Buzz Saw

[Toffy]

I recently purchased a Buzz Saw at a Garage Sale for $50.
It is in great shape the type you would power from a tractor with a belt.
My problem is this. It has a 32 inch blade which according to the info I can find on the net it should run aprox 400 Rpm.
I want to power this with a large Honda engine that I already have in the 15 hp range.
Any ideas how to do this and keep the speed down around 400 rpm.
I have a hydraulic pump and hyd. motor that I thought I would use however that seems to be overkill for what I'm trying to do. I thought a belt system would be better. Please don't ask me to post a picture as I have slow dial up and the process for uploading a picture is painful. I hope to post a picture of the finished product at a later date.
Please comment on this project as I would prefer to make it run at a safe speed.
Thx

 

[jimmyj]

Can you gear it down with pulleys?

 

[KTurner]

Can you gear it down with pulleys?

Yea, I would start by finding what RPM the Honda "likes" to run at, and get the right sized pulleys so that the saw blade turns at 400rpm while the Honda turns at its favored RPM. You can plug in the values for RPMs and one pulley, and this calculator will give you the other pulley size to get your desired RPMs.

Keith

 

[GE222]

Pretty good chance the Honda runs at 3600 RPM. So a 9:1 reduction is in order.
This can be a double or single reduction. Single is easier and simpler; however, large sheaves can get pricey, and end up taking a bit of extra space.

 

[smiley]

Using the calculator given by Keith above, with a 2" pulley on the motor, you'd need an 18" pulley on the saw. In searching for an 18" pulley, the new ones I found were $150 and up.
Just something to consider, if you've got inventory to pick over, a jackshaft with smaller more common pulleys or,---------years ago I used a Ford standard transmission and pulleys I had laying around, to reduce the speed of the carriage feed on a sawmill I had. It had a choice of 3 speeds to feed the logs in and a high speed reverse to return the carriage. I used about a 6" pulley on the input shaft and the transmission itself gave about a 3.5/1 reduction to the speed I needed.

Just remembered something. It seems like we ran the mill between 6-700 rpm's and that was a 42" blade so it seems that a smaller one should run faster. I think they figure it in ft per sec/minute? rather than rpm's. Of course you'd be crosscutting rather than ripping so it's worth checking further.

 

[Short Game]

If the saw is set and sharpened properly, it doesn't take a whole lot of power. I run my 32 incher from the PTO at about 1400 engine RPM with 2400 being 540 at the PTO. I don't know what the blade RPM might be, but it goes through the limbs like a....

...like a buzz saw!

I paid $100 for an old one that was converted for modern PTO. It was originally a wide belt PTO rig. It now has a 6" belt driving it from a 90 degree gearbox (origin unknown).

 

[Toffy]

Thanks for the reply's. I do have a jack shaft and have considered that as an option .However I would like to get away from all the extra belts. An 18in pulley would be very awkward and present as much of a safety factor as the rotating blade.
I have an old 3 speed transmission out of an old Dodge pickup. I'm going to look at that as an option. What do you think of running it direct off the engine with one belt and pulley for the blade. This would be neat and simple.
As far as the low saw speed this was taken from a website from a manufacture on the net
net. Check out the following link
Vermont Woodsman Buzz Saw


The online calculator is great will use it for this project

 

[smiley]

I have an old 3 speed transmission out of an old Dodge pickup. I'm going to look at that as an option. What do you think of running it direct off the engine with one belt and pulley for the blade. This would be neat and simple.
As far as the low saw speed this was taken from a website from a manufacture on the net
net. Check out the following link
Vermont Woodsman Buzz Saw

You just reminded me of something I haven't seen in years. If they didn't have a tractor for belt power, most every farm in my area had an old car or truck jacked up on blocks with a flat belt running to a buzz saw. There were several where the saw was mounted directly on the back of the frame and run with a belt to the wheel or turned sideways and the driveshaft was disconnected from the differential and run directly to the saw.