Thread: turb-o-saw

Originally Posted by weisyboy

sure you can do it. but its neither efficient or safe.

I beg to differ and I've put a lot of timber through the saw, both with and without a tailer.

For relatively shallow cuts, say up to about 2 1/2" I use a thin-kerf 28T blade that's about 3.2mm and for deep cuts I use a heavier 25 tooth blade. I think the kerf on that one is about 3.8mm. I also regularly double cut to rip 8" boards down with it.

It has a full-length fence which is very rigid, and a fixed riving knife with no adjustable rise and fall, which is a bit of a pain since it need to be adjusted down for clearance when double cutting.

The panel saw runs a 60tooth 14" cross cut blade but can still rip OK if you take it slowly.

Looks very similar to a mahoe but you have to walk in to get the board. looks like it may be a bit lighter than a mahoe frame wise at least, and has a few less features, by what I can see. looks very well made though. not too sure about those swiss cheese blades though, but you never know they may work really well.

*edit* sorry i just saw that it does have the board return similar to the mahoe

As a rule of thumb I look at a blade cutting 1/3 of it's overall diameter so a 12" dia blade cuts 4" roughly. You need a 12" table saw to cut 4" stock

Having said this a Lucas will manage better than 1/3; model 10 tip to tip diameter is 634 and max cut is 254mm so closer to 40% rather than rule of thumb 33%

Hi guys,

Thought I'd answer a few questions on the Turbosaw.

First of we have 4 patent applications underway for our machine.

1) Frame system... pretty new to the industry this one. With most sawmills timber recovery will ultimately ask you to enter the milling area to recover stray boards which havent been returned correctly. Our frame lets you simply step into the scene with out walking around. Also relieves a little risk when loading logs with heavy machinery. Chances of catching an upright are reduced.

2) Circular saw blades. I noticed some one here mentioned giroscopic forces when pivotting the blade. Right on! Hence the lightening holes around the periphery of the blade diminishing on size toward the mounting hub. This substancially diminishes these forces (with a lot more benifits aswell). We've discovered that there are massive stress forces around the hub of a saw specially on a swingblade. We have a priority date on this (in regards our application for patent).

3) Board drag back facility. After years of development we have finally figured out an un-obtrusive board retrieval system for a swingblade machine. It's as if it isn't even there (regarding flexabillity). But when you need it, it's right there!

4) The COUNTER SAW. This attachment will blow all you sawmill gurus mind (hopefully). With the pull of a lever a second blade is lowered into conjunction with the existing swingblade.

- Twin saw mode, lever changes from swingblade operation to twin saw operation in seconds.

- Production mode, lever lowers the small blade to action the countersaw facillity. 2 vertical blades rotating in opposition! This mode cuts driving forward and back multiple times followed by a horizontal cut te retrieve maybe 3-4 boards at a time. Perfect for single operator milling.

- Hard wood production cutting, the small blade is lowered partially balancing out efficiency while the horiz blade makes the small cut. At the end the vertical blade pivots and cuts the remaining. High speed and balancing out the hp! The saw can now cut with equal hp going and returning regardless of size timber your cutting. This system also allows a much smaller kerf as the small blade creates a trace cut for the bigger saw to follow.

- Standard swingblade, lift the small blade out and mill as standard!

So regarding the copy statement... I hope we havent given this impression?

Other smaller advantages are as follows...

-Single point raise and lower (hydraulic)
-Single point horiz (hydraulic)
-Blade pivot (hydraulic)
-Feed (hydraulic, no wear rope)
-12" x 24"
-Hydraulics are very reliable and are a common place in the industry everywhere.
-Timber and loading access
-Quick portable, no assembly of endframes required
-SWINGBLADE!!

Hope this helps with some of the questions.
Jake Peterson.

Hey Jake, great to see you on here.

1) Seems a good idea with the endframes to be so open, so yeah if the board return doesn't work the tailer can get in there and get the board out.I took a quick look at your site and didn't see anything on how they set up and travel. Also should be good in a static location with loaders/forks loading the mill and not getting in the way.

2) Makes sense the hub of the blade will experience much more force than the outer edges of the blade, I'm no sawmill builder, but yeah that's just physics and makes sense. I don't understand what can be patented about physics or is it the style of blade you are patenting?

3)So show us then Jake I saw the video of the board return pushing a 12" board back, but lets see the thing, how is it there and not there - do you add a magic wand that goes out with each mill

4)This isn't mentioned anywhere on the Turbosawmill site - is it something new enough not to have been added to the website?

Jake also, in many of the pics/vids the log is quite high off the ground; let me qualify that, I mill on my own without machinery and currently get a log onto supports about 6" off the ground, from looking at your pics/vids it looks like I need to get the log close to 12" off the ground to get to the bottom of it. How low, in relation to the ground can the turbosaw cut?

The reason for so many questions is I've seen people/'manufacturers' get on the forum spruking about their wonderful, amazing abilities of the saw they are designing and nothing ever happens.

Thanks again for giving your input Jake

Hi there Sigidi,

I'll just put this out there. Our machine does not compete with both Lucas and Peterson as far as portabillity is concerned. Your not going to carry our machine into the bush thats for sure. You'll need good road access where we're going. There will always be a market for the smaller machines (great machines).

We're trying to tap into the next level up. High production sawing at intermediate level.

To answer your questions...

1) Our endframes also have the option of hanging. This really opens up the area.

2) If its new, innovative, solves a particular problem and no one else has done it before it's probably patentable, but at the end of the day its not our call. It's the examiners call.

3) Nope not a wand. A nice little hydraulic ram pivots the small saw in and out. We are saving the Countersaw 'attachment' for this years National Fieldays for it's actual reveal. Those that are truly interested... please contact us through our website for details etc.

4) It's been on the go for a year now.

In normal swingblade mode you'll need to set up the saw at least 5" off the ground (for the pivot).

However... In Countersaw (twinsaw mode) the ground is the limit!

Again, we are not trying to compete with the 'set up over the log' type sawmill. Our machine demands the extra equipment to justify it's production.

No problems about the questions. I just noticed a whole thread dedicated to our saw, so I figured I'd jump in.

Also... our saw has a taper adjustment facillity (we don't have to slide the saw sideways as previously stated). Price is a little more than previously mentioned too.

Cheers guys.
Hope to see you at a show in the near future.

Jake, thanks for that...

1) hangin end frames.... hmmm...

2) it's funny how red tape works hey, good luck with the whole examiner thing.

3) I was talking about the board return thingo, hoping to see a pic/vid of it workin without the board in the way the Youtube vid shows the board being returned, so obviously it can do a good size piece of timber, but how does it work so you can saw without it getting in the way, but can return the board without having to move the head over to 'engage' it.

4) I reckon I need to see it to get my head around it a bit better

I can certainly see from the fixed location point of view it should produce a large amount of timber in a shorter period of time.

I'm pleased you did jump in - until there are a heap of users to ask there is no-one better to get the info from than the makers hey?

Do you have any 'show dates' for Qld this year?

To answer your question...

The board remover return pivots with the blade. In vertical position it stands vertical (you'll notice this in one of the website pics).

Its pretty much a retractable riving knife (looks like). But in the form of an angle. Wickedly simple! We've come up with all sorts of complicated things in the past to do the job. It just hit us one day. Funny how sometimes the simplist things take the longest to come up with?

Hanging uprights? What this means is the end frames stand as a top supported 'T' rather than an inverted ground supported 'T', illiminates any triping hazard.

I wouldn't term our machine as a dedicated fixed site machine...

10 minutes to set up the saw on site isn't that bad? It's not going to be carried anywhere remote, and you might have to take a fence down here or there at times to get access though? Also it's a long trailer.

I remember a job a while ago with my home built ATS machine. Logs were spread and spaced equally every 2 or so metres. We set the saw up around each log 10 minutes or so between logs. This is where Lucas and Peterson shine.

Cheers.

it looked simple and a good machine not it sounds complicated and a nightmare to keep in good condition.

would have to see it in operation to work out exactly how it works

Hi Weisyboy,

I take it the not is actually now. Thats a bummer you say it sounds complicated. I may have given that feel when I mentioned the countersaw?

It's a bolt on attachment that is quite apart from the main machine. Gives you an option of getting more efficient when cutting hardwoods.

The Attachment countersaw.

OK I'll try and simplify it... Two blades cut through the log as a conventional twinsaw does. You get in trouble, lift the blade out of the cut and carry on (or even back out a bit to cut your wide horiz board in two bites). Bring the small blade back into the cut on the second horiz pass, finish the cut and pull the timber back to the operator.

You can only do so much with words. Definately have to see it in operation to get perspective!

Maybe it's something we will have to see, to get it in our head better???

Ok jake, you want to sell them heres how I recommend you do it, Build one ship it out here for a few millers to try out for a period of twelve months (not 12 months for each user) let us pass it around and we will tell you what needs doing to it. Did I just hit the nail on the head for everyone.

sounds like a plan.

im doing 2 weeks a month cutting flooring at teh moment and will be looking at a new saw but i wont buy one i cant trail.

Haha wish we could just send one over and let it do the rounds.

Thats a big marketting budget to start things off though...

You guys will just have to wait up until we hit the shows over there. I don't believe it will be far off.