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Sawmill Wanted


Anthony H
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1 hour ago, Big J said:

That sounds nasty. I think we had our fully hydraulic Trakmet operational within 2 hours of starting the installation. There is something to be said for having a full lorry deliver it as it doesn't need to be broken down too much.

It was a bit nasty to be honest. The book detailing how to assemble it ran to 130 or more pages!  And even then a few steps were missing or wrong.  And the technical data sheet delivered with the mill quoted the wrong size blades (someone doesn't know how to convert inches to mm) so when I used this to order blades when the blades came they didn't fit.  I was lucky I had only ordered two on that occasion!  On the plus side it is a good engine and very economical and we do mill a fair bit with it.  

 

I also thought the ceramic blade guide blocks were a very bad idea (wore out quickly and pricey to replace) so I downgraded to rollers like most other similar sawmills use and these are much better I would say.

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I'm going to be in the market for a small mill later in the year, so I'll avoid the Norwood mills. I used a Lumbermate 2000 about 8 years ago and found it to be very poor. 

 

I altered the guides on my mill too. They were originally sandwich guides, which were prone to loosening off (and you'd lose alignment) so I switched to big roller guides and welded a sandwich guide onto the inside of the guide arm roller. Works well, but the thicker blades we are now running make the biggest difference. 

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Like most things you get what you pay for.

I did a lot of research and ended up buying a Woodlands because it fitted my purpose.

18 months on I'm still happy with it, there where a few issues but it's not rocket science and nuts

and bolts are easy to deal with.

However, there have been a few issues with tracking on the later models of the HM130 and if you

do buy one I suggest you check before starting the machine that everything is aligned as I know

of a few people who have had blades pop off in use.

  

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On 25/04/2018 at 19:49, Big J said:

I'm going to be in the market for a small mill later in the year, so I'll avoid the Norwood mills. I used a Lumbermate 2000 about 8 years ago and found it to be very poor. 

 

I altered the guides on my mill too. They were originally sandwich guides, which were prone to loosening off (and you'd lose alignment) so I switched to big roller guides and welded a sandwich guide onto the inside of the guide arm roller. Works well, but the thicker blades we are now running make the biggest difference. 

Big J, I meant to ask you what are the thicker blades you referred to?  I have had a lot of trouble with blades (mainly trying to find a good sharpening service) but am now happy with Ripper 37 blades sharpened by Stephen Cull Blademaster.  Have you had success with a thicker steel blade?

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3 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Big J, I meant to ask you what are the thicker blades you referred to?  I have had a lot of trouble with blades (mainly trying to find a good sharpening service) but am now happy with Ripper 37 blades sharpened by Stephen Cull Blademaster.  Have you had success with a thicker steel blade?

Thicker the better. I have been using Hakannson M42 blades for the past 4 weeks and they are amazing. They are 1.62mm thick and there is little deviation. You need a bit more power to push them through the cut, but I have 30kw, so that's no problem. You also need large band wheels with thick blades otherwise they fatigue prematurely turning around what is quite a tight corner. 

 

We sharpen our own blades.

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3 minutes ago, Big J said:

Thicker the better. I have been using Hakannson M42 blades for the past 4 weeks and they are amazing. They are 1.62mm thick and there is little deviation. You need a bit more power to push them through the cut, but I have 30kw, so that's no problem. You also need large band wheels with thick blades otherwise they fatigue prematurely turning around what is quite a tight corner. 

 

We sharpen our own blades.

Thank you Big J that is very interesting.  

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