New sawmill

[Cackhander]

Afternoon folks,

 

I'm new here, so a quick hello to everyone.

 

We run a small joinery workshop in North Wales and due to the cost of off the shelf timber, and the availability of some fairly hefty logs (softwood and hardwood) we have taken the plunge and bought a new Lumbermate pro. The machine is due to arrive this week in flat-pack form.

 

My initial question is; has anyone put one of these things together, and if so how difficult was it to assemble?

 

We are new to the world of milling, so I apologise in advance for all the daft questions .

 

Cheers,

 

Ed.

[slack ma girdle]

I will be interested to see how it turns out, as i am thinking of buying one myself. My only concern is the use of Angle iron for the runners. I would have thought that it will not be rigid enough when there is a gert log on the bed. What do you recon ?

[Chris Sheppard]

Used to use a lumbermate 2000 a few years ago and it wasn't bad for the cost.

 

Thing I used to struggle with most was the way the timber is clamped - when making bigger stuff like beams it was fine but smaller stuff was a bit hit and miss as to whethher it would hold square - might just have been my poor technique and it could have been improved by now too

 

One thing to watch is the water tanks are quite brittle when it's cold so need to be handled a bit gentle.

 

It wasn't my machine but apparently if you have a decent flat area to work on you should have it together and using it within a day - and that was someone who wasn't the most mechanically minded by his own admission.

[slack ma girdle]

Confused, you soon will be. I was talking about one mill and you about another. Please ignore my first post, halfwit in full flow.

:thumbup:

[treebloke]

I bought a lumbermate approx 4 years ago in flat pack, it was reasonably easy to put together. It has probably paid for itself with the amount of timber we have cut to make various buildings.

 

Ours has the tow pack but to honest once you get it nice and flat and stable it's best left there. We have our under cover which is a bonus.

 

You can sharpen the blades but I think the last lot we bought were £13 each so doesn't seem worth it.

 

Unless we are cutting lots of big dry timber we do not use the water.

 

I am just about to buy a new one so if anyone wants a good 2nd hand machine let me know.

[Cackhander]

Thanks for the replies chaps. Some interesting information.

 

I'll dig the camera out and try and take some photos as we go. Should be quite entertaining, as neither of us know one end of a spanner from t'other.

[old hand]

The most important thing is to make sure that the bed is square.(measure the diagonals) If possible assemble the bed on a flat surface., as this makes it easier to assemble every thing accurately. The instructions are good. Its better to spend a bit of extra time spent in careful assembly than trying to break the record for speed. Allow at least a day for 2 people. The frames are very strong as long as they are on a solid , flat surface.

The log clamping system is better on the new mills. For accurate sawing make sure the bed is level using a long spirit level. Happy sawing!!!!

[Cackhander]

Thanks Old Hand,

 

We've got a nice big slab of concrete for it to sit on undercover. The only big problem I can foresee is staying away from the fire long enough to put the thing together . It's flippin' perishing up here!