New to Sawmills-Looking for Feedback

[proptorudder]

Oops sorry. Thought you were building a mill. Not sure I'll ever figure out how to maneuver around on this site. By the way how do you delete a post?

[Skipper11A]

Well I found out a guy in town has a Linn 1900 so I went and looked at it tonight.  I really like the simplicity and strength of the design.  He has been running his daily for 10yrs and said it hardly ever needs any work or adjustments.  I am pretty sold with one exception and that is I don't like the location of the height adjustment handle.  With the mill on a trailer it's almost impossible to reach and I am 6'1".  Has anyone seen this modified where the handle is lower on the mill?  I don't want electric as that is just something else to fail.

The Linn 1900 looks like a great mill, but I think you'd have to get the power up/down option due to the manual crank's position on top of the carriage (Looks really awkward!).  Get their 12V motor and you can run it off the battery in the carriage.  You might also consider upgrading to the 25HP motor If you expect to be cutting wide slabs on your mill.

I remember now that the Linn mill's hand crank position was the primary reason I did not buy their kit, and instead bought the EZ Boardwalk  which has the best manual up/down system of any of the manual mills I have seen.  The EZ Boardwalk's up/down system is spring assisted cranking up but gravity fed free wheeling down.  Super fast and smooth going down while you are watching the scale, and apply the brake to stop the crank when you get down to your next cut.  But again, I really like the Linn mill but I would have to have the 12VDC up/down option on mine.

[blderman]

Hello and welcome. I'm also a new member. I built the Linn 1900 and definitely agree that the height adjustment is not very handy. I'm not going to add an axle to mine but it still gives you a workout raising the head. I'm considering a small 1 to 1 right angle gearbox and adding a shaft extension to the vertical output shaft so I can lower the crank handle and change the cranking motion from the horizontal to the vertical plane. I have added rollers to the post slides that helped a lot with the cranking. I also designed a different blade roller guide that makes adjustments very simple.

 

 

 

    

Thanks for posting the mods you did.  I wish I could do that, I can build anything out of wood but welding I haven't figure out yet.  Would you mind sharing why you went with the Linn over some of the other options? 

[Crusarius]

blderman, if you fill out your profile some more including your location I bet you can find someone to help you with any welding you would need. 

I built a Linn Lumber mill and do not regret doing it. I do agree 1000000000% about the crank location. I put a 12 volt wheelchair motor on mine for raising and lowering. I left the crank in place. So if the motor does fail I can still use the crank. It won;t be the most comfortable but in a pinch I can finish what I am doing and fix it later.

I went to visit Ox, he built a Linn mill as well. he added an extra arm with a jackshaft, chains and sprockets to lower the handle to a much more manageable location. 

When I was building mine and trying to get the mast setup properly after about the third time taking it from the bottom to top I decided the hand crank had to go. That is when I bought the motor for it. I definitely do not regret doing that upgrade.

[blderman]

blderman, if you fill out your profile some more including your location I bet you can find someone to help you with any welding you would need.

I built a Linn Lumber mill and do not regret doing it. I do agree 1000000000% about the crank location. I put a 12 volt wheelchair motor on mine for raising and lowering. I left the crank in place. So if the motor does fail I can still use the crank. It won;t be the most comfortable but in a pinch I can finish what I am doing and fix it later.

I went to visit Ox, he built a Linn mill as well. he added an extra arm with a jackshaft, chains and sprockets to lower the handle to a much more manageable location.

When I was building mine and trying to get the mast setup properly after about the third time taking it from the bottom to top I decided the hand crank had to go. That is when I bought the motor for it. I definitely do not regret doing that upgrade.

I live in Baker City, Or.  I know plenty of welders but I am trying to keep my cost and time investment into this at a minimum, at least to start anyway.  Sounds like if I go with the Linn mill I will have no choice but to go with the electric raise/lower option.  That doesn't thrill me as it routinely gets below 0 here and all the other electric motors I have don't hold up well to that kind of cold.   
BTW, your build looked awesome. I wish I could weld like that. 

[Crusarius]

Thanks. if you were closer I could give you lessons.

[47sawdust]

When it gets below zero there aren't many who will be sawing.

[Southside]

Frozen logs make for a whole new sawing experience, and it's usually not a very good one. 

[PAmizerman]

Come on Southside. Frozen logs are so much fun. Sometimes you won't have to add stickers from all the waves :D

[proptorudder]

Hello and welcome. I'm also a new member. I built the Linn 1900 and definitely agree that the height adjustment is not very handy. I'm not going to add an axle to mine but it still gives you a workout raising the head. I'm considering a small 1 to 1 right angle gearbox and adding a shaft extension to the vertical output shaft so I can lower the crank handle and change the cranking motion from the horizontal to the vertical plane. I have added rollers to the post slides that helped a lot with the cranking. I also designed a different blade roller guide that makes adjustments very simple.

 

 

 

    

Thanks for posting the mods you did.  I wish I could do that, I can build anything out of wood but welding I haven't figure out yet.  Would you mind sharing why you went with the Linn over some of the other options

I chose Linn Lumber because they offered the plans, complete sawmills or everything in between. I enjoy fabrication and figured if I couldn't make a components I would be able to purchase it. It worked out that I was able to make most all the parts other than the obvious purchase parts.

[blderman]

Every mill owner is going to say their  is best. With a 5 k  budget  there is a whole range. If you not checked them out look at the EZBordwalk the jr  without ext will cut 30" x 12. Mine  has electric start, 5 ft extention and trailer package was 5300. Mennonite  build in MO. Before zi found  the I was looking at the Woodmax

What is the width between guides on the EZ? I can't find info on that and have had a chance to call Stanton.

[blderman]

We'll I decided on the EZ Jr, placed the order yesterday.  Got the trailer package, log turner, electric start, 5' extension and am having it painted black.  I'd like to get some 4 degree blades for hardwood and 9-10 degree for softwood.  Any suggestions other than the Timberwolf blades?

[Sawmant]

I started milling like you plan to. I've had a small 10 hp mill that worked well, sawed logs for a customer and he made an offer to buy the mill and off it went. I upgraded to the Norwood Lumbermate 2000 manual mill. I've sawn 1000's of bd. ft. of mostly hardwoods. Mill has the 23 hp engine, trailer pkg, and manual loader that I can turn a 3,500 lb log with the turn of the crank on the winch loader. Now that I'm 72 yrs young, it would be nice to have hydraulics. You might want to look at the new Norwood mills like the HD 36 that can start as manual and add hydraulics later. They have a lot of log handling mods. on the mill that really speed up log handling. My mill has been very durable and the only mod I've added is the ceramic guides that work very well.

[WV Sawmiller]

   As to blades you might contact Woodmizer. I thought they provide blades other than for their mills. Check with them - the worst they can say is no. If you get them from them you should be able to use their re-sharp if you want to do so. Good luck.

[Skipper11A]

We'll I decided on the EZ Jr, placed the order yesterday.  Got the trailer package, log turner, electric start, 5' extension and am having it painted black.  I'd like to get some 4 degree blades for hardwood and 9-10 degree for softwood.  Any suggestions other than the Timberwolf blades?

You ordered all the right options for that mill and you'll be very happy that you did.  If you didn't order the blade sharpener, with the diamond wheel, you might reconsider because it will allow you to put any degree blade angle you want on your blades.  That blade sharpener totally saved me when I bought 10° Timberwolf blades but discovered that almost all of my wood needed 4° blades.

But you live in Oregon and I'm not sure you will need 4° blades with the types of trees you have up there.  Not all hardwoods need a 4° blade, only the extremely hard to cut types like Pecan, White oak, Mesquite, and I don't remember seeing any of those growing in Oregon.  You might consider starting with 10° blades and get some experience.  Then decide if you need something different than the standard 10° blade.