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lt 10 fits in my nissan frontier and not too bad to load, unload and reset

Started by stormyweatherman, July 20, 2010, 01:16:52 AM

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stormyweatherman

finally taking trip to berkshires where i have 50 or so spruce logs on the ground in a few piles.  sunday drive with the mill.  had help on departure but not on new site.  still had the mill unloaded and set up in about an hour and a half.  i didn't expect that.  my friend, who owns property, showed up about 4:30, as i was rolling first log on the mill.  managed to make some boards.  but it was dark thirty before i was half way home ???  wicked good.  lots more to do. 

bench is a 2 and a half inch slab of wormy pine that i made with grandson.  split a cordwood round and pegged it with 8 inch maple sticks epoxied in holes.  sanded with 150 grit on orbital and then epoxied the whole slab.  nice rustic bench and rock solid.
gonna have some fun with my lumber if i can slow down.  last year i had no mill and very little work.  this year its the opposite.  wife likes the mill and she's very happy that i'm busy again.  i'm happy ;D too.  stocks i sold to get the mill went down after i sold them 8).  it was a better investment.











if experience is the sum of all my mistakes, then i must know a great deal more than i realize

Chuck White

Glad to hear that everything went well on the saw-job!

Really nice when you get going on saw-jobs and don't hit a bunch of snags.

Looks like your truck and your mill were made for each other.

Nice lookin' bench too!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!  8)
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

JBritt

Very cool pics! Looks like you are putting the LT 10 to good use.  I do have a question, I do not own a sawmill  yet, I was wondering if you felt like your jobs are limited since you have the LT 10 instead of one of the larger mills.  I want a mill but my knowledge of building or sawmilling does not warrant the purchase of a large sawmill.  My fears are, once my knowledge increases I will regret buying the smaller mill?  Your thoughts?

stormyweatherman

jbritt,

my 2 cents on this is that everyone's situation is different.  for myself, most of the logs on my property and around me are on the smaller side.  i have limited log moving capacity since i have no skidder or tractor.  i'm not planning on doing high production.  just utilizing lumber from my land or others for projects and hopefully adding a revenue stream to my enterprises.  the pictures in this post are of logs that i pulled out of a friends wood lot with my truck, a nylon rope, and a couple of snatch blocks.  all salvaged from an ice storm.  we are splitting the lumber.  his is for a shed.  i'm building a small guest cottage.  but he is paying me to help him build his shed.  so the mill is getting me lumber and at least one small paying job thus far. 

the great thing about the small mill is that i own it.  it doesn't own me.  and if you've ever tried to move a 24 inch log around with just a cant hook then you know that for a manual mill a 24 inch capacity is big enough.  i'm happy to leave the big boys for the big boys.  and if i decide to move up, i don't think it will be very hard to sell my little lt10.  its a great little mill.  but i'm getting kinda attached to it already.  good luck with your planning.  i spent a lot of time on this site learning.  time well spent and i'm happy to share my experiences after getting my feet a little wet.  back to work.
if experience is the sum of all my mistakes, then i must know a great deal more than i realize

JBritt

Well that answers my question, I think I will go the same route.  Just have a few bucks more to save, I don't believe in financing (other than home) so I hear you when you spoke of owning your mill. Great information, thanks and keep the pics coming.  I use them for inspiration!

Magicman

I love to see a plan come together and work.  Yes, not only are you successful with your venture, you are also truly an inspiration to others.  Keep on keeping on.   ;)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

tyb525

24" is a good limit for me, any bigger and it is too hard to move the logs around. Plus you don't find a whole lot of logs bigger than that.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

Ted J

What is your loading/unloading procedure? Are you pulling the head unit up with a winch or are you using the crank on the mill? By looking at he pics I guess you assemble and level the bed sections while in the bed of the truck before you unload?











stormyweatherman

ted j.  when i built the mill i lagged it to 2x4s instead of to 4 x 6s (2 per rail jointed just off center of the middle joint of the mill track itself).  when the mill is set up these lay on 4 x 4s to provide the necessary beef under the track. 

to load, use the mill track as a ramp.  the way i did it was to back up to the mill.  push the head to the opposite end.  lift the track and swing over the tailgate and center in truck bed.  support the middle of track with a couple of blocks just for extra support.  roll the mill head up the track into the truck.  the lt10 has holes at either end to pin the mill head in place.  pin the mill head.  walk to the other end of the track.  lift and slide mill into truck.  have to make sure mill head is high enough up to clear the truck bed rails (it overhangs).  then i support the protruding end (saw horse).  disassemble track (10 bolts).  put it in the truck.  duct tape the tension cables so that they aren't fallling out of the truck.  put the 4x4s that support the track in the truck along with blocks for leveling.  tie it all off.  drive away.  reverse process at set up site.  mill head is heavy but i was able to roll down track by myself.  i tried pushing back up myself and i was able to do it.  so i could do the whole thing alone if necessary.  takes about a half hour to break down and 1.5 hour to set up with leveling and site prep.
if experience is the sum of all my mistakes, then i must know a great deal more than i realize

stormyweatherman

making progress today. 8) all small logs from 9 to 14 inches ib.  i cut about 400 bd ft in 6 hours.  about 70 boards.  15 logs i think.  my buddy saw the mill operating last sunday and had bought a chain for his 4 wheeler when i got there today.  he pulled out 8 more logs while i was sawing.  more logs!  guess he likes the idea of making lumber on his land.  another day or two and we'll both have the framing lumber for our out-buildings, plus siding boards.  board and batten or shiplap?  on the way home i was thinking of putting my dado blades on the table saw and doing a run of ship lap instead of the board and batten.  or is a router table better for that?  i recently drove by a small barn with vertical shiplap and liked the look.  back to work tomorrow  ;D





if experience is the sum of all my mistakes, then i must know a great deal more than i realize

tyb525

How's your clamp holding up? I wish my mill was still that bright ;)
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

stormyweatherman

ty, hope things are going well,

i've been on the road doing some commercial painting at colleges around boston.  got to make it while its available.  :) back to sawing later this fall. 

clamp has been ok.  have gotten used to it.  it seems to slip more on the cant when it gets down to the last few boards.  holds well on the radius side of log though.  i guess the vibration increases as the cant gets lighter.  have you ground your edge down or anything?  i'm most hesitant about the clamp when edging flitches.  i actually used bar clamp on one end to help hold them all tight.  clamp needs a redesign but workable i guess.  if it had some teeth or riflings on the one cross-member that it slides on, i think it would solve 90% of the slippage problem.  then when you set the clamp it would bite in in the back.  wish i was a metal worker so many times over. :(  best regards.
if experience is the sum of all my mistakes, then i must know a great deal more than i realize

tyb525

Stormy,

I did get a new clamp from WM, free of charge, after telling them about the problems I was having. It worked great for awhile, however it is starting to act up again. I found that one of the problems is the 2nd "cam" on the lever gets worn down so that when it is fully engaged, there isn't enough of a flat to hold it there. Also the clamp not being able to bite into the bed rail is the other problem, when it is in a lower position it cannot get enough leverage to bite into the bed rail. I have used bar clamps several times, but they are a pain to set and reset.

What WM needs to do is just mount a pipe clamp in between two of the bed rails to clamp with, with adapters to make the clamp taller/shorter. I've seen other mills that have something similar.

It is the biggest downfall of this mill IMO. I hear talk about how great the clamps hold on the hyd. mills, and I wish ours held that well ;) The other thing is the head up/down lock. I have to tighten mine periodically, or else sometimes if the mill is running with the blade on, this causes enough vibration that sometimes the head will slide up or down slightly.

Just the other day, one of the tensioning cables pulled out of the eyelet where it bolts onto the head. I had to improvise by clamping the cable between two washers with a bolt.

Have you figured out a way to adjust the blade guides up or down? As far as I can tell, you can only adjust the vertical tilt.

This mill is great for the price, but I am finding that if you try to get much volume at any speed out of it, it doesn't hold up the best. It's a great hobby mill, and it is great for resawing thick boards, too, which is nice cause I don't have a vertical bandsaw in my shop. I've always have great accuracy with it.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

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