Ok, I have to ask...anyone know about this Linn Lumber Mill Kit

[JBritt]

Linn Lumber mill kit, anyone know anything about it?  Just curious..........

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

I have seen several versions of it offered on ebay in different configurations and different price ranges.

The saw head assembly appears to be well made and gets good reviews from what I read on other forums when I was trying to decide which mill to buy. I really like the electic motor version he offers. One thing that is a very nice function is that his mill turns in the opposite direction of most other mills. The operator stands to the left and the blade turns to the right so the sawdust is thrown away from the operator and not towards them. They seem to offer just about any option you would want from power up down to power feed and if you cant affort to buy them initially, you can always add them later down the road very easily. He uses a nice spring tensioned log dog system that looks like it would get a good bite on the wood. Did not care much for the blade lube system. Basically he uses a bug sprayer that you have to pump up. Did not see any advantage of that over a gravity feed system. Also if you look at his video, there appears to be quite a bit of slack in the chain drive that moves the head assembly. Looks like a potential for derailment to me.

I gave it some serious consideration, but chose not to go with it only because I am not much of a metal fabricator and thought I might have some difficulties building the other components for the entire mill based on my limited skills and metal working tools. If I had a beefier welder, I may have just given it a chance

[kevinlt15]

   I too looked into those mills and you can guess by my handel I purchased something else. the video is great just to watch no matter what you buy. I talked to the man he was great he  had all the time in the world for any questions big or small. I went with A woodmizer because I found one used on the web. Linn mills have many many options. ;D

[scrout]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfUPS-44XHw

Built this Linn, used the sawhead kit, then did the carriage/trailer myself.
All welded with a Lincoln 175 MIG, not one problem yet.
I have an AC motor driving the sawhead up/down, and use a HF winch
to pull thru the log now with a manual return.

The sawhead design in very robust and mine cuts quite accurately.
If you are going to do anything more than hobby milling, plan on hydraulics.
I have about $3300 into mine total.  If you are going with a kit like this, please
get the Linn, that is who designed it.

If you are not into fabbing, just pop for something used and make sawdust.
This was my first metal project ever, so don't think you can't build this.

[LPitt]

I bought the plans for my Linnlumber1900 from Gary. He offers his mill in all different stages but I chose to go with the plans and build the whole thing. After I got it sawing I went to work making it totally hydraulic. That was more trouble than building the mill itself but well worth the time. The mill saws very good and strait lumber, and a friend with a Woodmizer LT40 says it saws as good as his. If you like to weld and have the skill to build one you want be sorry just be prepared to invest some time. It took me most of a year to build mine working on weekends and at nite some. One good thing about Linn is you can call Gary and he will help you through any problems you run into. He will spend as much time talking to you as you need and never makes you feel like your a bother.

[bedway]

Gary at Linn lumber, and his products are top shelf. Im very happy with mine and hes a great guy.

[horseman]

I bought the 1900 print from Gary a while back. I bought a few things from him to build the saw ie the 19" wheels, guides,  hydralic tensioner, raise lower kit, clutch and a some bands.  Everything is as he said it would be.  A couple of times I didn't understand the print ( I've never seen a sawmill before) so I called him and he was glad to help.  I e-mailed him too and he always replied very quickly.  Mine has a 20 hp. Honda with 30 feet of track.  It should be done in a few more weeks as I only work on it in my spare time.  My experience has been nothing but good with Linn Lumber.  I bought it to mill the logs we have here at home to build a barn next summer.  The engine was of course  the most expensive single part at about $1300 and have about $2000 in the rest.  Some of the steel we already had on hand so not real sure of the total cost. Todd

[Handy Andy]

  If  you just want to buy a mill head, think several of the small mill builders will sell you one, and you can build your own carriage. Have seen a mill head for sale on Cook's ad, bet EZ Boardwalk would sell you one. Just have to look at their carriage and build like it.  There are several good mill companys.

[sweetfarm]

For those of you with the Linn mill how is blade tracking accomplished?   I watched their Youtube video and when he changed the blade he does not mention or check the blade tracking at all.   He changes the blade "in less than 1 minute and just puts the blade covers back on.   I have never changed a blade and not had to at least visually check the tracking to make sure it's close.

[LPitt]

Linn Lumber uses regular V grove pulleys with a belt around it. The 19" pulley used on mine uses a 5/8 X 58" belt. You have to spend a fair amount of time lining the 2 wheels up to track the blade when it is first built but after that it's trouble free. The only time I have had to adjust the tracking is when the belt around the pulleys has to be changed. That has been very small adjustments that only took 10 mins or so. One thing I did that I would recommend is change from 1 1/4  to 1 1/2 blades. While it worked good with the 1 1/4 it works great with the 1 1/2.               

[scrout]

thread hyjack...

LPitt,

Do you have a build thread on your saw?  I searched and didn't find much.
Very interested in the particulars, hydraulics, sizing considerations.
Also could you expand on the 1.25 vs. 1.5 blade comment?

Thanks.

[LPitt]

OK Scrout, this may get a little long but here goes.  I don't have a build thread but thinking back now I wish I had done one.I have a few pic's in my gallery here and a few more on another site. DIYbandmill.com . I'm on page 7 I think in their gallery. What I did was buy the plans from Linn Lumber and also the band wheels, raise and lower, tensioner, carriage wheels and everything else. I sawed with it for a while and it did really good. Sawed very strait and did just as Gary said it would. The only problem was  with my health,   it was just to much work for me to raise the head, roll logs and all the things that go with sawing. Now i'm going to skip over all the things I tried that didn't work and tell you what i've got running now.I took a hydraulic motor that I had that came off a zero turn mower and mounted on the saw head with the raise and lower I already had. That was real easy just had to add an ideal sprocket to make it run the chain. I ran a #40 roller chain from  the saw carriage to a shaft on the front of the mill and used a 101 series Charr Lynn hyd motor to move the head back and fourth. I made my log stops like Wood-Mizer does theirs on their LT 40. They swing up and down by using a piece of tubing over another piece. They are tied together with a home made tie-rod that is moved with a hyd cylinder. The dogs that slide from side to side I used two more 101 motors and chains to run them. The saw blade is run with a 104 series Charr-Lynn motor. Of course I had to have control valves to operate everything and a pump and motor to run it. What I used is and old chevy inline six. I run a 40 gpm pump off the back of it to run the saw blade and my chain log turner. Everything else runs off of a 12 gpm pump. The reason I went with the 1 1/2 blades is I get about twice the brd feet per blade. Anything else you what to know just ask and tell you all I can. Leon