New to me sawmill...... I think...

[jim_wrench]

Thanks for the ad. I've been a long time listener. First time caller looking to make my own saw dust.
Well I picked this up about a month ago. Thinking about building my own but this was alot easier and quicker..... or so I thought. At least i was able to load and unload this into the back of my little truck. Good to know for remote locations..


So now to see if it runs... with fresh fuel the honda gx270 with electric start purrs just fine.

Thinking just a few tweeks and I should be making some dust..... boy was I mistaken.....

Problem 1 mill is not level at 10 inch indicator it reads 10 inch on motor end and 9 3/4 on the other.
Problem 2 the main bearings are noisy..
Problem 3 the carriage will not adjust close enough to accept a 144 inch band.
Problem 4 the motor turns in the oposite direction.
Problem 5 the maximum raise is only about 11 inches
Problem 6 blade guide set up is horrible IMO

I figure I will have the first three problems rectified soon new bearings are a few days away 1 1/16" shaft bearings are not local. Leveling the mill should be pretty straight forward. And I am modifying the blade adjusting pulley inward 1" to get standard blades to work.

But problem number 4 has me a little stumped. I feel the blade should pull through the wood and push the log into the log stops. But this one pushes through the log.

It does look like it has been used once or twice but not that much.

The last two issues I will rectify once I see if this thing even tracks.

Thanks for any in site and assistance. I think I'm in the right place..

[sandsawmill14]

problem # 4 is probably how it is designed  ??? some mills cut away from the backstops so you are cutting into clean wood where you just removed the slab instead of sawing through the bark every cut   i know our s&w is set up this way   are the teeth pointing the right directions ???
our timberking cuts against the backstops and i like it better but both work fine but on the s&w i have to dog every log where on the timberking i rarely use the dog (log clamp) other than small or crooked logs

[jim_wrench]

Yes the teeth are pointing in the correct direction. Guess I'll put it back together and try it out I guess. Thanks for the info.

[fishfighter]

Is that a home made mill?

[thecfarm]

jim_wrench,welcome to the forum.
What's all the lumber going to be used for?

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Jim wrench!

[Czech_Made]

Welcome to FF 

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, jim_wrench.

[justallan1]

Jim, welcome aboard.
I can't tell by the pictures, but can you just pick up the entire carriage and turn it around? It seems that would let you saw into your stop, rather than against them.

[jim_wrench]

Yes I believe it's a home made mill unless who ever made this was using this as a prototype.

[jim_wrench]

jim_wrench,welcome to the forum.
What's all the lumber going to be used for?

What ever I mill will only be used for myself and building things around my farm. Things like cattle shelters , rough cut fences, sheds ect....... once I become familiar with the mill(or get fed up) I will move onto building a barn, shop, and then a house. (Not really in that order) I'm thinking perhaps my wife will be wanting a bigger living quarters sooner then later. According to her the 24x36 garage package I built us to live in is a bit to cozy, for her that is.

Thanks for all the greetings........

[jim_wrench]

Jim, welcome aboard.
I can't tell by the pictures, but can you just pick up the entire carriage and turn it around? It seems that would let you saw into your stop, rather than against them.

Yes I thought about that but then my close together log stops would be at the finishing end of the mill. My stops are about 3 feet apart till I get to the last 10 feet of the mill then there about 6 feet apart. Once assembled and operational this should be able to handle 18 foot long by 24 inch round logs

[Kbeitz]

well you wanted to build a home made mill...
Now you got the parts to do it...

[Ox]

x2 what justallen1 said.  Maybe the carriage was set on the tracks backwards?

[Joe Hillmann]

If you want to change the direction  of the blade put a half twist in the belt and flip the saw blades inside out.  If you do that you would want to put a small piece of metal between the two halves of the belt where it will want to rub against its self.

[Ox]

Joe, you've got a point.  That darn mill is turning the drive wheel the wrong way!  It's trying to push the blade through the cut instead of pulling it through.  Not good!

[Joe Hillmann]

You could also change the direction of the blade by building a larger platform for the engine to ride on and turning the engine around and moving it back towards the operator about 18 inches so the pulleys line up.


Is the bottom band of the blade being pulled on or pushed on by the driving wheel?  If it is being pulled on leave it as it is.  If it is being pushed then the direction should be changed.

[Ox]

These engines spin counter clockwise looking at the shaft.  The bottom of the blade is being pushed!  If this is a "factory" made machine it's messed up, that's for sure.

[jim_wrench]

If you want to change the direction  of the blade put a half twist in the belt and flip the saw blades inside out.  If you do that you would want to put a small piece of metal between the two halves of the belt where it will want to rub against its self.

Very much interested in seeing a belt like this in action and how is the life span of the belt in this? Yes I believe the drive set up is backwards for sure. This thing looks like a home made affair for sure. Just not by me. But I will give the builder some credit he did build it with guards. Something o might have overlooked till later on in the build.

[Bruno of NH]

Some one just posted in this forum they bought a LumberJack sawmill head rig only .
Is this from the same company maybe ?

[jim_wrench]

Some one just posted in this forum they bought a LumberJack sawmill head rig only .
Is this from the same company maybe ?

I suppose it's possible. If so I must have a very early version with wooden wheels and alot of pop rivets. I'll post upore pictures soon.

[Kbeitz]

What you need is a bolt on flywheel pto stub shaft for the other side of the engine.



 

[Joe Hillmann]

I do it quite often but have never done it on anything over 5 hp.  The first few minutes a lot of stuff goes flying as the outer fabric casing gets rubbed off after that it wears pretty well.

If you want to change the direction  of the blade put a half twist in the belt and flip the saw blades inside out.  If you do that you would want to put a small piece of metal between the two halves of the belt where it will want to rub against its self.

Very much interested in seeing a belt like this in action and how is the life span of the belt in this? Yes I believe the drive set up is backwards for sure. This thing looks like a home made affair for sure. Just not by me. But I will give the builder some credit he did build it with guards. Something o might have overlooked till later on in the build.

[jim_wrench]

I'm thinking about flipping the motor and running a Jack shaft with pillow blocks. To rotate the mill in the proper direction.. I'm really not looking to reinvent the wheel here but sometimes it just has to be done. :-\

[fishfighter]

I'm thinking about flipping the motor and running a Jack shaft with pillow blocks. To rotate the mill in the proper direction.. I'm really not looking to reinvent the wheel here but sometimes it just has to be done. :-\

Well, a man has to do what a man has to do! ;D

[jim_wrench]

Making slow progress. But progress none the less.
Before.

After.

At least this should correct being able to use common off the shelf blades of 12' long give or take.