sled and height adjustments are getting changed out also. The current one won’t handle the extra weight and torque as well as it could.
     
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  13. Nov 17, 2021
    dozerjim

    dozerjim Member

    western New York
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    x2 :rofl:
     
  14. Nov 17, 2021
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    Ahem. You do know, do you not, that all this has been done before by others? They invented something we call "the sawmill."

    :whistle:
     
    Lockman likes this.
  15. Nov 17, 2021
    Fireball

    Fireball Well-Known Member 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Pullman, WA
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    People have made Jeeps before too, but the end result wasn't the Varg.
     
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  16. Nov 17, 2021
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    Yeah, yeah, I know, but let me put it this way…

    I’ve never liked watching music videos. It’s someone else’s visual representation of the song, and once you see it, it’s hard to keep that separate from the movie/vibe/feeling you originally created in your head when you first heard the song.

    Creativity is like any other muscle that needs exercise and gets stronger with use. It’s easy to lose your creative juices when other people’s ideas are spoon fed to you.

    When I build stuff, I try to throw everything I know has been done before out the window, and only keep the basic ideas that I think should work effectively. If certain ideas or parts don’t work, only then do I think, “Ok, so that’s why nobody does it that way,” rather than not try it because, “There must be a reason nobody does it that way.” I’d rather fail with reason than fail from not trying. And I’d definitely rather try something new than do something that’s been done 1000 times before.
     
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  17. Nov 17, 2021
    Lockman

    Lockman OK.....Now I Get It . 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Silver Hill,...
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    Yep , with Big Circular Saw blades ......Just Say'n.
    Someone has too much time on his hands , but that's his thing........ so Let it Be.
     
  18. Nov 17, 2021
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    I totally applaud your creativity, and the quality of your work, and the independent sprit of doing things for yourself rather than buying a product. With you all the way!

    Let me say I built my own bandmill about 35 years ago, with junkyard parts, that was capable of cutting .025" veneer. I've made timbers with a simple chainsaw mill I cobbled togther, and even with broadaxes. One of the projects on my bench right now is a two-man "pitsaw" for cutting lumber by hand, colonial style. I used to log with horses and I work with all dimensions of lumber every day... So in this particular case, I'm considering what I've learned about re-inventing the wheel (aka sawmill), and the lessons about the larger context.

    As you know, producing sawn boards is part of a much larger context - from access to trees, to felling and skidding, to trucking, and handling them in the 'yard' - and then again on the mill itself. On the other end, there are the considerations of edging, stacking, planing, drying, as well as disposal of slabs, bark and sawdust and shavings. Etcetera etcetera etcetera. It is a slippery slope, with a ton of equipment and many costs. Sawing the boards is only a tiny part of it.

    It really is hard to beat the system and price structure of commercial mills, with their economies of scale and ability to "sell everything but the squeal." There are reasons things are the way they are.

    So in the end, while milling ones own lumber is a very romantic vision, it only makes practical sense in very limited circumstances. I've seen many people buy personal sawmills without fully appreciating the limitations.

    That said - I enjoy many of the same pleasures you cite in independently tinkering up all kinds of stuff, and I say "power to you, brother."

    :clap::clap::clap:
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2021
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  19. Nov 17, 2021
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
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    This guy is near me. One of my ancestors built the first sawmill in Salem NH in the 1600s, a few miles away.

     
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  20. Nov 18, 2021
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
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    The hardest part of using these pieces to make a horizontal cut will be fitting a chain sprocket to the differential’s output. It’s a 23 spline shaft that is bigger than most available chain sprockets, and the industrial ones that I could adapt are massive and made of gold.

    I made a trip out to the tractor store yesterday afternoon (although it was already so dark it felt like midnight) to pick up some pulleys, and to see what I could find to make work for a chain sprocket.

    The closest I could find was an 11-tooth #50 roller chain sprocket. I was able to trim and form the tips of the teeth to fit the 3/8” pitch chain really well.

    [​IMG]

    I got two massive washers to use as edge guides, and I got them centered and tacked together.

    [​IMG]

    I cut the cup off one of the CV joints. The sprocket will get welded to this.

    [​IMG]

    Subaru axles hold onto the shaft with a roll pin, so the sprocket assembly will be removable.

    I hear you saying, “How will that output spin with an open differential? Welding the spider gears?”
    Nope.

    Since the diff will be sitting sideways, and the upper carrier bearing will be starved of oil…

    [​IMG]

    I made a solid hub to lock this one in place. This also solves another problem: the gears are 3.7:1, so the gear reduction would’ve been too severe. By locking one output, this doubles the speed of the other output, and produces a net reduction of 1.85:1. Stepping up from a 7-tooth sprocket on the old setup to an 11-tooth sprocket on this one, the chain speeds will be comparable. I can still fine-tune the speed with differing belt pulleys if I need to, but for now I’m just going 1:1 with that.

    The hub is just a 11g plate, a piece of tubing as a spacer, and another splined section cut off a CV joint.

    [​IMG]

    A side note: Honda still makes this exact engine, and the tractor store had them on the shelf across from the pulleys and sprockets. $699 o_O
     
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