Well this is different!

[DanG]

http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/grd/1671795399.html

[fishpharmer]

I blundered into the website of the company that makes a mill like that.  Can't recall the name.   Its an interesting concept. 

[brdmkr]

DanG, if it wasn't so far, I'd go take a look.  I was just down Gainseville a couple of weeks ago.

[Bibbyman]

Looks like a Keenerbuilt.  I seen one demoed at a farm show.  Real funky.  The head kind of webble, wobbled its way down the overhead track with the whole structure swaying and swinging.   I got some pictures someplace.  Maybe way back on the old pictrure data base.



Here is one with Mary talking to Mr. Keener. 

I found more going back to 2003.

[DanG]

That must be what it is, Bib.  I was hoping someone could ID it.  Looks like it would work just fine, but there seems to be an awful lot of extra steel there to give it very little advantage over a four-poster or cantilever design.

[Bibbyman]

The sawhead swung and sawed like a like a sky lift car in the wind but it seemed to make ok lumber.  I doubt it will catch on.

Here is a quote from one of the old post on the "Shows" section from a guy that was at the show and saw the mill.

I stopped by saturday, woodmizer looked awesome.  I wasn't as impressed with the keenerbuilt's.  Looked a bit crude compared to other's I've seen.  Seemed to have quite a bit of deflection in the cutting head.   

I haven't see Mr. Keener and his mills in a couple of years.  He was in his 70s back then and talked of retiring and letting his son take over.  Don't know if that happened.  I think they were in Illinois.

[LeeB]

If the swaying problem were adressed, I could see where it could have some advantages on odd shaped and ovesized logs. Add a turn table to it and you could saw curved logs for archetechtural aplications, boat builders, timbut framers and such.

[backwoods sawyer]

The overhead carriage has been successfully used in large production mills, but on a portable mill like this, it looks a bit top heavy for towing off back into some of the places that I take my mill. Placing this mill in a stationary setting where a wider top rail and additional bracing can be added may be the key to minimizing the wobble. 

[DanG]

That overhead track beam is similar in concept to my Mobile Dimension, but MD mounts the saw rigidly to the beam and lifts the whole affair rather then swinging it way down below.  Something like that may have worked better for Mr. Keener.  While the mill swinging like that may not affect the sawing very much, something like that will chase customers away in droves.

Lee, I see you got in ahead of me.  You're right about that.  I think lifting the whole beam would be the answer to that, plus it would move the lifting mechanism and controls from the sawhead to a stationary position.  MD's lift mechanism works very well, and is stoopid-simple.  Also, it looks like he failed to take advantage of all that side clearance by not making the sawhead wider.  He could have built something like Fishpharmer's 52 incher.