Small bandsaw mill on ifor williams

[william127]

After too much reading on here I am contemplating a small band saw mill, like the woodlands 130. The Mills themselves are a reasonable price, but adding the trailer adds 1/3 ish to the price, taking it from say 5k to 7. But I really need to have it on a trailer- there is nowhere to sensibly store it at the yard where I'll use it, never mind permanently set it up.

I'm thinking I could build a substantial 4x 2 box section frame, with fork pockets, and permanently mount the mill to that.

I could then add front jack legs to my 14ft ifor for levelling and then use the mill on that?  This would then also mean I'd have a useful trailer to take timber away from onsite milling.  

There is a forklift, telehandler or loader at all 3 places I'd be loading, unloading or doing heavy maintenance work on the mill.

One drawback I can see people mentioning is the height? I think that it would be a good working height for me as I like things tall (work benches, log splitters etc). The ifor is also very sturdy for winching/rolling timber up. I also have a loader at my yard. 

It would be a decent saving over the cost of the specific mill trailer.

Any thoughts welcome , thanks.

 

Also, I wonder how much I've spent over the years because of things I've seen on arbtalk😅😅😅😅

[monkeybusiness]

16 minutes ago, william127 said:

After too much reading on here I am contemplating a small band saw mill, like the woodlands 130. The Mills themselves are a reasonable price, but adding the trailer adds 1/3 ish to the price, taking it from say 5k to 7. But I really need to have it on a trailer- there is nowhere to sensibly store it at the yard where I'll use it, never mind permanently set it up.

I'm thinking I could build a substantial 4x 2 box section frame, with fork pockets, and permanently mount the mill to that.

I could then add front jack legs to my 14ft ifor for levelling and then use the mill on that?  This would then also mean I'd have a useful trailer to take timber away from onsite milling.  

There is a forklift, telehandler or loader at all 3 places I'd be loading, unloading or doing heavy maintenance work on the mill.

One drawback I can see people mentioning is the height? I think that it would be a good working height for me as I like things tall (work benches, log splitters etc). The ifor is also very sturdy for winching/rolling timber up. I also have a loader at my yard. 

It would be a decent saving over the cost of the specific mill trailer.

Any thoughts welcome , thanks.

 

Also, I wonder how much I've spent over the years because of things I've seen on arbtalk😅😅😅😅

I’m building exactly this right now, but on a 16 foot Bateson trailer. The other benefit (as far as I’m concerned) is that I’ll be able to store the mill up on the top of some racking out of the way when not in use. 

[william127]

10 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

I’m building exactly this right now, but on a 16 foot Bateson trailer. The other benefit (as far as I’m concerned) is that I’ll be able to store the mill up on the top of some racking out of the way when not in use. 

Good to here that I'm not thinking something completely stupid then! 

Good point regarding storage, I could sheet it right up then fork it onto the roof of my shipping container out of harms way👍👍

[John Shutler]

11 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

I’m building exactly this right now, but on a 16 foot Bateson trailer. The other benefit (as far as I’m concerned) is that I’ll be able to store the mill up on the top of some racking out of the way when not in use. 

my woodland mills sawmill is mounted onto a 5m long RSJ frame, i can pick it up and move it around on my low loader behind my valtra then use the roofmount to load logs if i need 

[monkeybusiness]

22 minutes ago, John Shutler said:

my woodland mills sawmill is mounted onto a 5m long RSJ frame, i can pick it up and move it around on my low loader behind my valtra then use the roofmount to load logs if i need 

Mine is on RSJs too - I wanted it to be strong enough to not flex so I don’t have to worry too much about levelling it. 
A mate has a Norwood on their trailer kit and never bothers towing it anywhere as it needs a lot of levelling up each time you move it - I’m way too lazy for that so am trying to make my mill as rigid as possible!

[John Shutler]

22 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

Mine is on RSJs too - I wanted it to be strong enough to not flex so I don’t have to worry too much about levelling it. 
A mate has a Norwood on their trailer kit and never bothers towing it anywhere as it needs a lot of levelling up each time you move it - I’m way too lazy for that so am trying to make my mill as rigid as possible!

that’s exactly the reason i did it, the frame never moves or flexes when you put a log on it, my mate had a norwood and it was awful to level up and then it’d still move when you put a log on it 

[GWYNFIL]

My 126 is on a beefed  up caravan chassis put 100mm c section under the rails on top of added cross members to stiffen up. added jacks to the front and kept the rear jacking legs on . not used in anger yet but i can always add blocks under for more stability.Coped with 26" x 3m elm though.  only issue is banging shins everywhere and milling from front to back. and loading but i suspect no problem if you have a tractor/ lift.

[doobin]

I've been considering getting a small mill. Is the woodland mills 130 considered the best 'bang for buck'?

[Woodworks]

39 minutes ago, doobin said:

I've been considering getting a small mill. Is the woodland mills 130 considered the best 'bang for buck'?

Mine works well but there is very iffy quality control. One of the box guides is welded on on the piss. Managed to adapt the guides to make it work but not ideal. On the other hand I would have had to pay a lot more for one of the European offerings and I may just be unlucky with the bit of poor construction

 

 

Agree with others about RSJs for supports and might set mine up so it could be forklifted about as that sounds like a good idea

[Stihl123]

it works 👍