Band tracking

[Johnsond]

5 hours ago, gobbypunk said:

Hi everyone I have finally got my head round tracking the band on my hm130 , I think I got it sussed ,tracked in and milled some WRC cladding and it turned out ace ,so it’s totaly a new learning curve but I think I am getting there with the bandmill now I need a forklift.

Cheers Mark 

Hi Mark 

I had same issues when initially swapping to ripper 37 blades as they were slightly longer than the original. The combined alignment and tensioning system is indeed a pain in the arse to set up, admittedly not to bad once you have found the 25NM/Band tracking true sweet spot but it did have me losing the head at the time. Same here I’d love a little loader of some sort. I’m seriously thinking of checking out hire rates for something that would do the job say for a weekend and dedicate that whole weekend to milling as the actual milling side of things ain’t taking long it’s the log handling that’s taking about 70%  of my time. 

[Forest2Furniture]

On 21/03/2020 at 06:46, Johnsond said:

Hi Mark 

I had same issues when initially swapping to ripper 37 blades as they were slightly longer than the original. The combined alignment and tensioning system is indeed a pain in the arse to set up, admittedly not to bad once you have found the 25NM/Band tracking true sweet spot but it did have me losing the head at the time. Same here I’d love a little loader of some sort. I’m seriously thinking of checking out hire rates for something that would do the job say for a weekend and dedicate that whole weekend to milling as the actual milling side of things ain’t taking long it’s the log handling that’s taking about 70%  of my time. 

How are you loading your logs then, it takes me about 10 minutes to get anything up to a 24" diameter log on the mill and ready to go.

 

[peckerwood2016]

Yah just larch andy cut some spruce last week and the band lasted but soon as I started back on the larch the bands go dull quickly

[topchippyles]

4 minutes ago, peckerwood2016 said:

Yah just larch andy cut some spruce last week and the band lasted but soon as I started back on the larch the bands go dull quickly

Great for waney edge cladding larch 

[gobbypunk]

Hi I am using the ramps and a hand winch it works ok ish , I could do with a 12v winch to be honest as if the log is nice and round no worries but otherwise it’s hard work,and I broke one of the feet off one of my ramps as my welding isn’t that good,to be honest I could do with making some better ones, that’s if we are going to be allowed to go to my workshop, I really don’t see what difference it would make being at our workshop with my girlfriend or being at home with her .

[Johnsond]

6 hours ago, Forest2Furniture said:

How are you loading your logs then, it takes me about 10 minutes to get anything up to a 24" diameter log on the mill and ready to go.

 

Ramps and a winch set up. Most of stuff I’ve milled lately has been on the limit of mills and if I’m honest my physical capacity in relation to moving the cants etc. Like I said I’d love access to a loader of sorts. 

[gobbypunk]

Hi mate how are you doing your winch cables I can’t quite see it all I am just winching from the middle and getting some issues with it but from both ends would be better I just can’t think how I would set it up ,maybe it’s just late and I have drank too many beers but a photo from the other side would be good 

Thanks Mark 

[Johnsond]

8 hours ago, gobbypunk said:

Hi mate how are you doing your winch cables I can’t quite see it all I am just winching from the middle and getting some issues with it but from both ends would be better I just can’t think how I would set it up ,maybe it’s just late and I have drank too many beers but a photo from the other side would be good 

Thanks Mark 

Hi Mark 

No pics from other side  im afraid.  Basically it’s still one cable that goes into two slings to create a bridle in a Y shape. I’d imagine problem you have is the log pivoting on the single point of contact in centre just at the point when most weight is on the winch ?. Anyway it may take a few goes to get the attachment points on the chassis and the length of the slings right but the bridle method does help. If you can’t access different length slings buy a coil of 20-25mm polypropylene rope and splice a set of eyes in each end that’s what I did until I found out what length worked well. Obviously you want the winch wire to have enough travel to get the log into the bed, if you look at mine the winch bottoms out just as log is on the flat section at top of ramps. Hope that makes sense ?

[trigger_andy]

A loader makes a world of difference. As Im hoping my Log Deck will.  Ive now got 9 fair sized Spruce up on the Deck and a bridge over to the Mill, so I can hand roll the Logs over. As the ground is slight sloping the back of the Log Deck is sunk into the ground, so Ive another 15 tons of Logs ready to roll up the very short incline at the rear. 

 

But as I'll be mostly cutting 8x8", 8x10", 6x6" and 6x4" in the near future I also need something to get the finished beams off the Mill. I was thinking of a roller deck or something? There is a set of rusting rollers up on the farm. I might see if I can have them and fab up something the same height as the Mills Bunks. So I can slide, or winch the beams off the mill down onto the rolelr deck and stack the beams till I get the Avant back in for a weekends shuffle around.