Thread: Home made slabbing mill?

Burnsy,

A ride on Motor would be fine, basically the Lucas one is 16Hp on the dedicated slabber.

If you get a motor that has a vertical output shaft it'd be an easy hook up. The only issue I can see is the rail setup taking the weight safely.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Burnsy,

A ride on Motor would be fine, basically the Lucas one is 16Hp on the dedicated slabber.

If you get a motor that has a vertical output shaft it'd be an easy hook up. The only issue I can see is the rail setup taking the weight safely.

Are they all 16HP and if so what size bar can they run? I have seen second hand vertical shaft motors available pretty cheap as no-one has a use for them other than ride on mowers, would be cheaper than a big saw!

I don't see the rails and chassis as being an issue, that can easilly be engineered, there are plenty of different grades of C channel available for the rails - I have 150mm c channel in my roof that spans about 11 metres!!

Might be a long term project to add to the list

The dedicated Slabbers are 16hp, but the attachments can go on the 13hp, 18hp the new 30hp whatever engine you have for milling, they make the attachments for slabbing.

On the dedicated slabber (16hp) it comes standard with a 1.5m cut (about 60" i think)and can be supplied bigger if required. Lucas maintain becasue it's direct drive the dedicated slabber does a better job than an attachment with a bigger engine.

Originally Posted by Burnsy

I don't see the rails and chassis as being an issue, that can easilly be engineered, there are plenty of different grades of C channel available for the rails - I have 150mm c channel in my roof that spans about 11 metres!!

Are they ally? I don't know that I'd be wanting to lump 6 m sections of C-channel steel around the place. I priced those big ally sections a couple of years ago and they are not cheap.

The Lucas height adjustment is not complicated but it's not simple either. The beauty of the Lucas when driven by a skilled operator is its accuracy over long distances. Duplicating that in a home made setup would be quite challenging.

Anyway, would make a great project.

Cheers

Damn, you got me all excited then. I've got a Briggs & Stratton motor with a vertical shaft out there on an old concrete sweeper, but I just had a look and it's only 4.5Hp.

Have you got a link to what these slabbers look like? I gather it's a chain, not a circular blade, is that right?

Not ally but I don't want anything longer than 3 maybe 4 metres at the moment. If I did it there would be a trailer set up to hold and house it all. You would want a log to be pretty special to cause you to want to carry a lucas style chassis and powerhead any distance. And then you have to get the slabs out, personally, I would rather carry the chassis and powerhead

Some thinking and scavenging should turn up something useful!

Originally Posted by silentC

Damn, you got me all excited then. I've got a Briggs & Stratton motor with a vertical shaft out there on an old concrete sweeper, but I just had a look and it's only 4.5Hp.

Have you got a link to what these slabbers look like? I gather it's a chain, not a circular blade, is that right?

Maybe you could find another one and have a power head at each end

Yep, chain, thinking exactly the same as a lucas slabber. The complex part of the lucas is the circular swing blade which I would not attempt. The chassis cradle and slabber is probably less complex than Bob's chainsaw mill. Then again maybe I am wrong, otherwise everbody would bemaking them. It just seems simple,someone must have had a go at this before.

I've got another one but it's in use at the moment. I'll have to wait until my old man goes away again. Then we gets back it will be "hey, how come the ride on wont start?"

But yeah, I'd be interested to see how you get on if you try it. I was planning to maybe use this motor to make a mulcher, but a slabber would probably get more use.

Silent,

even with a 4.5hp motor, you'd still be able to do it, but on the widest boards you'd slow down. Keeping the chain sharp and going steady - it's amazing what you can cut.

I'd say 4.5hp would still convert to a bigger grunt verses a 3120 or 099, why not give it a go??

I shall look into it

i have been tossing this idea around for a few years and done nothing about it.
also been giving some thought to using a motor bike engine with a bar and chain and making a vertical style rail mill.
the motor bike engine even gives you a gearbox and clutch already set up .and in almost unlimited size engines too

Vertical has fairly limited uses. I too have thought about the motorcycle engine but the problem is you would need a gearbox to reorientate the drive to the correct plane. There is probably a ready supply of directional change gearboxes up to the task out there but I don't know of any so it kind of wipes that idea out for me. If you could get a suitable gearbox it would open up a whole range of horizintal shaft engine possibilities,

Originally Posted by Burnsy

Has anyone ever seen a home made mill using a 4 stroke rideon mower engine as the power head? The lucas slabber seems like a pretty basic setup and I was wondering how easy it would be to mount a motor on a large alaskan style frame with a nice long bar. Any idea what size 4 stroke engine would be needed to run a 60 inch bar?

Ah I say you did ask.

As my goal and many others is to obtain timber for what ever purpose we need it for in a cost effective manner in terms of $$ and effect on the human.

Shortly after reading your post I delved back into my stash of ideas and found exactly what your after..

About 2 years ago while on the side of a hill, chainsaw milling a beauitiful QLD maple in heat I care not to remember, I thought there must be another way.

So I began to examine my C/S mill and all the components including all the why's and 'how they are what they are' and can they be substituted and or modified to speed up the cut, reduce the effort and generally improve the slabbing process

I looked all other slabbing options from bare bones alaskan style CS Mills and CS mills with all the add on's such a oilers and fuel tanks, winches, rollers /wheels remote throttles water coolers etc then lucas style slabbers its but cost was prohibative for me and then thought can I engineer my own so I came up with an x and y axis mechanism similar to lucas with a vertical shaft small engine with a 60" bar using a clutch mechanism and drive from a chainsaw.

Seeing the water cool mech' on a previous thread I'm adding that on as well.

After seeing this thread last week, you sparked my interest so I dug it out and have bought the gear and construction starts this week.

I' ve even thought about single phase electric for use in my shed and currently building a power head to fit on the main mill ( when It rains in Cairns IT RAINS).

I keep you posted with pics on a new thread

Shayne

Sounds great Shayne, please make sure you post pictures. Did you always consider using a clutch or contemplate direct drive for a while. Another clutch option could be a centrifugal type as used on compactors. Will be very interested to see how you tackle this part of the design and construction, to my mind this is the most challenging part.

Cheers,
Mike