August 2003 Volume 9, Number 8
August 2003 Volume 9, Number 8
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“With this machine,” said Wayne, “the good board stays on the center chain and the edgings drop straight down each side and go to the chipper. The machine is designed to cut boards down to Kendrick’s minimum rip size of 3 inches wide and up to to a maximum of 32 inches wide. The Edger produces sizes from 1x3 by 6 feet long up to 4x32 by 16 feet long.”
The TMT machine has 24-inch diameter unguided saws with 0.237-inch kerf, running at 1,800 rpm. The feed chain runs at a fixed speed of 350 fpm, and the edger has one infeed top press roll and one outfeed press roll. Both press rolls are smooth surfaced and are not driven on the TMT machine. Feed drive is provided entirely by the sharp top center chain that is driven through a gearbox by a 20 hp electric motor. The machine center runs automatically to a large degree but like the carriage system is monitored by the operator for any defects that could adversely affect grade or recovery.
The edged boards pass through a grading station where they are manually sorted by species and quality. Graders decide which boards will be kiln dried or sold green. Lumber headed to the dry kilns is stacked by a shop-built stacker and stick placer. Kendrick has three kilns with individual capacity of 50,000 board feet and two with 35,000 board feet. The kilns, supplied by American Wood Dryer, are fired using a sawdust burner. Lumber is dried to customer specification, and the spacer sticks are removed and the dried lumber is re-stacked.
In the cabinet shop, a Pinneiro planer and a Weinig five-head molding line are used to finish the selected dried lumber and produce a variety of moldings.
Timber Machine Technologies was founded in 1993 by engineers who previously worked for some of the leading companies in the sawmill machinery business. Based in Tualatin, Oregon, the company is led by Greg Smith, president and general manager.
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| Outfeed of the Timber Machine Technologies edger, a top arbor, two-saw machine. |
TMT specializes in secondary breakdown machine designs and usually contracts with other suppliers for scanning and optimized control systems. In Wayne’s words, “This allows us to work with anybody and be more flexible. As a company, we aim to be at the very top end of the technology in machine design.”
More and more TMT machines are being used in the hardwood industry although the company first started selling to softwood mills. “We see no reason why more high tech systems, including curve sawing, cannot be used in hardwood mills,” said Wayne. “In fact, this trend is already happening with things like bandmills replacing circular saws and scanning replacing manual systems, like at Kendrick.”
Inovec, based in Eugene, Ore., was founded in 1979 and is a subsidiary of InVision Technologies of Newark, California. Inovec specializes in high recovery scanning and optimization systems.
The YieldMaster and StereoScan head rig-carriage system installed at Kendrick Forest Products is one of more than 600 primary log breakdown systems supplied by the company since 1979. It is one of Inovec’s best selling systems, but Inovec also supplies control systems for optimized canters, curve sawing, edgers and trimmers. The payback on these systems is realized from gains in production, lumber recovery, and lumber value.
| The payback on Inovec systems is realized from gains in production, lumber recovery, and lumber value |
McDonough, based in Eau Clare, Wis., is one of the oldest companies in the sawmill machinery business. Founded in 1888 by Frank McDonough, the company is a leading supplier of industrial bandmills, carriages and resaws. In recent years, the McDonough line of equipment has been widely adopted for primary log breakdown in both the softwood and hardwood industries.
Matt Tietz, vice president of McDonough, said about Kendrick’s, “They are a great company to work with and good customers of ours. They have made a lot of very smart investments in their operation, making them one of the premier mills in the Midwest.”
Morbark Inc. has been in business since 1957 when sawmill operator Norval Morey obtained a patent for a portable pulpwood debarker. He started with this one product and two employees. Morbark now employs around 700 people, and the company has a 1.5 million square foot manufacturing plant in Winn, Michigan. Besides debarkers, Morbark is a leading manufacturer of wood hogs and grinders with portable, self propelled and stationary models. The company has an extensive network of dealers nationwide and in Canada and Puerto Rico.
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