Thread: Swingmill udate, I automated a Brand X sawhead

Can i get one of thoses box thinges please .Been pushing and pulling in the sun all day summer is allmost here.

it is getting a bit warm cant wait till summer really arrives.


looking good. wil it feed faster? you should be able to atleaste double that speed . on the 1" cut you should be able to tripple it.

i can run teh mill threw a 1" cut in hardwood with sharp tips.

iv got almost everything sorted now jsut need that horasontal movemnt controller. got a quote from one mob to make it up. $3000.00 . im sure i can get it cheaper.

will keep serching. let me know if you find anything.

Yes it can go a lot faster, so far I have had it up to 180 fpm but that was not the top speed. You got to be on the ball at those speeds.

I did notice that the one inch cuts did not drop the rpm noticeably.

If you want to just use a speed lever you could use a hydrostatic transmission. Your electric motor would put in a constant speed and the output shaft speed will have bidirectional speed control via a lever or push rod.

Nice!

looks good. I would like to see more of how it actually operates I.E. how is the carriage pull driven and such.

Done well buddy

Travis, here is a description of the feed. I will try and come up with a video of the system.

There is a Char-Lynn H series hydraulic motor driving a 40# gear sprocket. The 40# chain loops from the motor to the other end of the frame and back. Idler sprockets are used at the far end (I run the bottom of the chain loop through a PVC pipe to keep it clean). The saw head has two threaded rods that attach both ends of the chain and can be drawn up to set the tension.

The maximum demand of the hydraulic motor is 12 gallons/minute, I found that the matching valve was too small to support speeds over 60 fpm, so I setup a 26 gpm electric reversing valve.

Speed control is done by a bypass valve, the more bypass the slower the feed. This has the advantage of minimizing the load on the hydraulic pump/gas engine. A 3 cu. pump is driven by a 11 hp Honda (something I had access too). The Honda runs at a fast idle. There is a 12VDC electric gear motor that rotates the stem of a multi turn bypass valve. Two switches opens or closes the bypass valve.

how handy is that. great work

cool, and what about the drive for the left/right, and up/down of the cutting head? stepper motor? and how do you get the correct amount of travel, to give the desired size of cut?

Sorry bout the questions, but if ya don't ask you don't learn, and it may be helpful for a few other blokes on here (weisy...lol)

he dosent have anything to do horizontal or vert movement.

we ave been emailing and agree the best option would be a plc driven stepper motor. but it would have to be custom made/programed.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

he dosent have anything to do horizontal or vert movement.

we ave been emailing and agree the best option would be a plc driven stepper motor. but it would have to be custom made/programed.

That is simple enough, and in the perfect world would be good but it would also be expensive. you could probably do it using limit switches and dc servo motors quite a bit cheaper, and still get a very usable setup, especially if you were cutting a lot of the same dimension timbers.

i can get a ready made system that has a keypad like i wanted to do horizontal movement for

$2750.00

that includes the stepper motor, steper driver, and controller.

i would have to install a lead screw or other linear motion mechanics.

for another
$1000 i could add vertical movement. this would be for a second stepper motor, and driver, would be able to run off existing controller pad.

Lucas were developing an automated vertical setup.
regards inter

what i see as automated and what people sell as automated are 2 diferent things.

i dont like the asm with teh gauge on the powerhead that could be up to 8m or more away. its just not accurate.

for my noney i would want a keypad with display the operator just keys in the movement and the mill moves that amount. that way there is no operator error.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

what i see as automated and what people sell as automated are 2 diferent things.

i dont like the asm with teh gauge on the powerhead that could be up to 8m or more away. its just not accurate.

for my noney i would want a keypad with display the operator just keys in the movement and the mill moves that amount. that way there is no operator error.

buy a woodmizer lt 50 hydraulic, it is standard equipment...lol set your cut to what you want pull the lever it goes there.