A CNC Resaw/Mini Sawmill Project

[Clockwork]

I've started a new project to build a CNC Resaw/Mini Sawmill. It will handle logs 23" long and 12" in diameter - this size suits my needs perfectly.

The project is still at the rough layout stage. Here's my strategy.

A 3/4" birch plywood table will be attached to the lower heavy duty slide and a guidepiece that will slide in the miter slot on the saw's table. This will produce the action to move the workpiece through the blade and retract for the next cut. I'm calling this the X Axis.

The Z Axis stage is mounted on top of the plywood table. This slide will control the thickness of the cut by moving the fence.

I will continue to post progress photos if there is interest by other members.

[wwendorf]

That's really neat. Please keep posting, you have my interest!

Wade

[ger21]

Do you have to allow for blade drift?

[DonW]

Awesome! I'll be watching this one carefully with great interest!

[Clockwork]

Originally Posted by ger21 Do you have to allow for blade drift?

Gerry

I'm putting in a provision to rotate the fence slightly to compensate for drift.

This machine is exploring new territory as I don't think there's is anything else out there quite like it.

Won't really know how it will function until it is built. It will most likely require some tweaking toward the end of the project.

A Google search for "CNC Resaw" only brought up about 8 hits which were all for the same industrial grade machine.

[fatal-exception]

I could have used that a few years ago when I needed to make a mile of edge banding...

Neat project! Stick with it.

Paul

[Clockwork]

The electronics are complete.

I had this neat box laying around that was acquired a while back as part of a larger auction that included some mechanical stages I needed at the time. The box contained 3 Rorze RD-O23 drives and a power supply that produces 75V@15A and 5V@1A.

The Rorze drives have a funky inputs. Instead of Step and Dir inputs they require inputs that provide pulse streams for CW and CCW movement. I designed a simple logic circuit (center of first picture) to convert Step and Dir into CW and CCW signals. It works great.

Waiting for a few parts to arrive before I can resume work on the mechanical side.

[Clockwork]

The Mechanical portion is done - works great so far.

Here's a few details:

The X Axis is powered by a 425 oz/in motor via a Kevlar belt. The sprocket ratio is 2.4 to 1.

A 3/4 inch birch plywood table is mounted on the X Axis car and a slide that tracks in the miter slot.

I used a old Incra positioning slide it attach the fence assembly to the Z Axis table. A single adjustment screw allows me to adjust the fence for blade drift. It appears to be very solid. Don't know how it will behave while cutting. Planning to use a couple of De-Sta-Co clamps (if needed) for additional support.

The fence is equipped with holes where the workpeice can be attached using short drywall screws. Will use a sacrificial mounting board for resawing and screw directly into the log with raw timber.

[DonW]

Lookin' Good! Can't wait to see the YouTube video!

:-)

[Clockwork]

Look Mom - No Hands

Did the first cut this afternoon. Found a old Russian Olive log in the firewood pile to play with.

The fence wasn't adjusted to track properly so the cuts weren't as clean as they could be. The CNC stuff performed perfectly.

[DonW]

Fantastic! Congrats...

So how thick were those slices?
How thin do you feel you could go comfortably?

Very slick.

[Clockwork]

I wrote some test code to index at .2 inch so the slices are a little over 1/8 inch. I need a ton of 1/16 inch pieces for what I do.

Don't see any reason (so far) why it won't do what it was intended for.