Moisture in wood

[JeffKiper]

Hello Guys and Gals
I am trying to quote a small job checking the moisture in lumber before it is cut. My problem is I can't find any other than hand held or weight scale type systems. I was thinking of a inline with the conveyor that would make contact with the board. If the moisture content was to high it would reject the lumber. They would dry the lumber in a hotbox then run it again.

Has anybody seen or done this that would like to share?

 

[geniusintraining]

You may want to send a PM to Peter and ask him to respond http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/member.php?u=71


His motion equipment is used a lot in the lumber industry and he may know of something or someone that may be able to point you in the right direction... or point you to some reading material .... like 'trees are us' or 'lumber today'

 

[bguinn]

Try http://www.strandberg.com/

we use these sensors in the carpet industry, but I believe they could be used on wood as well.

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

I actually worked on a moisture detector for Weyerhaueser back in 81 or 82

We used capacitance then. Now there are moisture detectors you can buy off the shelf. I would search for dryers

I did and I got this
http://www.westmillindustries.com/lightsort.php

I haven't paid too much attention to dryers and moisture detection since when I worked that project.

You should go to the lumber shows every few years.

 

[JeffKiper]

I came from the metal stamping world so wood is way out there for me. I did find a few inline moisture systems online but not as many as I had hoped. Thanks for the pointers I will do some more research and post my findings.

 

[milldrone]

JeffKiper,

In the end of the wood working world I come from, these people are the defacto standard.
http://www.wwwagner.com/
http://www.wwwagner.com/apex_moisture_measuring_system.php
Caution there may be some sticker shock.

 

[Steve Wiebe]

Check out http://www.northernmilltech.com/
We've used them for many years
Steve