I've been looking into/for building plans of a vertical band sawmill, can't seem to find them. Everywhere I have looked, there's only plans for horizontal.
I've also looked into circular sawmills, but haven't come across any specific plans for those either.
Anybody have access to these?
Thanks.
Nate
where at in alabama
Nate, your trying to reinvent the wheel. Almost everything imaginable has been tried years ago and the best designs have filtered down to what we use today. By all means try it, but its hard to plow new ground. Frank C.
Marengo County, AL
Neither circular or vertical band are new types of sawmills...
Look at youtube videos of huge commercial band mills, theyre all verticals.
Yea, I've looked on youtube and seen them in operation. I would like to find plans to follow for building one. ...Actually, I would like to find plans for both circular and vertical.
Buy an old frick or meadows and rebuild it.
I've looked around a little bit on the net (I'm away at work for a few months at a time), and haven't seen any near where I live. I'm not in a hurry, so maybe one day I'll come across one or two. Asking questions and getting answers helps pass some of my off duty time...
There's also mills that have the beds tilted at an angle. I find them interesting. The difference between a horizontal and a vertical mill is the horizontal indexes the head, and the vertical indexes the bed or carriage.
The big advantage of band mills is they eliminate the carriage, that is of heavy construction and long ways with a necessary heavy foundation. You can build a vertical band mill without a carriage but all your doing is changing the plain your cutting on and introducing problems building. Frank C.
Ive been thinking along the same lines as you. Building pretty much a circle mill but with a bandsaw head. And having the head move. I really like the tilted bed for turning logs. Cant really help you on the plans. I dont think it would to hard to figure out how to build the "carriage" part. Maybe talk to a few machine shops to see if they can give you ideas. As far as the head goes you could look into the kits by linn lumber. Theu seem pretty affordable. Here is a couple good youtube videos for ya.
This one is similar to what id like to build someday. MIT Headrig with Cooper Setworks Video - YouTube (https://youtu.be/EwVPVfC8cTc)
Another one Band sawmill vertical - YouTube (https://youtu.be/bDh1WeCFm-s)
Why reinvent the wheel? All you need is a carriage off of they type of mill you want. Everything is already made. Hook up the hydraulics or air and go. I often thought this would also work on a swingblade type of situation.
Quote from: Ron Wenrich on July 12, 2018, 06:19:28 AM
There's also mills that have the beds tilted at an angle. I find them interesting. The difference between a horizontal and a vertical mill is the horizontal indexes the head, and the vertical indexes the bed or carriage.
This one has always me drooling
TS Modular Slant Sawmill - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwxDlcYs9FQ)
Nate, over here horizontal type bandmill were pretty unknown, even more woodmizer ones. Most of the stuff we had were vertical bandmills, in france, and germany. I don't know how much you're willing to spend. But you could import one from euroland. You can check fordaq for example, a website specialized in sawmill. In france, there is plenty on leboncoin, a classified website.
Does a vertical or tilted blade band mill clear the sawdust from the cut better than a horizontal?
I have wondered if that would be an advantage.
On the the other end of the scale from the previous videos in this thread there is this small one.
I always thought the blade should be turning the other way on this one.
J200 - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-cM9JuCe3Y)
This mill from Cleereman is impressive.
The tilt has many advantages over a straight vertical.
Cleereman 54" Lumber Pro cutting Hickory - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0LNVRWAflQ)
Gravity is your friend. Sawdust clears on either one of those. I never had a problem on the circle mill unless you were dealing with partially frozen logs. Handling material becomes easier as you can use fast belts for offbearing. You also have better visibility of the log face, which is handy for sawing grade and determining when to turn the log.
Woodland out of MO used to make a vertical mill that used a carriage and track system. They had pretty good production. It wasn't as portable as the horizontal mills.
Quote from: nsherve on July 12, 2018, 12:00:49 AMI've looked around a little bit on the net (I'm away at work for a few months at a time), and haven't seen any near where I live.
As for circle mills, you could drive across the country to get one and it would take less time AND money than building one with a lot less head scratching and troubleshooting.
A local wanted ad could go a long ways. A lot of old circle mills aren't advertised as many won't bring more than scrap even complete and nearly operational and may have sentimental value. Knowing someone wants to put it back to use can be motivation enough for some. Just try to get one with a good or fixable blade, that is the expensive part...
Found a clip of a Woodland K4.
Woodland k4 vertical sawmill , bandmill - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR29IkwyF2M)
Ken Clouser build one in the post from etroup10
http://www.clouserfarm.webs.com/Bandsaw/panther.pdf