Author Topic: Old School Sawmill Edger  (Read 18094 times)

Offline doubletop

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 362
  • Wellington NZ
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #150 on: December 02, 2019, 07:12:05 AM »
Brian

Brilliant!! Now you've got the gearing sorted it runs very well.

I'll be waiting for David Lloyd to build his scaled up version.

Pete
?To achieve anything in this game, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.? - Stirling Moss

Offline sbwhart

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 745
  • Live Long and Prosper
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #151 on: December 02, 2019, 08:03:13 AM »
Fantastic Project Brian  :whoohoo: :whoohoo: :whoohoo: :pinkelephant: :pinkelephant:

I've followed you all the way.

Stew
A little bit of clearance never got in the way

Offline Johnmcc69

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 792
  • Erie Pa., USA
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #152 on: December 02, 2019, 04:27:32 PM »
 :ThumbsUp:
 Very nice piece of engineering there Brian!

 It's a shame your engines wouldn't power it. Maybe time to build a bigger engine?  :stickpoke:

 John

Offline Brian Rupnow

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7573
  • Barrie, Ontario Canada
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #153 on: December 02, 2019, 07:05:49 PM »
The big question here was "will the edger work" and if so then "what will be the final pulley reductions and sawblade speeds and what rpm will the feed rollers work best." I have now determined all of those factors. The initial form of the edger had far too many shafts and friction points for one of my gas engines to run. There is nothing else right now that I want to move forward and design or build so I am going to spend some time on a purpose built reducer that will give me the proper outputs and rpm's. The reducer which I used on this initial run was just one that I had setting around from 10 years ago. I want something that lets me get rid of the two top-shafts and the pulleys and o-rings associated with them.

Offline Brian Rupnow

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7573
  • Barrie, Ontario Canada
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #154 on: December 03, 2019, 12:14:33 AM »
So what does a design engineer do if he's bored?--Well of course--He designs something. In this particular case, a custom designed reducer to work with the edger. This will do three things, which may all be good. With full ball bearings on every shaft, this will cut way down on friction, and use up all the weird ball bearings that have been collecting in my tin of goodies. It also may give a far greater chance of the edger being powered by one of my gas engines, and it will keep me from totally forgetting how to cut gears with my mill and rotary table. It will also get rid of the towers and overhead shafts on the edger. I had accumulated six "bastard" ball bearings, some of which are metric and some of which are imperial, but they are all good bearings.--More will follow, tomorrow.

Offline crueby

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18554
  • Rochester NY
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #155 on: December 03, 2019, 12:46:36 AM »
Looking forward to seeing how Edger-MK-II comes together. Popcorn is ready!
 :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Offline RJH

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 18
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #156 on: December 03, 2019, 01:49:06 AM »
Looks like a fun machine.
If the engine was connected to the saw shaft, it would not have the drag of turning the gears, shafts and orings under the load of the blades.  Ralph

Offline Art K

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1761
  • Madison, Wisconsin USA
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #157 on: December 03, 2019, 03:03:30 AM »
Brian,
Great job! It is quite noisy but I am sure the volume is scaled to the original. It should prove interesting with the gear train changes.
Art
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you" B.B. King

Offline MJM460

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1647
  • Melbourne, Australia
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #158 on: December 03, 2019, 09:52:51 AM »
Hi Brian, great to see it working, an interesting project.

Now you also need a project to use all those planks!

I am not surprised that it is noisy, I have never heard of a quiet woodworking machine, particularly saws and planers.

My only comment is that the cutting speed on that small blade seems very low for woodworking, cutting speeds are usually much higher than our normal metal cutting speeds.  And it might be worth making a little tool to put some set on those blades to reduce the blade friction a bit.  They are fairly simple devices and should make quite a difference.

MJM460



The more I learn, the more I find that I still have to learn!

Offline Brian Rupnow

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7573
  • Barrie, Ontario Canada
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #159 on: December 03, 2019, 05:42:57 PM »
I dug around in my "someday I might use that" box, and Voila!! Not only did I find all of the orphaned bearings that I will use on my new gear reducer, but I also found a set of timing pulleys and a timing belt, which were rescued from a dead appliance?? One shaft from my reducer is going to extend from the reducer and sprocket side to the opposite side of the edger, where they will drive the sawblades.

Offline Jasonb

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9463
  • Surrey, UK
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #160 on: December 03, 2019, 06:21:33 PM »
ideally you should have drive going to the blade shaft and this should be the only input to the edger. Then any gearing down to the rollers should be taken from that shaft. Reason being that if the blade bogs down and looses speed the feed will also be reduced and you won't carry on feeding wood into a slowing blade which will quickly become a stall.

Offline Brian Rupnow

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7573
  • Barrie, Ontario Canada
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #161 on: December 03, 2019, 06:31:47 PM »
Okay---Version two!! This is a much cleaner version. The overhead towers and shafts and pulleys are gone. All of the gearing  to get from 1000 rpm to 60 rpm is done by the gears inside the reducer I will build. This will dramatically cut down friction and noise. One of the gears which is running in the opposite direction in the reducer has it's shaft extended through to the far side of the edger, where a timing belt drives from the extended shaft to the saws.


Offline Brian Rupnow

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7573
  • Barrie, Ontario Canada
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #162 on: December 03, 2019, 07:06:43 PM »
Jason--I believe that what I have agrees with what you are suggesting. If the saw-blades are forced to slow down, the infeed rollers will have to slow down also. There will be no possible "slippage" in the system

Offline Jasonb

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9463
  • Surrey, UK
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #163 on: December 03, 2019, 07:20:00 PM »
Slippage is not a bad thing but you need the rollers to slip rather than the blade drive slip while the rollers are still feeding the work in.

Take another look at that photo I posted at the bottom of page 1 where I said you did not need the overhead drive etc. You will see the top roller that tensions the drive belt to the two rollers is sprung so can slip if needed rather than having a solid geared or chain drive.

Offline Brian Rupnow

  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7573
  • Barrie, Ontario Canada
Re: Old School Sawmill Edger
« Reply #164 on: December 04, 2019, 05:36:39 PM »
There are a couple of 14 tooth gears in the new gear reducer I an building, and it is actually simpler if I make the gear and the shaft that supports it all from one piece. This picture shows the first blank, ready to have teeth cut in it. I used the auto feed running in reverse on the turned down area closest to the chuck. It worked fine, but felt very weird watching the cutting tool and carriage moving from left to right.

 

SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal