Birger Marklund

Wood-chip formation in circular saw blades studied by high-speed photography

Abstract Films of wood-chip formation were captured with a high-speed camera during rip sawing of wood with a circular saw blade. The saw blade diameter was 400 mm and the rotational speed was 3250 rpm. The saw blade had four teeth with rake angles of 0°, 10°, 20° and 30° to ascertain the influence of different rake angles. Wooden boards were cut along the side so that the camera could record the cutting sequence without any interference from material between the cutting teeth and the camera. Tests were made for green, dry and frozen green pine boards, for both counter-cutting and climb-cutting cases. In addition, some Mozambican wood species were cut. The films, recorded at 40,000 frames s−1, show the cutting sequence along the trajectory of the tooth in question and the creation of the wood chip. Details such as the compression of the wood chip in the gullet, the movement of the wood chip inwards and outwards in the gullet and finally the exit from the gullet are visible. The chip size and chip movement depend strongly on the rake angle and on whether the wood is green, dry, frozen or unfrozen.

Wear of teeth of circular saw blades

Abstract Measured wear data is presented for three different carbide grades. The data were collected during rip sawing wood with a double arbour saw. The purpose of the test was to determine the suitability of different grades for sawing frozen timber. A set of circular saw blades of diameter 350 mm was equipped with teeth comprised of three different cemented carbide grades, denoted A, B and C. The double arbour saw was equipped with six saw blades for cutting two centre boards and two side boards. The six saw blades with different teeth were mounted in a mixed manner on the arbours, and after sawing a number of logs the wear of teeth was measured. The thickness of boards was also measured and the standard deviation was calculated. The results showed that grade A had the highest wear and grades B and C the lowest wear. There was no significant edge damage during the tests. Grade C did not suffer problems of chipping from cutting edges and was found to be suitable for sawing frozen timber. The thickness standard deviations were constant at about 0.2 mm, and not a function of the number of logs sawn.

Lateral cutting forces for different tooth geometries and cutting directions

Abstract Lateral (sideways) cutting forces were measured for 6 different tooth geometries when cutting green spruce and pine heartwood. The teeth were intended for use on circular saw blades for the rip sawing of logs. The 6 tooth geometries were designated straight, pointed, bevelled, rounded, trapezoidal and hollowed out. Cutting speed was 15 m/s, feed per tooth was 0.3 mm and the cutting directions were 90°–90° (rip sawing) and 90°–0° (milling), with two different variants of growth ring angles for each direction. The tools were tested in sharp conditions, in dull conditions and in a dull condition with a corner broken off. All lateral forces were small when cutting with sharp teeth, except for the rounded and bevelled teeth. Lateral forces increased with wear, except for a period of initial wear where the lateral forces were reduced. High wear resulted in greater lateral forces, most probably due to unsymmetrical wear. Growth ring direction did not generally affect lateral forces. The teeth with acute corners, which were the straight and hollowed out tooth, were most sensitive to a broken off corner. The lateral forces in the cases of wood cutting at 90°–90° increased less with wear compared to the 90°–0° cases.

Cutting forces and chip formation revisited based on orthogonal cutting of Scots pine

Abstract The objective of this study was to understand better the cutting forces and chip formation of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) with different moisture contents (MCs) and machined in different cutting directions. To that end, an orthogonal cutting experiment was designed, in which Scots pine was intermittently machined using a tungsten carbide tool to produce chips. The cutting forces were measured and the chip shapes were quantitatively described. Four conclusions can be drawn: (1) with increasing MC, the average cutting forces initially decreased and then stabilized, while the angle between the direction of the main and the resultant force continuously decreased. (2) The average cutting forces in the 90°–0° cutting direction were lower than the same forces in the 90°–90° cutting direction. (3) During machining, the dynamic cutting forces fluctuated less in the 90°–0° case. However, the dynamic feeding forces showed a decreasing trend in both the 90°–0° and the 90°–90° cases. (4) The process applied produced granule chips and flow chips, while less curly flow chips with a higher radius of curvature were more easily produced from samples with high MCs in the 90°–0° cutting direction.