Bandsaw mill build

[Watercourse management]

Looking good, on the log bunks I would plate the ends to stop it filling with sawdust and weld a bit of flat bar around 20mm high on the end so you can clamp your log against them for planking.

[Malus]

57 minutes ago, Watercourse management said:

Looking good, on the log bunks I would plate the ends to stop it filling with sawdust and weld a bit of flat bar around 20mm high on the end so you can clamp your log against them for planking.

Yep I'm gonna cap the ends. That's a great idea re the clamps, hadn't thought of that. What's the best way to do log rests for bigger logs/cants? I guess a little bit of adjustment might be handy so they are dead square to the log bunks?

[Watercourse management]

I would look at the wood mizer ones, I made mine swing up on a crank handle like the cooks but it’s not great if I wasn’t going to go hydraulic that’s the system I would use now.

[Malus]

Saturday saw us finish drilling the holes to mount the log bunks. We measured and tacked the two end bunks together in place and then ran two string lines between them. We tacked each subsequent bunk so that it barely touched the string line. I marked each bunk 1-5 so that they always go back in the same spot and hopefully fit ok. 

 

Today I welded up the bunks and fitted caps on the ends. I only had 50mm flat bar so there was a 5mm gap each side to bridge. I turned the welder down a notch, welded top down in a c and filled the gap ok. 

 

I haven't yet welded on any flat bar as a low log stop, I'm not sure how the bunks will measure up against the height of the carriage yet.

 

As for log back rests I'm thinking about keeping it simple with box section sliding into a vertical sleeve with a bolt to secure it in place. 

[Malus]

Ben came over to help again yesterday and I've had a few hours working on the mill today. We took the jacks off the caravan chassis and made up some mounts for the sawmill chassis. Initially I wanted the jacks to be right in each corner, but for various reasons they weren't going to fit. Ben came up with idea of mounting them on the cross braces that we hadn't yet fitted. So we positioned them as best we could, about a quarter of the length of the bed from each end. The really nice thing about these legs is that they fold up completely so unlikely to snag on uneven ground. The bed is surprisingly sturdy on those four legs but I'll add some drop down supports. 

 

I made up a couple of axle mounts and tacked them in place. I'm waiting on some square u bolts to be delivered but in the meantime made some out of threaded rod. The axle fitted the mounts nicely and to my surprise it seems to all be nice and square with the chassis. 

 

I bolted on the coupler and jockey wheel and hitched it up to the truck. It sits nicely behind the truck, the back of the chassis being slightly raised but by the time the weight of the sawhead is added it might drop a bit. 

[monkeybusiness]

You can write more neatly with a welder than I can with a pen - good skills!

[Malus]

On 12/08/2021 at 10:42, monkeybusiness said:

You can write more neatly with a welder than I can with a pen - good skills!

Thanks, but my handwriting is definitely not as easy to read!

[Malus]

Had a bit of a hectic week so not had time to work on the mill until yesterday. After tacking the axle mounts and measuring it all up for square I seam welded the mounts. 

 

The next job was a bit of a daunting one, welding on the rails that the carriage runs on. I decided to use angle iron with the square corner up. From what I understand this is the bit that's important to get level and square, even if the trailer chassis is out or whatever. I set up a string line on one side so that the string was 3mm above the ridge of the angle. It's amazing how bent new steel stock is sometimes.. I used a piece of 3mm flat bar as a gauge and a few thin wedges to tap under the angle where the gap was too big. I went along like this tacking it in place. For the other side I set up a similar string line to gauge the height and used a piece of flat bar with a notch cut out at each end as a spacer between the two angle irons. At this stage I didn't want to properly weld them in place until I had a carriage built to test for parallel and true.

 

So that brings me onto the carriage. For the bottom piece that holds the wheels I cut and drilled some flat bar and welded it onto the end of 50mm box. It wasn't the best way to do it really because I've ended up with one about 5mm longer than the other but I'm not too worried. I made a corresponding mark with a centre punch on each so measurements can be taken from that point. For anyone building a mill in the UK I got the wheels from F H Brundle and they were quite a bit cheaper than elsewhere.

 

Another head scratching moment. A few cups of tea later and I started cutting steel for the carriage uprights. Basically I was trying to make the most out of the steel I've got, without having to go out again and spend more. I can't remember what I settled on now but I'm really hoping it's going to be enough to raise the sawhead enough to cut a big log without taking a massive first slab.

 

I didn't have enough 50x75 box for the cross pieces of the carriage but luckily I had a few lengths of 90mm round tube I picked up from the scrap yard that will do the job nicely.

 

The carriage parts are only tacked together, I'm a bit hesitant to commit to welding until I've got a better idea of whether the sawhead is going to raise and lower ok, and if it's all going to fit in at all! 

[bilke_user]

Looks good.
How is the carriage going to be held onto the rails?  

 

[Watercourse management]

A lot of black steel comes on a big reel then goes though a de coiler,I put some little scrapers in front of the track wheels as sawdust was building up on the track and getting compacted causing the carriage to run lumpy..