Just starting to mill with Mobile Dimension

Royal oak · July 16, 2012, 11:35:45 PM

Hello everyone. I have always wanted a sawmill and I finally bought one. I originally was going with a band mill until I learned about a mobile dimension mill. I was on my way to Oregon to buy a new one but came across an old one with low hours and bought it. I am in the process of adjusting and learning the machine. I will post pictures soon. I have been reading a lot of old posts and learning a bunch. Thanks for the great forum.

Buck · July 16, 2012, 11:51:32 PM

Welcome Royal Oak!

Ga Mtn Man · July 17, 2012, 12:20:03 AM

Welcome to the forum, Royal Oak. I'm interested in learning about that machine along with you. Keep us posted.

Piston · July 17, 2012, 02:53:04 AM

Welcome to milling Royal Oak 8)

We look forward to seeing some pics of your adventures ;D Can you tell us a little about what your plans are for the mill? Are you aiming to build something in particular? Just want to get into milling for the fun of it? (that's what I did) Or want to get into business? I'm just a 'hobby miller' and don't make money on my adventures, but I have a lot of fun! ;D

Woodchuck53 · July 17, 2012, 03:58:02 AM

Welcome to the mad house. You'll enjoy the ride. Stay safe in all that you do. We are a very visual bunch too. Chuck

Magicman · July 17, 2012, 06:59:33 AM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Offline Royal oak .

Bringing a MD on line will be an interesting adventure for all of us to enjoy. DanG will surely be happy with this one. 8)

bandmiller2 · July 17, 2012, 07:20:09 AM

Welcome RO,mobil D mills have been around a long time and are a dependable performer.Start off slow, speed will come.Theirs an old duffer on the Florida panhandle thats really knows his stuff on those mills,he'll be along.Frank C.

slider · July 17, 2012, 07:20:53 AM

I was thinking Dang must be napping on this one.welcome royal oak

Royal oak · July 17, 2012, 09:47:13 AM

Well I own a construction company doing all types of building and excavating. Now that I have a mill I dont know how I ever got away without one. I live in Marquette, Michigan thats up in the upper peninsula of michigan for those of you not familiar. My mill is a 1989 model 128. I chose it because of the condition and only having 62 hours on it. Everything is like new condition except for everything being out of adjustment. I am on my way to get some white pine logs right now. I will post pictures of that soon. I will post some pictures of my mill soon with some questions for you MD old timers. Here are some pics for now. Mill with cover and some logs waiting to be milled. One of my tractors works incredibly good for unloading, moving, loading onto mill etc. My trailer with a 1000 foot of 1/2 inch cable hydraulically powered by a 4 cylinder wisconsin engine. I plan on purchasing a 4 sided planer soon. I will be milling dimensional construction lumber, flooring, TnG 1 inch, pretty much anything. Talk to you guys soon.

thecfarm · July 17, 2012, 10:27:10 AM

Royal oak,welcome to the forum. Man,you have some toys and some plans. You have hit the ground running. ;D Good for you and good luck. I saw those mills twice at a show. I was quite impressed by it. What's the blue building being used for?

DanG · July 17, 2012, 11:48:33 AM

Ahh, so that's what they look like with paint on them? :D

Welcome to the forum and the MD family. You have selected a great mill for what you're planning. Do you have the twin or single edgers, or both?

Piston · July 17, 2012, 11:59:52 AM

I love that rock rake grapple on the skidsteer! Not to mention that is one heck of a trailer winch you have there! If these are the teaser pics then I'm really looking forward to the action ones! ;D

Chuck White · July 17, 2012, 12:09:09 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum Foyal Oak.

This is a great bunch of people you joined up with!

redbeard · July 17, 2012, 02:06:18 PM

Welcome Royal oak MD is what got me hooked on sawmilling I use to be a customer for several years before I bought a mill. They sure make a pile of boards quickly. Nice support equipment. Planner moulder is on my list also.

Royal oak · July 17, 2012, 02:14:17 PM

Just got back with white pine. Was a real chore. Going back tonight to get another stick around 29 feet long. Several more there after these two. A few are clear also.

Celeriac · July 17, 2012, 03:31:15 PM

QuoteAhh, so that's what they look like with paint on them? :D

Indeed, it looks pretty sharp for a 1989 model, I wish mine looked that good.

Welcome! And have fun learning the mill.

Magicman · July 17, 2012, 03:38:09 PM

That has to be some kind of powerful "get-along" I see chained to the front of the trailer.

PC-Urban-Sawyer · July 17, 2012, 07:25:08 PM

Now that's a really knotty white pine!

Herb

Celeriac · July 17, 2012, 09:13:28 PM

Don't get too wild with your feed rate on that White Pine, as the knots are hard and make it easy to stick the edger blade. >:(

bandmiller2 · July 17, 2012, 09:20:07 PM

That skidsteer is right up on its tippy toes,I'd cut that rascal to managable legnths.Good you have the equipment to handle them,most folks just figure the expence of the mill not the handling machinery. pretty soon lumber will be the cheapest thing you have. Frank C.

Royal oak · July 17, 2012, 10:15:46 PM

Ok I need some MD gurus. First problem - I leveled my trailer side to side on the operator end and also the towing end. Then I leveled the saw cross beam that goes from end stand to end stand. Picture 1 shows it level. Then I put a level on my main saw blade and it shows out of level(whole unit tipping to the right). The bottom edger was slightly different pitch then the main so I put .100 shim behind bottom bearing bracket and now they are 90 degrees to eachother. The issue I am having is when I cut off the bed as you can see the 6X6 the customer wanted(I needed to do this because I was not going to switch to the large edger for one log) The passes I make off the top show a cut line because the edger is tilted out of level as in right side of blade is down compared to left side. Is this normal? I sure dont think so why would I want to leave saw lines all over customers wood? Well I checked everything for tightness and bearing adjustment and it all looks great. The only simple solution I could find was to remove a shim that was welded to the top of the left side of the shoe mount on both slide rails. This allowed the entire saw carriage and box beam to sit level. I took a picture of the top of the shoe mount with shim laying on the side that I removed. You can see I painted the area black where I removed the shim. The saw now sits level and does not leave a cut line. Did I do the right thing here? Anybody run into this before? I will let this stew for now before I get into next issue. Thank you everyone. Also threw in a pic of saw mill.

DanG · July 18, 2012, 12:00:21 AM

Looks like you did the right thing. I've never had that issue with my 128 and I also never noticed there being a shim there. You can always put it back if needed, but it sounds like it was throwing things out of kilter.