Author Topic: Old School Sawmill Edger  (Read 18116 times)

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #210 on: December 18, 2019, 10:40:23 PM »
No, not a new engine. I am looking at my twin cylinder opposed as perhaps being a candidate. The only issue is that it has a manually controlled throttle on it. I want a governor controlled throttle, and am looking in to the possibilities of changing it over to governor controlled.

Offline ProjectDad

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #211 on: January 26, 2020, 08:00:30 PM »
This edger is so cool, such a well thought out machine, well done.
I especially like because right out of high school some 25 years ago, I worked at a pretty sizable hardwood sawmill that actually had 2 edgers and boy oh boy watching those guys running those edgers was a sight as they were easily the hardest working guys on the line.
It was a busy spot when just keeping up with the resaw when running quarter sawn lumber, but switching to plain sawn they'd have boards coming from the resaw AND the head saw that's when they REALLY earned their money.

Now you need to build a chipper for dealing with the waste from the sawmill and the edger, and maybe a vibrating conveyor to feed the waste directly from them to the chipper :D :D

From reading through I saw your talk about the expense of timing belts and cogs so I thought I'd toss this little tidbit out there.
Copy machines and laser printers can be a source of 5mm-10mm timing belts and cogs. I bet there's a fairly local company that sells and services copy machines for businesses and a call to their service dept you might be find they've got access to affordable replacements and/or used pieces available. Also if there in an E-waste place around that accepts all manner of electronic scrap, you might be able to help them break down a few machines for free in exchange for belts and cogs for your use.

All else fails maybe a fellow member in the states can receive parts you order and then send them on to you, you'd still have postage involved but surely it wouldn't equal the "north of the border location expense" 

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #212 on: January 26, 2020, 10:38:53 PM »
ProjectDad--I did high production sawmill research and development in the 1980's in the northern part of Ontario up around Hearst and Kapuskasing and White River. The thing that impressed me most were the native indian girls working on the boardways, sorting and pulling finished lumber. They weren't very big girls, but unbelievably strong from the work. They used to go into the bar at night and offer to arm-wrestle any white guys for a beer. They never paid for many beers, and there were a lot of white guys that got badly embarrassed by the girls.

Offline Art K

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #213 on: January 27, 2020, 03:00:06 AM »
Brian,
I read that one to my wife. She said "yup, women underestimated again". I say good for them!
Art
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you" B.B. King

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #214 on: May 09, 2020, 09:59:42 PM »
Today, just for giggles, I removed my new engine "Thumper" from the edger and replaced it with an old 1/4 HP electric motor. It worked like a charm, putting boards thru with no hesitation, with both saws cutting. I had hoped that my new engine would have the power to do this, because at 1 3/8" bore it has almost twice as much surface area on the piston as compared to my other 1" bore engines. Sadly, it didn't. Before I tear the set-up down off my worktable I may add a manual ignition advance to the engine, but I don't have high hopes for it.

Online Jasonb

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #215 on: May 10, 2020, 07:10:52 AM »
Surely you need to do something about the throttle too. At the moment you have it set to a fast tickover, you would not drive your car along a flat rod with the engine ticking over and then expect it to go up a hill without touching the gas pedal which is what is happening to your engine as soon as the board goes in it is like going up hill and as the momentum in the flywheels gets used up it dies.

Why not try it with the engine set to run as fast as you can by adjusting timing and opening the throttle right up, if it will cut at full lick then you know it is capable and just have to find a way to stop it running fast when there is no load, not much point in making things adjustable or making a governor if teh engine still won't have the grunt to cut wood..

Offline Roger B

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Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #216 on: May 10, 2020, 07:26:31 AM »
You may also have the problem that simple barrel type carbs don't have any load compensation. They are fine for propellers where the load drops rapidly as the speed falls but in this case as the load increases the engine speed drops and so does the air velocity through the carb. This reduces the suction and hence fuel flow until it becomes too lean and the engine stalls.
Best regards

Roger

 

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