The LumberWorksForums

I though i would start a new post on making a power feed for our mill. We have decided to go the electric set up.
I found a speed control for a 12v to 40v DC motor. Now i am looking for a right angle DC motor. What size do I
look for say HP and gear ration ? The chain and gear will be no trouble fixing, just need the motor.

Lester

Hey Sawwood,

I was in a thrift store the other day (took my wife out on an adventure that SHE loves) and I found a power wheel chair. It was the older type that looks like a regular push type wheel chair. It had two 90* gear motors, one on each side. The joy stick looked pretty rough, but I would think the motors would do the trick for powering the carriage of a manual saw mill. DC motors are pretty rugged and last forever, and most can be rebuilt easily if they need to be. I kind of wish I had bought it. It was only $20! I'm just not looking to power my mill at this time, but I could have stashed the parts away with the 100's of "probably will never use" gadgets and parts I have laying around for use later down the road.

Anyway, you may want to look around for one of those chairs. You may be able to get one cheap. The scooter type power chairs that I see in these "thrift store adventures" (I see lots of them! and I'm sure they would work too) all seem to be well over the $100 price range. The motors in these things can power some pretty large people up ramps at a fair clip. I would think they would do the same on a mill carriage.

As Robert had mentioned, the motors all seem to be 24v not 12v. So you would have to power with additional batteries, or just go real slow.

A Wheel chair set-up is the inexpensive way to go, and the motors do work well on 12 volt,, most are 24 volt,, now what I might have some concerns about is how the electronincs work, being shifted down from 24v to 12volt,, I suppose they would work the same, I dont think anyone could go wrong trying it,, the gear motors are usually right angle, and power is no problem,, there made for continuis duty,,, I think one could run one 12volt,,, you wanna cut slow anyway,, but when done with the cut, you wanna get or gig back quick, so you can get the blade back in the log,,Also 12v gear motors can be had from www.surpluscenter.com but I have yet to see 12v variable controlers there,,, but if your mill is stationary, they do have 90v DC gearmotors and the power circuit board etc, to run them,, OH yea,,, all DC motors are reverseable,,
Also Troling motors are 12v and they do have nice reastates,, Now I dont know if they have enouhg torque, but a gear motor could be used..

What voltage motors are in treadmills? Just another idea to throw out there....

Hey WoodButcher. Hope all is well with you! Yeah, I would think the control off the chair could be used. It had a joy stick for forward, reverse, left and right control. That one happened to be a bit rough looking though and may not have worked. Under the chair, it had a control box with whatever electronics they need to operate, two battery boxes (each looked about the size that would hold a lawn tractor batt.) and of course, the two right angle motors. The more we talk about this, the more I want to kick myself in the rump for not buying that chair!
I have also seen, from time to time, power beds like they use in hospitals. I believe they also use DC motors in them (though they plug in to 110v ac). The ones I have seen have had right angle gear motors on them with lead screw type mechanisms to raise and lower the various sections of bed. I would think you could use them as well, and they seem to be easier (and usually cheaper) to find than the chairs. The controls from them are not variable speed though and probably would not work so great for our intended purpose.

I know my wife is gonna ask. Do you have any thrift stores in your area??? You're not TOO far from here for her to want to go on a thrift store adventure. We're just south of Brevard, NC, on the other side of the mountain.

Hi all.
Sawwood, I have two 12 volt motors and 90 degree gears with both forward and reverse controls. The orginal forward speed control can be used to send sawhead back and the reverse can be used to cut the log. Using a 7 degree blade helps pull mill through the log.

Motors rated at 5 mph and 2.5 mph I'm thinking these can be used in tamdem, one on each side of a drive shaft to drive a windless. All attach to the sawhead and wired into the battery. Honda engine charger can handle it.

Take a good look at the LT 28. It has a hand crank turning a windless spool, rope driven. I think one could adapt these to motor drive and or assit hand crank drive. I have seen a video of the LT 28 but not enough to understand.

These Angle motors are from a Jeep Power Wheel yard toy.

Later J R

Hi All,
I'm back, My Molly has me on call. It WasTime for her mid-day stroll thru the potty patch.

The Windless driven mill head could be to a gear cog drive, to a #40 chain or is it a continous rope drive 3 or 4 dally.

Perhaps some owners of the LT 28 can give a explanation of how to adapt.

The Power Wheels are both wheel driven by seperate motors. I haven't studied there method, but have both motors with forward and reverse switches. Plus the Hubs to bolt into windless drum spool, cogs or gears etc. There axles are just dead supports.

There is something for minds of deep thought. Mine is quite use less..Like Duh..

J R

If you do go with electric, go with the heavy duty stuff like from chairs or the like, not from toys.