Old School Sawmill Edger

[Craig DeShong]

Brian,  lack of comments doesn’t infer little interest.  If you look at the view count after each of your posts you can see it jump up significantly.  Lots of people are interested enough to open your post and see what’s going on.  They just choose not to comment a lot.  I’m one who tends to fall in that area for many threads here.

[tghs]

I'm just waiting to see it finished so I can get the planks cut for my 1/6th scale steam launch hull with scale saw marks..its been a great trip to follow..   

[scc]

Brian,  I completely agree with Craig.  I follow along and rarely add a comment.  I am enjoying your build and the way it has developed.   Waiting to see it making sawdust     Regards             Terry

[Art K]

Brian,
I have no doubt that you will sort out any problem with it and will have it running on any of your engines you have a urge to run it with. You have an eye for sorting out that sort of thing.
Art

[gerritv]

Hi Brian
I get a lot from your projects and methods, but if I have nothing to add then I generally stay quiet. Not a big fan of the 'wow from me too' posts on some forums, it seems to dilute the useful content.

My offer of a free section of 5mm round belting material to try out is still there for you.

Gerrit

[sbwhart]

I'am Quietly watching Brian 

Stew

[Brian Rupnow]

Okay guys--Thank you for the vote of confidence. When I don't get any feedback on what I'm doing I always begin to wonder if anybody is looking. the edger will be completely finished today. I have  couple of Lovejoy couplings on order, and will try again to run this thing with one of my gas engines.

[Brian Rupnow]

The edger is finished. I have been running boards thru it using the new gear reducer, and it does everything that I expected it to. I just got a call from a mechanical supply house and the two Lovejoy couplings I had on order have arrived. At some point today or perhaps tomorrow I will try again with one of my gas engines.  Set-up will be gas engine---Lovejoy coupling---clutch---Lovejoy coupling---edger reducer.

[crueby]

Terrific!  We'll get the theater set up for the video.

[Brian Rupnow]

So here we are guys---almost ready to rock and roll. I picked up my Lovejoy couplings this morning, and I have adjusted the height of all the components to be (hopefully) in line with each other, shaft-wise. As you can see, I have a bit of work to do yet, as the couplings need to be drilled and tapped for set-screws, and the wooden blocks under the clutch have to be drilled and glued together. I strongly believe that there were so many frictional losses with all of the o-ring drives and shafts on the first set up two weeks ago, that the gas engine didn't have enough power to drive the edger. I don't know this for sure, but it is what I think. Wish me luck. In another day or so we will be ready for the next test.

[Vixen]

Hi Brian,

Just to let you know I'm watching and waiting to see the sawdust fly. Nice job

MIke

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Hello Brian,

That is one cool looking set-up, I'm standing by 

Have a great day,
Thomas

[Brian Rupnow]

Yesterday and today have been a voyage of discovery for me. I have tried three different engines on this set-up, one being my throttle governed engine as seen in the previous post. Next up was the hit and miss side shaft engine, and then the Rockerblock engine. All of these engines have a 1" bore and a 1 3/8" stroke, and none of them have the power to drive the edger. This surprises me, but  surprises are what you get when designing and building from scratch. Where do I go next?---Good question. I do have a twin cylinder engine that I built a few years ago, but it has a hand operated throttle. The perfect engine for this job would be throttle governed, whereby when there is no load on the fast idling engine, it does just that--sets there on a fast idle. As soon as it senses a load coming onto the engine, (because of the engine slowing down) it fully opens the throttle and holds the throttle open until the revs come back up to the "set point".  One of the problems with using my twin cylinder engine to run the edger, is that the "off" side of the crankshaft is not accessible to attach a drive coupling to. I can probably work around that, but there is the issue of tuning the twin into a throttle governed engine. I have to dwell on this one for a while before deciding what I'm going to do. The edger itself is a success. I will post more of this after it becomes a little clearer to me what to do. Merry Christmas to all of you.---Brian

[crueby]

Supercharger? Nitrous?  Balsa to cut easier?

[Flyboy Jim]

Yesterday and today have been a voyage of discovery for me. I have tried three different engines on this set-up, one being my throttle governed engine as seen in the previous post. Next up was the hit and miss side shaft engine, and then the Rockerblock engine. All of these engines have a 1" bore and a 1 3/8" stroke, and none of them have the power to drive the edger. This surprises me, but  surprises are what you get when designing and building from scratch. Where do I go next?---Good question. I do have a twin cylinder engine that I built a few years ago, but it has a hand operated throttle. The perfect engine for this job would be throttle governed, whereby when there is no load on the fast idling engine, it does just that--sets there on a fast idle. As soon as it senses a load coming onto the engine, (because of the engine slowing down) it fully opens the throttle and holds the throttle open until the revs come back up to the "set point".  One of the problems with using my twin cylinder engine to run the edger, is that the "off" side of the crankshaft is not accessible to attach a drive coupling to. I can probably work around that, but there is the issue of tuning the twin into a throttle governed engine. I have to dwell on this one for a while before deciding what I'm going to do. The edger itself is a success. I will post more of this after it becomes a little clearer to me what to do. Merry Christmas to all of you.---Brian

I'm thinking we may see a new engine design coming up? 

Jim