Thread: Power required for ripping old hardwood sleepers

3hp 3 phase would probably do it with a steady feed. The trouble with the old sleepers is the amount of grit, gravel and debris that they have rammed deep into the cracks so expect a lot of stopping for resharpens. Just to give you a comparison some mining machinery guys from Newcastle near me got a contract to rip up about fourteen kilometres of old coal line and they decided to turn the sleepers into firewood...They built a single axle with five circular blades that they could feed the sleepers into and powered it with a 300 hp diesel.

Is that 5" total depth, or 5" per blade? If it's 5" total, 3 hp should be ok if you go slowly, 5" per blade you haven't got a hope with anything less than 10hp unless your feed rate is a crawl

3 HP would be a bit light and struggle . Ive got a 3 HP belt driven saw bench and that doesnt like 3 " wood .
I wonder if that's belt tension thinking about it ? A friend had saw power problem that turned out to be belt slippage . The belt slipping just wasn't obvious at all.
I have a 4 HP direct drive and that is a lot better at 5 " cuts .

Ive also got a 5HP rip saw that takes 20 " blade . I haven't used it yet . One thing though , the 5 HP motor is huge . And too much for one guy to move around without a trolley or mechanical help . Maybe this is because its an Old motor ? I doubt a modern would be a lot lighter with a guess.

The grit will be a problem . You could use two old HSS Blades and give them a touch up with an angle grinder to keep them going .

I visited a big factory where they used only second hand wood. They ripped it all down with a big Wadkin Rip saw. something like a 30 " blade . All the aged faces was what they used and pressed into door and table construction . Big Architectural stuff. Pretty impressive results too.

Rob

5hp on 20" is optimistic... we have 10hp on 16" at work and even that struggles in deep cuts

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

5hp on 20" is optimistic... we have 10hp on 16" at work and even that struggles in deep cuts

perhaps I should go check before posting rater than after . The 20 " saw has a 15 HP motor not 5 HP. Its belt drive and runs at 1490 RPM
It seemed right with a guess though at 5 because the Wadkin PK is 4 HP and runs 18" blade .
That's direct drive though , so is running fast .

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Is that 5" total depth, or 5" per blade? If it's 5" total, 3 hp should be ok if you go slowly, 5" per blade you haven't got a hope with anything less than 10hp unless your feed rate is a crawl

No it would be around 10 inch total cut. Ie. 5 inch per blade. Looks like that idea is out the window. Thanks for the feedback guys.
I think anything bigger than 3 hp would make the whole configuration unworkable, let alone quite expensive to build.
My next option could be to go for a 20hp vertical shaft petrol or diesel motor. Not quite so straight forward though. I'd need to set up a gear train drive. Maybe two 5 hp petrol engines? I wonder how hard it is to reverse one of them!!

Just had a quick look at petrol engines on ebay and can't believe how cheap they are.
6.5HP Petrol Stationary Engine Motor 4-Stroke OHV Horizontal Shaft 5.5HP Replace | eBay

Probably worth looking at the portable sawmill sites such as Lucas. They use 16HP to 30HP motors (petrol) depending on blade size. That is for a single blade. May be an idea to post on the small timber milling forum also.

Len's comment on the amount of grit is quite right. The tungsten tipped blades won't like that at all. They will probably just break off. A bandsaw will be more forgiving on foreign bodies, but less able to cope with the hardness. Having said that, 5" is nothing for a band saw to cut so that may be your best bet.

Home made bandsaws are not too difficult.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Gestalt

Just had a quick look at petrol engines on ebay and can't believe how cheap they are.
6.5HP Petrol Stationary Engine Motor 4-Stroke OHV Horizontal Shaft 5.5HP Replace | eBay

Always remember, you get what you pay for in life. Ebay bargains can be fantastic sometimes, whilst at other times terrible.

I have around a dozen celery top pine sleepers salvaged during a line upgrade on the west coast. Plan to use a chainsaw mill as it is easier to resharpen after the inevitable grit damage. Chainsaw would be a big undertaking for 60 sleepers though.

Tony

Originally Posted by Gestalt

Just had a quick look at petrol engines on ebay and can't believe how cheap they are.
6.5HP Petrol Stationary Engine Motor 4-Stroke OHV Horizontal Shaft 5.5HP Replace | eBay

I have had vertical shaft version of that on a lawnmower for a few years now and it is excellent, much better than the old Briggs and Stratton that used to be on it.
For the price they are great value.

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Probably worth looking at the portable sawmill sites such as Lucas. They use 16HP to 30HP motors (petrol) depending on blade size. That is for a single blade. May be an idea to post on the small timber milling forum also.

Len's comment on the amount of grit is quite right. The tungsten tipped blades won't like that at all. They will probably just break off. A bandsaw will be more forgiving on foreign bodies, but less able to cope with the hardness. Having said that, 5" is nothing for a band saw to cut so that may be your best bet.

Home made bandsaws are not too difficult.

Regards
Paul

Good advice Paul, thanks. Found this one on ebay. SAWMILL – PORTABLE BAND SAW MILL FULL ELECTRI START WILL CUT AUSTRALIAN HARDWOOD | eBay
I'd probably spend half that if I built one, but I lose out on the time factor.

Grit & Crap in reclaimed wood.

I know there is probably a good reason why I have never seen this as a tip but try water blaster [gernie, karcher] first. I had some really nice reclaimed wood that somebody must have thrown mud on. I figured that since I was going to dress all external surfaces furring up the outside was not really a problem. i hit it with the blaster left the wood for a few days to dry and it actually made a real difference to the quality and ease of the cut.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Gestalt

Good advice Paul, thanks. Found this one on ebay. SAWMILL – PORTABLE BAND SAW MILL FULL ELECTRI START WILL CUT AUSTRALIAN HARDWOOD | eBay
I'd probably spend half that if I built one, but I lose out on the time factor.

Or this one:

https://www.machines4u.com.au/view/a...awmill/385208/

available through the same seller.

Frontier OS27 Portable Band saw Sawmill | eBay

I don't know anything about them other than what is shown on the websites. The OS27 is a better size motor. My own band saw mill has a 14HP Briggs V-twin.

Regards
Paul