habbi wrote:
The bearings I have are old brass sleeve bearings with grease nipples, the
shaft is 1.5". The bearings are hefty and about 3" long. Do you think they
will be fine? How true should they be to the shaft. when everything is loose
the bearings spin freely on the shaft but once I tighten the bearing blocks
down to the framework there is a bit of drag. This is do to the slight
warping of the framework after welding. I can still easily turn the shaft
with one hand on the shaft though.

"Ken Cutt" wrote in message
...

habbi wrote:

Thanks, I have it set-up for 500 rpm and it seems slow, I will change

the

spindle sheave to a smaller one to give me a speed in your recommended
range.

"sawdoc" wrote in message
egroups.com...


Unless your saw is very thing (less than 0.125") the go for a rim speed
of about 6000-8000 ft/minute. (790 rpm - 1050 rpm).

Bruce Lehmann
TKT Engineering
www.thinkerf.com




Keep a watch on you bearing temps . Some old mandrels just will not
handle high speed for long . You sure do not want to wipe one out with a
29 inch blade spinning right close to you . Luck
Ken Cutt



I go by feel on old style bearings . In fact that was what I saw my
Grandfather do while I was growing up . Warm is safe , hot is not .
Bronze bushings should be fine . Slight drag , well I would think that
would accelerate wear to one side . Shim the blocks or clamp the frame
enough to release the tension and weld a bar to hold it in its free
position . Cutting with a buzz saw always feels too slow at the start
and to fast towards the end . Also small stuff the saw seems too slow ,
big stuff too fast . Do a few hours of actual cutting and then see if
you think it needs to spin faster . Or if the bearings are running hot .
Likely you will not start out at the ideal speed but over the long haul
you will be happy enough with the size of the pile . Luck
Ken Cutt