Optimisation techniques for minimising saw teeth deflection and lumber thickness variation

Lumber size control is an essential element in maximising yield and productivity because a small reduction in rough green target size could lead to substantial savings in wood fibre. One of the key components of rough green target size is sawing variation. In this study, the optimum side clearance of band saw teeth leading to a minimum saw teeth deflection and minimum lumber thickness variation of stellite-tipped and swage-set saws when processing Triplochiton scleroxylon a tropical hardwood were examined. It was observed that the accuracy of kerf width was best with stellite-tipped saws. However, Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5% level of significance indicates that there was no significant difference between the accuracy of kerf width of stellite-tipped saws and swage-set saws. It also was observed that at 5% level of significance, the mean kerf width of stellite-tipped saws, which was 4.2 mm, was significantly greater than the mean kerf width of 3.06 mm of the swage-set saws. Sawing variation as indicated by standard deviation of lumber thickness was best for the swage-set saws. A quadratic relationship between sawing variation and side clearance of stellite-tipped saws was established. As the side clearance of the saw increases, the sawing variation decreases until it reaches a minimum value and thereafter, further increase in side clearance of the saw teeth results in an increase in sawing variation. It was observed that an optimum side clearance of 0.69 mm under a saw blade thickness of 1.3 mm was required to produce on the average, a minimum value of 0.42 mm for within-board standard deviation, and 0.59 mm for the total standard deviation. An error margin of less than 1% was achieved when the experimental results for the optimum side clearance was compared with a theoretical assertion.