Circular saw blades, such as used for cutting lumber, typically include a mounting hole or eye disposed through a central axis of the saw blade and a set of teeth disposed about the periphery of the saw blade. The saw blade mounts to an arbor by disposing the arbor within the mounting hole. When the arbor is connected to a drive power source, such as a motor, the drive power source causes the arbor and the saw blade to rotate along a rotation direction.
While circular saw blades can be used in a variety of applications, in one application, a set of circular saw blades are used in a process known as guided sawing. In guided sawing applications, saw blades are fitted to an arbor but not clamped to that arbor in any way. The saw blades are held in position with guides mounted on both sides of the saw blade that provide for the exact thickness of the lumber to be cut, less one or two thousandths of an inch clearance between the body of the saw blade and the guide, plus the thickness of the sawdust line the saw will produce (known as kerf).
The guided sawing arbor typically includes a set of outwardly projecting, parallel splines disposed about the periphery of the arbor. Each guided sawing saw blade of the set includes a mounting hole formed with a spline shape that substantially matches the arbor's cross-sectional shape, thereby allowing the saw blades to mechanically interface with the arbor. Additionally, each of the mounting holes defines a clearance space between the saw blade and the curve sawing arbor, thereby allowing the saw blades to travel or slide relative to the longitudinal axis of the arbor. In guided sawing applications, the saw blade can move freely on the saw arbor (i.e., via a center hole defined by the saw blade), to the extent that the guide allows. A mixture of air, oil, and water is forced through the body of the guide so that the saw blade floats on this very thin cushion as it rotates.
The development of guided sawing technology has further developed into curve sawing technology using circular saws. In this application, the set of guided saw blades are configured to cut a bowed log into straight boards in order to minimize the amount of waste generated during the board manufacturing process and to maximize the quality of the boards generated from the log. For example, a curve sawing system includes a curve sawing arbor, a set of curve sawing blades disposed on the arbor, and a set of saw guides as described above mounted on arbors parallel to the saw blade arbor. In modern curve sawing applications either the entire section of the sawing machine that contains the saw blades, the saw blade arbor, the saw guides, and the saw guide arbors is manipulated to align with the shape of the log being cut, or the log is manipulated to align with the saws.
In curve sawing applications, as the arbor rotates the set of saw blades relative to a longitudinal axis of a bowed log, the splines of the arbor engage a drive surface of the mounting hole to rotate the saw blade along a rotational direction. As the rotating saw blades engage the bowed log, a controller, such as a computer system, steers the set of blades to substantially follow the curvature of the bowed log. Because each of the saw blades can slide along the longitudinal axis of the arbor between adjacent guide elements, the saw blades substantially follow the curvature of the bowed log thereby maximizing the yield of boards generated from the curved logs while reducing the amount of stress absorbed by the saw blades during the cutting procedure.