just bought a woodlandmills

alabama sawmiller · February 22, 2016, 03:44:12 PM

first time using a sawmill and having trouble will the scale. Anyone have any advice

beenthere · February 22, 2016, 03:52:34 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum

Like what kind of trouble?

alabama sawmiller · February 22, 2016, 03:57:27 PM

its like the scale needs to be turned upside down to get the correct reading, and does the 4/4 scale count for your blade

hacknchop · February 22, 2016, 04:03:47 PM

Welcome to ff, to answer your? no most scales do not so you must keep your kerf in mind when sawing.

alabama sawmiller · February 22, 2016, 04:06:05 PM

thanks i am cutting 1" cedar boards and the boards are close but not consistent

Deese · February 22, 2016, 04:28:57 PM

Alabama Sawmiller----Welcome To The Forum

When you say your boards are "close but not consistent", what exactly do you mean?
The board thickness isn't consistent from board to board? Or the thickness varies throughout the same board?

What part of Alabama are you located?

alabama sawmiller · February 22, 2016, 04:54:56 PM

Sorry computer shut down the boards are little off of thickness one may be 1 1/16 or 15/16 instead of 1" and I line in fayette Alabama

Magicman · February 22, 2016, 04:57:11 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, alabama sawmiller. Adding your location to your profile will help with future questions.

sawmilljoe · February 22, 2016, 05:14:04 PM

Have the same mill make sure you drop the head a little low and raise to were you cut cables and clamps can sag a little . I put mine on upside down to how it was made then added a true scale yard stick in the middle. The video on how they use there scale make it hard.

fishfighter · February 22, 2016, 05:23:14 PM

AS sawmilljoe stated, lower, then raise up to true reading. Once you get used to it, it's no big deal. Oh, getting eye level each time helps. Make sure your post clamps are not slipping any. Set, make a cut, then recheck your scale.

alabama sawmiller · February 22, 2016, 05:47:49 PM

I talked to woodland mills and they said some people turn there scale upside down to get a true measurement I appreciate the help just learning

Deese · February 22, 2016, 06:02:14 PM

Quote from: fishfighter on February 22, 2016, 05:23:14 PM
Yes Yes Yes...make sure you are "eye level" with the scale when adjusting the saw head/blade position. If you don't, you will get variation in board thickness ;)

RALFF · February 22, 2016, 07:17:44 PM

Alabama sawmiller,
If I can be of any help just let me know, you know that I am just down the hill in the Sipsey bottoms.

btulloh · February 22, 2016, 07:41:20 PM

Don't worry - it'll get easier quickly. I know what it's like for sure.

One thing I did with my HM-126 was re-mount the pointer on the opposite side and added shims to reduce parallax. That helps a lot.

Making a few gauge blocks has been helpful at times for me.

Just getting drops consistent though, I started using the index wheel. I haven't take the time to figure out the increment per step, but when I count the steps (revolutions + or - some steps) to get very repeatable drops. Now I've got notes on the wall next to the saw showing the number of steps for whatever I'm sawing. Once I started using that method stuff became very consistent. Days or weeks later I just look over at the wall to see how many index holes for siding, etc. It's fast and accurate. My siding is three revolutions plus three index holes.

Any and all ways are good. Whatever works for you is the best way.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. There are good people here with a lot of knowledge and experience and they've been a great help to me.

BT

Deese · February 23, 2016, 09:42:50 AM

Parralax....yeah, what he said :D

alabama sawmiller · February 23, 2016, 01:27:10 PM

This is probably a stupid question but can u tell me what parallax is

beenthere · February 23, 2016, 01:28:38 PM

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=parallax%20definition

alabama sawmiller · February 23, 2016, 01:35:02 PM

thanks i got it one more question i cut on the 4/4 scale and all the boards are 1 1/8" thick did i do something wrong? i thought the 4/4 scale should be 1" boards

Magicman · February 23, 2016, 02:49:52 PM

You got exactly what you should have gotten. It is a 4/4 scale, not an inch scale. The 4/4 scale allows for shrinkage and planing.

You are doing very well with your learning curve, so keep the questions coming.

alabama sawmiller · February 23, 2016, 05:41:26 PM

I am cutting cedar for a chest I would like the boards to be 3/4 in thick went done planning so I thought I would cut exactly 1 in boards and plane each side about an 1/8" to get my 3/4" boards So what scale am I supposed to use?

Dave H. · February 24, 2016, 12:07:40 AM

congrats on the wm126.you'll love it .the scale does take some getting used to and is not 100%acurate .ive tweaked my holder and line guide but still end up using spacer/guide/size blocks often.no big deal.and my scale is upside down too.i think if the numbers were below thw line it would work better right side up.

Kbeitz · February 24, 2016, 03:01:27 AM

I run two pointers on my scale...

fishfighter · February 24, 2016, 03:50:48 AM

Quote from: alabama sawmiller on February 23, 2016, 05:41:26 PM
I am cutting cedar for a chest I would like the boards to be 3/4 in thick went done planning so I thought I would cut exactly 1 in boards and plane each side about an 1/8" to get my 3/4" boards So what scale am I supposed to use?

For that, I use the 1" scale. I needed a bunch of pine sub flooring like that and it worked out great.