Mobile Dementia

[forgeiron]

My friend with the 127 Mobile Dimension sawmill said if I wanted to buy it I could have it for $2500 so how could I refuse? We got the kit for the conversion to electric start plus a new gas can and a couple other small things for another $1000 so here we go! Last weekend I started sandblasting the track for repainting. I can get a tandem axle trailer to put it on but I'm not sure how to set that up yet. He used to run it on a wooden skid set up, that an axle was bolted to for hauling. The information on this site has sure been helpful.

[DanG]

Sounds like you're perkin' right along with your preparations.  There must be at least a dozen of us MD types on here, so feel free to ask if ya need help.

[thecfarm]

Now you're sawing.Good luck and have fun.

[StorminN]

Hey forgeiron,

Good going on buying that mill! When you repaint the track, make sure you mask off the angle iron that the carriage rollers roll on on either side... that's a close tolerance fit, you don't want paint on that...

When I bought my MD, it had been mounted stationary on bridge timbers. I ended up welding up a trailer for it to sit on, I modeled it after the old MD single-axle trailer. You could put it on any trailer that's long and wide enough, you just need something that you can mount the endstands to and also put some stabilizers on...

Good luck, and if you've got any questions, ask!

-Norm.

[karl]

congrats,
"Mobile Dementia"- I like that,  :D :D, sure explains a lot about our operation!

I try to limit new paint to replacement parts- our mill is slowly turning orange again :

[forgeiron]

It's good to know they're a number of folks here who have MD's. Thanks for the imput! I will no doubt be seeking advice as I get this thing online. I have been trying to upload some pic's as she looks now but even with the XAT pro software I can't get them below 59 kb, but I will keep trying. Norm I have been looking at your pic's trying to see how to set it up on a trailer when I get that far. It looks like maybe your posts for lifting and lowering the mill are not stock as they are taller than mine. Also are you limited to the length of log you can load on your mill by the space between these posts or can you get around them a little?

[StorminN]

Hi forgeiron,

I can't help you on the XAT, I'm on a Mac so I do my pic resizing in Photoshop.

If you can find someone with an MD on a trailer, that would be the best thing... get some pics and measurements of that trailer. If I were to do it again, I would build the trailer so it's a dual axle instead of single axle... the redundancy is just safer. You could also find some other trailer and mount the mill on there, instead of building one especially for it.

You are correct, my endstands are not stock. Mine are square tube, and the stock ones are round. The stock ones do come in different heights, however. No matter what endstands you have, the length of your track and where the endstands are mounted will define the length of log that you can cut. You can't cut a log longer than the distance between your endstands, because the crossbeams that the mill track sits on will get in the way. As my mill is set up now, I can cut a 21 foot log. However, I have extra track and I fabricated my trailer in two pieces... the tongue end bolts to the axle end... so if I want to cut longer logs, I can unbolt the tongue end of the trailer and lengthen the trailer, the endstands get further away from each other, and can cut longer logs.

Does this help, or confuse you?

-Norm.

[forgeiron]

Norm
Thanks that helps. Good idea on the extendable trailer. The guy I bought the mill from has a tandem axle approx 30' trailer frame I can have, I think it's from a travel trailer.

[StorminN]

Hi forgeiron,

The extendable trailer is not my idea, the factory one from MD does the same thing.

The travel trailer could work, just make sure and put some adjustable feet on it every six or eight feet or so on either side... I just did a pipe within a pipe, with a nut welded over a hole in the outer pipe... get to your location, jack the frame up a little, let the feet down, level the whole thing, tighten the bolts... makes for a stable platform to work off of...

-Norm.

[beav39]

congrats on the mill,good luck with the project

[buckmtn]

I'm new to the fourm, but not to Mobile D's.
Bought my first new one in 1978, wore it out and bought another inthe 80's still trying to wear this one out.
Bought Mobile D's first bandmill (and I think last).
Tips,,
Love the 12 tooth, 1/4 inch kerf main blade.
Don't be afraid to change teeth.
Keep the corners of the teeth sharp, as soon as you see them rounded, stop and change them.
It is just as important to keep the edges of the shanks that hold in the teeth nice and square as it is having sharp teeth. These sharp edges keep the sawdust moving allowing good air flow around the blade. 

[forgeiron]

What do you use to sharpen the teeth. I have a hand crank grinder but I see there are several other options available.

[StorminN]

I bought the DC powered blade-mounted tooth grinder from MD, with the thought that I would never have to use a bench grinder again, but I've found that's not the best way. It seems the blade-mounted grinder is good for touching up teeth, as long as they aren't too worn... if I let them get too worn, or hit anything in a log, I take the teeth out and grind them on the bench grinder... it just works better.

-N.

[buckmtn]

After thirty years of making sawdust for a living, I still hand sharpen my teeth. About 7 years ago they began cutting funny then my wife talked me into getting glasses and they have been cutting very well since.

[StorminN]

buckmtn,

It's funny you should mention that... I stopped by to see a local MD sawyer, that day he was having some trouble with his saw cutting 4x12's... I looked at his teeth and saw they weren't sharp, but he couldn't tell without his glasses on. Once he sharpened them, everything was fine...

Do you have any pictures of that MD band mill? Do you still have it? Where are you located?

-N.

[buckmtn]

I got rid of that thing years ago, and swore never to saw logs with bands again unless it was a double cut head rig with a debarker.
I do have a little belt feed band saw for remilling that works pretty good. Got it in Sweet Home Ore.
I'm in Northern CA near Blue Lake.