Comment

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on January 25, 2012 at 7:28pm

 so  its has been a while. and I may have been a bit over zealous on this one!    this year we got all the concrete work done.    and I have managed to harvest and stock away enough white oak.   originally I thought I would have enough but it cut way too deep into my very small profit margin.   but as it sits   river is ready,  the mill house is ready,  and Norm is cleaning out the shop to build the wheel..  its huge....    but  Norm had to stop because he is coming into pancake season so he has been back to grinding... using the tractor to turn his stones.  this is the summer  though. I can feel it. 

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on December 4, 2011 at 12:38pm

I have been busy and norm has been working on the mill.   he poured I believe 26 yards of concrete to set the wheel,  the lumber is in the kiln and the local old woodworkers took it on as their project so  that is one thing off my plate.   it should be done soon.  I am working on  the electric system.  but it is still moving and I wanted to check in with you guys. 

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on May 2, 2011 at 6:57am

here is a cross section of the wheel, we cut the oak the other day  1600 bf total  the buckets are a two piece design,  we are drying the lumber to about 15% before we build so it is more stable, but not totally dry as it will just get dumped back in the river anyway.  the axle is a solid 8 inch dia rod,with cast flanges and has bronze bearings.  with upper gravity fed oil.  the one side is shot and we need to have new bearings made, will do both so they are good to go.  its going to start going fast now,  will will be pouring the walls in 2 weeks.   the plans have changed a bit. we are using the wheel to power the grid then we will power the mill with electric,   we are doing this because the mill will ony produce a few thousand lbs of flour a year, the stream has enough to make  way more power than is needed to power the gris mill. I set norm up with basically free electric, and green credit which he can then sell,  the electric will be more than enough to power his house, the farm house, the shop, kilns, gris mill, and we may end  up putting in a electric saw mill! seems stupid but again what we are doing is using the grid as a "battery" and trickle charging it 24-7 then pulling off more then we can produce for short periods of time.  trickle charge and battery are only used as analogy ac cannot be stored in a battery. 

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on May 2, 2011 at 6:46am

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on April 3, 2011 at 10:24am

hey sorry guys, we have been working on it, I have a few thousand feet of the best white oak I have  ever seen in the kiln now.  and if you check the link to photo bucket you can see updates of the model. the  guys have been working on it.  my business has gotten busier and we are starting a line of parquet style flooring,  and I may have bought a really cool wood shop so  my wife will be able to park in the garage!  the thing is huge with tons of equipt.  at its peak I was told it could keep 5 full time guys busy!  its funny everyone keeps not doing what they can so  I end up doing it,  all i wanted to do was make lumber, now I'm building furniture! 

but back to the wheel,  the guys are almost done with the plans which i will post up for everyone to review.   they will start building it then the summer seniors will take over and complete it.  I have started fishing for concrete,  my hope is to get it donated, as again this is really a community project and not mine.  I have a good feeling about this.  and if not I guess the first bit of flooring we sell will be used to buy norm some concrete.   again though check the photobucket link it has been added to. 

also last week rapped up the pancake breakfast I do not have a final number on what they raised but I know it was a lot.  the couple of times I went there was a 1-2 hr wait!  I hope to have good picks of the build in a few weeks as we start that. 

 

Site Admin Comment by John Morris on March 18, 2011 at 7:34pm

Yeah, what happened? We want water wheel update!

Forum Host Comment by dragon1 on March 18, 2011 at 7:15pm

Hey Michael, how's the waterwheel build going?

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on February 19, 2011 at 4:02pm

 we pulled about 60 ton of white oak from a line clearing in mich.   many nice logs. people think its wasteful to let they lay. , but after all the man hrs and fuel we used getting them out I would have to disagree, I think I lost my tail on this one..  will have to see.  but we have plenty of white oak for our wheel now!   all the logs I get are "free" but some cost a whole lot more to go get!  I planed down about 8 bf of scraps to 1/4 for the guys to use to build the mill house in their model (beech)  they  had planned on taking a 1/4 inch thick piece  and cutting  a ring out of it for the wheel sides.  mind you this will be in a working model, with water!  beech is def out, and so is a ring out of a thin slab.  I think I'm gonna cut up some cherry scrap for them?  its that or white oak what  do you think,  tiny  thin pieces in water?  oh if I could find some rock elm!  I'll have to go see if I have any out back. I think that would be better.  

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on February 16, 2011 at 2:50pm

here is a link to photo bucket, the guys from UT  are on site taking pictures, god guys! 

 

http://s1092.photobucket.com/albums/i406/Anthony_Schumaker/The%20Old%20Mill%20Senior%20Project/

Apprentice Comment by michael frankhauser on February 16, 2011 at 2:44pm

 as promised,  I got the specs back  and here we go!

Here are some numbers for the wheel:
Wheel velocity = 3 to 3.5 feet per second
Water flow = 5 feet per second
Discharge over Weir = 13.3 cubic feet per second
Torque = 410 foot pounds
RPM = 4.8 
Horsepower = .03

Weight of wheel = roughly 5,000 pounds
Weight of water in wheel at any given time = roughly 500 pounds
Weight of axle = 596 to 641 pounds depending on cast iron or steel

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page