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

Terrywerm

Terrywerm

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