Chris's Un-Ransome Tree Feller

[crueby]

To get it ready to cut down some mini trees, the saw needs the base frame to hold it and swing it side to side (the Ransome saws used a handwheel and threaded rod to do the swinging. First up, I made the U-shaped part of the frame that wraps around the cylinder, along with bronze bushings to fit on the trunnions on the cylinder. The cap on the top one still needs to be shaped on the outer edge to wrap it around the bearing properly, but here it is test fit. First with the cylinder swung one direction (the frame is held in the vise at the moment, lots more frame bars to go).

and swung back the other direction

The flat visible on the center ring of the cylinder is where the arm to the large gear segment at the back will go. More on that later.

[cnr6400]

 

[Kim]

Quick work on the U bracket, Chris!   

Looks like a bit of a chore to get the cap bolted over the bearing there as the steam chest seems to be in the way.  But clearly, you found a way to do it.

I'm looking forward to seeing the gear advancement mechanism.

Kim

[crueby]

Quick work on the U bracket, Chris!   

Looks like a bit of a chore to get the cap bolted over the bearing there as the steam chest seems to be in the way.  But clearly, you found a way to do it.

I'm looking forward to seeing the gear advancement mechanism.

Kim

Not hard to get at the screws, just swing the cylinder one way to get at the screw on one side, then swing it the other way to clear the other one. More distance there than it looks in the pictures. Once the cap is profiled, with flats on either side and radiused in the middle, there will be more room too.
 

[crueby]

Got the bearing cap shaped, and also cut slots down the length of the U bracket legs to improve the look of them.


Kim, in this picture you can also see that there is lots of room for getting at the screws, that other angle made it look like they were right up against the steam chest.

Then made up the bracket for holding the worm gear arc on the back of the cylinder, to swing it back and forth. Here are the two parts cut to length and bolted up, more shaping to be done on these.

Then switched to figuring out the worm gear segment. Only needs to be a couple inches long to get the required swing of the saw blade out front. Found a cut-off piece of thick brass on the shelf that is big enough to cut it out of. Took a while to figure out how to hold it for cutting the arc and the threads, wound up with a faceplate disk that I made years ago to hold the flywheel on my MEM Corliss model, its a disk of aluminum bolted to a faceplate. Clamped the brass piece in place and drilled/tapped some holes to hold it in place. Next step will be to mill the outer arc, then work out the cutter/moves for cutting the teeth. It will be set upright on the vertical rotary table - because of the diameter the disk will have to be hung off the edge of the mill table, or will need to put a spacer under the vertical rotary table. Am using a Acme threaded rod for the worm, so need to pick the cutter and angle steps to match it close enough. Since its just a segment of the circle, I wont be able to hob the teeth, but since its just a handwheel advance all I need is to get them close enough to mesh...

[Kim]

Thanks for the additional pic, Chris. Yeah, you do have more room in there than it looked like from that first picture. Which is a good thing! 

Nice start on the large worm gear segment! 

Kim

[bent]

Looking really good, Chris!   

[crueby]

Thanks guys!

[wagnmkr]

Looking good Chris. There should be a pile of firewood somewhere near you soon!

So, enquiring minds and all that. We know you won't rest and likely have something near done already. Any hints?

 

Tom

[crueby]

Looking good Chris. There should be a pile of firewood somewhere near you soon!

So, enquiring minds and all that. We know you won't rest and likely have something near done already. Any hints?

 

Tom

I don't have it any farther along than what you see in the photos/posts, I'm posting as I go, not posting about work in the past. So, no hints!   

Assuming the contractor for the new room I'm getting built gets started soon, there will be a lot of branches from two shrubs that are going to have to be taken out. They would be perfect size for testing the saw, assuming I can convince the shop elves to hold the branch for me!   

Given the work left to do on the worm gear piece, handwheel, and the rest of the base frame, I'm guessing that it will be about two weeks till its ready for felling work. Give or take a couple weeks!      There is another big event coming up at the logging museum in Maine, I'll be up there practising driving the Lombard log haulers again. The branches I cut here will be a little small to haul behind the real Lombard, though about the right size for my model one.
 

[paul gough]

Hi Chris, That 'largeish' tooling plate on the rotary table looks useful for a number of things. Could you inform the diameter, thickness and how it is secured to the rotary table. Thanks. My Sherline mill should ship on Friday from Vista so looking for useful accessories.
Regards, Paul Gough.

[crueby]

Hi Chris, That 'largeish' tooling plate on the rotary table looks useful for a number of things. Could you inform the diameter, thickness and how it is secured to the rotary table. Thanks. My Sherline mill should ship on Friday from Vista so looking for useful accessories.
Regards, Paul Gough.

Hi Paul,
That round tooling plate is 6" diameter, 3/16" thick, and is bolted to a smaller faceplate. Its cut from some aluminum sheet.

I found 3" and 4" faceplates that fit the Sherline headstock thread at Penn State Industries, which is a place that sells a lot of tooling aimed at the wood turning hobby. These faceplates are a thicker steel with the 3/4-16 thread that matches Sherline's thread. The brand is MaxWood, available elsewhere as well. The one thing on them is that they have an unthreaded portion on the headstock thread sticking out a little ways - the Sherline headstock won't reach past that to the start of the threads, so what I do is mount the faceplate backwards on the headstock, plate towards the headstock, and turn off the unthreaded portion so that it will then fit on properly. The Sherline rotary table has an adapter that threads into the center hole, and gives you the same 3/4-16 thread so you can run on a faceplate. The faceplates that Sherline sells are very thin aluminum with large slots, meant mainly for turning with a drive dog. The MaxWood faceplates are very thick, steel, with more round holes. I bought several of them, and add holes as needed for my projects. When they get too swiss-cheesed after a lot of projects, I get out a new faceplate - they are not expensive.


Oh, and in other pictures you will see a rectangular tooling plate on the rotary table with lots of threaded holes - that plate is steel, drilled/tapped in a 1" grid for the same 10-32 thread that the hold down clamps use. You can buy ali ones for a lot of money, or just make your own, which is what I did. I put a little plug on the bottom that fits into the rotab center hole to center it, and there are clearance holes either side to take t-nut bolts to hold it to the rotab. I put those holes between the 1" grid rows in two places, so I can put the plate on either centered or offset to one end to allow for clamping down long pieces like con-rods.

[crueby]

This morning got the blank for the gear segment milled to a nice arc inside and out, ready to cut the teeth.

Then did some testing to fit the vertical rotary table for cutting the teeth, and found I need to make up an adapter plate to space the rotab up higher to clear the disc above the table, as well as setting it farther back so the mill head will reach. That will be quick, just drilling/tapping some holes in a block of aluminum to match the rotab base and the slots in the mill table.

[cnr6400]

 

[crueby]

This afternoon got the little spacer block made to raise the vertical rotary table frame up and back farther on the mill table, to give clearance for the larger faceplate and back far enough to let the cutter clear beyond the teeth. Simple rectangular block with holes drilled/tapped.

After some measuring, testing the different module cuters against the acme threaded rod, some math, and a couple tests on the edge of the faceplate to fine tune the depth of cut, I was ready to cut the teeth in the worm wheel segment (this is going on the back of the cylinder, just needs enough to swing the saw blade through its arc).

Here is the threaded rod (1/2"x8 tpi) held up to check the fit, looks good to me, no slop back and forth so its good to go. I'll fit the center spacing to match the parts.

While its still on the faceplate, I'll do some more milling on the profile and trim the ends to the length needed. One end will get notched and drilled to fit the bar on the side of the cylinder.