From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

Yeah I'm talking to me too.

I took almost two weeks off from customer jobs around the holidays. At
first because I wasn't feeling tip top, and then I decided I was just
going to work on things I wanted to work on. I started working on most
of them, and accomplished none of them. There kept being some little
thing I needed. At one point I was just going to throw the front seat pedestal in my bass boat and go fishing, but the bolts I ordered were to short. Sigh!. Pretty sad when I can't even accomplish going fishing.

Show me how productive you have been for the last few weeks. Make me
feel bad. LOL.

Today I made a mold for a customer, but that doesn't really count. I do
that everyday.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/10/2026 5:32 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

Yeah I'm talking to me too.

I took almost two weeks off from customer jobs around the holidays.-a At first because I wasn't feeling tip top, and then I decided I was just
going to work on things I wanted to work on.-a I started working on most
of them, and accomplished none of them.-a There kept being some little
thing I needed.-a At one point I was just going to throw the front seat pedestal in my bass boat and go fishing, but the bolts I ordered were to short.-a Sigh!.-a Pretty sad when I can't even accomplish going fishing.

Show me how productive you have been for the last few weeks.-a Make me
feel bad.-a LOL.

Today I made a mold for a customer, but that doesn't really count.-a I do that everyday.

Last Wednesday I picked up a load of treated lumber . Yesterday and
today I used that lumber to build a new front porch - I already had the
roof built - on our house . The original started life as a hallway from
the camper to the new living room when I started construction of the
house , and it was in pretty sad condition . I still have a couple of
deck boards to fit and install , and I'll be building railings along 2
sides and a short section on a third .
In other news , I'm working on some parts for a sawmill . It uses hydraulics and the design of the control lever pivot mounts is weak .
I'm modifying the new pivot mounts to make them stronger .
--
Snag
I appreciated foreign cultures more
when they stayed foreign ...
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Snag" wrote in message news:10jv85g$3lmjs$1@dont-email.me...

... In other news , I'm working on some parts for a sawmill . It uses hydraulics and the design of the control lever pivot mounts is weak .
I'm modifying the new pivot mounts to make them stronger .
Snag
-----------------------
What are you using for the wheels? They were the critical components of
mine, the only parts I couldn't make. Motorcycle wheels and tires worked pretty well for me except that they aren't load rated for nearly the recommended blade tension, which keeps the blade straight in wide cuts. 24" diameter is large enough to avoid the gullet cracking my previous 10" wheel sawmill suffered with 3/4" wide coarse blades. These are 1-1/4" wide, 3/4" pitch as Timberwolf suggested. They can be lightly sharpened a few times
with a guided file without complaints from the regrinding service.

My roller blade guides are somewhat similar to Cook's but mount differently, 2" diameter for down force and R8 ball bearings behind. Cheap bearings disintegrated, good ones have held up well. There's no lower guide, the
blade can deflect under sawdust that passes when the Al flashing scraper
needs readjustment. Cheap import bearings soon disintegrated, $5 good ones have held up well.

My first blade guide mounts were simple to make but tedious to adjust. The current version can be removed, repaired and replaced without realignment. Removable spacers set downward blade deflection, the screw adjustments are
for slight contact at operating tension without them.

Downward deflection at the guide rollers is 1/4", on the high side of suggestions, to compensate for lower tension. The slight bend greatly
stiffens the blade from twisting. Tension is 1000 - 1200 Lbs between axles,
a compromise between tire load rating and Timberwolf's recommendation of ~15 ksi in the band gullet. That would be 1500# for ~0.1 square inch.

It cuts 20" wide red oak pretty well when freshly reground or touched up
with a file but I think would need a wider blade, stronger wheels and more than a $99 6.5HP Predator to cut wider. The feed is manual push, a gravity assist was barely worth the extra complications. Pushing tells me when the blade is dulling and beginning to bow in the cut.

The belt tensioner idler is the drive clutch. It needs to be slipped to let the heavy wheels accelerate slowly. The blade speed is 50-55 MPH on the motorcycle's repaired speedometer.

The frame is straight between the wheel axles instead of C shaped, thus stiffer and simpler. Its 13" throat depth lets it cut through the center of the largest log that fits between the uprights. Proven max capacity is a chainsaw-slabbed cant 20" square by 20' long, which the centered overhead gantry lifted to rotate and reposition. That log was 28" diameter above the stump flare and 4500 lbs.

I had to modify the sawmill to handle it since I had designed for smaller
logs on the assumption that those giants wouldn't fall -- until one did, luckily tipping away from the house.

Green logs dry with less cracking if the ends are coated. I brush on molten wax, a mix of canning and more flexible toilet bowl ring wax.
jsw

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/11/2026 8:48 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Snag"-a wrote in message news:10jv85g$3lmjs$1@dont-email.me...

...-a In other news , I'm working on some parts for a sawmill . It uses hydraulics and the design of the control lever pivot mounts is weak .
I'm modifying the new pivot mounts to make them stronger .
Snag
-----------------------
What are you using for the wheels? They were the critical components of mine, the only parts I couldn't make. Motorcycle wheels and tires worked pretty well for me except that they aren't load rated for nearly the recommended blade tension, which keeps the blade straight in wide cuts.
24" diameter is large enough to avoid the gullet cracking my previous
10" wheel sawmill suffered with 3/4" wide coarse blades. These are
1-1/4" wide, 3/4" pitch as Timberwolf suggested. They can be lightly sharpened a few times with a guided file without complaints from the regrinding service.

This is a commercial sawmill operation ... I don't know if it's a
band mill or a big-ass circular saw setup . Odds are it's a circular
with replaceable teeth . I've seen blades as big as 5-6 feet in diameter
that take a 1/4" cut .
--
Snag
I appreciated foreign cultures more
when they stayed foreign ...
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/11/2026 7:48 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

What are you using for the wheels? They were the critical components of mine, the only parts I couldn't make. Motorcycle wheels and tires worked pretty well for me except that they aren't load rated for nearly the recommended blade tension, which keeps the blade straight in wide cuts.
24" diameter is large enough to avoid the gullet cracking my previous
10" wheel sawmill suffered with 3/4" wide coarse blades. These are
1-1/4" wide, 3/4" pitch as Timberwolf suggested. They can be lightly sharpened a few times with a guided file without complaints from the regrinding service.

I would think ring rolling flat bar, and welding in spokes would be an
answer. Note: that meat saws, and horizontal band saws do not use a
tire. Instead they use an all metal wheel with a lip, and they
typically only use one width of blade.

Turning a 24" wheel concentric might not be so practical unless you have
a really large lathe or a modestly large lathe with a gap bed. There
are ways to get "pretty close" on a mill though. Mounted to a rotary
table offset to one side you can skim a wheel round. Concentricity is a
bit more involved, but if you can center the bore on the rotab maybe not
so much. A close fit stub in the bore of the rotab if you don't have a
mill with 12+ inches of column clearance. It sounds ridiculous at
first, but a 24 inch wheel needs to only have a little over 12 inches
offset from the spindle and the same clearance to the column. Depending
on the setup your rotab bore doesn't even have to be within the envelope
of the machine.

You know how to balance a wheel I am sure. Just drill out or add
material until doesn't stop at any particular point when setup on on a
simple axle, or on an axle across a couple "parallels." However, is it spinning fast enough that balance is even really an issue? I haven't
seen any signs of balancing on any of my smaller bandsaws.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Snag" wrote in message news:10k0eeo$3vrlj$1@dont-email.me...

On 1/11/2026 8:48 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Snag" wrote in message news:10jv85g$3lmjs$1@dont-email.me...

... In other news , I'm working on some parts for a sawmill . It uses hydraulics and the design of the control lever pivot mounts is weak .
I'm modifying the new pivot mounts to make them stronger .
Snag
-----------------------

This is a commercial sawmill operation ... I don't know if it's a
band mill or a big-ass circular saw setup . Odds are it's a circular
with replaceable teeth . I've seen blades as big as 5-6 feet in diameter
that take a 1/4" cut .
Snag
-------------------------
Oh, you are helping, not building your own. I know enough about circular
saws to not try to build, run and maintain one myself.

https://www.nhmagazine.com/the-curious-story-of-the-taylor-sawmill/
The blade cuts up and down vertically like a giant jigsaw. I told the
operator I'd try to find them a froe to split shingles but haven't seen one for sale and my attempt to forge one from a leaf spring didn't come out well enough.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/wilkins-lumber-co-milford
My family is unrelated, from the South. The blades are circular with
inserted teeth, around 4-5' in diameter. The machinery looks quite old.
Until relatively recently it was water powered, I stopped to look at that historical site and a dog walker told me they were still in business up the road so I visited and listened to their history.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:02:00 -0500
"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

I'd try to find them a froe to split shingles but haven't seen one
for sale and my attempt to forge one from a leaf spring didn't come out well >enough.

I repaired, welded an original (antique) froe up for a neighbor that had
abused one a bit. Cracked the loop for the handle and cracked spots in
the blade...

To make a modern version I figured a flat mower blade would
be a good start and just weld a split piece of pipe on the end for a
handle loop. Split the pipe, crush one ended a bit to form a slight
taper. Angle grinder to shape the cutting portion of blade...

You can still buy new and used ones on ebay...
--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:10k0mg0$2k4a$1@dont-email.me...

On 1/11/2026 7:48 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

What are you using for the wheels? They were the critical components of mine, the only parts I couldn't make. Motorcycle wheels and tires worked pretty well for me except that they aren't load rated for nearly the recommended blade tension, which keeps the blade straight in wide cuts.
24" diameter is large enough to avoid the gullet cracking my previous 10" wheel sawmill suffered with 3/4" wide coarse blades. These are 1-1/4"
wide, 3/4" pitch as Timberwolf suggested. They can be lightly sharpened a few times with a guided file without complaints from the regrinding
service.

I would think ring rolling flat bar, and welding in spokes would be an
answer. Note: that meat saws, and horizontal band saws do not use a
tire. Instead they use an all metal wheel with a lip, and they
typically only use one width of blade.

Turning a 24" wheel concentric might not be so practical unless you have
a really large lathe or a modestly large lathe with a gap bed. There
are ways to get "pretty close" on a mill though. Mounted to a rotary
table offset to one side you can skim a wheel round. Concentricity is a
bit more involved, but if you can center the bore on the rotab maybe not
so much. A close fit stub in the bore of the rotab if you don't have a
mill with 12+ inches of column clearance. It sounds ridiculous at
first, but a 24 inch wheel needs to only have a little over 12 inches
offset from the spindle and the same clearance to the column. Depending
on the setup your rotab bore doesn't even have to be within the envelope
of the machine.

You know how to balance a wheel I am sure. Just drill out or add
material until doesn't stop at any particular point when setup on on a
simple axle, or on an axle across a couple "parallels." However, is it spinning fast enough that balance is even really an issue? I haven't
seen any signs of balancing on any of my smaller bandsaws.
Bob La Londe
-------------------------------
I sufficiently restored a second SB Heavy 10 headstock that could be mounted on a heavy wood beam frame with an X-Y table for the tool rest as a large wheel lathe. I bought an HF linked belt to drive it through the flat cone pulley and back gears, and a variable speed DC motor. The bigger problem is making the rim strong enough to hold a safe multiple of 1500 Lbs. Usually
the rubber rim is a row of vee belts which require fairly deep turned
grooves.

The saw needs some welding repair from the last session, it wasn't built
much stronger than necessary for the original 5.5HP design and modifying it for larger logs and higher blade tension cut into the margin.

I removed the drive wheel tire to smooth a rim corrosion leak and it's now noticeably out of balance when running at some speeds, fortunately not the cutting speed. The 3" channel uprights that support the saw head can't have cross bracing except at the top end and are somewhat wobbly. They were weakened by notches nearer one end and cost me only $5 per 8' length so I can't complain too hard. The shorter cutoffs became their bases.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Leon Fisk" wrote in message news:10k0pn7$2naa$1@dont-email.me...

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:02:00 -0500
"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

I'd try to find them a froe to split shingles but haven't seen one
for sale and my attempt to forge one from a leaf spring didn't come out
well
enough.

I repaired, welded an original (antique) froe up for a neighbor that had
abused one a bit. Cracked the loop for the handle and cracked spots in
the blade...

To make a modern version I figured a flat mower blade would
be a good start and just weld a split piece of pipe on the end for a
handle loop. Split the pipe, crush one ended a bit to form a slight
taper. Angle grinder to shape the cutting portion of blade...

You can still buy new and used ones on ebay...
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

--------------------------------
I wanted to give the museum one that was or at least looked 200 years old.
The sources here are drying up though I did recently find a "defective" Champion rivet forge blower that needed only a bearing play adjustment.

At noon the TV showed a froe in use at a county fair. They are meant for abuse, beat on one end and twist the other. Mine was OK except at the handle end where I filled a defect with mild steel and could no longer trust hardening and tempering that highly stressed area. I left it straight and
use it like a machete. It splits narrow kindling well enough.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On 1/11/2026 12:21 PM, Leon Fisk wrote:

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:02:00 -0500
"Jim Wilkins" <muratlanne@gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

I'd try to find them a froe to split shingles but haven't seen one
for sale and my attempt to forge one from a leaf spring didn't come out well >> enough.

I repaired, welded an original (antique) froe up for a neighbor that had abused one a bit. Cracked the loop for the handle and cracked spots in
the blade...

To make a modern version I figured a flat mower blade would
be a good start and just weld a split piece of pipe on the end for a
handle loop. Split the pipe, crush one ended a bit to form a slight
taper. Angle grinder to shape the cutting portion of blade...

You can still buy new and used ones on ebay...

I have a blade made from half of an old Chevy leaf spring that
already had an eye in one end . Mid 70's Camaro IIRC . I've got hickory
stock to make a handle but haven't felt any urge to complete it . I left
my spring in the wood stove for like 3-4 days to anneal and did part of
the shaping on the mill and part with the angle grinder . It's still
pretty hard ...
--
Snag
I appreciated foreign cultures more
when they stayed foreign ...
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Snag" wrote in message news:10k0u3a$57aj$1@dont-email.me...

I have a blade made from half of an old Chevy leaf spring that
already had an eye in one end . Mid 70's Camaro IIRC . I've got hickory
stock to make a handle but haven't felt any urge to complete it . I left
my spring in the wood stove for like 3-4 days to anneal and did part of
the shaping on the mill and part with the angle grinder . It's still
pretty hard ...
Snag

---------------------------------
Leaf springs may be made from 5160 steel. https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/04/01/how-to-heat-treat-5160/

If the part fits a toaster oven could temper it. That's what the blacksmith suggested for my forged and hardened leaf spring blade. Since I had it, I fitted an incomplete laboratory tube furnace with 2" exhaust pipe for the tube, and a digital temperature controller, which could give closer temperature regulation to a toaster oven set at max.

I bought the tube furnace at auction hoping to use it to heat treat
shop-made cutting tools in an inert atmosphere or vacuum. So far coating the O-1 tool with soap and heating it in a charcoal-filled tube has sufficed for fairly crude home projects.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:10juniu$3hi7e$1@dont-email.me...

Show me how productive you have been for the last few weeks. Make me
feel bad. LOL.

------------------------------------
I'm taking a 3D CAD class in night school. I'm fine with orthographic and isometric drafting and mental visualization but the menu logic is difficult, like learning new thought patterns of a foreign language.

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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 22:15:46 -0600, Snag <Snag_one@msn.com> wrote:

On 1/10/2026 5:32 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:

Yeah I'm talking to me too.

I took almost two weeks off from customer jobs around the holidays.a At
first because I wasn't feeling tip top, and then I decided I was just
going to work on things I wanted to work on.a I started working on most
of them, and accomplished none of them.a There kept being some little
thing I needed.a At one point I was just going to throw the front seat
pedestal in my bass boat and go fishing, but the bolts I ordered were to
short.a Sigh!.a Pretty sad when I can't even accomplish going fishing.

Show me how productive you have been for the last few weeks.a Make me
feel bad.a LOL.

Today I made a mold for a customer, but that doesn't really count.a I do
that everyday.

Last Wednesday I picked up a load of treated lumber . Yesterday and
today I used that lumber to build a new front porch - I already had the
roof built - on our house . The original started life as a hallway from
the camper to the new living room when I started construction of the
house , and it was in pretty sad condition . I still have a couple of
deck boards to fit and install , and I'll be building railings along 2
sides and a short section on a third .
In other news , I'm working on some parts for a sawmill . It uses
hydraulics and the design of the control lever pivot mounts is weak .
I'm modifying the new pivot mounts to make them stronger .

I've been puttering away at building a rack to hang my bicycles to
take up less dloor space in the garage. Building it out of "free angle
iron" scavenged from bed frames gathered off the curb over the last
year - whick means doing all the cutting with the "death wheel" rather
than risking the band saw blades.
It's been tiring my back significantly so I only get a couple hours in
at a time. 15 months post surgery - the recovery has gone well, but it
lets me know when I attempt too much!!!!
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From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:31:12 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
<muratlanne@gmail.com> wrote:

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:10juniu$3hi7e$1@dont-email.me...

Show me how productive you have been for the last few weeks. Make me
feel bad. LOL.

------------------------------------
I'm taking a 3D CAD class in night school. I'm fine with orthographic and >isometric drafting and mental visualization but the menu logic is difficult, >like learning new thought patterns of a foreign language.

I had this problem at first as well.

3D CAD is organized in how-to-make process order, using the primitives available. Example: Start with a block of material. Subtract a
cylinder of material, to yield a cylindrical hole in the block. And
so on.

Joe
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