B. C. Saw Filer’s Association. Presents Point Up 2002" President Dave Streeter 2002-2003President’s Message I’d like to take this moment to thank the Executive for all their hard work and time spent on making this year’s Conference a great success. All these people spend many voluntary hours all year, as well as during the Conference weekend. Also, I’d like to thank all the Suppliers for all their continued support and donations. The membership also can not go unmentioned. The turn out this year was excellent. One of the best we’ve had. Please keep coming, giving your support and passing on your experiences and ideas to others. All of us together make the BC Saw Filer’s Association one of the best in the world! Congratulations to all of us, both past and present! Thank you. Dave Streeter BCSFA 2002 Board of Directors Mike Pastorek - Vice – President-12091-Irving St. Maple Ridge, B.C., V2X-9S5 Resident Phone- 604-465-4942 Work Phone-604-465-2255 Work Fax- 604-465-2283 mpastorek@bcsawfilers.com Allen Gallant - Secretary / Treasurer9750-124 th St. Surrey B.C., V3V-4S8Phone 604-585-4012 Fax- 604-585-4014 E-mail-sawfilers@telus.net Mel Testawich - Director- Prince George N & W33 North Engen, Vanderhoof, B.C. V0J-3A0 Resident Phone- 250-567-3314 Work Phone- 250-567-4725 Work Fax-250-567-3911 Email-mtesta@plateau.slocan.com Dwain Sayers -Director-Vancouver IslandRR#1, 812 Bucktail Rd. Mill Bay,B.C., V0R-2P0 Resident Phone- 250-287-7486 Work Phone- 250-287-5700 Work Fax-250-287-5744 Dsayers@bcsawfilers.com Vern Weiers- Director- Prince George South1042 Maple Dr. Quesnel, B.C., V2J-3M5 Resident Phone- 250-747-1902 Work Phone- 250-992-1764 Work Fax- 250-992-1708 Email-vweiers@bcsawfilers.com Dave Robertson - Director- Southern Interior# 11 Helmcken Rd., Enderby, BC, V0E-1V3 Phone-250-546-3171 drobertson@bcsawfilers.com Greg Daykin –Director –Prince George N / E4369-W. Austin Rd., Prince George BC, V2K-2H8 Phone-250-962-9152 gdaykin@bcsawfilers.com Dennis Reid - Historical Society CaretakerBCIT, 3700 Willingdon Ave. Burnaby BC, V5G-3H2 Phone-604-451-6844 dreid@bcsawfilers.com Phil Vetra– Lower Mainland Director4463 196A St., Langley BC, V3J-3M5 Phone– 604-530-5158 pvetra@bcsawfilers.com Tony Daszko– Vendor’s Representative2941 Oakridge Crescent, Prince George BC, V2K-3Y2 Phone: 250-962-8806 Work-800-661-1958 Fax: 604-946-9738 tdaszko@simonds.cc From The Secretary / Treasurer Thank you for giving me the opportunity of being your Secretary / Treasurer and I hope everyone takes something back to there mills from the Conference and Trade Show that will increase safety awareness and productivity. I would also like to thank Gordon Fallowfield for his guidance and advice during my term as Secretary/ Treasurer, our web master, Sandy Thompson of T. C. S. Networks for his computer expertise and the Exhibiter’s quick response with their Ads for this Point Up . Best Regards, Allen Gallant S TAY SHARP ~ STAY SAFE
MIG WELDING OF BANDSAW CRACKS By Dave Robertson, Riverside-Armstrong Reprinted with permission from - Logging & Sawmilling Journal BENEFITS 1. Very little distortion in the weld and surrounding parent material. 2. Time required to bench the weld is substantially lessened. 3. Total absence of slag to contaminate weld.4. In the event rewelding an old weld, the area can be built up to compensate for over grinding.PROCEDURE 1. Preheat the copper anvil (electric coil heating preferred).2. Wire - brush the top - side of crack. 3. Groove out the crack to 1/3 the plate thickness. 4. Wire brush again.5. Clamp band in copper anvil. 6. Allow band to heat up so you can just touch it. 7. Set welder for the gauge of band (use recommended setting for mild steel as a starting point). A faster wire speed is needed for saw steel to avoid splatter and undercut. 8. Alter the saw is pre-heated, set the distance between the copper anvil and the saw to 0.030" Snip of the end of the wire to expose a clean end. 9. Start welding at the gullet and work towards the operator. Keep the nozzle as close to 90° as possible. Run a straight bead following the groove or "fan" back and forth across the crack if thickening is desired. Make sure to release the trigger before lifting the nozzle. 10. Open the clamp and grind the bead. Do not over-grind. 11. Anneal the weld immediately after grinding. 12. Put the band on the bench and let cool. 13. After cooling, grind off the bead on the inside of the saw. Do a rough check for level on the inside of the band and dress with a pad. Shape the gullet with a half-round file. Run the weld to the top slab, rough level and dress with a pad. 14. Finish level and bench as necessary. POSSIBLE PROBLEMS Undercutting fine-tune the voltage and wire speed "Popping" when starting: contamination or need to decrease gap from wire to saw. Dave Robertson, Head Filer Riverside Forest Product Armstrong BC 250-546-3171
Business Meeting in Kamloops The executive met in Kamloops in January of 2002 to look at the facilities in that city. We toured the Coast Hotel and the Sports Complex as well as discussing our options of bring the BC Saw Filers Conference to Kamloops. The distance between the hotel and the sports complex, plus the costs and the restrictions at the sports complex made it unsuitable for our needs.
Cobalt Exposures Enhanced by Synthetic Coolants?By Arlene Stebbins, Field Research and Consultation Group The following article reprinted from the "Filer to Filer" Trade Report Vol., 2 Issue 1,1990 This article supplied by Stanley S. Niemiec, Forest Products Department, Oregon State University,Forest Research Laboratory, Corvallis, Or. 97331-5709. Autumn 1989 University of Washington, Seattle, 98195The University of Washington Department of Environmental Health's Field Research and Consultation Group was asked to investigate a carbide-tip saw blade manufacturing plant after three workers evaluated at the Harbor view Occupational Medicine Clinic were diagnosed with possible hard metal lung disease resulting from occupational exposure. Hard metal lung disease is associated with the production and shaping of tungsten carbide materials. Tungsten carbide consists of tungsten and carbon with cobalt as a binder. Cobalt is the suspected causative agent in the disease. The mix of tungsten, carbon and cobalt depends upon the product's desired hardness and physical characteristics. The manufacturing process at this plant required grinding tungsten carbide material containing less than 10% cobalt. The process uses coolants to remove heat at the grinding surface and to control dust generation. The majority of coolant falls from the grinding surface into a collection trough for recirculation; however, a very small portion becomes airborne as a fine mist. It has been reported that cobalt can be dissolved or leached by the coolant in tungsten carbide grinding processes, resulting in workplace exposures to cobalt when coolant mist is generated. The workplace evaluation included air monitoring to evaluate ambient airborne tungsten and cobalt levels throughout the plant. Table 1 - Air Samples In the Plant Operation / -Cobalt -Tungsten Location (mg/m3) (mg/m) boring mill <0.004 <0.02 Gumming <0.004 <0.02 surface grinder <0.004 <0.02 hammering <0.004 <0.02 brazing <0.008 <0.02 wet grinder 0.055 0.69 Table by wet grinder 0.043 0.41 dry grinder 0.021 0.71 PEL 0.1 5.0 Tungsten levels were less than 10% of the current Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) of 5.0 mgjm3 set under the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act (WISHA). Airborne cobalt levels were low in cutout; gumming, brazing and hammering work areas (below .008 mgjm3). Grinding area air levels were near or above 50% of the PEL, the level at which corrective action is recommended (Table 1). Area and personal sampling over six shifts indicate that the grinders daily exposures were consistent and not anomalous events. At this facility, field observation confirmed the effectiveness of the "wet grinding" process in suppressing airborne tungsten carbide dust. However, cobalt concentrations in the coolant were found to increase as the day's work progressed and frequently reached levels f500mg/ ml (micrograms per milliliter) coolant or greater at each grinding station. Cobalt can appear in tungsten carbide particles or "grinding fines" suspended in the coolant as well as being dissolved and incorporated into the coolant. Separating these two forms of cobalt (suspended from dissolved) by filtration indicated that the majority of the cobalt found in used coolant was in the dissolved form. Further laboratory testing indicated that cobalt leaching continues as long as the grinding fines remain in the coolant. For example, increases of 5-fold (12 to 50 mg/ml) in dissolved cobalt were noted over a 60- minute interval. The concentration of cobalt dissolved in coolant further increased as more grinding fines were added addition of slightly more than 5 grams of tungsten carbide dust to 500ml of the coolant used at this plant produced 300 mg/ml concentrations of dissolved cobalt. Thus, the fraction of cobalt in solution and the overall cobalt content of used coolant will increase continually during use or during idle periods following use. These laboratory findings suggest that coolant droplets will constitute a potentially hazardous exposure if cobalt levels become sufficiently high. Was this an example or is cobalt leaching a common occurrence in carbide grinding operations? The Field Group obtained new and used coolant samples from nine local businesses that performed grinding of tungsten carbide. Cobalt concentration in used coolant samples ranged from 1 to 2100 mg/ml. There was no apparent relationship between cobalt coolant concentration and either the estimated number of tips ground or the duration of coolant use. The data indicates that uptake of cobalt into coolants is highly variable, and probably depends on specific ingredients in the coolant formulation. Currently, the chemical properties of various coolants are under investigation in order to identify chemical constituents that promote or retard leaching. It has been suggested, for example, that chemical components functioning as hard water stabilizers, corrosion inhibitors or biocides lead to substantial leaching of cobalt binder from the carbide material. In laboratory experiments, the presence of an as- yet-unidentified compound containing cobalt and an organic complexing agent has been detected. This result may explain why one coolant dissolves cobalt from tungsten carbide dust much more readily than another coolant. The possible formation of a complexed form of cobalt in coolant solutions could also affect the toxicity of the cobalt itself. Exposure to a more biologically available or active chemical form of cobalt would be expected to be more hazardous to workers than would exposures to the equivalent amount of cobalt in carbide dust. The goal of these efforts is to evaluate and ultimately make recommendations concerning the use of specific chemicals or coolant formulations. As an interim measure, identification of coolants that appear unlikely to concentrate dissolved cobalt will help tungsten carbide manufacturers minimize the possibility of cobalt intoxication of workers. In general, suggested industrial hygiene solutions regarding exposure to cobalt in the workplace include substitution of a less hazardous substance, engineering controls (such as local exhaust ventilation) and/or administrative controls (such as rotation of workers). In this case substitution of non-leaching coolant was the method of choice. Recommendations by Mr. Niemiec: • Isolate machinery from workers.• Adequately ventilate machinery to an outside source.• Provide high efficiency respirators to workers coupled with a respirator education program.• For personal protection wear gloves while working with carbide.• Wash hands before eating or smoking.• Contact saw supplier to see what's available in non-leaching cobalt coolants.
Bob Campbell One of our most active members has decided to hang up the hammer and call it a day. Two time past president, Bob "Soupy " Campbell retired in September from Interfor’s Hammond Cedar Mill after 37 years as a saw filer and member of this association. Bob started his adventure in the sawmill industry as a planer chain puller at Western Forest Industries in Honeymoon Bay, on Vancouver Island. He took a chance one day and put his name on a posting for the filing room. Having the highest score on the aptitude test, Bob was in the filing room by 1965, under Head Filer Johnny Guellette. After 23 years at Western Forest Industries, Bob was forced to move Betty-Anne and the family to the lower mainland if he wanted to continue in the saw filing trade, as Western Forest was closing the mill. "I worked relief all over before finding a home at Interfor for the last 18 years" said Bob. The list of Head Filers that he worked with include Stan Dams, Dennis Gross, Tom Spears, Wally Kowalski, Mike Pastorik and Rick Austin. Bob’s fondest memory of his time as a filer was his first convention and being trade show director. Bob and his wife Betty-Anne have been a regular at the convention for more than 35 years. Betty-Anne has always been there, volunteering for whatever needed doing, whether it was data enter, typing letters or working at the registration desk. Bob’s future plans include spending time with his grandchildren and being a househusband. He also assures me he will be in Prince George for the next BCSFA Convention to show the new Trade Show Director, the ropes. The BC Saw Filer’s Association wishes Bob and Betty-Anne all the best and we hope to see them at future conventions as Life Members. Thank you both for all you have done to make this Association one to be proud of.
BENCHING of BANDSAWS LEVELING1. Accurate leveling is the most important process. 2. Level saw right out to teeth. 3. Level both sides of the saw plate 4. Edge to edge dishing affects cutting accuracy the most. 5. Use only light pressure on straight edge to find dishing. 6. Check leveling between the guides after running in the saw (see Figure A). 7. Auto levelers: are excellent filing room support can have problems with small bumps are foiled by too much tension (popping) need to be well , maintained, correctly adjusted and aligned TENSIONING 1. Tension must be uniform all around the saw. 2. With in reason the amount of tension is not critical. 3. Bandsaws can run very accurately with tension down to 60 and even 80 feet. 4. If very little tension is used. Then increase the strain. 5. Less tension means less change in blade and less work over life of blade. 6. Too much tension hides leveling problems. WASHBOARDING Washboarding is normally associated with bandsaws and it is primarily due to the tooth impact exciting a high frequency traveling wave in the blade. The approximate 30- degree slope in the washboard pattern is due to the traveling wave speed being slower than the blade l speed. If the teeth are fitted to the washboard pattern the shape of the traveling wave at the tooth edge is apparent. Bandsaw washboard can be reduced or eliminated by changing the tooth pitch, changing the rim speed or changing the tooth and gullet shape. Sometimes it might require a combination of these overcome a serious washboard problem. The industry rule of thumb is to "shorten the hook line. In most successful cases it was necessary to reduce the gullet area and make the tooth stiffer. In contradiction to this, it is occasionally observed that narrow teeth with Large gullets operate without washboard.
GULLET CRACKING 1. Burning of gullet during grinding. Check wheel speed and grit. Dress wheel frequently. 2. Poor gullet shape. A small radius at bottom of gullet can create a, stress concentration. 3. Operating time may be too long between grinds. 4. Too much tension. 5. Excessive band mill strain or defective strain system. 6. Work saw plate less as every roll and hammer blow adds stress to the gullet. 7. Band mill wheel may be worn or out of round and need grinding or balancing. Also, check the condition of scrapers if build-up is occurring. 8. Severe vibration in any span of the blade. The long back span is most likely to resonate and cause cracking. VARIABLE PITCH SAWS Why Use Variable Pitch? • Can reduce or eliminate Washboarding• Reduction in cutting noise level• Can withstand overfeed conditions better than fixed pitch saws Standard profile grinders can be used if the saw has a small pitch difference otherwise, the tooth back of the smallest pitch may become too narrow or, Multi-lobe cam for grinder or, Standard grinder with CNC Retrofit or, CNC profile grinder Printed with Permission from Logging & Sawmilling Journal With Thanks
Workers Compensation Board Of British Columbia Regulations on Saws and Knives 27.14 Unattended machinery An unattended saw and other woodworking machinery must not be left running if a worker could be endangered. 27.15 Sharpening saws and knives Equipment used for grinding saws and knives must have an effective local exhaust entilation system or other effective means of dust and mist control. 27.16 Babbitt melting (1) Babbitt melting must be done at a controlled temperature. (2) Exhaust hoods must be provided for melting and pouring operations or an equally effective air contaminant control method must be used. (3) A babbitt pot must be covered. (4) If practicable, a lead-free babbitt must be used. 27.17 Sharp-edged tools The cutting edges of saws, knives, cutting heads, and other sharp-edged devices, must be (a) guarded to prevent worker contact, when stored in operating areas, and (b) handled and transported in a manner which will not endanger workers. 27.18 Circular saw guarding (1) If there is a risk of injury to a worker from the blade of a circular saw, or flying debris from the saw blade, the portions of the blade outside the cutting area must be fully guarded. (2) Guards must be arranged to allow cutting with a minimum amount of exposed blade. 27.19 Band saw guarding (1) A band saw and its band wheels must be enclosed or otherwise effectively guarded except in the cutting area to prevent worker contact and to restrain the saw blade in the event of blade failure. (2) If metal enclosures are used with shake band saw wheels, the top door panel must be fitted with an inside wooden liner. (3) For a hand-fed shake band saw, the distance between the top of the table rollers and the top guide must not exceed 36 cm (14 in). 27.20 Slasher and trim saws (1) Barriers to protect workers from ejected material must be installed in front of and behind all multiple slashers and multiple trim saws. (2) If a worker may be caught or pulled into a saw or other danger area by a lug chain or similar transfer system, an emergency stopping device must be fitted on the conveyance to automatically stop the transfer system before the worker is pulled into the danger area. 27.21 Circular cutoff saws A circular cutoff saw must be fully enclosed, guarded, or located to prevent inadvertent contact with the running saw when it is in the retracted position. 27.22 Splitters (1) If a worker may be exposed to kickback from a circular saw with rip-type teeth, the saw must be fitted with an effective splitter. ( 2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an edger or circular resaw which is equipped with anti-kickback fingers.27.23 Chop, trim and swing cutoff saws (1) Each swing cutoff saw must have (a) a device to automatically return the saw to the back of the table, (b) a limit chain, or similar device to prevent the saw from swinging beyond the front of the table and past a position where the gullets of the lowest teeth rise above the top of the table, and c) a latch or similar device to prevent saw rebound. (2) A swing cutoff saw operator must be positioned so that no part of the operator's body is in line with the saw. (3) Each chop, trim and swing cutoff saw must (a) be effectively guarded, (b) be guarded by location, or (c) have other effective means that prevent the operator's hands being placed in the cutting area when the saw is activated. 27.24 Circular saw guides (1) Circular head saws and scragg saws must be equipped with safety guides. (2) If a top saw is only used occasionally, such as to cut flares off oversized logs, the requirements of subsection (1) do not apply. (3) Guides that must be adjusted while the saw is in motion must have the adjustment controls located away from the danger area. 27.25 Cutoff saw interlocks If a powered conveyor feeds material at right angles to the blade of a circular cutoff saw, the system must have interlock control devices to prevent side loading of the saw. 27.26 Saw operator location Log and block cutoff saw operators must be positioned so that no part of the operator's body is in line with the saw unless adequate barriers have been installed. 27.27 Saw speeds A saw must not be operated at a speed in excess of the maximum speed recommended by the manufacturer. 27.28 Saw maintenance (1) A saw must be inspected frequently and maintained in a safe condition. (2) A dull, badly set, improperly filed or tensioned saw, or an inserted tooth saw with poorly fitting shanks or worn bits, must be removed from service. (3) A saw must be inspected for cracks and other defects each time the saw is sharpened, and a cracked saw must be removed from service until repaired by a qualified person.
BCIT Saw Trades Course Schedule 2002 - 2003 - 2004 Fit II 283-106 Oct 28/ Nov 22 2002 Cir 284-107 Nov 25 / Dec 202002 Fit I 285-108 Jan 6/ Jan 31 2003 Fit II 286-109 Feb 3/ Feb 28 2003 Cir 287-110 Mar 3/ Mar 282003 Bench 288-111 Apr 1/Apr 25 2003 Fit I 289-112 Apr 281 May 23 2003 ..Fit II 290-113 May 26 1 June 20 2003Cir 291-114 Sept 1/ Sept 26 2003 Bench 292-115 Sept 29/ Oct 24 2003 Fit I 293-116 Oct 27/Nov 21 2003 Fit II 294-117 Nov 24/ Dec 19 2003 Cir 295-118 Jan 5/ Jan 30 2004 Bench 296-119 Feb 2/ Feb 27 2004 Fit I 297-120 Mar 1/ Mar 262004 Fit II 298-121 Mar 29/ Apr 232004 Page 29 (4) A saw or saw collar damaged by excessive heat or undue stress must be removed from service until inspected and repaired by a qualified person. 27.29 Cracks in circular saws (1) A circular saw with a crack of any size adjacent to the collar line, or with a crack elsewhere which exceeds the limit specified in Table 27-1, must be removed from service until the crack is repaired and the saw retensioned by a qualified person. (2) A circular saw with a crack near the periphery which does not exceed the limit specified in Table 27-1 must be removed from service until the crack is repaired or the lengthening of the crack has been arrested by slotting, center punching, drilling or other effective means, and the saw is retensioned as necessary, by a qualified person. 27.30 Cracks in band saws (1) A band saw, other than a shake band saw, with a crack exceeding the limit specified in Table 27-2 must be removed from service until the crack is repaired and the saw retensioned by a qualified person. (2) A band saw, other than a shake band saw, with a crack not exceeding the limit specified in Table 27-2 must be removed from service until the crack is repaired or the lengthening of the crack has been arrested by center punching or other effective means, and the saw retensioned as necessary, by a qualified person. (3) A shake band saw with a crack must not be used. 27.31 Band saw wheel wear limits (1) Unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer or a professional engineer, the minimum rim thickness of a cast steel band saw wheel measured 25 mm (1 in) inboard from the rim edge must be (a) 14 mm (9/16 in) for wheels up to and including 1.8 m (6 ft) diameter, (b) 16 mm (5/8 in) for wheels over 1.8 m (6 ft) up to and including 2.75 m (9 ft) diameter, and (c) 17.5 mm (11/16 in) for wheels over 2.75 m (9 ft) diameter. (2) A band saw wheel over 1.2 m (48 in) diameter must be nondestructively tested for cracks by a qualified person at least once a year. (3) A cracked wheel or a wheel which has been exposed to excessive heat must be removed from service until the wheel manufacturer, or a professional engineer, has certified it as safe for continued use. Saw diameter Maximum length of crack Millimeters Inches Millimeters Inches up to 300 up to 12 13 1/2 300 to 610 12 to 24 25 1 610 to 915 24 to 36 38 1 1/2 915 to 1220 36 to 48 50 2 1220 to 1525 48 to 60 64 2 1/2 over 1525 over 60 76 3 Band saw width Maximum length of crack Millimeters Inches Millimeters Inches up to 125 up to 5 1/10 of saw width 1/10 of saw width 125 to 300 5 to 12 13 1/2 over 300 over 12 19 3/4
THIS WE BELIEVE ABOUT SAFETY BC Saw Filer's Association -"1965" That every person bears the unalterable responsibility for keeping out of harm's way. That you owes it to yourself, your family, your fellows and your job. That no person lives or works entirely alone. You are involved with all people, touched by their accomplishments, marked by their failures, if you fail the person beside you, you fail yourself, and you will share the burden of that loss. The true horror of an accident is the realization that a person has failed themselves - and there fellows have failed them. That accidents are conceived in improper attitudes and born in moments of action without thought. They will cease to be, only when the proper attitude is strong enough to precede the act - when the right attitude creates the awareness that controls the act. That the prevention of accidents is an objective, that crosses all levels of rank, organization and procedure. The freedom from harm is not a privilege but a goal to be achieved and perpetuated day by day. That the elimination of injury and pain through the prevention of accidents is a moral obligation upon which the final measures of our performance directly depends.
Cobalt and Chromium Exposure in the Filing Room Printed with permission from Tom Wall Northwest Research Institute Carbide Processors, Inc. 3847 South Union Avenue Tacoma, WA 98409-4621This paper is an attempt to make a complex subject both short and understandable. This means that this paper is not complete and does not have all the information you might need to deal with this situation. This paper is just a start. If you want more information; contact your company safety officer or your WCB health consultant for more information. Here are some rules that are too simple but they give us a place to start. 1. Anything that goes into your lungs besides slightly damp, clean air is not good. 2. The dirtier the stuff you breathe the worse it is for you. 3. Some stuff is worse to breathe than other stuff 4. Some people are hurt more by some things than other people. Your lungs can handle many things besides clean air, which is why you can smoke and breathe pollution and still live. Pollution has always been around. The Blue Ridge Mountains are blue because of all the haze from the trees. Flowers and blossoms in the spring bring on hay fever in many people. If you want to look at it one way then trees and flowers pollute the clean air and they pollute your lungs. Your lungs can handle a lot of this. If people could not handle pollution the wood smoke would have killed all our grandparents and great grandparents and so on long ago. We do have two hard facts to start with. Breathing cobalt, chromium and grinding coolant can and will hurt you. Breathing coolant and breathing coolant with Chromium and Cobalt in it cause short-term health problems and long-term health problems. 1. Chromium and Cobalt are not good or bad by themselves. It is how they are used. Chromium and Cobalt are metals. They are neither good nor bad. Cobalt can safely make pottery a really pretty blue color. It can alloy with other elements to make a hard metal and it can bond tungsten carbide grains together to make saw tips. Chromium safely hardens steel and prevents rust. Chromium and Cobalt are good in many places but they are not good in your lungs. Water is good in milk and beer but if you try to breathe water you will drown. 2. Every person is different. People are different height and weight and shapes. They are born with different talents. Some people are really good with mechanics. Some people are good with a rifle or a fishing rod. Some people are great at baseball but not at all good at basketball. Some people get sick more easily and more often than other people do. This is true with colds and the flu. It is also true with exposure to various metals. Breathing smoke from a campfire will bother everybody. If a person has asthma it can really hurt them. 3. There are two ways that breathing Chromium and Cobalt hurt people. A. Chromium and Cobalt in grinding mist bother everybody. Dr. Susan Kennedy of the University of British Columbia did a study on filing rooms. She measured saw filers against bus mechanics because the work areas were similar and the people doing the work were similar. Saw filers cough and wheeze and generate phlegm (thick stringy mucous) two to three times as much as bus mechanics do. In addition saw filers wet grinding tungsten carbide and filers welding tip alloy had reduced lung capacity. They could not breathe as deeply or as easily. This part bothers everybody the way smoke from a campfire bothers everybody. B. Chromium and Cobalt can kill people slowly and horribly. Chromium and Cobalt gets into the lungs and scar the lungs. They tear up the lung tissue. The lung tissue then forms scars like scars form on the outside of your body. Lung tissue scars do not allow for breathing. Eventually more and more of the lung gets scarred and it is harder and harder to breathe until the person dies. This part is more like the way that smoke from a campfire bothers someone with asthma. 4. How Chromium and Cobalt get into your lungs. The good news is that to get Chromium and Cobalt into your lungs you have to breathe it in. Chromium and Cobalt get into your lungs when you breathe in grinding coolant or welding fumes. Chromium and Cobalt are in grinding coolant in two ways. They get in as really little particles in size from one -- one thousandth (1/1,000 or 25 microns) of an inch down to one --twenty five thousandth (1/25,000 or one micron) of an inch. They also dissolve in grinding coolant and get into your lungs that way. Cobalt in grinding coolant is sort of like sugar in coffee. If you add sugar to coffee it will dissolve. It takes a minute and it needs stirring. If you add too much sugar then not all of it will dissolve. Some will still be at the bottom of the cup.Some of the Cobalt in grinding coolant will eventually dissolve into the coolant. Dr. Kennedy says that the sooner you get the cobalt out of the coolant the less chance there is for it to dissolve. In any case cobalt gets into your lungs when you breathe it in. 5. Do not breathe coolant. Part of the secret to good health is to not breathe the coolant. Whether it has Chromium and Cobalt in it or not coolant is not what lungs are supposed to be breathing. Think of it as breathing water. It does not matter how pure water is you are still not supposed to breathe it. In the real world this is impossible to do. The coolant gets splashed around and it forms little tiny drops that are everywhere. Cabinets help but even they do not pick up all the coolant mist. There are a lot of studies in the metal working industries on trying to control grinding coolant and no one can control it 100% in a real world situation. I have not seen any studies that show just how bad it is to breathe coolant. I am just assuming that since the lungs were meant to breathe air that breathing a liquid is not good for them. It is extremely important to select a coolant that is good for skin. The surface of lungs is sort of like the surface of your skin on your hands or face. There is a great deal of difference in the way different coolants irritate the skin and cause rashes and other skin problems 6. Theoretically your body can handle some grinding coolant. Your body is pretty good at surviving many things. Although everybody is different your body can tolerate some exposure to grinding fluid so there is no need to panic. Think of exposure to grinding fluid like being cut with a knife. You can survive some of it but the less that it is done to you the better off you are. 7. Make the whole operation as safe as you can. It is pretty easy and simple to get much cobalt out of grinding coolant. If you run coolant through a clean filter you can get out up to 90% of all cobalt. This depends on the filter, the coolant and the whole system. The 90% figure is what we found in our actual tests. Do not splash grinding coolant any harder or further than you have to. What happens is that grinding coolant is sprayed onto the work as a liquid then the splashing breaks the liquid up into very small drops (aerosols) and this is what you breathe. Keep the coolant away from the operator. Screens, shields, air intakes and cabinets can all be used to collect mist and prevent it from getting to an operator. There are other materials in grinding coolant that can be dangerous. There are bits of diamond or CBN from the wheel; there is resin from the wheel and chunks of broken carbide as well as just general grit and dirt. We found that there could be up to 75,000,000 or 80,000,000 pieces of crud in a cubic centimeter. This would be 150,000,000,000 (150 billion) particles in a two-liter soda pop bottle. Filtering can get out over 99% of these particles. Conclusion: Grinding fumes and dust can be dangerous. Inhaling grinding coolant, whether it is clean or dirty, can be dangerous. How dangerous it is depends on how much is inhaled, how long it is inhaled and who inhales it.
What is WoodLINKS? WoodLINKS is a non-profit society created to respond to the wood industry's need for better-qualified, entry- level employees. Its mandate is to ensure that students, teachers and parents are knowledgeable about the value-added wood industry and the career opportunities it provides. WoodLINKS works with high schools, post-secondary institutions and industry to develop wood manufacturing programs in schools, and provide practical training opportunities, career counselling and information for students and teachers. How did it get started? The WoodLINKS program is an integral part of Forest Renewal BC's strategy to encourage the development of the value added wood industry. WoodLINKS directly responds to the industry's need to better educate and train prospective employees and to recruit the "best and the brightest" to work in the industry. The impetus came from a growing awareness among industry leaders that better educated students and hence employees were critical to the industry's competitiveness and future growth. As an industry / education society, WoodLINKS has its own Board of Directors representing the BC wood products industry and all levels of education. Together, WoodLINKS and Forest Renewal are working to see that educators, high school students, parents and teachers understand the value-added wood industry and take advantage of its dynamic job opportunities. WoodLINKS Multi-media Kit (CD ROM and Video) Careers in Wood, can be purchased by contacting: info@woodlinks.com or by mail to:WoodLINKS 2601 East Mall Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 Tel: (604) 822-1693 Fax: (604) 822-3062 WoodLINKS® Industry Partners and Supporters Tolko Industries Tomco Wood Products Ltd. UBC - Wood Science Victoria's Wooden Boat Association Whitevalley Log Homes Ltd. Peace Country Woods Willow Valley Wood Products Apollo Forest Products Ltd. North Country Creations Ltd. Stuart Lake Lumber Co. Ltd. M.E. Custom Cut Mouldings Donohue Forest Products Inc. M&T Wood Products Ltd. Slocan Group Jahn Haar Larry Stamm Tonewoods McBride Forest Industries Ltd. Sharon Enterprises Syncra Wood Products HARTECH Products North Ltd. 3D Wood Design Inc. Brink Forest Products Ltd. Canadian Woodworks Ltd. Central Interior Wood Processors Association Cluculz Investments Creative Wood Works Dollar Saver Lumber Ltd. East Fraser Fiber Co. Ltd. Highland Woodworks Images In Wood By Skippy's Woodcraft Interior Lumber Manufacturers' Assn. Norman J Glass Northern Capital Wood Products Ltd. Northern Forest Products Assn. PFI Pellet Flame (1997) Inc. PG Mill Supplies Ltd. (Edmonton) ShelfHawke WoodWorking Spinner Joe Stella - Jones Inc. The North Central Municipal Assn The Pas Lumber Company Ltd. The Woodlands Group West Hill Lumber (1988) Ltd. Woodshop Specialties Custom Wood Fibre Products Seaton Timber Inc. Skeena Cellulose Inc. Carnaby Terrace Pre - Cut Mill Ltd. Saiking Legacy Homes Ltd. Slocan Group - Plateau Division Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products Kalesnikoff Lumber Co. The Kootenay WoodVine
In 1995, British Columbia manufacturers produced goods valued at $33.4 billion. Did you know that the BC Forest Industry produced 52% of this amount?In 1995, British Columbia exported $26.9 billion in merchandise.Did you know that 60% of this amount came from the Forest Industry?In 1995, approximately 106,000 persons from BC were directly employed by the industry.Did you know that of this amount, over 14,000 persons were employed by the secondary wood sector withsales estimated at $1.94 billion. Source. Directory of Secondary Manufacturing of Wood Products in British Columbia. Natural Resources Canada. Dr. Bill Wilson. In 1995, an additional 159,000 persons were indirectly employed in this sector.Did you know that the BC forest industry employs approximately 15% of the entire BC workforce?BC sawmills produced 56% of all softwood lumber manufactured in Canada.Did you know that 81% of all plywood made in Canada comes from BC?Fact: Canada has about 15% of the world's growing stock of softwood. BC has 7%.Fact: Canada has 20% of the world's market share in forest products exports. BC has 9%.Canada accounts for 51% of all softwood lumber exports in the world. BC ships 33% of the world's total.- Source MOF Forest Products Facts
BCIT - www.bcit.ca B.C. Ministry of Forests - www.gov.bc.ca/for/ Canadian Forest Network - www.forest.ca/disclaimer. php3 Canadian Forest Service - www.nofc.forestry.ca/ notices_e.html Canadian Wood Council - www.cwc.ca COFI - www.cofi.org Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada - www.feric.ca Forest History Centre http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/ fhc/photos.html Forest Industry Network http://www.forestindustry.com/ Interior Lumber Manufacturers Ass'n - www.ilma.com Lake Erie & Ontario Sawyers and Filers Association www.sawyersand filers.org Logging and Sawmilling Journal - www.arborists.com Mill Product News - www.bauminternational.com/ publications/mpnmg_main.htm Northeast Saw Filers Assn - www.northeastsawfilers.com SAFER - www.safer.ca Southern Saw Filers Educational Ass'n - www.ssea.org Truck Loggers Association - www.truckloggers.com/ www.forestsource.com Akhurst – www.akhurst.com Armstrong Manufacturing Co. - www.armstrongblue.com Bates Abrasives –www.batesabr.com BGR Saws - www.bgrsaws.com CAE –www.cae.com Cal Saw –www.thinkerf.com Camco Cutting Tools - http://camcocuttingtools.com/index2.html Canadian Mill Equipment - www.canadianmillequipment.com Chevron Texaco - www.chevrontexaco.com Cut Technologies - www.cuttech.com Disston - www.disstonianinstitute.com Forintek Canada Corp. - www.forintek.ca Hanchett - www.hanchett.com/challeng.htm I.K.S. - Canadian Knife and Saw Ltd. - www.iksinc.com Lacey/ Harmer Ltd. - www.laceyharmer.com L & S Industries – www.lsind.bc.ca/avt McDonough Manufacturing - www.mcdonough-mfg.com Mysawmill.com - www.mysawmill.com Optimal Machinery - www.optimil.com Overwest Saw and Used Equipment Sales Ltd. - www.overwestsaw.com Pacific Grinding Wheel Co - www.pacificgrindingwheel.com Pacific/Hoe Saw and Knife - www.pacific-hoe.com Premier Bandwheel Ltd. - www.forestindustry.com/premierbandwheel Progressive Mill Supplies - www.progressivemill.com Pro Mac Manufacturing Ltd - www.promac.bc.ca P G Mills – www.forestindustry.com/pgmill Simonds Industries - www.simonds.cc Streifel – www.forestindustry.com/streifel/ Sawquip - www.sawquip.netc.net/english/corporate. html Texaco - www.texaco.com Thin Kerf Technologists Ltd. - www.thinkerf.com USNR - www.usnr.com Van Gear – www.vancouvergear.bc.ca/ Williams & White Machine Inc – www.williamsandwhite.com If we have missed anyone, please forward your web site address to sawfilers@telus.net Web Site Links
NEED FOR NEW PEOPLE GROWS AMID APPRENTICESHIP CONFUSION By J. K. Malmgren Printed with permission from J. K. MalmgrenThe demand for journeyed trades people in virtually every area of industry has become an issue of growing concern over the last few years. As the dwindling numbers of new apprentices that most trades have dealt with since the early 1990's meets up with an aging and fast retiring population of journeyed workers in every sector. Like other provinces and regions, B.C. has had in place a body whose specific purpose is to address and administer training and apprenticeship issues, but the program here is undergoing some enormous change. ITAC, the Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission, was formed in 1997 to administer the Industry Training and apprenticeship Act in B.C. As such, has worked with industry to define which occupations can be deemed apprenticeable trades, and what the necessary training and work experience qualifications will be in order to complete a given apprenticeship. After the core review completed by the provincial government early in 2002, however, it was determined that ITAC was not adequately serving the needs of industry or the apprentices themselves, that the commission should be dismantled and a committee put in place to determine the structure for apprenticeship administration. After almost eight months of consultation, the Ministry of Advanced Education has released a report that will begin the shift to its proposed new model for apprenticeship training. According to the Ministry, key aspects of the new model include roles for industry; apprentices/ trainees and government. Industry will play a lead role in moving towards a training system that better meets sector needs and will validate standards for trades credentials that reflect workplace requirements and needs. Apprentices will have greater responsibility for their training. Government's role will be limited to standards and Credentials. A small number of broad-based sectional advisory committee's win is established to replace the Trade Advisory Committees that existed under the ITAC structure. Opportunities will be increased for private trainers to participate in training and credentialing. Multiple pathways for training will be implemented to increase flexibility for trainees and their employers. The average length of programs will be reduced and new programs will be developed to address areas where skill shortages exist and to better meet the needs of industry. Credentialing will be based on skill and ability rather than reliant on time spent in a trade. Reaction to this proposed new model has been mixed, with concerns on the side of both industry and labor. But that doesn't stop the need for new apprentices. The construction industry, while sometimes volatile, is a continuing source of employment growth, and most of the work is performed by recognized trades. And, having completed their apprenticeship, construction trades people often find they have a mobile job, and can go anywhere in the country to get work Alberta's ongoing boom has drawn continuous migration of construction workers. While ITAC's successor system is not yet in place, some information is still available on its web site http:// www.itac.gov.bc.ca, and at the Ministry of Advanced Education's Learn and Earn web site http://www.learnandearn.bc.ca. As well, the following ITAC offices remain open in B.C. , and are forecast to do so until the spring of this year. Prince George 250 565-4465 Victoria 250 952-5180 I Surrey 604 576-3771 Kelowna 250 717-2041 Vancouver - Metro 604 775-2860 Burnaby Headquarters Office 604-775-2860
BCIT Electrical Trades Rewire Minature Saw Mill Instructor Dag Stenerud and his students from BCIT Electrical Trades undertook this project for two main reasons. 1 These students are taking an electrical entry level training course, and they could put to use the material that they are learning to practical use in designing and rewiring a complete system. They calculated the required electrical load on the system. This resulted in new switches, cable tray, fuses and panel box being installed. 2. These students all agreed that it will allow the Saw Filers to save this historical saw mill. Dennis Reid, Chief Instructor, BCIT Saw Trades The BC saw Filer’s Association and our Historical Society wish to thank Mr. Stenerud and his students for saving this priceless piece of history.
Door Prize ListRaffle Carbide Tool Work -Television -Sue Favel Key Knife -1) Air Tool set & Mini Mag -Elsie Kammers 2) Wrenches & Mini Mag -Robert Gorman -3) Wrenches & mini Mag -Daniel Pruett -4) Wrenches -Steve Favel Streifel Industries -Skil Saw -Unknown I.K.S -Laser Cut Hand Saw -George Grant Fuchs Lubricants -14.4Volt Cordless Drill -Michelle Gorman U.S.N.R -18 Volt Cordless Drill -Gary Tessaro Texaco -Jacket -James Ivan Coast Hotels -1) Accommodations in Kelowna -Betty-Ann Timmers 2) Accommodations in Vancouver -Unknown 3) Golf Package -Vern Weiers Postal Owen -6" Bench Grinder -Unknown Cut Technologies -Golf Bag -Brian Smitjes Women Only Door Prizes Peerless Saws -Scented Candles -Pat Tessaro -Grill -Unknown -Bottle of Wine -Unknown Simonds Saw -Basket of Bath Products -Unknown -Wine Rack -Rose Vatkin Cal Saw -Duck Planter -Unknown Seminars Peerless Saws -Tackle Box -Jim Wassing B.G.R. Saws -Mag Light -Jim Wassing Premier Band Wheels -Vest -James Ivan Armstrong Mfg. -Leatherman -Larry Hlokoff Armstrong Mfg. . -Leatherman -Aaron Timmers Vancouver Gear -Hat -Aaron Timmers Optimil -Knife & Hat -Randy Hebert Optimil -Knife -Terry Good International Paper -Hat -Terry Good L & S Industries -Pro. Base -Brian Smitjes Canfor -Sweat Shirt -Ken Del pappo International Paper -Golf Shirt -Paul Chartier PAC HOE - 9.6 Volt Cordless Drill -Mel Testawich Williams & White -Cordless Drill -Unknown Cal-Saw -Lantern -Jeff Stewart Streifel Industries -Binoculars -Ken Hill Uddeholm -Golf Shirt -Ken Hill B.G.R. Saws -Mini Flashlight -Terry Good Uddeholm -T-Shirt -Terry Good B.G.R. Saws -Multi Purpose Knife -James Ivan Uddeholm -T-Shirt -James Ivan Uddeholm -Golf Shirt -Bill Harkies Uddeholm -Golf Shirt -Dave Robertson Uddeholm -Golf Shirt -Unknown Houston Forest Products -Jacket -Dave Streeter Camco Cutters -Vest -Vern Taylor Jayrod Consulting -T-Shirt & Hat -Wally Garrod Van Gear -Duffel Bag -Wally Garrod Lignum Ltd -Jacket -Charlie Parker Optimil - Hat -Charlie Parker Camco -Shirt -Unknown Advanced Saw -18 Volt Cordless Drill -Tony Narciso Simonds -Hockey Jersey-Markus Naslund -Karl Luttmerding -Ed Jovanovsky -Mel Testawich On behalf of the entire membership of The BC Saw Filer’s Association, I would like to thank you all the companies for the wonderful Door Prizes donated to our Association for our Annual Conference. As always, you have been most generous in your show of support and we appreciate it. Thank You for your continued support over the years. Best Regards-Door Prize Committee Mel Testawich & Vern Weiers , BCSFA Directors
STARTING A NEW HEAD FILING JOB By Don Mason Printed with permission from the Western Saw Educational Association, Bill Saily, Secretary After deciding that you are qualified to hold the position of head filer, determine if the job measures up to your standards by applying the following procedures: Ask yourself, is there enough help in the filing room? As an example, there is nothing worse than a doublecut band mill operating two shifts with no fitter in the filing room at night. When you arrive at work the next morning, saws are all over the filing room with perhaps the last sharp saw on the mill. You then have to select a couple of saws with the biggest swage to fit up in a hurry; but what if they are turned over, or pulled in spots? This situation causes you to waste an hour or so, and you start playing a game of "catch up". There a lot of mills that always seem to have saw problems, and if you look closely you will find that many times it is the result of an undermanned filing room. Consider this when taking a new job; don't dig yourself a hole you can't get out of. Don't oversell yourself to management when applying for a job. If you tell them you're too good they may expect too much from you. When you improve the situation, let them be pleasantly surprised at the results. Never be guilty of degrading the man who filed the mill before you. If you found the job in a run-down condition, do the best you can to better the conditions without criticizing the former filer. Re- member, he had to go elsewhere to make a living, so don't let adverse comments on your part deprive him of employment. If you take over a job that is in trouble, look for the number one priority first; that is, the condition that is most likely to be hurting the lumber or the saws. Change only one thing at a time, watch the results, and if one change is favorable, go on to change another. If you change too many things at once, some of them may not work out. Go slowly and carefully. It can't all be done in a week. When first stepping into the filing room, look for a few important things. Is the saw sharpener lined up properly? Sometimes this is the last thing a fellow looks at; it should be the first. Are the swages and shapers in good condition? Beware of carbide shaper jaws that have been in service too long. Is the grinding wheel the proper size for the job? Just because the cupboard is filled with wheels doesn't mean that they are the best grit or grade for this operation. Make certain the grinding wheel has the proper number of turns in the bottom of the gullet. A wheel that plunges down too quickly and up too soon will not clean the gullet properly. Either change the cam action or slow down the machine. When observing the bench, first determine whether the rolls are dishing the saw one way or another. Level a saw, run it through the rolls and it dishes the saw, change the rolls or level the bench. You could waste a lot of time with poor stretcher rolls. Regarding the headrig, look first to see how the mill is lined up with the carriage travel. Lining the wheels square with the track is satisfactory on a double-cut, but is not the answer on a single- cut. A saw with a long back will hang out of the cut, so remove the guides and sawdust shear and let the saw hang free. Then align the saw with the carriage travel by moving the wheels. It doesn't make much sense to twist a saw around with the guides to keep it in line. If you disagree with this method, ask yourself: "How would I line up a mill with no pressure guides?" So line up the saw, not the wheels, then the pressure guides will be pushing the saw straight out instead of twisting it around. Look at the bottom wheel and observe how far the saw is hanging over the edge. Then observe the same on the top wheel. If there is any great difference, it would indicate three different things: 1) the wheels are not directly aligned endwise: 2) the bottom wheel is out of tilt; 3) one wheel is worn or faced differently, causing the saw to hang more over one wheel than the other. There is always a lot of talk about crossline, but there is one sure way of checking for it. Turn the wheel backward, if the saw moves one way or another, you have cross-line. When you turn the wheel both forward and backward and the saw does not move over a fraction, you have attained perfection. Take a good look at the strain bar when the mill is sawing. As the saw stretches and gets longer, the strain must tighten to drop the saw. If you see a strain arm rising in the cut, it indicates an abnormal amount of sawdust is rushing around the wheel, creating an attraction for the saw to climb, thus raising the strain lever and moving the saw forward in the cut. When a mill is first started up, see if the strain arm moves up and down. This could be out of round wheels or a loose or broken spoke. If the wheels are bad, grind them as soon as possible. Never put new saws on a worn wheel. The two just don't fit. Before surfacing the wheels, inspect the bearings on the mill. You cannot grind a wheel properly with faulty bearings, especially at full speed. There is only one place on a mill that must be level or square with the carriage, and that is the guide ways on which the guides run up and down. If there is an "out of square" condition, whenever a cant is turned, the felony will be compounded and instead of square cuts you will have parallelograms. After squaring the saw with the bedplate, place a dial indicator against the saw and raise and lower the guide. This will show you how far you are out of square. One of the most inaccurate pieces of machinery in the sawmill is the carriage. There is a lot of emphasis put on new set works that set within a few thousandths of an inch, but what good does this accuracy do when the carriage doesn't travel within quarter of an inch because of bad track, loose trucks, etc. A carriage is a massive piece of machinery with logs being turned against it continually; it is impossible to maintain anything that large within a few thousandths of an inch. If you believe that the track is crooked, be prepared to prove your case to management. Words aren't enough; you will have to use some device that spells it out for them. Stretch a line just above the carriage as tight as possible about 3" above the bedplate. Clamp a pointer device with a slot for the line to fit in, and run the carriage up and down the track until the pointer shows '0' at both ends. Place a machinist's level along the pointer (see Fig.1), get management on the carriage with you and have the sawyer make a line. When the pointer moves, or the level takes a dive, there is no argument, they will be convinced. If you can load a log on the carriage, so much the better. It will give you the benefit of weight. A lot of broken saws over the years can be traced to poorly de- signed guides. One particular type of guide has been the biggest offender, especially the bottom guide .Sawdust and slivers drive down into the crevice between the saw and the guide and build up pressure that pushes the saw out of line or against the outside guide. I've seen it packed so tightly that it was like fiberboard, acting like a spring against the saw. A saw doesn't have to be case hardened to center crack. The fact that the saw is heated within a narrow area is like a "popping oil" can. Metal fatigue will result. If you see a rash or center crack and a guide like this exists, get rid of it or bevel off the top, eliminating the crevice.Make certain the saws are always lubricated with enough water; saws with pressure guides must have water on them. Make sure a sawyer or off bearer isn't turning it off because he doesn't want to get wet. Circular saw trouble can many times be attributed to faulty collars. If you put a level saw on the collar and it appears to be dished, take the saw off and turn it around the other way. If the saw still dishes in the same direction, you have a bad collar. Make sure the feed roll is on the edger are in line. Run some cants through without any saws in the machine and see if the cants travel through in a straight line. Many a thin saw edger problem has been due to a bad feed roll situation. Also, if a cant comes off the headrig out of square, it will lead to the high side. Guides that are the circular "screw-in" type are bad news. The full face of the guide is never on the saw, making it impossible to run thin saws successfully. Make sure the guides are square with the arbor and also parallel with the saw. Make a point to be friends with sawyers or anyone who operates machinery using your saws. It is much better to have a friend in the saw box than an enemy. Cooperation between sawyers and filers is very important to a successful operation. Pride in one's work is a very important factor, but don't let pride lead to your downfall. If a filer has a problem he can't solve, or is in serious trouble, he should talk it over with another filer. Sometimes two or three heads can be better than one. Many a filer has lost his job because he kept his troubles to himself. I think the greatest thing about these meetings is the sharing of ideas with other filers. Never demand that a saw be replaced because of cracks, crumbling, etc., until you have completely eliminated all things that could have caused the problem. I'm sure if you shout loud enough someone will replace the saw, but what if the saw is not at fault; have you really solved the problem? In closing, I would like to leave you with a couple of thoughts: Never stop learning, look back a year ago and feel that you are much smarter today than you were then. And, also remember that constant vigilance of saws, machinery, and tools is the secret of success.
THANKS STEVE & SUEFROM A GREATFUL MEMBERSHIP The BC Saw Filer’s Association would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Favel for all his efforts as editor of the Point Up for 2000-2001. Due to personal reasons, Steve has resigned as Point Up Editor, effective October 10, 2002. We would also like to say a big thank you to Sue Favel for the many hours spent at the registration desk, year after year. Along with team mate Michelle Hebert, Sue has welcomed members to the BCSFA Conference for over 5 years. Thank you both and we hope to see you at future Conferences
Band Saw Donation
The BC Saw Filer’s Association would like to thank Glen Westover, President of Overwest Saws in Campbell River BC, for the generous donation of 39 Stellite band saws to BCIT Saw Trades. This donation of saw steel is invaluable to both the school and the students. It allows the school to save money for better equipment and the student get quality bands to work on. The Westover family have filed saws in BC for over 75 years and have been members of this association all most from its conception. Thank you for your continued support.
For The KidsAt last year’s Conference in Kelowna, a young filer by the name of Karl Luttmerding won the Markus Naslund autographed Hockey Jersey, donated by Simonds Industries. Karl unselfishly donated the jersey to the Brent Gilchrist Children's Hospital Charity. During a silent auction at the annual event, held at the Spallumcheen Golf & Country Club, in Vernon, the jersey fetched $300.00. Way to go Karl
Historical Society NewsThe BC Saw Filer’s Historical Society would like to thank Mrs. Mary Ledbetter for her donation of old tools that belonged to her late husband, Mr. L. Ledbetter, of Clearwater BC. The tools will be held in trust and displayed at future Conventions.
FILING ROOM MAINTENANCE by -JAY ERICKSON I'm in a rather unique position. The type of business that I do is no different than you fellows are doing. The position I have is that I don't take care of one mill, I have five or six of them, and I have to do the same things to my mills that you do, to keep them running. But this also gives me the opportunity to see many different kinds- of cutting applications, and different machines, and taking care of them has helped me a lot. There are two areas I want to discuss that have a lot to do with machine maintenance in the filing room, primarily: Precision and Wear. The first thing I'm going to bring up is that we've had previous speakers telling about setting up grinding machines in relationship to the grinding wheel over the saw. There are many different ways of getting this alignment. This is the type of precision that I'm refer- ring to.We all have good methods, but the thing I want to bring up is that before the grinding wheel is lined up square, and the saw guide, the track underneath it, lined up, and then I line the face plate of the grinder up the feed finger travel. After the faceplate is lined up with the travel of the feed finger, then verything else I do as far as my line-up on the saw, is done from the face plate. I think the best advice I've ever heard came from a fellow filer who's been at it a long time, he told me that whatever you do in the filing trade, there are three words of utmost importance and they are: level, square, and plumb. I work off of them all the time. That's the only way I can have any real success, because of the great number of saws that we put over our grinders in a day's time. With precision maintenance, we use tools for checking: squares, micrometers, levels and others. Something that's exact. Usually when we're having a problem that comes from this area, it's simple to find. You can take care of it right away. But in the second area: wear, it's my opinion that this is the thing that's most overlooked, and sooner or later it causes more trouble than precision maintenance, because it's harder to find where your problems are. If let go too long it soon gets to be a big problem. You have to spend a lot of time, and go back and check through so many things to find out just what it is that is causing the problem. I'd like to mention a few of the parts that I think ought to be checked periodically, to help eliminate problems. I know most of us, as busy as the mills keep us, don't usually take care of something until it starts to become a problem. That's when things usually get done. But you can check and avoid problems before they happen by changing and putting on new parts. The cone pivot points on top of the grinder is one area that I'm kind of ashamed of because a year or so ago, I had problems with lining up one of our grinding wheel arbors over a saw. The swage was getting a little bit heavy on one side and I was trying to blame it on the fitters but when I finally got into the pivot points, two were worn in half. They weren't even cones anymore. It was a wonder the wheel didn't fall off. You might look for things like this. Swage bars and anvils, you all are well aware of how they get worn, but they ought to be checked periodically. The cutting tooth is the name of the game, and without the fitting on your saws, I don't think it matters what kind of a bench job you have if you don't have good fitting you aren't going to come out. A good fitting job will cover some of the things that get passed over on the bench. But they can't pass over things on the bench when you have a bad fitting job. It's going to show up as soon as they get that saw on the mill. I use carbide on the anvils and on the clamp screws on all our swages. I get a lot better wear. You have to be a little more careful with them because they are subject to breakage, and when they're broken you're out of business. But they've worked out well. It's worth the extra expense of going carbide, with the number of saws we do. But the same point is still there, that they last that much longer, but then again you've got to take care of them. They can't be overlooked and taken for granted. Sharper tooth stops, I find, are real prone to get extra little notches worn in them, and pretty soon the fitters are fighting the shaper and trying to get it down in the right spot. They don't cost much and to take care of a simple thing like that, that's part of the job of being a head filer, or fitter, keeping the parts workable. Now, getting to cams. I've been asked out to different mills under different circumstances when they were in trouble, and have run into a lot of situations. I want to tell you about something that happened one time when I was asked to go into a mill and see if I could help out. They were having trouble holding the swage on their gangs, and they weren't getting any run out of them. They were making a lot of extra changes, which is all money to a sawmill. The fitters were getting worked to death. They were swaging every change because they couldn't pullout much, and shaping just a little bit so that they didn't get much of a cup in trying to make those gangs run. Well, they had their shapers and swages all out of kilter, trying to keep up with this problem. I finally got down to the cams. I don't know how long that filing room had been in there, but I bet those cams had never even been looked at. You can look at any grinder and usually the cam roller doesn't exactly line up with the cam, causing offset wear on the cam.You can see the wear areas, especially when you're lifting the feed roller off the cam bottom to get your gullet depth, and then having it slap the cam instead of the cam roller following the cam all the way around. It was these circumstances that were putting a hollow place right behind the swage on the top of the tooth. Well, the more they swaged the tooth, the more prone it was to being broken off. So the first thing I did was order a new set of cams. I built up the cam a little bit to get them by. Within two days after changing the swage and shaper to where they belonged, pulling out some swage and getting a shoulder behind the tooth that I think ought to be. The fitters started having a lot more time to do the things that before they couldn't do because of this problem that the cam was giving them. I work carbide in where I can because of its wear properties. It doesn't have good shock resistance, so I don't try to put in under those circumstances. I run carbide on the feed fingers. I run a pointed feed finger that pushes on the inside of the cup, because under heavy-swaging operations a knifeedge causes the swage to split out. So I point it a little bit and that eliminated the splitting. But everyday things such as leveling hammers and tension gauges ought to be checked. And yet, some of the mills that I've been in- that I've been asked to go into to help out, haven't spare parts for obvious things that wear out. Well, I think they're letting themselves down and they're letting their employers down, by not stocking their own spare parts. You have to keep the mill running. It's cheap insurance, having spare parts. I consider faceplates one of the greatest wear areas. They can get you into bad trouble. It's right there, working for you all the time, every time you put a saw on the grinder, that saw is going against that face plate, and whatever the face plate is set for, that's what you're going to get out of the grind on the saw. A worn faceplate will cause grinding wheel chattering, machine vibrations, and more '- swage on one side than the other. You can't line up the grinding wheel over the saw and get it to stay accurate, because a worn face plate isn't level or square. Some of the manufacturers are putting out chrome face plates. I think that's a darn good thing to do, to slow down the wear.I want to mention stretcher rolls. There's not actually too much that can go wrong with a stretcher roll, but I have a little story I want to tell. The other day I was in the filing room, the head filer told me he'd been having a problem with his stretcher roll. It seems that when making long rolls, after about fifteen minutes, the motor would kick off. Well, he went with that for a while, supposing it might be electrical. Pretty soon he couldn't make any roll at all, the motor was kicking off and the rolls weren't doing much to the saw either. He started checking for a frozen bearing or something, and he happened to notice that the top roll looked awfully flat. When he checked it further, it was flat from edge to edge. I told him that was the sort of thing I'd like to talk about here today. He said, "Don't tell them who it was because I've been filing for 36 years". He said, "You know, I felt ashamed about those flat rollers, but I wasn't worried because I knew we had a spare set." He knew it because he'd been kicking them around for about five years. When he finally found them, the box hadn't been opened yet. He got it opened, pulled them out, and realized that he'd packaged them up because they were worn out five years ago, but had never sent them off to be ground! I know that you're all very proud of what you're doing. I know I am. And we have so many responsibilities shoved on us now that it's hard to cover ourselves everywhere. But I think that maybe once in awhile, if you get it in your mind a little bit to check a few worn parts, you'll have fewer problems. There aren't that many, that it's going to cramp you for time. Cover yourself by checking for worn parts, you'll be a lot more successful. To wait until things go wrong is to get into problems that have multiplied themselves and you don't know where to go to find out where the problem is. I'm going to continue having problems just like that, overlooking things. We all will. But maybe next time we can remember to take a couple of minutes to look around and check things. I'd like to conclude by saying that in a quad or a gang machine or a multi-saw edger, the machine is no better than the worse saw in it. Printed with Permission from The Western Saw Filer’s Educational Association. Bill Saily, Secretary
Carbide is an extremely broad subject. A book could easily be written on anyone aspect of carbide. Today's discussion will give you a little background on the history of carbide, the reasons for its development and some typical problems encountered in applying carbide to sawmill applications.The cemented carbide operation industry is relatively young. Carbide was developed in the early 1920's in Germany. Only within the last 15 to 18 years has carbide been used in sawmills. Its use, however, is growing very rapidly on edgers, trimmers, debarking knives and wear strips. Because of its extreme hardness and blunt cutting edges, carbide is extremely well suited to sawmill applications. Carbide manufacturing involves combining micron size tungsten carbide particles, combination of titanium/tantalum carbide and a cobalt binder to form a cemented material with unique properties. The manufacturing sequence involves: 1) the mixing of basic ingredients, 2) pressing the powder to shape, 3) sintering at elevated temperatures to cement to carbide, 4) cleaning the sintered tip and applying coating to prevent oxidation, 5) brazing the carbide onto the saw body, 6) grinding to proper finish and tolerance. Carbide is available in several different grades. It is most important properties are hardness and toughness. As one of these properties is increased the other is decreased. This means that each mill must pick the grade that works the best for that particular operation. A point to remember is that there is no economy in harder grades of carbide in edger operations, if you experience excessive tip breakage between sharpening. It's better to get a consistent run with a tougher grade of carbide and with a minimal amount of breakage. Plate Cracking in Circular Saws Plate cracking can be either saw related or machine related. Saw related causes of Cracking 1) Poor Steel 2) Burned gullets 3) Faulty hammering or tensioning 4) Poorly shaped gullets; too deep and too narrow 5) To few teeth on board edges causes chatter 6) Running saws too dull Machine related causes of Cracking 1) Poor bearings in feed rolls or arbor 2) Oversized saw bores 3) Too much distance between the saws and the in-feed and out-feed rolls 4) Unsquare cants wandering in the edger 5) Poor alignment of the transport system or sawing system 6) Loss of water causing burned spots 7) A poor or unfriendly machine operator Problems in Grinding Carbide There are two major problems in carbide grinding which affect saw performance. The first is improperly ground cutting angles. It's very important in side grinding to achieve good square corners on the top of the tip. If you experience a dubbing of tip corners when side grinding, the saw will not cut clean and free. The most frequent cause of point dubbing are: 1) too wide a diamond section contacting the carbide creating excessive tool pressure, 2) too hard a bond grade in the diamond wheel, 3) glazed diamond wheels causing excessive tool pressure, 4) a poorly built or worn out " grinder, 5) grinding too fast. The second problem in carbide grinding is heat checks or grinding cracks, a heat check is basically a crack in the carbide caused from excessive grinding heat. The cause is a high heat concentration on the surface of the carbide during face sharpening causing a higher rate of expansion of the carbide surface material than the underlying material. This creates thermal stresses between the face and the body of the carbide tips and results in cracks or checks. Heat checks, can be spotted by their dark gray color and glossy smooth texture.
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TROUBLE SHOOTING CARBIDE By-JEFF HEWITT Problems in Grinding Carbide A fracture break on the other hand, will appear light gray and have grainy texture. The most frequent causes of heat checking are: 1) too hard a diamond wheel, 2) using too fine a grit, 3) armored or coated diamond, 4) glazed diamond wheel, 5) grinding too hard, 6) improper lubrication. Methods of Lubrication Any method of lubrication is messy. The best method of lubrication by far is to flood the tip and diamond wheel surface with water and lubricant. The second best method is to use a spray mist or oil wick pad. To be effective the lubricant must penetrate between the work piece and wheel when the grinding is taking place. A lot of lubrication systems are completely ineffective. Spraying at the wheel and tip usually just throws water away from the work piece and doesn't provide the proper lubrication or cooling. A proper lubrication system will help alleviate heat checks and will increase diamond wheel life. Sharpening The wear land must be completely removed on each carbide j tip to put the saw into new shape when servicing. If sawing performance steadily decreases with each subsequent sharpening, the saw is most likely not being brought back to its original sharpness. Care should be taken in face sharpening and not to dub the point of the tooth back. This decreases the hook angle of the saw and can ruin its performance. Another point to remember is that the tooth should be faced so that the front and back of the tip are parallel at all times. If not, you're changing the hook angle of the saw and decreasing clearance angles. Typical Brazing Problems The two most common brazing problems are tip loss and shank breakage. The causes of tip loss are as follows: 1) improper cleaning of recess, 2) overheating silver solder, 3) under heating silver solder, 4) moving the tip during cool down, 5) edger saw vibration. The most frequent cause of tip loss is overheated silver solder. Silver solder in a properly brazed joint will be a very smooth, shiny, gold color. On the other hand, overheated solder will turn a darker, more porous looking gold. It's a good idea to inspect each of your brazes to assure that the solder hasn't been overheated. Affects of Brazing on Steel Brazing on steel after the initial heat treat alters the hardness and grain structure in the shank. No harmful affects will be encountered if the heated section is slowly and evenly cooled. However, if heat is induced over a small area in the 1 350 to 1500 degree F. temperature range, at which grain transformation occurs, a chill line can be formed. What happens here is the steel where the braze is taking place and a transition or chill line is formed. A chill line is defined as a transition zone between hot steel on the shank being heated and the cool steel in the body of the saw. This cool steel quenches the outer edges of the hot steel and causes a very hard transition line in the steel. These transition lines often fracture or break when the shank or tooth contacts a hard loose knot or foreign object in the wood being sawed. If a chill line has been formed, it will be very difficult to cut with an ordinary machinist file. The solution is to control brazing temperature below the critical temperature of the steel and/ or to anneal or blue each shank after brazing. A saw plate or any portion of a saw plate can be reheated and slowly cooled to dissipate any chill lines induced during brazing. This annealing process should eliminate the chance of forming chill lines. Printed with permission from The Western Saw Educational Association, Bill Saily, Secretary
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FUNDAMENTALS OF HAMMERING THIN KERF EDGER SAWSBy-HUEY LONG I have been given the opportunity to speak to you about thin carbide edger saws and hope the comments I make may be of some benefit. They are my own personal thoughts, which I have gained through my experience while being involved in the manufacture of saws for R. Hoe and Company. I now work for them out in the field as a troubleshooter and I have had a lot of experience going from place to place, hammering thin carbide saws. I also have had a lot of experience in the factory. Everyday, at just about every mill I visit, I pick up something new that I had never run across before. Today we find thin carbide saws very common in most of tile sawmills on the West Coast and Canada. We find that in most cases where they are using the thin carbide saws, they are realizing a greater production, smoother cutting, and most of all a tremendous I savings in kerf which, we all realize, is all important. Possibly not as the filer sees it, but as the sawmill looks at it, this kerf is tremendously important: it truly rolls in dollars and cents. In may cases, the savings in kerf will pay for the changing over to thin saws in a very short time. To realize the full efficiency of the edger and of the thin saws, we must consider that care and maintenance of the thin saws as well as the care and alignment of the edger are both very important. In maintaining a thin carbide saw, the level and tension must be very close, to do an efficient job. As we compare this with the old inserted tooth type edger saws, we find they would cut and do a real good job of cutting, regardless of how the level and tension were. This is the big difference between them and the thin carbide edger saws. The level and tension must be very close to achieve the efficiency mentioned. The proper schedule of taking the saws off, changing them, sharpening the carbide, checking the level and the tension is very important. Many times I am confronted with the question, "How long should I run a saw?" There is no set time. Some places, maybe two weeks; other places, as you know, maybe a day. It is extremely important to find out what will run properly for you. See how long you can run a saw and work out a schedule to take the saws off and check them over - this is one of the most important things to do. We know the results if we don't - many times we get rounded corners on the carbide many times we have broken carbide, and usually, if we let them run too long, we will have burned saws. The saws must be kept sharp. They must be precision-ground with proper clearance and side hook. These are the factors, which contribute to a good running saw. Many times our saws will not be performing as we think they should, and this is when it would be easy for us to get a negative or dim view of the thin carbide saw. If you are having problems with your saws, find the problem as quickly as possible, analyze it, and do something about it; in my talk today, I will try to help you find the trouble areas with which I am familiar. When we go into the filing room today, we find the filer extremely busy trying to keep up with his work. He might have one carbide edger and sometimes he has two or three. I in most cases, additional help is required . . . but where can the filer find someone who can step in and help him with the carbide work? Many times our mills will try to go out and hire an individual to come in and do this work, but they often find it very difficult to do. One of the best methods to my knowledge, if the filer understands the work and needs additional help, is to find someone in the plant or within the organization whom he knows, and spend some time training him . . . you can train a- another individual to help you with this work in a week, two weeks, a month, or whatever time is required. I have found this method is the most satisfactory. I want to talk with you about the tensioning and leveling of thin carbide saws, as well as the terms used to describe the condition of the saw. Almost any circular saw should have a little tension in it to run satisfactorily. There are numerous ways and ideas about the manner in which a thin carbide saw should be put up to run - I believe most of you will agree with me that a thin saw must be pulled up rather stiff, almost in a neutral position with a firm eye and have very little tension in the body. I feel there is very little rim pull on a thin carbide saw, so not much tension is required. I find that a saw that is pulled up stiff will maintain more uniform level than a saw that is open after it has been run. We all know that no edger saws will run satisfactorily while they are heating. I would never recommend to open the saw in the eye, to compensate for this heat problem. If you do have a heat problem, find out the reason why and take measures to correct the problem rather than trying to compensate for it. One time, you might hammer the saw to where you have outguessed the problem, but the next time you might hammer it the same way, but the heat problem that time might be more severe, and you will miss. So if you are having a heat problem, find out the reason why, and correct it. Possibly you have a tip problem... possibly the gullets are rounded, which is very common... or maybe the hook is not correct. Determine what the problem actually is, rather than trying to hammer the saw to compensate for it. I doubt that any two people would work their saw the same way, but the end result might be the same, and this is the important part. I find it very important to work the level and tension hand-in-hand - when you are tensioning a saw, don't forget about the level. Work your level for a while, and then check your tension. If you don't, you may find out you will be working for an hour on a saw trying to level it, but you have too much tension in it so it would be impossible to level it. Check each and everyone very carefully. Now, on the other hand, you cannot tension the saw properly when you have a distorted plate or an unlevel plate. Many times we spend an hour trying to level a saw, whereas if the tension had been right, we could have leveled it in 5 or 10 minutes. Some of the terms used in describing the condition of the saw are: 1) LEVEL- we are all too familiar with and know what level is. This means flat, not having dents or lumps. 2) TENSION- tension is actually stretch. Otherwise, when the saw is put under strain from the centrifugal force of the saw as it is turning, this stretch or tension allows the saw to be stiff. We can see a similarity with the tension in a band saw, but the application is different. 3) OPEN- we often hear the word "open" or "open in the, eye" - this is when the eye drops away from the straight edge when you apply a little pressure. The methods used to check level and tension in a saw are. We use a straight edge, about 17" long with a saw on a round anvil for thin carbide saws. We put the straight edge across the eye, holding it up with one hand. Applying a little bending pressure on the saw, you can determine in just what condition the saw (the saw being demonstrated is stiff). Extending the straight edge across the saw, you can check the body of the saw to see how the tension is in the body. Applying a little bending pressure on the saw, you can determine whether your saw is open or tight. Many times we will have a tight spot in the saw, perhaps it has been burned there in one spot, or it might Just be pulled up tight. By turning the saw completely around (all the way around), you can usually pick out the spots that are tight. I certainly recommend a stretcher roll for tensioning the saw. It is extremely helpful, and almost necessary for a thin saw. Many filers who don't have one will try to pull tension with a hammer. This is very difficult to do on a thin saw because it usually will cut the plate pretty severely, eventually it won't be recognizable. One important factor in leveling a saw is not to hit the metal too hard. If you do, it results in a dent in the saw. Another factor in leveling thin saws. Do not work on one too long or too much. I find it good to use the old rule of working the big lumps down and ignoring the little ones. Usually, if we go around the saw and take out the big ones, the little ones won't be noticeable. This is an old rule, in dealing with circular saws, and I think it is very valuable - it works as well with thin saws as with the big cutoff saws with which we all are so familiar. Also, keep in mind both sides of the saw. Many times this is the problem. We see a lot of lumps on one side of the saw and we work to get that side pretty good, but when we turn it over we have the same condition on the other side. The theory I follow is not to work too long on one side; take the big lumps out, turn your plate over, and see what the other side needs. Printed with permission from the Western Saw Educational Association, Bill Saily, Secretary
PROCEDURES IN WHEEL BALANCING FOR MILLS by -EVERETT BLAISA filer with patience and perseverance could balance a band wheel in the mill with a minimum of equipment. However, he must have a systematic plan and procedure to accomplish the job. First common sense checks must be made on the wheels and the machine. The wheels must be clean, have no loose spokes, cracks, loose or missing balancing weights. The hub must be solid and be tight on a shaft that is true when checked by hand with a dial indicator. Also the bearings must be in good condition and fit their housing and the shaft properly. Band wheels when new are supposed to be in perfect balance and under normal conditions they will stay that way, so every possible cause must be checked before balancing them allover again in the mill. After these thorough checks, you find the machine shakes with no saw on. The problem is most likely in the bottom wheel. It could still be in the drive pulley, (which must be clean and in good condition), in the belt (the poly-V pulley or belt being particularly bad for picking up pitch or bark), or even in the motor and its pulley. Motor trouble very often causes deceptive vibration in the mill itself. If everything checks out O.K. and the bottom wheel still shows out of balance, this is the procedure. You first remove the belt and all drag on the wheel and find its lightest spot. This is done by the pull and coast method, adding weight on the lightest spot until the coast is about the same in every position. Mark the light spot and remove your weights. Then replace the belt and you are ready to set up for the balancing job. You will need a dial indicator, a piece of 2" shafting about 14" long turned down to 1 Y2" and trued up at the bottom end, or a piece of metal similar to this. A rubber pad from 1/4 to 5/16 of an inch on which you stand this piece of shafting. The heavy piece of metal, standing on end on a flat surface of the machine with the rubber pad under it will tend to stand straight while the machine vibrates. The dial indicator can be clamped solidly to some part of the band mill itself so that it indicates the amount of vibration against this pedestal. If the reading is too severe the indicator can be moved closer to the pedestal base. A magnetic chuck is not recommended to hold the dial indicator. Use clamps if possible. Run the bottom wheel at full speed and record the dial reading and stop the machine. Secure less weight than you believe required for the job to the light spot as marked on the wheel and run the machine against checking the indicator reading. If you have not helped the vibration, add weight each run until you do help it but avoid adding more weight than necessary and do not try to correct all the vibration at this time. The next step is to find the exact spot of minimum refraction by moving your balancing weight gradually away from the starting point. This exact point of minimum action of the dial indicator is usually found about 20 degrees from the original point. After you have located this exact point on the wheel it is a simple matter to find by trial and error the correct amount of weight to produce a smooth running wheel. However, this might require as much as 40 starts and stops so it is well to check the temperature of the motor occasionally. This balancing procedure for the top wheel is quite similar except you must turn it with smooth running saw or blank. It is not always practical to use a pedestal but the dial indicator method can actually be used with any set-up that will accurately and consistently pick up the vibration so that you can understand the reaction your balancing weights are giving you. As far as balancing band wheels is concerned, dynamic and static balancing is not important and the wheels can be treated as a solid disc. However, if you have a warped wheel it could vibrate some of the thrust but Mr. Beeley claimed he has never worked on a wheel yet that he was unable to get running smooth enough that it never bothered in operation. If a band wheel is out of round you cannot grind it true if it is out of balance. Therefore, you must balance first and thengrind and then rebalance and grind again until both jobs are done properly. Naturally, if you are grinding off a high spot on the wheel you will have to replace this metal when balancing. In review it is very important to start balancing with a weight that is too heavy. Also the dial indicator set-up can be almost any place if it picks up the true vibration caused by the out of balance wheel. It must be securely attached to the machine and in most cases the magnetic chuck is not satisfactory. Printed with permission from the Western Saw Educational Association, Bill Saily, Secretary |