Bandsaw mill build

[sandspider]

I don't totally understand what you're doing here, but I'm impressed by it.

[topchippyles]

4 hours ago, sandspider said:

I don't totally understand what you're doing here, but I'm impressed by it.

What is not to understand ? Malus is building his own bandsaw mill from scratch.

Edited September 2, 2021 by topchippyles

[sandspider]

Ha, yes - I understand that. But not how all the bits go together and how the whole thing is adjusted and run. (Obviously, I do understand the basics).

 

Essentially, I couldn't do what s/he's doing, and I'm impressed.

[Josh Purton]

On 26/08/2021 at 08:30, Watercourse management said:

My belts run very slack as I ordered the wrong size but they have never come off and as a bonus it stops the sawdust building up in the v of the pulley.

Sorry to jump in on a thread but I’m in the process of building a fairly wide cut sawmill myself, all be it static as I have the ability to get the logs back to my yard. Can I ask what engine you’re currently running and how you find it fares with the bigger logs considering your saws width capability… 

[Watercourse management]

10 hours ago, Josh Purton said:

Sorry to jump in on a thread but I’m in the process of building a fairly wide cut sawmill myself, all be it static as I have the ability to get the logs back to my yard. Can I ask what engine you’re currently running and how you find it fares with the bigger logs considering your saws width capability… 

At the moment I’m running a 13hp Honda as I had a spare one, I was not expecting a lot from it but was quite impressed with the speed it cut through a 36inch lump of ash . I have all intentions to replace it with a 24hp twin so I can increase the band speed and run a hydraulic debarker .

[Josh Purton]

44 minutes ago, Watercourse management said:

At the moment I’m running a 13hp Honda as I had a spare one, I was not expecting a lot from it but was quite impressed with the speed it cut through a 36inch lump of ash . I have all intentions to replace it with a 24hp twin so I can increase the band speed and run a hydraulic debarker .

Thanks for the reply, I’m in a similar boat where I have a 14hp Kohler already setup so going to run that til it dies or struggles too much that I need to change. The plan is to then go 18kw electric motor powered by a diesel generator. 

[topchippyles]

4 hours ago, Josh Purton said:

Thanks for the reply, I’m in a similar boat where I have a 14hp Kohler already setup so going to run that til it dies or struggles too much that I need to change. The plan is to then go 18kw electric motor powered by a diesel generator. 

Why would you go electric then used a diesel generator ? Why not just use a petrol engine 

[Josh Purton]

1 hour ago, topchippyles said:

Why would you go electric then used a diesel generator ? Why not just use a petrol engine 

Because retrofitting a small, light electric motor onto the sawmill and getting everything lined up will be a lot easier than trying to do the same with a  lumpy 25+hp engine

 

btw Les it’s basically because everything had got rather tired on that woodland mills I bought from you, so I’ve cut it in half and made the cut width wider by 18” 😂 just an experiment really as the mill wasn’t worth a lot now anyway and will probably buy a mobile version of something too and keep this at the yard

[Josh Purton]

Fairly easy modification - introducing the new Woodland Mills HM148, 

48” log with a max cut width of 42”

 

just  few little bits to do like paint everything up, add the log clamps

[Malus]

I'm not a fan of threads that get abandoned with no resolution so here goes. 

 

After that last post I pretty much ran out of time for the project so it sat in the shed untouched for the best part of the winter. The weather really howls up the valley and the shed isn't the most water tight, so when I finally had made some time to revisit the mill it was all pretty rusty. I have to say it was pretty hard getting together the motivation to spend a day with a wire wheel on an angle grinder.

 

I was a bit slack with documenting the rest of the build because it was done here and there when I found time and my phone camera had been compromised.

 

Anyway, after facing many many problems, some of which would have been avoidable with a bit of foresight, and asking questions here, the mill is now operational. 

 

I've not milled up all that much yet, some test cuts in alder firewood logs and shock horror some turkey oak. I'm pretty pleased with the quality of the cut, I was taking 3mm slices that stayed a consistent thickness out of a 7ft length of alder. Surprise surprise the turkey oak has proved more of a challenge. There's a little bit of waving in some of the more knotted logs. 

 

I'm picking up some Douglas logs this week or next so I'll see how I get on with making some dimensional timber. 

 

One thing I've realised for sure is that I don't think I'll ever be milling logs near the max capacity of the mill unless I've got a machine to move the logs. That's a lot of weight to be handling manually.

 

I've still got to wire in all the lights to make it road worthy. I also need to remake the winch and ramps for loading logs. The ones I made were way to flimsy for a decent sized log.