"john moorhead" wrote:

Folks -

[snip]

John, We are still working on our band mill. We started out by buying
bearings, axles, and band wheels from www.linnlumber.com The gent
there sent a video tape of assembly instructions for his series of
kits which we have been reverse engineering in places to use as a
start.

His price for pillow block bearings was as good as I could find at the
time. The band wheels he sells are a browning pulley with a v belt on
them. Browning pulleys can be had at your local bearing supply.
Suffolk machinery sells a poly belt to use in place of the v belt
according to the brochure that I recieved with a recent purchase.

We are also doing a lot of scrounging. We have a 9.9 hp Onan opposed
engine plus a spare that we got for free. Maybe a bit under powered
but we are not looking to be a commercial interest. The engine was
set up to use a gear reduction box so output shaft didn't have a oil
seal since it was enclosed in a gear box. There was a bore that we
could drive an oil seal so we measured it and put one in.

The rails we are using is 3" angle, 3/8 wall that my brother in law
had left from a job which he gave to us. He also gave us an axle and
tire assembly that fits nicely. We plan to remove axle assy when on
site to get frame low to ground and use leveling jack screws to true
things up.

The screws to raise carrage are nothing more than 1" 8 pitch threaded
rod bought at a steel supply. We have an old variable speed
gearbox/motor/controller we have attached to help speed raising and
lowering. The thing runs on 110 ac but we plan to attach an inverter
to truck for power.

Guide wheels for track and guide wheels for band are home made. I
have access to a lathe at work and another brother in law that was
able to supply stubs of 4140 stock for round parts.

We are well under a grand at this time. We made one test cut on red
pine but need to make some changes and get blade guarding in place.

The only thing that gives me pause is that we are using a tensioner
idler system to engage the engine with band wheels. Basically, we
move the idler away from belt when we want the engine to be
de-clutched and spring load the idler to engage. It doesn't work so
well. Not enough resistance from band wheels so they start spinning
right after starting he engine. I'd like to find a resonably priced
source for a 1" bore centrifical clutch that can handle 10-15 hp.
Linn lumber has one but I don't care for his price.

Steel for guarding, I get from work from the scrap bin. We use a lot
of sheet goods for custom products we make. Sometimes the scrap is
decent sized material.

As far as is this worth it. If your desire is to do commercial work,
then get commercial equipment. If your desire is to handle some work
for family and friends and have fun building something useful using
your ability to create something useful from others junk then go for
it. There is no way we would have spent 4-6 grand on a mill. Less
than a grand using what we can scrounge makes it 500 bucks each for
uncle and me.

Wes




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