Preliminary Success - First Milling

[Al Weber]

Last January I found a hidden ad on Bravenet for a used RipSaw with a Stihl 036 powerhead. I talked to the fellow and he was in FL for the winter to return to New England in the spring. Didn't hear from him until about 2 weeks ago and he was in a hurry to sell the unit. I drove down south of Boston last Thursday and found that the bandsaw and powerhead looked like new but with a bit of damage to the outer rim on the power wheel that looked like a blade had hit it. Anyway, bought the unit and hauled it home. Started to look it over carefully on Saturday. Found a downed cherry stem in the nearby woods that was partially rotted but it made a good test piece.

My first results were a disaster. When I started to mill, there were sparks from the blade guides and it was cutting a wedge within 6 inches of starting the cut. I played with it for awhile trying to align things, checking the guide clearances, etc. but it still was cutting wedges. Although the blade seemed sharp, I suspected it may have been run into the power wheel rim so after messing around for several hours, I mounted a new blade, did a blade alignment, powered it up and made a 5 foot cut through the small cherry stem (about 8 inhces in diameter) and then slabbed off a 2 inch slab. Although there is some punky material on one side, the heart wood looks sound.

I guess what I learned over the past couple of days is that the blade condition is a critical factor in band saw devices. I know this is true on the 18 inch woodworking band saw I have and it appears even more true on the RipSaw. In any case, it looks like the used unit is sound and I'm looking forward to doing some milling later this summer and early fall. My next project is to repair the rear tire on my old tractor so I can move logs for milling. I broke the stem off the tube a couple of weeks ago and have spent the last week breaking the beads of the tire, removing the "loaded" tube, and locating a new tube. The tractor is about 40 years old and I am sure the tires and wheels are original and never been touched. The rims are rusted from the calcium chloride solution but I think I can patch it all together for what I need it for.

I want to thank Woodshop and others who gave me guidance on the used RipSaw and other subjects over the past year or so. There is a lot of sound experience on this site.

 

[woodshop]

Glad to have you aboard. There is definatly a learning curve with the Ripsaw, as with many tools, but it is not steep. The few people I run into that have Ripsaws that I get to talk to all do seem to have one thing in common, that is they all have had blade problems in the beginning that disappeared as soon as they put a sharp blade on, or increased the tension to where it should be, or checked/adjusted the alignment of the mill. As for adjustments, I only had to readjust the blade alignment on my Ripsaw one time in all the years I have had it. I've adjusted the blade guides a few times as they wear, but after thousands of bd ft there is still tons of life in the originals and replacements are cheap. I have gone through several thrust bearings where the back of the blade rides over the years, but they are only $6 also, and one allen screw holds them in place so changing them out takes 2 minutes. Like every tool that complex the ripsaw has its quirks.

Do yourself a favor and spend $150 on an alaskan mill to slab your logs down to cants with no bark. The blades last twice to three times as long if you stay out of bark, and thus that alaskan mill pays for itself in saved blades in short order. Of course there is the minor problem of having to have a 75cc+ saw with a 36 inch bar to RUN that csm... details details.

Feel free to ask away if you have any problems or questions running your mill... no sense reinventing the wheel.

Dave