MD Moving Day

[Steve]

The link below is to a set of pictures I took the other day. It was the end of a job and my son and I took the mill down and moved it.
 He has just started working with me again after being on the mainland for the past couple of years.
There have been recent posts about towing a mill.This is how I do it.  I have had several different set ups with a MD but this is the lightest and easiest to move yet.
The whole thing is set up on two 9' long 2x10's with the endstand bases bolted on. Everything else breaks down into manageable pieces.
I'll post a series when I set it back up too..

Steve


http://www.curlykoa.com/sawmill_gallery

[DanG]

Thanks for posting this, Steve. My mill is very different in the way the transport system is set up. Mine is mounted on a 28x8 trailer, so the mill doesn't have to be disassembled for transport. The trailer is made of 4" c-channel, and remains intact. This makes for a lot easier move, but limits the mill to logs that will fit on the trailer. I could remove it from the trailer, and remount it on a ground frame, but I haven't seen the need to do so, yet. I'm thinking of building a second frame, with it's own endstands, fixed to a permanent frame, and just transferring the beam and saw-head from it onto the trailer when I need to be portable. If I do this, I'll use AC power or hydraulic to control the elevation, and just use the 24v electric lift on the trailer. Using the forklift, it should only take me 30 minutes, or so, to move the saw to or from the trailer. I could then enjoy portability and large capacity from the same saw.
The largest timber I encounter, so far is about 30" and I can handle that on the trailer. If I get a chance at some really big stuff, I'll have to have a way to haul it to the saw, or take it apart the way you do.

[Bibbyman]

Great pictures but I'm a little colorblind.  I had problems reading the green text over the red.



We keep our LT40 Super chained to the ground so it don't move around.  Ain't had any breakdowns - but I've had a minor adjustment to make from time to time. ;D

[Steve]

DanG

My setup is a bit too wide for a road legal trailer. I used a system just like yours at one time. It worked real well, very fast to set up.

I chose this method to accomodate big logs and to be able to saw a log layng right on the ground that I couldn't move. The first big Mango log I milled I set the mill up three different times on three different logs till they got small enough to move.

Bibbyman
I saw that the green wasn't working to well but by that time I was done already. I'll know next time.

[sawmill_john]

Hi Steve, I've got my mill set just like yours, I'm just getting ready to move it to the back side of the barn so I've got more room to move logs in and boards out.

This picture was right taken after I set it up, it now is under sawdust not as much as you had.  I'm looking forward to coming by next month.  See ya.

John  

[KiwiJake]

I'm sure I've seen the same mill for sale in the Sawmill exchange website? I like your log dog set up... Does Mobile sell them on them own?

[oakiemac]

Great pics Steve. My MD is set up on a trailer that you just roll the logs up onto. It takes about 30-45min to setup. As I get more practice, I'm sure I can improve that.
Do you band your lumber right off the mill for easier transport or does your customers perfer it that way? I want to get a bander but thought I would band selected sizes after drying.
I also like your electric endstand lift. I have a manual crank that can get tiring.

[Steve]

Oakiemac

I banded those units  so they wouldn't fall apart moving them with the loader.
I was essentially sawing all the same size pieces so I couldn't overlap pieces on succesive rows so the stacks became a little shaky.
Hate to have to pick up the whole thing by hand when the loader hits a bump. :
I bought all the banding tools off Ebay for a fraction of new price.
You gotta get that electric up and down, you will never regret it...
I have the 24 volt one and the batteries last a week at least.

John
Plan on part of a day at least. We could go to Jay Warners place and see that mill you custom built for him. He has told me about it but I haven't seen it yet. But then you have seen MD mills before. :D

[Frank_Pender]

Steve, I am sure happy I am set up on a permanent basis.  8)Looking through those pictures sure looks like work to me.   :-/but, I guess I have spoiled myself in not having to travel around.  ;D I just have everyone bring the logs to me.   :D  Yet, you are correct, in that it is a very siple and easy system to work with.  

[sawmill_john]

Steve I'll plan on the better part of a day so what ever sounds good to me, I was going to contact Jay also.  
Kiwi Jake we sell a few of those log holders to both Lucas and Peterson mill owners, They work really well for small logs or when the log gets cut down to just a slab.  I talked a little bit with Carl Peterson last year back in West Virginia about it but he wasn't to worried about holding the log.  On big logs its no problem as long as you have the weight of the log to hold it in place, but when you get down to the last few boards thats when its nice to have the darn thing stay in place, and not hop up and down or side to side.  And yes that is my saw on the sawmill exchange but I think I'm going to keep it now it the newest 1987 mill around!

john

[KiwiJake]

How much can you get down on the log using the dogs? The big question is can you have multiple dogs on the one skid? Carl probably wasn't to fussed because on a swinger it just takes a little longer without dogs and using wedges (eg. you can cut 3" + another 3" to make your wide horizontal last cuts which reduces side ways movement, along with simple wedges that is.)

The biggest advantage I see with using a solid vice dog system is faster production when your at your lowest in the log ie. plowing through with an eight inch horizontal cut.

Carl has made some of his own, he used them at the shootout, I also have made my own dogging system to go with my first mill, but I just found that I never used them. Probably because I never got into any thing under eight inchs for a log, the small ones are hard to find over here  ;D.

Some good dogs for those really small logs are always an advantage and would be a complimentary gadget to go with any mill.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Hi Jake. Are the dogs on the new automatic mill, manually set, or power driven???  Do you see any advantage in turning the cant 180° before getting to the very last cut, so the cant is easier to hold???

[KiwiJake]

Basicly there is no real need to spin the log at all because the blade swing acts as the turner, you can get your wide boards out of the horizontal and the vertical when ever you choose fit, in saying that I have set up a system for a fellow up north with the most simplist means for resawing the left overs of your log... It worked great!

Skim your skids so that they are flat and true with your tracks.

When your blade cuts, the horizontal will do all your moving, it will tend to move the slab to the right and to the front, away from your saw so just whack a nail in each of the skids so 15mm is stickin up,  place them near your right track as far as you can keeping them parallel with your track, all you will need then is another nail to the front to stop that forward movement.

When you've done this just cut your log tell what ever slab or cant is left, then flip it flat side down and but it up to the right nails and the front nail. That slab won't move on you while you are doing the resaw. This worked well for him (we were getting the logs right down to about 30mm thick slabs with out resawing, obviously he wanted REAL recovery for that last 4x1).

In regards to the Automated Swing mill, we just offer the normal little spikes that sit flush under the skid, this is to keep the blade away from the metal. We've really gone away from the heavy hydraulic type system to a light weight simple design that motors, why equip with heavy add ons when you don't need it? Probably something that would really speed up production is a chain infeed directly under the high track to your saw for a consistent production, but thats an after market thought.