fitting diesel engine to sawbench

derwen1959 · Dec 31, 2015

happy new year to all
I am Ivor from the UK .. I have a belt driven sawbench bought by my late father nearly 60 years ago in fact before I was born!!
It is not a big sawbench but it has quite a heavy cast top it was made by the atlas foundry in Shrewsbury.. it was only used a few times a year to saw firewood and cut fencing posts.. then in 2001 on the for sale notice board in a local supermarket I spotted a portable engine sawbench for sale I went to see it and bought it straight away I am using this more often as I don't need to fix the pulley on the dexta
I still have the other sawbench and for sometime I have been looking for a suitable engine to mount permanent with the sawbench and recently I have found one ..it is a Perkins 4107 diesel engine but I am not sure of HP and as yet I have only seen photos
I would appreciate advice on the following questions
1 the engine is fitted with a double twin V belt pulley and I would need to change this to a flat belt pulley what I would like to know is what is the best RPM to run the saw blade
2 the sawbench is fitted with 2 pulleys one is a fixed drive pulley and the other is loose and there is a bar to move the pulley from the fixed pulley to the loose pulley and this is ok to stop the blade in a emergency but I would like to find another way so I could start the engine with the blade stationary also the pulley is direct drive from the engine there is no clutch
3 I would like to know what is the shortest distance possible between the engine and sawbench pulleys
I am sure there is someone across the pond who will know the answers there will be more questions but this a start regards Ivor

ajmaxham · Dec 31, 2015

Could you post pictures of the sawbench and pulleys?

The Google search I did on the Perkins 4107 diesel showed 48 HP.

RPM will depend on saw blade size.

I have a John Deere diesel engine with a Rockford PTO bolted direct to the engine. This would let you run the engine without the sawbench blade turning. You could put a flat belt pulley on the Rockford PTO or change the sawbench to v belts with v belts on the Rockford PTO.

Using the Rockford PTO clutch will allow a short distance between engine and sawbench pulleys.

derwen1959 · Jan 1, 2016

hi
thanks for your reply .. what size is the john deere engine?? I will send photos of my sawbench but I need to clear around it first
regards Ivor

ajmaxham · Jan 1, 2016

It is a Model 4045T (102 hp @ 2400rpm) and is used to power a sawmill with a 48'' blade.

derwen1959 · Jan 2, 2016

what is price of engine and what is condition but I am thinking it is too many hp
regards

ajmaxham · Jan 2, 2016

John Deere engine is not for sale.

Renze · Jan 4, 2016

Our neighbour had a similar sawbench, but after he changed his Ursus C-328 to one without flatbelt pulley, he mounted a big electric motor with a flat pulley, on a wooden wheelbarrow. Needless to say that this sawbench was never used anymore for years. I'm born in 1983 but only remember him using it with the electric motor once... So we made a deal with the neighbour, we would share it if we converted it.

We cut off a wheel end of an old Fiat 133, welded the suspension arm to the frame of the sawbench, so that the tire would slightly push against the flat belt pulley originally on the sawbench. Between the wheel stud we made a flange with a splined PTO stub. Inflating the tire to 1.5 bar allowed it to slip too early, we needed it at 1,75 bar to saw without slipping, but when it jams it still slips.

That setup is a whole lot easier than setting up your Dexta with the flat belt, and a lot safer too.