Brmorgan
Addicted to ArboristSite
My supervisor/maintenance man tipped me off to something I might want that was just sitting out rusting in the boneyard of our chipper mill down the road from the sawmill I work at. So I went and checked it out, and hellz yeah, I want it! I should be able to pick this bad boy up for practically nothing.
It's a power-feed bandsaw system, which looks like it was set up for cutting slabs off the bottom of cants or something. The bandwheels look to be about two feet in diameter, and spin very freely so the bearings are still good.. They're much too close together to be of much use for cutting logs right now, but I have a torch and a welder!
Just a view from the other side. The belt that feeds the bandsaw is hydraulically driven, so there's already an electric hydraulic unit installed on it. You can see the reservoir tank and some hoses etc. just to the left of the tire here - the motor and pump are in behind. It has a 575V motor which I obviously can't use at home, so I'd have to swap that out. But I would use the hydraulic system to lift the powerhead and possibly to turn logs. The drive motor mounting plate is above the bandsaw wheels right above the pulley visible in this pic.
This thing will require massive modification to do what I want to do with it - basically, to turn it into a regular bandmill like a Woodmizer. I'll have to widen the gap between the wheels rather significantly I think, not to mention build them onto a movable carriage and use the existing frame as a log bed. I also need to get rid of the belt system. Or I could just make cants with the CSM and use this to slab them. The whole thing is only about 12 feet long at most but it could easily be extended. And it's already on wheels which is convenient. At any rate, it would be worth a couple hundred bucks just for the bandwheels if nothing else, and the hydraulic capability only sweetens the deal.
Just a view from the outfeed end of the mill. The belt looks way longer than it is due to my wide-angle lens. The belt is about a foot wide, maybe a bit more.
I managed to find the other wheel guard after searching through the overgrowth. As you can tell, it hasn't moved for years and I don't even know if my boss (owner) knows about it. I could probably just haul it away and nobody would notice, but I won't do that. He's been really good at giving me other "junk" from the mill for free, so who knows. Nothing this big before though. So now if I manage to get it, I'll need to find a power source for it. I'm not sure yet if I'd rather put a 10hp electric on it and just use it at home, or a 15+ HP gas engine so it's portable. I wonder if I could just do electric for now and then get a good generator to run the electric later on.
I know she ain't pretty right now, but I think there's major potential depending on what my boss wants for it.
It's a power-feed bandsaw system, which looks like it was set up for cutting slabs off the bottom of cants or something. The bandwheels look to be about two feet in diameter, and spin very freely so the bearings are still good.. They're much too close together to be of much use for cutting logs right now, but I have a torch and a welder!
Just a view from the other side. The belt that feeds the bandsaw is hydraulically driven, so there's already an electric hydraulic unit installed on it. You can see the reservoir tank and some hoses etc. just to the left of the tire here - the motor and pump are in behind. It has a 575V motor which I obviously can't use at home, so I'd have to swap that out. But I would use the hydraulic system to lift the powerhead and possibly to turn logs. The drive motor mounting plate is above the bandsaw wheels right above the pulley visible in this pic.
This thing will require massive modification to do what I want to do with it - basically, to turn it into a regular bandmill like a Woodmizer. I'll have to widen the gap between the wheels rather significantly I think, not to mention build them onto a movable carriage and use the existing frame as a log bed. I also need to get rid of the belt system. Or I could just make cants with the CSM and use this to slab them. The whole thing is only about 12 feet long at most but it could easily be extended. And it's already on wheels which is convenient. At any rate, it would be worth a couple hundred bucks just for the bandwheels if nothing else, and the hydraulic capability only sweetens the deal.
Just a view from the outfeed end of the mill. The belt looks way longer than it is due to my wide-angle lens. The belt is about a foot wide, maybe a bit more.
I managed to find the other wheel guard after searching through the overgrowth. As you can tell, it hasn't moved for years and I don't even know if my boss (owner) knows about it. I could probably just haul it away and nobody would notice, but I won't do that. He's been really good at giving me other "junk" from the mill for free, so who knows. Nothing this big before though. So now if I manage to get it, I'll need to find a power source for it. I'm not sure yet if I'd rather put a 10hp electric on it and just use it at home, or a 15+ HP gas engine so it's portable. I wonder if I could just do electric for now and then get a good generator to run the electric later on.
I know she ain't pretty right now, but I think there's major potential depending on what my boss wants for it.