Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Yogi05]

I believe that at one time that chain was attached to something, most likely some type of tensioner.

That's a dense stand of pine. I see why you want to thin it. I had one similar to that in back of my house,it got some root disease and died off. They eventually cut and chipped it, but the value was gone by then.

If I'm remembering a 10 year old story the father of the current landowner told me, he had it all manually planted. Given the uniformity, it was probably the case.
What I never asked was why?
Like the other land he owned in the area, it was likely farm field.

As far as thinning it for health of the trees, nope. Just cutting or removing what I need. current landowner (the son) has no use for any of it and regularly knocks down
what he needs to to make room for other things.

 

[Yogi05]

The chain IS for raising and lowering the head, IF it's like others I've seen, as long as it stays on the sprocket, it doesn't need to be attached to anything.

I agree given there is no sign of an attaching point. Maybe it's just so simple it seems archaic or something.
You couldn't even get a full turn of the handle before I dumped a bunch of oil on it. It would instantly follow the sprocket around and jam.
It's a little looser now and with a fresh bungee it's ok. Just have to keep an eye on it when moving.
A fresh chain would hang just fine without needing tension, like you suggest.
It just seems so very old school, even for that saw.

 

[Williy]

Quite some time ago we were on top of Mt Rainier in WA and there were 4 young girls in this car that just
pulled up and they had tank tops and shorts and got
half way to the building and ran back to their car and
left it was a wee bit cool up there. Now I put one foot
in the bath tube get sea sick and put the other foot on
the edge of the tube get air sick!
Tried some gold prospecting in CO was up in the mountains 14,000 ft level dang power supply got
awful low as could move like a snail no quick moving
up there! I'll stick down here system still works fine
can move quick or slow!

willy

 

[hunt4570]

In this picture, the threaded rod on the right.. Exactly what are you trying to do with it? My saw has an adjustment place just like that, the threaded rod does not turn though, it has 2 big nuts on it, one tightens up against the frame to move the rod in or out and the other nut is a lock nut, that adjusts the wheel on one side (there is the same set up on the other side as well)

And as far as the blade making wavy cuts, that's usually a sign of a dull blade, do you have any spares? You might try getting a new blade, might take care of a lot of your cutting problems.

If you want, let me know and I'll take some pics for you.

 

[Yogi05]

In this picture, the threaded rod on the right.. Exactly what are you trying to do with it? My saw has an adjustment place just like that, the threaded rod does not turn though, it has 2 big nuts on it, one tightens up against the frame to move the rod in or out and the other nut is a lock nut, that adjusts the wheel on one side (there is the same set up on the other side as well)

And as far as the blade making wavy cuts, that's usually a sign of a dull blade, do you have any spares? You might try getting a new blade, might take care of a lot of your cutting problems.

If you want, let me know and I'll take some pics for you.

Here's the same rod without the cover.
There is a nut welded to the frame, and the rod either screws in or out.
I'm assuming it pushes against the other square tube inside to increase blade tension. Loosen the rod and the square tube moves to release blade tension.
Or as Sawyer Rob says there might be a big spring in there too.

At the time I posted the other pic with the comment about no effect on tension, I hadn't taken a hammer to it all.
Since I whacked it a few times I scribed a mark where the tubes meet and could see the appropriate tension or release.

I'm always up for pictures of other saws, especially if they're similar to mine.

.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You need to free it up, are you spraying inside it as much as you can, getting it loosened up?

Without proper tension, you can and will, have all kinds of band problems.

SR

 

[A-P]

I thought your diagram showing the threaded rod going all the way through made sense. I looked at the one I use and the tensioner is localized on the idle wheel. There is some drawback to having it on one side as it has a tendency to torque against the the wheel shaft. A hinge was installed along the edge of the tensioner to help offset the torque. Its basically a box with two pillow bearings and a short threaded rod. The threaded rod provides the ability to tension the shaft on the idle wheel against a fixed plate that is welded to the frame. With your set-up the long threaded rod looks like it could be a better solution because the tension is in line with the wheels at both ends of the mill. At least that was my impression from the pictures. It looks like an attempt to provide tension but deal with torque.

 

[Yogi05]

I thought your diagram showing the threaded rod going all the way through made sense. I looked at the one I use and the tensioner is localized on the idle wheel. There is some drawback to having it on one side as it has a tendency to torque against the the wheel shaft. A hinge was installed along the edge of the tensioner to help offset the torque. Its basically a box with two pillow bearings and a short threaded rod. The threaded rod provides the ability to tension the shaft on the idle wheel against a fixed plate that is welded to the frame. With your set-up the long threaded rod looks like it could be a better solution because the tension is in line with the wheels at both ends of the mill. At least that was my impression from the pictures. It looks like an attempt to provide tension but deal with torque.

I get what you're saying, but the tension is still on just one wheel. The idler on mine doesn't move even a hair.
This tension is done through the drive wheel for the blade. It shows in other pics on this. The idler wheel doesn't move at all.
Reference my post #18272 with the diagram. When I drew that it was a guess at how it worked. Now it has been proven.

That drive wheel shaft is also touching a structural component, yet it doesn't have any marks from rubbing. It does indicate the shaft, and therefore the drive wheel is sitting at a bit of an angle which could affect blade tracking of course.

Not sure I'm explaining this right. I'll see about getting a picture of that particular problem.
It's hard for people to look at pics of a part of a machine and figure how it all works so I appreciate the efforts to help.

The sawmill owner stopped to chat and he was looking at it too and he couldn't see an adjustment for the drive shaft through the pillow bearings. He suggested shims behind the pillow bearing but that can't possibly be a proper fix. More likely the pillow bearing has become worn or weak. (there's a limit to how much money I will put into a machine I don't own, but we'll see. A cut that's "close enough" will be ok in my case.

 

[Yogi05]

You need to free it up, are you spraying inside it as much as you can, getting it loosened up?

Without proper tension, you can and will, have all kinds of band problems.

SR

I never seem to have the right supplies or tools with me but I was able to release and apply tension, and confirmed it with the mark I put on it. Of course it should move much more easily.
I didn't tighten it up completely because I was messing with the guide bearings.
Obviously I don't have a spec for proper tension but most modern saws appear to need about 25 ft/lbs of torque. I don't trust my ft/lb wrench but I have an in/lb wrench
that I can use if it goes to 300 in/lbs.

 

[Dragonpharm]