Material Handling

[Larry]

I drag the just cut board back and build my stack while the mill is sawing the next board.





Works well with 8' logs and cedar...with longer logs the boards become a bit lot heavier.  I'm thinking about putting a short section of roller conveyor at the end of the mill, than about a 4' gap centered on the pipe rack, to another roller conveyor table.

I think I'll drag slabs back further into a similar pipe rack where I can make a bundle.

Looking for suggestions to make building my stack easier.  Is there some kind of automatic stacker?  When custom sawing I don't stick.  I do have a forklift to pick the lumber out of the racks.

[Ironwood]

NICE board!

A scissor lift, BIG one, or dock scissor lift would help keep them on level with the mill. I sometimes see them used, seems the BIG ones are cheaper, I suppose due to less applications. I have 5 smallish ones in my shop for work stations or outfeed tables. 1000-3000 lb units. You need 4K or better for your stacks.



Just a thought, Ironwood

[Kansas]

On one inch thick lumber, we don't go higher than 10 high, plus are stickers aren't quite as thick as yours. We also use regular 2x4's on edge to stack it on to keep the total height down. It accomplishes a couple of things. One is, when its time for the kiln, and all the lumber is in the same height packages, makes it easy to mix and match lengths. The other reason is that way you don't ever have to lift over waist high. Make a package, then move it out of the way. Anytime you get over waist high on heavy boards, its a struggle. Rollers would be good to move them down to stack, but I can't see a good way to use them to make a stack higher, not in a one man operation.

And last I checked, some of us aren't getting any younger. Those boards get heavier as the years go by.

[logboy]

I drag the just cut board back and build my stack while the mill is sawing the next board.
Is there some kind of automatic stacker? 

Do you have kids? 

I cant stack next to the saw at my place.  I throw them in a pile and pick them up with the Bobcat when I'm done. Then I stack off the forks.  That way I have no walking back and forth and lost time to contend with.  Saves on my back too.  I sawed 16' Oak 2 x 6s for a farmer building a cattle fence one time. At around 80 lbs each he was hating life after dragging them off the mill for 2 days.

[WDH]

I can't help you much with your question, but, that is a DanG nice board!

I am getting a saw shed built and I have been thinking through very similar material handling and efficiency opportunities.  I have to have a way to spray red oak, ash, etc. for powderpost beetles, and that is a pain in the pith, complicating the whole process of stickering right off the mill.