# OMG!!!   That was the biggest band saw I've ever seen!!



## Terrywerm (Dec 12, 2013)

I was given a brief tour of a tire testing facility today - one where they test heavy equipment tires. The largest ones are 13 1/2 feet in diameter, with a tread face nearly six feet wide, weighing in at a mere 15,000 pounds a piece. These are the largest front loader tires in the world. One of the things they do is cut a section of the tire to examine its internal construction, and this is done on a bandsaw that defied imagination until I finally saw it today. 

Since before Thanksgiving I've been hauling these large tires from this manufacturing/testing facility to our tire recycling plant in Minnesota. Three tires to a load. And each one has been cut by a huge saw. I was trying to envision what sort of a monster this thing must be, and today I was given the chance to see it.

This saw is built into a pit and it has four wheels instead of two (talk about a wheel alignment nightmare!). The lower wheels are down in the pit. The saw table is 10 or 12 feet square, is just a few inches above floor level, and is powered with hydraulic cylinders. This beast has a throat of 7 feet!  Yes, the world's largest front loader tires will fit in that saw!  If they wanted to, they could cut all the way through and cut the tire in half. 
Being a research facility, I was not allowed to take any photos.       Frankly, I was quite surprised that I was even offered a quick tour, but I was quite pleased at having had the opportunity. I know that my description of the saw does not do it justice, and I really do wish I could have gotten some pics, but I just had to tell you guys about it.

For those that are wondering, yes, they run coolant when cutting the tires. The amazing part is that they want to replace this saw....  WITH A BIGGER ONE!!


----------



## Tony Wells (Dec 12, 2013)

You getting the old one?


----------



## Terrywerm (Dec 12, 2013)

Tony Wells said:


> You getting the old one?



Ya, sure, why not??    It would come in handy for cutting old Fords in half.... lengthwise!!!   :lmao:



Just think of the cutaway displays a guy could make with that!


----------



## Tony Wells (Dec 12, 2013)

Happen to get close enough to see the tooth style on the blade? I'd be curious about cutting rubber along with the bead and steel belts with the same blade.


----------



## DAN_IN_MN (Dec 12, 2013)

Cool stuff!  Thanks for sharing!


----------



## xalky (Dec 13, 2013)

Tony Wells said:


> Happen to get close enough to see the tooth style on the blade? I'd be curious about cutting rubber along with the bead and steel belts with the same blade.


 Yeah, me too....Tires are not easy things to cut. Ask me how I know!


----------



## Terrywerm (Dec 13, 2013)

No, sadly I was not able to get close enough to check out the tooth pattern or TPI either. These tires are bias ply, not steel belted radials. The large mining trucks run radials,  but most of the loaders run bias ply. Not sure of why that is.


----------



## Jim1942 (Dec 13, 2013)

Thanks for the info.  Sounds like a very interesting tour.  Too bad you couldn't get some pic's.  It's amazing what industry can do, when they have a need.

Jim


----------



## flutedchamber (Dec 13, 2013)

Machinery, especially large machinery has been a infatuation of mine since I was a wee lad.  My Dad worked for Alcoa Aluminum in Edgewater NJ from the forties until the place moved in the sixties.  He brought me there one day for an informal "tour."  One of the workers brought me to where the rolling mills were to turn the ingots of aluminum into different thicknesses.  On the floor, standing on one flat was a nut for a roller mill shaft.  I stood in the nut and by reaching as far as I could, and even standing on my toes (at 5 years old) I couldn't reach the thread of the nut above my head.  I guess the nut fit a 4 food diameter shaft.

On a different topic, the place I bought my late and mill from deals in used machinery.  Lathes with a 20 foot long bed that have a chair attached to the carriage that you sit on to control it are not uncommon. Ditto for surface grinders or horizontal mills many yards across.  I would love to see those machines in production.  Perhaps some day.


----------



## pineyfolks (Dec 13, 2013)

Is this one of the blades :lmao:


----------



## bhowden (Dec 13, 2013)

When I was in University I worked weekends in a sawmill as an oiler and millwrite helper.  The headrig (main saw) was similar to what you describe.  Only two wheels but about 8 feet in diameter.  The logs were floated into "the well" and were hoisted up on chains to the "deck" where they were pulled onto the carriage which drove them back and forth across the saw.  As an oiler we used to grease the main bearings every 3 months so you climbed up into the wheel being very careful not to cut yourself.  One of my jobs as a millwrite helper was to pull the support structure for the carriage back into the mill.  The pounding of the carriage was pushing it out into the lake.  They ran a couple of what looked like 40 or 50 foot pieces of 2" ready rod up through the structure and handed me a 3 foot crescent wrench and told me to start tightening.

30 years later I was working in an office building across the harbour from a metal scrap yard.  The company ran out of old growth timber and they scrapped the mill.  I could see the headrig wheels up on the scrap pile for several weeks.  Weird feeling.

Brian


----------



## Walt (Dec 13, 2013)

flutedchamber said:


> Machinery, especially large machinery has been a infatuation of mine since I was a wee lad.  My Dad worked for Alcoa Aluminum in Edgewater NJ from the forties until the place moved in the sixties.  He brought me there one day for an informal "tour."  One of the workers brought me to where the rolling mills were to turn the ingots of aluminum into different thicknesses.  On the floor, standing on one flat was a nut for a roller mill shaft.  I stood in the nut and by reaching as far as I could, and even standing on my toes (at 5 years old) I couldn't reach the thread of the nut above my head.  I guess the nut fit a 4 food diameter shaft.
> 
> On a different topic, the place I bought my late and mill from deals in used machinery.  Lathes with a 20 foot long bed that have a chair attached to the carriage that you sit on to control it are not uncommon. Ditto for surface grinders or horizontal mills many yards across.  I would love to see those machines in production.  Perhaps some day.



I want to see one of the heavy forges. Alcoa's is still in operation I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mesta_press_east_side.jpg

(The Heavy Press program spent $279 million dollars. In 1950's money.)

Sorry for the thread hijack Terry.

Walt


----------



## Terrywerm (Dec 14, 2013)

pineyfolks said:


> Is this one of the blades :lmao:



Nope, nothing anywhere near that size. The blade was only 2 or 3 inches in width, and as near as I could tell had a rather high TPI.  I am not saying that there have not been larger bandsaws, as I must admit that I have seen some sawmill bandsaws that are REALLY big, but for a metal cutting saw, this one is the largest that I have personally seen.

I took a good look at the cut in one of those tires and found that the cut is very smooth, almost as though the surface had been sanded. When they cut these tires, they do run coolant, it looked like standard soluble oil, the blade runs rather slow like it would for steel, and it took about half an hour or so for the operator to complete one cut. I assume the high tooth count, slow feed rate and coolant might explain the really nice cuts.

All in all, I guess my real interest laid in the high quality cut they were able to produce on such a large piece, and in such a gummy material. When I haul these large tires, I have to hang flags on the widest parts of the load. I attach them by drilling a 1/8" hole in the tire tread and then use a screw eye in the rubber to affix the flag. When I drill the holes, the rubber that comes out is gummy as can be, more like one would expect from uncured rubber. I assume rubber must continue to cure naturally to some extent as it ages. When I haul used tires like these, the rubber seems to be much harder and drills more like a person would expect, not nearly so gummy.



Walt said:


> I want to see one of the heavy forges. Alcoa's is still in operation I believe.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mesta_press_east_side.jpg
> 
> ...



No problem, Walt. I love the old heavy stuff too, and am always interested in seeing what's out there and how it is used. Those huge presses just seem to defy all imagination!


----------



## DAN_IN_MN (Dec 14, 2013)

Terry

Any chance you can take a pic or three of the tires on your truck?


----------



## Terrywerm (Dec 15, 2013)

No problem, I'm a step ahead of you, Dan. Most of the time when I haul tires this big, I get them from the mines in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the UP of Michigan. Naturally, when they come out of the mines they are worn out, so they are only 12 to 12 1/2 feet in diameter. So, hauling these biggies with their full tread, I just had to get pics. They may not be the best, but here they are anyway.


The first load, ready to go. Not all of the tires they test are the very largest, so I end up with a mix of sizes on each load. This load has a couple of smaller ones up on the neck (3K and 6K), with larger ones on the rear. The middle bottom, and the very  rear ones are some of the bigger ones, weighing 15,000 lbs each. The one on the middle top was a radial tire that was a warranty adjustment and return, it only weighs about 8K.




Ready to rock and roll....




Rear view taken at the weigh station in Moline, IL




It was good and cold when I unloaded this particular morning. It had been in the 40's and raining in Illinois when I loaded this one, but was -7 in Minnesota when I unloaded. LOTS of fun getting those frozen straps off of the load!!




Here is how I get them off the truck, and how we get them cut into pieces small enough to go through the shredder. That tire is heavy enough that if I stretch the shear out too far (away from the cab) the whole excavator will tip forward on the end of the tracks. Yup, it's heavy! Oh, that shear is big enough that it can take a 18" standard I beam and cut it in one bite. That tire will be sheared into 32 pieces before it goes through the shredder.




Here is the loader that they fit on. 994 Cat loader on the left.  There is a D8R dozer over on the right along with a small industrial crane for size comparison. Not the best photo, but it's the only good size comparison photo I've got. There is also a service truck in the middle of the photo.




Now, where do you think that a guy hauling the world's largest tires stops for dinner??


----------

