circular mill foundation help

[mikes47jeep]

Hi all

As some of you know I have an Ireland mill that I am restoring and setting up

I am at the point now where I am working on the mill foundation

I was going to pour 8 inch round concrete post every 5 feet under both tracks, and 1 in each corner of the husk

However I started digging the post holes with the tractor.

I found the spot I was planning on setting up the mill on, is only about 14 inches above bedrock

I was thinking maybe now just setting the whole thing on top of the ground on railroad crossties I'm just not sure what to do

What are some good options for the foundation?

A concrete pad is out of the question, it's just too expensive

Any advice would be appreciated

Mike

[dblair]

 

  piers tied to the bedrock with anchors in the bedrock would be great . ties on the top with anchors to bedrock to keep it from side sliding from loading and turning logs would be fine . anchor the husk to keep it from turning due to belt tension also. down here in Va. I used mobile home anchors to stop the side slide and just blocks on top but mines a hobby not a business . back in the 60's when I was a young man they were set and moved all the time without problems as they were the portable sawmill of the day and last hundred or so years.

[bandmiller2]

Mike,you could set your mill up on timbers,that the way its been done for years on temporary mills.Your area is cold and ground frost is a problem.You don't get a more solid foundation than bedrock.Myself I would dig a trench 1' wide as wide as the mill timbers down to bedrock.If your carefull you can use the dirt wall as a form with a box frame above ground.My own mill is bolted to sections of phone poles sitting on concrete, below frost.You need some mass of concrete as spindly poured sono tubes will wobble if not deep. I also think you'd be OK if you scraped the loam off and could get railroad ballast like you were building a rail bed. Frank C.

[steamsawyer]

I used railroad ties to lay my track. I leveled the area and laid out the ties then made angle iron clips to bolt the 4x4 stringers to. After setting the angle irons by a string line and lag bolting them to the ties I laid out the stringers and cut wedges to level everything. The last step was bolting through the angle irons and 4x4s. The mud sills under the husk are 4x12s 12ft long stacked and bolted together. After the track and tie laying was all done I back filled around and between everything. I also put a five foot piece of utility pole in the ground at the front corner of the husk mud sill to keep the belt tension from pulling everything out of alignment.... The mill has been there for three years now and no problems so far.

I really don't have any experience with freezing and thawing ground. So your mileage may vary... Down here that hasn't been much of a problem since the last ice age.

  

 

[reride82]

What do you guys use for sawdust removal when things are that close to the ground? My tracks are about 3 feet off the ground and I can still make a large pile of sawdust in pretty short order. Just a thought in case you hadn't considered it.

[eastberkshirecustoms]

I really don't have any experience with freezing and thawing ground. So your mileage may vary... Down here that hasn't been much of a problem since the last ice age.

That's funny :D. Yeah, after one season up here that mill would be all twisted and contorted. I know of a guy that thought he was going to set up a mill by placing it on 55 gallon drums filled with rock and buried about two feet in the ground.  He never could get that thing to stay level and cut true lumber. He finally gave up and there the mills sits, falling into the ground.

[Ron Wenrich]

You definitely want to get it up in the air.  No flow under the saw will cause dust to blow out from underneath the saw.  You need a dust pit.  You can put either a drag chain or a blower underneath that to get rid of dust and never have to shovel.  We used old corn picker chain for our drag. 

The main area of concern is where you tie the track and husk together.  This needs to be very stable.  I put one on a cinder block wall, then tied timbers to that.  Use one long timber on top of each wall.  It stayed stable for all the years we used it.  We also put our mill under roof.  We notched our track into the timbers and than put wedges in to keep them in place.  Very stable.

Our track was put on piers, with more piers on the log loading side than on the dump side. 

[FeltzE]

Consider using larger timbers 4x6 or 6x8 white oak if you can find it for your beamworks.  The extra mass helps to stabalize the mill. I set up a smaller bellsaw years ago based on 4x4s it worked fine but the 4x4s were at maximum stress and often moved slightly under load.

Having the mill up at near wasit height on the offbearing side SIGNIFICANTLY reduces workload for you stacking and handling lumber comming off the mill. IF setting on a slope set the log loading end on the upslope end reducing the need to lift the heavy logs to the mill and the down slope area becomes the offbearing side. (my brother did the exact opposite and his mill is a bear to work at)

[Ron Wenrich]

When I put in the first handmill, I put the offbearer side at knee level as said.  But, I also put the log loading side about knee to mid-thing level.  No bending over, and a lot easier to turn logs.  My log ramp was just hickory poles that were skinned of the bark.  They were about waist high, so things were easier to handle.

[snowshoveler]

I have poor drainage in my area so I brought in about 50 yards of rock and gravel.
I still have the poor drainage and this time of year the gravel is swimming.
A retired equipment operator told me this is because the bedrock is covered with only a foot or so of nasty clay.
Anyway on the gravell i put angelique blocking 6x12x24. On top of this is 14x14 red pine timbers.
4 of these timbers make up the base. Then the typical 2x8 and so on framework as described in the belsaw manual.
It actually didn't move this winter, little to now winter here and only a couple inches of frost.
I think once I get same sawdust around it will be good.
I should also mention that I built a roof over it and used a bunch of those clear/white fiberglass panels on the roof.
Stays nice and light inside but not so bright as to be hard on your eyes.
regards chris

[mikes47jeep]

well i am going to pick up some railroad ties this week,

i got sono-tube, and will be pouring concrete
im going to drill and pin the bedrock with rebar to try to keep the piles from shifting

Mike