Best Face Forward

Dust and chips taken care of, ELCO was again free to focus on producing more, and better lumber. In the spring of 2000 they did just that, with the installation of the first Cardinal/Mudata electric carriage est of Québec, and only the third in all of Canada. Il replaced a 30-year-old Forano that was still in good shape, Wilber says, but at current production was just overs-worked.

"The old carriage was demanding a lot of the millwriht's time to keep it running. It wat time (to replace it)". The First thing that attracted ELCO to Cardinal carriage was its on-board log turner, firs added to the Cardinal carriage at the request of a Quebec sawmiller. Not just the speed, but the finesse of the on-board turner impressed Wilber and Prest, along with millwright Stephen Molnar. The mill cuts mainly spruce, but has a fair portion of pine and hemlock. Wilber exlains that the latter two species tend to bring the mill its biggest and heaviest logs, which in turn end up at the carriage (the smallest logs go to a PHL twin saw).

"With the separate log urners we've seen and operated for years, you beat the heck out of the equipment with the large logs when you turn them, so it's hardfor the millwright to keep it accurate. That what Steve's biggest complaint and the main thing he wanted to change with the new carriage. With the Cardinal, the log turner is so smotth, there's no banging at all and it's easier on the equipment regardless of log size."

Beyond the turner and the carriage's reputation, neither sawmiller knew much about the carriage's other key components, like the high-speed brushless motors or the positioning system, made by French company Mudata. So Wilber, Prest and Molnar met with Cardinal's estern rep Robin Tremblay and Mudata's Jocelyn Buatois a few times, and visited some Quebec mills running the carriage. They were impressed with the equipment and comfortable with the people right from the start, crucial points given that the technology was brand new to this part of the world.

"they were excellent through-out the whole thing," Prest recalls, "and we liked what we saw in Quebec. It's not often you run across a salesman who knows the nuts and bolts of the product like Robin (of Cardinal) - he has spent a lot of time learning this stuff and it shows.

Like other Mudata/Cardinal systems, ELCO's carriage has four independently controlled kness that automatically position the log, taper included, for the saw. Accuracy is incredible, Wilber adds, noting that the only start-up glitch involved this pinpoint accuracy.

ELCO initially ordered the carriage without scanning-optimization, but changed its mind after Prest and Wilber attended the Maritime Forest Ranger School Training Sawmill's Scan Tech 2000 last February. Seeing the future of sawmill technology at the event made them re-consider, and they ended up adding the full Mudata scanning-optimization package.

This system works on the fly, sliding the log face through the scan curtain as it moves toward the saw. The operator can the use a large touch-screen to choose the optimal opening face solution from up to 10 pages each with eight minimum opening face solutions. Faces can be chosen according to three different mill-set criteria - pening face width (or set automatically according to log diameter); guaranteed length of the opening face; or acceptable percentage of taper. The display also shows the log turning mode (1/4 or ½), current log position and shape, and the next position to help guide the operator. And of course it tracks production on the screen, including number of logs, saw cuts, sawn volume, hourly production, total volume in Scribner, Doyle cubic meters etc.

The touch screen interface and sawing tables were designed for ELCO by Mudata's Buatois to handle spruce, pine, hemlock, U.S. and export markets, as well as the custom work. It was a tall order, Wilber admits, but with the supplier's experience working with complex hardwood mill cutting orders, it was handled well.

"It's not easy for a supplier to set up a system with all the variables and specific needs of a mill like ours. Joe sat down and listened to what we needed, and then programmed the screen to what he thought we wanted. It worked well when it got here, but Joe spent two weeks with our sawyer, and made more changes to make the sceen easier - it's really been customized for us."

The information from the scanner optimizer is sent to the Mudata setworks, which, unlike other carriages, works via fast electric motors that move the knees into position at up to 22 inches/second, for what Wilber says is even more speed than the need.