Small bandsaw Mill recomendations

[Shiny steve]

Hello everyone, I have just started looking at small band Mills and was wondering if there are any to be avoided, or ones to pick over others. 

 

Im looking at the most basic woodmizers, the trac mets, woodlands Mills and the logesol. All advice/ experience is welcome as I don't really know good from bad. 

 

I have a large panther mill set up on an 880 already, but I'm looking for something to process smaller logs nicely for cladding and lumber. 

 

Steve 

[Mr S]

Hi there, I started off with the Norwood lumbermate which to be fair did the job - I was always dubious about there longevity though - their lack of fine adjustment meant that as things naturally wore over time they wouldn’t be able to be fine tuned, and a bandsaw that’s isn’t bang on is a bandsaw that isn’t running. We then bought a trekkasaw which was labour intensive but  had a really clean stable cut and could mill wide (1m) boards which is where the money is . When upgrading from that I looked at the trackmet and was well impressed - when I looked they were all electric though so you’d need a Genny or three phase. I bought an autotreck which are in my opinion really great but a fair wack of money to invest and like rocking horse shit to find second hand. Wood-misers are in my opinion over rated and I’ve seen more old ones cutting badly than cutting well ! I will be selling our old trekkasaw in the spring - it’s on a tow along frame and a great bit of kit but not for everyone - let me know if your interested. Where are you based Cheers 

[Squaredy]

11 hours ago, Shiny steve said:

Hello everyone, I have just started looking at small band Mills and was wondering if there are any to be avoided, or ones to pick over others. 

 

Im looking at the most basic woodmizers, the trac mets, woodlands Mills and the logesol. All advice/ experience is welcome as I don't really know good from bad. 

 

I have a large panther mill set up on an 880 already, but I'm looking for something to process smaller logs nicely for cladding and lumber. 

 

Steve 

I can only lend my own experience to this, I bought a new Norwood HD36 (the big one but no hydraulics) in 2015, and I have regretted it almost from day one.

 

It does get a lot of use and it does do the job, but there are many problems:

 

Build quality is poor (paint finish peeling from day one).

 

A nightmare to assemble, and took at least ten times longer than Norwood say.

 

Ceramic blade guides were hopeless and I soon replaced them with the rollers which almost every other bandsaw mill uses.

 

On the plus side it is still going and working about two days a week and is very economical on fuel.  Blades are cheap enough but if you re-sharpen there are not many people who do it right!

[josharb87]

I priced up the woodland vs logosol the other day, done a price comparison chart and everything! 
the logosol was twice the price than the same spec woodland with same extras 

[wills-mill]

I would always go with as much weight as possible, adjustability when worn and parts back up.

I haven't used any of the twin rail Mizers but they look as good as other offerings out there, people seem to love their Woodlands and Hudson Oscars, and the Trak Mets always look nice and beefy.

 

[trigger_andy]

I have the Logosol B751. Initially I was unimpressed due to the wavy cut I was getting, but when I moved away from the Bahco Blades Logosol recommend and sell and bought the Ripper 37's that issue was resolved.  I had an issue with paint peeling as well, on the Blade Cover. Told Logosol and they replaced the whole cover and all its components. Same with the Roller Guide that broke after 1 year, replaced that f.o.c too. There is a lot of fine adjustments on the Logosol and when dialed in correctly you can make perfect veneer cuts with it. 

 

I have the first generation, bout just over a year ago now. Rev 2 has a better Bed that can take a trailer package and a few extras like hydraulics etc. You also get a 30" Log on the B751.  Very quick and easy to build and set up. The Saws Head is already built for you, you just need to level it all up and do the fine adjusting. 

[agrimog]

have a look at the 10th anniversery woodlands mills, lots of "new" bits, and an increase in cutting size, Im still running one of the early ones and it still does what it says on the box, simple, well built, solid, and plenty of adjustment where reqd

 

[Shiny steve]

Thanks very much for all that, there is a few things for be to thi k about there, I am interested in the woodlands. 

 

It would be for semi hobby use but would need to pay for its self. Basic is good in my eyes as I don't have electric available. 

[gdh]

Our woodland mills hm130 doesn't get used a lot but it's probably done 40cube and is easy enough to use and well built. 

 

It also helps that it was (relatively) cheap.

[Shiny steve]

I think woodlands 130 and trakmet 600 standard are on the cards at the moment, unless anyone has any other contenders.