To produce lumber, man created sawmills. One common type is the tire sawmill. In this sawmill, the working element is a chain bar with a chain attached to it. Considering that the manufacture of such a frame does not require milled or other difficult-to-manufacture parts, you can make it yourself.
What is a tire sawmill used for?
The main purpose of a chain sawmill tire is to quickly and correctly saw a log to obtain lumber. Why is the design called that? The fact is that to create such a mechanism, a saw bar is used.
The cutting part is designed in the form of a chain bar with a sharp chain. The main advantage of this design is its simple design and the ability to use it in various fields.
Most craftsmen prefer to use a regular chainsaw as the cutting part.
The principle of operation is to pre-harvest logs of the required size, and then, when installing the saw in the frame, it is possible to cut the elements into blanks of different lengths and widths. Thanks to this, it is possible to achieve high cutting accuracy.
Stationary sawmill
There is an option to locate the sawmill on a concrete site. Thus, constant horizontality will be ensured, but moving one of the elements becomes more difficult, since deviations to the side are possible under load. This will not ruin the sawing, but it will slow it down considerably. Metal U-shaped profiles, “recessed” into the concrete when pouring the site, will help to avoid this drawback.
For ease of operation, you can install another intermediate element - a clutch. Then you will have to install a belt drive between the drive gear and the electric motor. The gear and motor shaft are provided with pulleys on which V-belts are put on. The belts themselves must be pressed with a special roller. The design can be borrowed from a walk-behind tractor.
Types of tire sawmills
A simple saw bar design can consist of any drive. That is why homemade models are divided into several types depending on the type of engine.
These include the following designs:
- Gasoline. In this case, a four-stroke engine operating on the principle of internal combustion is used;
- Electric. In this case, three-phase asynchronous operation of an electric motor with high power is observed.
The use of an electric motor is cost-effective if the equipment will be used as a stationary device. The sawmill will be used outside a closed space. In this case, it is better to choose a package consisting of an asynchronous motor.
- A sawmill with an electric motor requires high power consumption.
- Experts recommend choosing models with a power of at least 4 kW. A cable consisting of a large cross-section of wires will provide power.
- In the process of longitudinal sawing a log, it is important to take into account that such a mechanism is movable.
- It can deviate from its original position up to 5 m in length.
- In this case, it is necessary to consider isolating the cutting base from surrounding objects. The working part must be plastic and movable.
If you install a gasoline engine in a tire sawmill, you will not need an electrical cable. The design of a gasoline engine has significant disadvantages.
For example, if an engine running on medium-power gasoline is chosen for the mechanism, then a battery may be required to start it. If a chainsaw drive is used, a powerful cord-based starter will allow the mechanism to be prepared for operation.
Making a sawmill with your own hands
Before moving on to the assembly process, you need to worry about the availability of materials and tools from the following list:
- schematic drawing of a sawmill;
- metal channel or rail;
- pipes of different sections;
- Electrical engine;
- tire and drive sprocket from a chainsaw;
- welding unit and electrodes;
- electric grinder and drill;
- hammer, tape measure and chalk.
To make a tire sawmill with your own hands, spare parts from a standard chainsaw are used. The working part consists of a tire, an electric motor and a clutch system , which are placed in a separate housing.
How to make a sawmill at home
Before starting the work process, it is important to correctly determine the type of launch and the supply of material. You can follow a technique in which the moving part is the material, or you can do the opposite.
When you have decided on the type of lumber supply, it is important to take into account one more fact that the location of this mechanism should take up enough space so that no additional inconvenience arises during operation.
The correct position of the runners requires special attention. The fact is that a wooden log will move along them.
The surface of the conveyors must be promptly cleaned of sawdust and small branches.
To create a tire sawmill at home, you will need the following components:
- Mechanism drawing;
- Metal corner size 50/50. We will use it to create a staging path;
- Rectangular pipe made of dense metal. The length of the elements must be at least 60/60. We will use it to construct the carriage;
- Round metal pipe. It is necessary to fix the power part of the unit;
- Metal sheet 1 sq.m. The thickness of the workpiece must be at least 4 mm;
- Metal wheels with axles – 4 pieces;
- Tire, drive sprocket and chain;
- Electric welding;
- Electric motor;
- Drill with a set of drills of different diameters;
- Bulgarian;
- Ruler;
- Building level;
- Chalk for making notches.
You can determine the length of the corner to create a staging path by following several recommendations.
They include:
- Length of the wooden piece + distance from the wheel to the edge of the tire. We multiply the result by 2. Allowances of 10 cm will help to avoid mistakes.
- You can determine the size of the pipes for the carriage by taking into account the type of tire. The design should be 30 cm larger than the cutting part.
Transferring the structure to the base
Now place the resulting working block on a metal frame. It's not difficult to make. First, weld two shapes (in the shape of the letter P) from strong metal tubes. In the upper part, these forms are secured to each other (either welding or bolted connections can be used). In the central part of this frame, weld 4 tubes vertically. On each of them, make small indentations on the outside (no more than half the thickness of the metal) at a distance of 2 cm from each other. It is also necessary to weld 4 tubes to the working unit, but their internal diameter must exactly match the external size of the vertical pipes. All elements must be positioned so that the tubes of the working unit fit onto the tubes of the supporting frame.
Let us briefly explain the principle of operation: the working unit will be able to move freely vertically and be fixed with bolts. You loosen all 4 bolts, move the working unit vertically to the level you need and tighten the bolts again. The working unit will be rigidly fixed, therefore, you will be able to make longitudinal cuts of wood in a strictly horizontal plane.
How to assemble a sawing mechanism
It is necessary to weld a square from metal pipes. Externally, such a blank will look like an ordinary box. It should not have external walls, bottom and lid.
The bottom side should be short, and the top side should be about 20 cm longer. As a result, we have the appearance of a carriage. Wheels will be attached to the protruding elements.
After this, we move on to making a platform for the engine location. We make several holes on the metal sheet to fix the electric motor.
After that, we will weld another flat strip to the platform, which will hold the tire from the chainsaw.
- We will mount the axle on this site. From it we will fix the drive sprocket for the chain.
- It is necessary to attach the tire in such a way that it is possible to maintain the possibility of adjustments for the tension of the cutting part.
- If the chain is poorly tensioned, it may become deformed or break during the cutting process.
- If the cutting part is too tight, it will put additional stress on the sprocket axle.
- As a result, you can observe severe load on the electric motor and overheating of the circuit.
The final step will be to fix the power cable at one of the edges of the site. To start, simply connect the electrical cord to a power outlet. When the equipment is turned on, the carriage with the tire will begin to move slowly along the metal frame.
Assembly
First you need to make a frame in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. A tire must be installed in the central part of the frame. Please note that the load on this unit will sometimes be too large, so the tire must be secured on both sides.
The driven sprocket usually has a hole into which an axle made of strong low-carbon steel or a high-strength alloy must be inserted. This axis must resist the movement of the tire in the horizontal plane. To avoid vertical displacement, bearings are placed on the axle on both sides close to the tire.
To make a sawmill, you will need a grinder.
Next, we put on bushings to clamp the bearings, and weld the axle to one of the sides of the frame. In the opposite part it is necessary to place the engine and the chain tension system. There is no need to invent designs: use the existing elements from a chainsaw.
We also need a driving drum. We attach it to the electric motor shaft and fix it using a longitudinal key. Now the structure needs to be centered and firmly secured to the body. Pay special attention to the fastening of the electric motor: during operation it vibrates very strongly, so the frame for it must be rigid. A cast iron frame is ideal, but there are difficulties with welding. It is recommended to make the base for the electric motor from metal profiles by welding two triangular shapes from them. Rigidity will be ensured if you position these triangles vertically.
Photo of a homemade tire sawmill
Electrical equipment, light, lighting
Residents of small towns or villages are well aware of the role any woodworking equipment plays in their lives, which most likely many have had to use in their work. Nowadays, the construction market is replete with a large number of different models of woodworking equipment, with sawmills being the most popular. All sawmills are divided into frame, disk and band sawmills, which differ in the type of cutting tool. The tire sawmill differs radically from them in its design.
Content:
Purpose of the tire sawmill
Man has long been using wood of different species to make objects that are necessary for his life. During this time, people worked to modernize woodworking equipment. Hand saws, which were used in the past, have practically sunk into oblivion. They have been replaced by more modern and convenient machines, which include a chainsaw, multi-saw and edger, as well as tire sawmills.
Any construction or maintenance of buildings is accompanied by large financial expenses, which is associated with wood processing: sawing timber, preparing boards, manufacturing rafters, beams or furniture parts. All this, of course, you can purchase at retail in a retail chain, but when you buy a new tire sawmill, all expenses will quickly pay off, and with the help of your own woodworking machine you will build a house, a bathhouse, a garage, a country house and a summer gazebo.
The main purpose of a homemade tire sawmill is high-quality longitudinal sawing of logs of any type of wood for the production of unedged and edged boards, veneer, slats, carriages, beams and sawing of thin gauges. Sawmills of this type are designed for the production of small batches of lumber, processing of non-standard logs and obtaining special sizes of workpieces.
Tire sawmills do not require a large area for installation and can be freely installed on a limited plot of land. Of course, a chain sawmill will not replace a cylinder saw or a crown cutter, but you can cut timber and make boards with your own hands. In the photo of tire sawmills, you will see that there are machines that operate from an electrical network and are stationary installations, as well as autonomous options that run on gasoline, with which you can go into the forest and harvest the necessary lumber.
Construction of a bus sawmill
The sawmill consists of a frame, clamping stops, a movable trolley, rollers, a carriage, an electric motor, a tire and a chain saw. The sawmill frame is lightweight, so it can be transported in the trunk of a car. The tire sawmill can be relatively easily moved and installed in close proximity to the log that is being cut - in a lumber yard or construction site.
You can saw logs of almost any length on a tire sawmill. And if you provide for the additional installation of another section in the drawing of a homemade tire sawmill, then you can increase the length of the log by another couple of meters. This is considered very beneficial when constructing a house or country house for the production of floors.
