centrifugal clutch

[r.man]

does anyone know of a way to scrounge or cobble a clutch from some used source. my budget is very tight. the alternative would be if anyone has a way of avoiding the clutch on a direct wheel driven saw.

[Mortice]

There is always the tension belt approach. you keep tension off the drive belt then apply the tension with a lever and a pulley of some sort.

[r.man]

do you think i could loosen the belt while it is on the tire without it falling off?

[bedway]

I think youll be chasing your tail r.man. Thats why i always opt for the idler wheel, over center lever for a clutch. Its extremely functional and dirt cheap.

[r.man]

now you've confused me. ( it doesn't take much ) what do you mean by center lever. i thought my three choices would be: 1) clutch, centrifugal, electric or mechanical lever. 2) idler to tighten or loosen belt. or 3) slide system for motor or jack shaft to tighten or loosen the belt. i'm assuming 2 and 3 are out if i want to directly drive the rubber tire that the blade runs on. could you please unconfuse me. thanks
ps i'm also trying to make it as simple as possible so the jack shaft would not be and option

[Smokey]

I'm getting to this problem myself, Clutches are expensive, if your going straight from drive shaft sheave to a band wheel I think the only option is
1.
but If you use a jack shaft or a separate sheave on the drive wheel to power the band wheel I think you now can have option 2 or 3.

I personally don't like the setup where people move the engine mount to tension the belt. It seems like it would change the center of balance(not a good idea IMHO), more complicated to setup and will probably cause more vibrations(wear and tear on the machine).

I'm leaning towards the idler wheel on a lever to tension the belt, as bedway said

[bedway]

If you look in my gallery and find the pictures showing my clutch set up maybe it will help explain. Its nothing other than an idler wheel to push against the belt to transfer the power from the engine to the driven pully. You set up a system (lever) to hold the belt in the engaged position. A cam over lever will reach its max point of tightening the belt and after you pass that point the cam over point will hold it engaged until you pull it back. I personally think running the drive belt and the saw band over the same surface is not a good idea, of which the most important is safety. Stop and think, of all the mills out there, i cant say ive seen one built that way.

[Smokey]

I've seen one built in Quebec that does that but on sheaves, not tires

Smokey

[r.man]

i admit that the drive belt might be more prone to damage running on the tire but its probably only safer if it is separated from the band by distance and steel. i would think that any belt run on the same side of the carriage posts as the blade would be in the same danger and probably only from a broken band. have you found any clutches locally.
ps where is woodsland beach?

[r.man]

i think the mr. sawmill does that as well

[r.man]

i just checked to make sure and it is mr sawmill that runs his belt directly under the band on the drive pulley. nice and simple. his machine also has a lever that releases band tension. from his website he suggests that bands should be slack when not in use. sounds reasonable.

[Smokey]

Unfortunately, I haven't found anything locally for clutches, but haven't been looking much as I know they will cost me a pretty penny, and not in the plans right now.

Woodland beach is the SE most part of Georgian Bay, lake Huron. About 1.5hrs north of T.O. between Midland and Wasaga beach.

Unfortunately they'll have to change the name soon as every year that passes a couple of hundred old growth trees(200+years) are being cut down for monstrous vacation homes that aren't even being used only status symbols, or to make room for tomato gardens. I hate seeing them go and it's even worse seeing them cut in to fire wood. These people are totally clueless to there value alive or dead. and 10km down the road is nothing but sand dunes, why they don't build or grow tomatoes there?

And where are you from?

Smokey

[r.man]

i just checked the smg champion site now and they list an extra fixed pulley on the frame as an improvement. it is located just to the left of the band wheel and causes the belt to come into much more contact with the band wheel.

[r.man]

haliburton county just below algonquin park. no sand dunes but the area 25 m west of here is being called muskoka east so i know what you're talking about.
saw wiarton willy on the news lately. my wife thinks its a bottle blond.

[Smokey]