24" cirkular rip saw.

[davin]

Hei heimlaga.

My family are thinking of moving back to Finland, (basically because even though I work 6 days a week we still can't afford to buy a house where we live) But I looked at the weather in Eastern Finland and it was minus 34 !. Non stop rain or -34 mmmm

 

[heimlaga]

You are welcome home!
The changing weather is just one of the perks;-)

The countryside in Finland is a terribe place to live (low wages and high living costs) but not nearly as terrible as a rented flat in a suburb in overcrowded Sussex!

 

[wills-mill]

If you need to neatly straight edge and tidy up long boards, how about an old style sawmill sliding table/ edging saw? A ladder would be a great starting point.
You've got enough blade above the table that you wouldn't miss much depth of cut.

this video, about 4mins50 into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLdLit8eZe0

 

[heimlaga]

That's a good idea!

With the long infeed and outfeed roller tables that I am planning I could just put a removable flat iron bar on the saw table and use a plywood table with a groove on the underside to fit the flat bar. I suppose the plywood would slide across the cast iron saw table when both ends are supported by rollers.

 

[wills-mill]

:wink: It doesn't need to be complicated, we like simple.

 

[heimlaga]

Making some progress on the dust hood. The table is removed and turned upside down.

 

[heimlaga]

I have made a plate to cover the hole in the table where the flat belt pulley did run. The new triple v-belt pulley is smaller in diametre and therefore it doesn't need to protrude right to the table surface. The saw will be a lot safer this way.

The white metal bearings are poured. I used a mandrel which is 0,3 mm smaller in diametre than the proper arbour to leave some marigin for scraping. The metal is Freja2

 

[dickm]

That's fascinating. Have read about poured white metal bearings, but never seen it in action. How much scraping was needed? What lubrication do those bearings get, assuming that the metal used doesn't absorb lubricant like Oilites?

 

[heimlaga]

I haven't scraped them yet but there is roughly 0,1-0,2 mm material to remove.

White metal bearings are always lubricated with oil. There are oil reservoirs hidden below lids let into the table. They should be filled when starting the saw. There will be some felt in the bottom of the reservoirs so the oil will trickle down slowly into the bearings.

 

[DennisCA]

Should they be filled every time you start the saw?

 

[heimlaga]

Aye
You keep an oil can by the machine and fill more oil before start and once in a while when using the machine.

 

[heimlaga]

I cut a groove in the disks used to dam the babbit and turned the grooves upwards to act as risers. This worked out perfectly and all air and gases found their way out during the pour. This tiny plug was all that remained when the discs were removed. I filed away the plug.

The repair of the mishapped cap turned out all right. I preheated the cap to some 150 or 200 degrees celsius and and put a piece of babbit in each depression and used a big soldering iron to melt the added material together with the base material.

I have cleaned the rust off the table and painted it and now I am scraping the bearings. I have some problems scraping the corrugated bearing so I need to forge at least one more custom scraper.

 

[dickm]

Really impressive patience and ingenuity!

 

[heimlaga]

The bearings are finished. All surfaces are fully scraped.

I used the Dremel with a rotary file to cut the oil grooves

Just for the record I should have had the mandrel made 0,4 or 0,5 mm undersize instead of 0,3mm. Fortunately the low points were in the center of the bearings so I could compensate the scrinkage by shifting to thinner shims.

For scraping the corrigated thrust bearing I had to forge some custom scrapers. One is made from a pin from an old hore drawn hay rake and the other is made from a worn out half round file.

 

[heimlaga]

A bit of progress

 

[heimlaga]

Progress is rather slow. I have had two flues which have slowed me down but at last the fence is close to finished. It will still need a few minor tweaks though. The new arbour flange is also finished and the arbour in place.

The bolt with it's dovetailed head will provide a second fastening point for the fence. I want the fence to be rigid enough to use a stock feeder against.

The original fence was apparently only guided and locked by this dovetailed slot in the table. That wouldn't be enough in the modern era.

 

[heimlaga]

The electric motor is finished. It is a 7.5kW 1450rpm Strömberg. It seems like it was manufactured in 1951. I bought it at a local scrapyard. The scrap dealer promised me my money back if it wouldn't pass a proper insulation test. Once tested it proved to be in excellent condition electrically.

I plugged all openings and sandblastered the motor before removing the end bells. Then I took it apart. Unfortunately I was clumsy when I removed the rotor so I caused some minor damage on the cutton insulation on the surface of a winding. After a consultation with dad who is a retired electrical engineer I applied epoxy to all parts of the windings I could reach. Then I put the motor back together with new FAG bearings. Then I repainted the motor.

 

[Rorschach]

This is looking great!

 

[memzey]

Great job so far. Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

 

[heimlaga]

Thanks!

I have made the a wooden bed for the saw and fitted the motor mount and motor. Now I am working on the belt guard.

The welded frame on the end of the saw frame keeps the frame from racking and provides a fastening point for the belt guard and will be the base for the overarm blade guard. I designed the whole thing around the old boltholes in the frame. I did not want to drill unnecsessary holes in the old cast iron.