Storing a kohler engine on its side.

[Joe Hillmann]

I am building a bandsawmill with the plan to be able to turn the saw head on its side and use it as a vertical bandsaw.

When it is being used as a mill it will be powered by a Kohler K321 (spec# 60318, Model # K321aqs, Serial # 14091935) My plan was to remove the kohler engine when I wanted to turn the head on its side and power the saw with the pto from a walking tractor I have. I now realize to remove the engine will require disconnecting the electric and fuel connections, and loosing the alignment on the pulleys, and on top of that the engine is heavy.

Would it be harmful to leave the engine on the saw when I tip it over? When looking at the engine from the flywheel end it would be tipped 90 degrees to the left. The carburetor,and exhaust would be facing the ground. I expect the saw will be on its side more often than not. The only problem I can think of off hand would be the float bowl draining and oil leaking past the valve guides and past the rings. I could always drain the oil before I tipped it over if it was a problem.

[bgsengine]

Drain Oil, Drain Gas, and make sure there is nothing connected to the engine crank that would cause engine to spin or turn while saw head is running (Because then you'll end up with a lubrication failure!) and it'd probably be OK, but I would recommend simply re-designing your drive system for the saw head so that the engine mounts on sawmill frame and stays upright while continuing to power the mill, then you wont need the tractor PTO at all. Or, just design it so the tractor PTO will drive it and eliminate the engine.

If the engine is direct drive, you could also mount it on a rotating platform that keeps things in alignment and you can just loosen the platform , and rotate engine for operational orientation as you rotate the saw head. Lots of ways you can do that without worrying about tipping engine on its side.

[Joe Hillmann]

Drain Oil, Drain Gas, and make sure there is nothing connected to the engine crank that would cause engine to spin or turn while saw head is running (Because then you'll end up with a lubrication failure!) and it'd probably be OK, but I would recommend simply re-designing your drive system for the saw head so that the engine mounts on sawmill frame and stays upright while continuing to power the mill, then you wont need the tractor PTO at all. Or, just design it so the tractor PTO will drive it and eliminate the engine.

If the engine is direct drive, you could also mount it on a rotating platform that keeps things in alignment and you can just loosen the platform , and rotate engine for operational orientation as you rotate the saw head. Lots of ways you can do that without worrying about tipping engine on its side.

Thank you for the ideas. I should have said it was belt driven and I will remove the belt when running it off the pto. I designed the motor mount to be removed and turned 90 degrees. The problem I found with that was in order to change it I had to remove the engine and re mount it and it requires a longer belt and a different idle pulley set up. In the long run I may end up using it that way but for now it is much easier to power it off the tractor.

For testing I am actually using your idea of powering it as a sawmill with the pto. But when it is actually in true use that won't work because the entire power head has to move down a set of tracks. And the engine on the "tractor" wouldn't have enough power for large logs.

[bgsengine]

Fashion a new engine mount, a box plate mounted on a heavy swivel pin (2 inch pipe?) that lines up with the center line of the crankshaft , then you would just need a big clevis lock pin to lock it in position A or Position B, and your belt length, etc should not change as the center line of the crank in relation to the saw head should not change either.

then you can just pull the lock pin, re-position saw head, allowing engine to swivel to upright, lock pin back in place and done.

[Joe Hillmann]

Fashion a new engine mount, a box plate mounted on a heavy swivel pin (2 inch pipe?) that lines up with the center line of the crankshaft , then you would just need a big clevis lock pin to lock it in position A or Position B, and your belt length, etc should not change as the center line of the crank in relation to the saw head should not change either.

then you can just pull the lock pin, re-position saw head, allowing engine to swivel to upright, lock pin back in place and done.

At this point that would almost require starting over from scratch. Had I been still designing it rather that putting on the finishing touches I may have included that as an idea.

[bobodu]

Just use right angle drive...rotate the drive. Or use a longer belt and give it a twist when down....or run it hydraulically.

[Deere2me]

I am building a bandsawmill with the plan to be able to turn the saw head on its side and use it as a vertical bandsaw.

When it is being used as a mill it will be powered by a Kohler K321 (spec# 60318, Model # K321aqs, Serial # 14091935) My plan was to remove the kohler engine when I wanted to turn the head on its side and power the saw with the pto from a walking tractor I have. I now realize to remove the engine will require disconnecting the electric and fuel connections, and loosing the alignment on the pulleys, and on top of that the engine is heavy.

Would it be harmful to leave the engine on the saw when I tip it over? When looking at the engine from the flywheel end it would be tipped 90 degrees to the left. The carburetor,and exhaust would be facing the ground. I expect the saw will be on its side more often than not. The only problem I can think of off hand would be the float bowl draining and oil leaking past the valve guides and past the rings. I could always drain the oil before I tipped it over if it was a problem.

I would install an inline fuel shut-off valve. Then run the engine till warm and shut off the gas, let it run out of gas and then drain the oil in a clean jug. I would just remove the air filter, tip the unit, and let any residual gas drip out the carb, then put the filter back on or throw a plastic bag over the carb., shouldn't have to mess with draining the bowl. You might wanna pinch off the breather tube near the air filter if it looks like it might start dripping oil. All in all, not a big deal.

[Greyfox]

Just use right angle drive...rotate the drive. Or use a longer belt and give it a twist when down....or run it hydraulically.

I second running it hydraulically. it isolates the system nicely and really minimizes what can go wrong.

[Joe Hillmann]

With as far along as I am I have no plans to redesign the head of the mill to be powered by hydraulics or a right angle drive. The hydraulics would probably more than double the cost of the project and I think I would lose a lot of power to heat. I believe the most efficient hydraulics lose about 25% of the input power to heat. That would be like stepping down to a 10 hp motor in losses in the hydraulics alone.

[Joe Hillmann]

I am building a bandsawmill with the plan to be able to turn the saw head on its side and use it as a vertical bandsaw.

When it is being used as a mill it will be powered by a Kohler K321 (spec# 60318, Model # K321aqs, Serial # 14091935) My plan was to remove the kohler engine when I wanted to turn the head on its side and power the saw with the pto from a walking tractor I have. I now realize to remove the engine will require disconnecting the electric and fuel connections, and loosing the alignment on the pulleys, and on top of that the engine is heavy.

Would it be harmful to leave the engine on the saw when I tip it over? When looking at the engine from the flywheel end it would be tipped 90 degrees to the left. The carburetor,and exhaust would be facing the ground. I expect the saw will be on its side more often than not. The only problem I can think of off hand would be the float bowl draining and oil leaking past the valve guides and past the rings. I could always drain the oil before I tipped it over if it was a problem.

I would install an inline fuel shut-off valve. Then run the engine till warm and shut off the gas, let it run out of gas and then drain the oil in a clean jug. I would just remove the air filter, tip the unit, and let any residual gas drip out the carb, then put the filter back on or throw a plastic bag over the carb., shouldn't have to mess with draining the bowl. You might wanna pinch off the breather tube near the air filter if it looks like it might start dripping oil. All in all, not a big deal.

Thanks for the ideas, I will probably end up doing something very similar to what you just suggested.