How big a mill to get?

[trigger_andy]

Think we are coming at this with different goals.
 
£60 is good going. Is that with people bringing their logs to you or is yours mobile? 

I charge £400 for a days milling plus bands with my B751 when milling at a customers location. I charge £40 an hour if they bring the log to me.

[spuddog0507]

So after reading this thread from start to finish, the woodlands mills are OK ? as been told by some one that they where not that good !! then looking round and doing some homework to me they seemed very much OK, I have a chance of some Larch like about 700 tonne, some i can sell on for sawlogs and chip but some i will hang on to and buy a mill and do a bit on that when its raining (so thats till march) all so have a meeting with UU on Monday regarding more larch so i might be unendated with it come christmas, 

i dont need a big mill as i dont plane on milling all the time as i have other things on but like of late just been on the firewood and making some room in the building and looking where to position a mill, 

Edited November 5, 2021 by spuddog0507
spelling

[gdh]

21 minutes ago, spuddog0507 said:

So after reading this thread from start to finish, the woodlands mills are OK ? as been told by some one that they where not that good !! then looking round and doing some homework to me they seemed very much OK, I have a chance of some Larch like about 700 tonne, some i can sell on for sawlogs and chip but some i will hang on to and buy a mill and do a bit on that when its raining (so thats till march) all so have a meeting with UU on Monday regarding more larch so i might be unendated with come christmas, 

i dont need a big mill as i dont plane on milling all the time as i have other things on but like of late just been on the firewood and making some room in the building and looking where to position a mill, 

They're good mills. Not top of the range of course but if you're only doing a few hundred cube they're an excellent buy. 4k will get you a 130 and ours has cut everything from larch cladding to Oak beams with no issues over the past 4 years.

 

[agrimog]

jumping into this late.......I've owned a 126 since 2014, one of the early models, and its fitted to one of the later woodlander trailers, yes it can be done !!!, some extra holes and the use of mushroom headed bolts....., but then and  keen and desperate to mill everything in sight, I would have bought the 130 if it had been available, but in the years since, Im glad I didnt.......there are various factors that will effect your choice, how are you going to handle your raw trees, a 24" dia log 12ft long is heavy,  and takes a bit of work to move around, likewise  20-24" boards 12ft+ long take 2 people to move and stack, have you room in your chosen site to use a front loader, and how much mess will it make, where will yoou stack timber, space lost for up to 2 years , and trust me, space runs out very quickly, where, and what are you going to do with the sawdust produced, also all the slabwood and offcuts,  the mill itself is only a small part of the equation, and requires a serious thought about timber handling and storage as well, as for running costs,... belts, Ive changed both belts twice, buy the best you can find, I recomend gates, ...guide bearings, change then once a year, bought from e-bay, a dozen at a time, similarly pulley wheel bearings, I'm now on my 3rd  clutch, they wear, but watching your engine rpms is important, that your idle is low enough that the clutch isnt catching, and top speed is actally that, the throttle cables slip, stretch and need keeping an eye on,  regular oil and filter changes, likewise spark plugs,  and apart from that, the only other expense is washing up liquid and iso propyl alcohol for lube.........try and get some hands on time with different machines, loading, cutting and looking at basic maintenance, youll find one that clicks and suits your style

 

[trigger_andy]

jumping into this late.......I've owned a 126 since 2014, one of the early models, and its fitted to one of the later woodlander trailers, yes it can be done !!!, some extra holes and the use of mushroom headed bolts....., but then and  keen and desperate to mill everything in sight, I would have bought the 130 if it had been available, but in the years since, Im glad I didnt.......there are various factors that will effect your choice, how are you going to handle your raw trees, a 24" dia log 12ft long is heavy,  and takes a bit of work to move around, likewise  20-24" boards 12ft+ long take 2 people to move and stack, have you room in your chosen site to use a front loader, and how much mess will it make, where will yoou stack timber, space lost for up to 2 years , and trust me, space runs out very quickly, where, and what are you going to do with the sawdust produced, also all the slabwood and offcuts,  the mill itself is only a small part of the equation, and requires a serious thought about timber handling and storage as well, as for running costs,... belts, Ive changed both belts twice, buy the best you can find, I recomend gates, ...guide bearings, change then once a year, bought from e-bay, a dozen at a time, similarly pulley wheel bearings, I'm now on my 3rd  clutch, they wear, but watching your engine rpms is important, that your idle is low enough that the clutch isnt catching, and top speed is actally that, the throttle cables slip, stretch and need keeping an eye on,  regular oil and filter changes, likewise spark plugs,  and apart from that, the only other expense is washing up liquid and iso propyl alcohol for lube.........try and get some hands on time with different machines, loading, cutting and looking at basic maintenance, youll find one that clicks and suits your style
 

Good advice there! I have the Log Turner for my winch now. It doubles up as a winch for loading but I generally just use it to turn big logs. Makes logs up to 30” a one man job again. Being Logosol it’s well engineered and very heavy duty.

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, agrimog said:

jumping into this late.......I've owned a 126 since 2014, one of the early models, and its fitted to one of the later woodlander trailers, yes it can be done !!!, some extra holes and the use of mushroom headed bolts....., but then and  keen and desperate to mill everything in sight, I would have bought the 130 if it had been available, but in the years since, Im glad I didnt.......there are various factors that will effect your choice, how are you going to handle your raw trees, a 24" dia log 12ft long is heavy,  and takes a bit of work to move around, likewise  20-24" boards 12ft+ long take 2 people to move and stack, have you room in your chosen site to use a front loader, and how much mess will it make, where will yoou stack timber, space lost for up to 2 years , and trust me, space runs out very quickly, where, and what are you going to do with the sawdust produced, also all the slabwood and offcuts,  the mill itself is only a small part of the equation, and requires a serious thought about timber handling and storage as well, as for running costs,... belts, Ive changed both belts twice, buy the best you can find, I recomend gates, ...guide bearings, change then once a year, bought from e-bay, a dozen at a time, similarly pulley wheel bearings, I'm now on my 3rd  clutch, they wear, but watching your engine rpms is important, that your idle is low enough that the clutch isnt catching, and top speed is actally that, the throttle cables slip, stretch and need keeping an eye on,  regular oil and filter changes, likewise spark plugs,  and apart from that, the only other expense is washing up liquid and iso propyl alcohol for lube.........try and get some hands on time with different machines, loading, cutting and looking at basic maintenance, youll find one that clicks and suits your style

 

Are you glad that you bought the smaller one because it was cheaper or because it's more accurate on (more common) smaller diameter sticks?

Edited November 5, 2021 by AHPP

[Woodworks]

1 hour ago, agrimog said:

jumping into this late.......I've owned a 126 since 2014, one of the early models, and its fitted to one of the later woodlander trailers, yes it can be done !!!, some extra holes and the use of mushroom headed bolts....., but then and  keen and desperate to mill everything in sight, I would have bought the 130 if it had been available, but in the years since, Im glad I didnt.......there are various factors that will effect your choice, how are you going to handle your raw trees, a 24" dia log 12ft long is heavy,  and takes a bit of work to move around, likewise  20-24" boards 12ft+ long take 2 people to move and stack, have you room in your chosen site to use a front loader, and how much mess will it make, where will yoou stack timber, space lost for up to 2 years , and trust me, space runs out very quickly, where, and what are you going to do with the sawdust produced, also all the slabwood and offcuts,  the mill itself is only a small part of the equation, and requires a serious thought about timber handling and storage as well, as for running costs,... belts, Ive changed both belts twice, buy the best you can find, I recomend gates, ...guide bearings, change then once a year, bought from e-bay, a dozen at a time, similarly pulley wheel bearings, I'm now on my 3rd  clutch, they wear, but watching your engine rpms is important, that your idle is low enough that the clutch isnt catching, and top speed is actally that, the throttle cables slip, stretch and need keeping an eye on,  regular oil and filter changes, likewise spark plugs,  and apart from that, the only other expense is washing up liquid and iso propyl alcohol for lube.........try and get some hands on time with different machines, loading, cutting and looking at basic maintenance, youll find one that clicks and suits your style

 

Thanks that is a good list. Hopefully got most of that covered.

 

I have a good loader and forks which can get all around the future mill

 

Looking to mainly mill softwoods that dry fast and much of that is for my use anyway. There is fair bit of hardstanding here and I plan to stack as high as possible. Admittedly there is never enough hardstanding but I can make more

 

Already doing logs so have a big chip/sawdust compost heap. All the side boards can go into crates for firewood

 

Looking to build a shed over it with a super strong beam to pop a hoist on to help rotate awkward logs

 

[trigger_andy]

3 hours ago, AHPP said:

Are you glad that you bought the smaller one because it was cheaper or because it's more accurate on (more common) smaller diameter sticks?

 

Set up right a wider mill (within reason) is no less accurate. I’m a perfect 3mm cut (the minimum my mill I’ll cut) across the max width of 24” on my mill.

Dial your mill in accurately, correct band tension, correct set and a correct sharpen will go a long way to accurately of cut. I’d not be surprised if the Logosol B1001 is accurate across its far wider cant than my 24”.

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by trigger_andy

[Johnsond]

57 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

 

Set up right a wider mill (within reason) is no less accurate. I’m a perfect 3mm cut (the minimum my mill I’ll cut) across the max width of 24” on my mill.

Dial your mill in accurately, correct band tension, correct set and a correct sharpen will go a long way to accurately of cut. I’d not be surprised if the Logosol B1001 is accurate across its far wider cant than my 24”.

 

I’ve heard of this zen like state of wide throats and high speed straight cuts Andy 😀

[trigger_andy]

I’ve heard of this zen like state of wide throats and high speed straight cuts Andy [emoji3]

I qualified that comment with my far narrower 24” Cant. [emoji38]

 

Will be interesting to see if the owner of the B1001 on here manages with his max cut. I can see me getting a bigger mill within a year or two and would be good to see how he gets on with it.