Woodland Mills HM130MAX. What is the tolerance allowed for being out of square?

[future_vision]

I just added the trailer to my HM130MAX. At one point it was squared up but now that I am done I am finding I'm about a quarter inch out of square. Is there a  tolerance allowed for being out of square? If not I imagine I'm going to need to loosen some bolts up and use the ratchet strap diagonally across the assemble and crank it square then tighten down the bolts. I'm thinking that might be attainable with just loosening the bunk bolts but I guess I might need to loosen up the crossbeams too. Thoughts?

[Stephen1]

I would want everything to come off my mill square. 
It is up to the saw owner how accurate you want to be. 

[SawyerTed]

Out of square likely means the tracks are not parallel.  Tracks not parallel may mean binding of the rollers.  I'd want the frame to be as square as possible and ensure the tracks are parallel as possible. 

[alecs]

When I was setting up my mill (the same as yours) I had some similar problems and found the WM tech support to be very helpful.  The most important thing was that the tracks were consistently the target distance apart throughout the whole length of travel.  I forget the exact number but it's something like 35.5" inside to inside.  I loosened the bolts and cut some 2x material to the exact length required, then used pipe clamps to hold the tracks fixed to the 2x material.  Then I tightened up the bolts in the recommended pattern and finally removed the clamps and 2x.  I think I used 4 or 5 of these clamps and along the length of the track.  I also had to make sure that the tracks were level along the entire length.  This is mostly done by making sure that each section is flush to the next one. 

At any rate, I think you will save yourself some hassle in the long run if you get it dialed in right from the get-go.  Check out the setup videos that WM posts on youtube.  There is also another video that I watched by a customer that had the 2x trick for making sure the tracks were parallel.

[future_vision]

I reached out to WM about this too. My tracks are set up 37 in apart per specs. The only issue is that they are not square. This was their aswer.

Hi there Daniel! The carriage stop plates can be adjusted to make up for that difference. If you were out by an inch or more than we would recommend trying to square it further

If you did want to try to get it back into square you would need to loosen everything and try to readjust, however at 1/4inch out you should be fine 🙂

[ladylake]

  

Thats what think.  Steve


 however at 1/4inch out you should be fine 🙂

  Report

[rusticretreater]

After reading the responses, I'm somewhat confused on the actual problem is pertaining to being square.  Some replies say your rails aren't parallel, but the response from Woodland indicates that the rail ends are not perfectly inline with each other.  If the ends are not inline with each other, adjusting the carriage stop plates will take up the difference and 1/4" in this case is certainly nothing to worry about.

In my way of thinking, the bunks are the crossbeams. Measure each track rail length to see if they are  identical.  Check the gaps where the rail sections are bolted together. A little gap here, another one there equals 1/4" real quick.  You might find the entire rail needs to be moved a bit.

Moving the entire rail is problematic as the mill head is sitting on it.  Loosen all the bunk bolts on that side, get a good block of wood and a sledge and give the end of the rail a whack.

If the rails are 1/4" out of parallel, I think it would be noticeable moving the sawhead.

[future_vision]

After reading the responses, I'm somewhat confused on the actual problem is pertaining to being square.  Some replies say your rails aren't parallel, but the response from Woodland indicates that the rail ends are not perfectly inline with each other.  If the ends are not inline with each other, adjusting the carriage stop plates will take up the difference and 1/4" in this case is certainly nothing to worry about.

In my way of thinking, the bunks are the crossbeams. Measure each track rail length to see if they are  identical.  Check the gaps where the rail sections are bolted together. A little gap here, another one there equals 1/4" real quick.  You might find the entire rail needs to be moved a bit.

Moving the entire rail is problematic as the mill head is sitting on it.  Loosen all the bunk bolts on that side, get a good block of wood and a sledge and give the end of the rail a whack.

If the rails are 1/4" out of parallel, I think it would be noticeable moving the sawhead.

The rails are exactly 37" apart the length of the rails. I'll check again for gaps but I don't think there are any. I know that the rail might be an 8th of an inch higher at one point but that was before I put the trailer on. I haven't checked to see if that resolved itself when I loosened everything up.

[future_vision]

Checked the mill and there is a tiny gap in the rail extensions on both sides. Mill rolls smoothly across the whole track (slight ticks at the transition from rail to rail). Other then that I think things are fine. I need to give it another measure-over to make sure the rails are still 37 in apart down the full length. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Most of the help above was talking about the rails being parallel.

When you say square, are you talking about looking from the top? That one rail is further to the right than the other? Like slightly parallelogram? That's what the techs answer seems to be addressing.

I would agree if that's the case, a quarter inch is a non issue.

Parallel, even spacing between the rails, is much more critical.

[future_vision]

Yes. The rails are parallel but more like a parallelogram. I couldn't understand why being square was an issue if the rails were the exact width apart the entire length of the track. Guess I'll load up a log and see how things go.

[Remle]

Yes. The rails are parallel but more like a parallelogram. I couldn't understand why being square was an issue if the rails were the exact width apart the entire length of the track. Guess I'll load up a log and see how things go.

For what its worth, are your back stops 90 degrees to your bed rails ? Clamping up for the second cut to make your square cant against them is where you are getting the taper on the edge of your lumber. Check the second cut with a square against the first cut..

[future_vision]

Not sure what you are saying. Was this a response to a different post?

[doc henderson]

Is the quarter inch, measured from corner to corner?  you can have all the bunks/crossmember out of square and still be parallel.  a parallelogram as mentioned.  a rise in a rail that the carriage rides on, on one side will consistently mill twisted lumber.

[future_vision]

Is the quarter inch, measured from corner to corner?  you can have all the bunks/crossmember out of square and still be parallel.  a parallelogram as mentioned.  a rise in a rail that the carriage rides on, on one side will consistently mill twisted lumber.

Quarter inch corner to corner. All the bunks are as square as can be with the tracks. I find that some of my bunks are not formed completely straight and no matter what I do they appear to be a little out of square. Or maybe my square is bad. Could be. It's a cheap Harbor Freight speed square.

[doc henderson]

I use a plastic speed square and it works fine.  12 x 12 a Swansen ordered from the Amazon jungle.  

[rusticretreater]

Cheaper mass production speed squares are often off-kilter.  One way to check is in the store before purchase by comparing it to the other squares that are there.   Find something that you are sure is a 90 degree angle and test it.

Getting your bunks perfectly level should be done after your rails are perfectly aligned, from the top(parallelogram) and from the side(exact same height) so that you get a perfectly flat cut.

Take a few flitches off a log to get a fairly wide flat surface.  Check it with a level and look for dips and waves.

Then after getting a perfectly flat cut on one side of a log, you can flip it 180 degrees and then you will be able to see the gaps at the bunks telling you which bunks really need adjustment. By putting washers under the bunk ends you can adjust the height.  And putting a washer at opposite corners, you can impart some twist if needed.

[future_vision]

Cheaper mass production speed squares are often off-kilter.  One way to check is in the store before purchase by comparing it to the other squares that are there.   Find something that you are sure is a 90 degree angle and test it.

Getting your bunks perfectly level should be done after your rails are perfectly aligned, from the top(parallelogram) and from the side(exact same height) so that you get a perfectly flat cut.

Take a few flitches off a log to get a fairly wide flat surface.  Check it with a level and look for dips and waves.

Then after getting a perfectly flat cut on one side of a log, you can flip it 180 degrees and then you will be able to see the gaps at the bunks telling you which bunks really need adjustment. By putting washers under the bunk ends you can adjust the height.  And putting a washer at opposite corners, you can impart some twist if needed.

Am I assuming correctly, since this mill is on a trailer, all I would need to do is adjust the jacks until the bunks are level?

[rusticretreater]

All the bunks are as square as can be with the tracks. I find that some of my bunks are not formed completely straight and no matter what I do they appear to be a little out of square.

This is a comparison of each bunk being square(90 degrees) with the rails.  It has nothing to do with leveling by the jacks which move the entire trailer as a unit.

[Ljohnsaw]

I'm going to interject here with my opinion on leveling sawmills.

You MUST have flat, straight track for your saw head to travel down to make flat boards. You MUST have your bunks all in the same plane looking down your tracks and your blade MUST be parallel to the bunks to make boards with consistent thickness across their face and no twist down their length.

Now, as far as level:

Myself and some others here have the far end lower so gravity helps pull the saw head down the track.

Level bunks is not critical either. But if you have nice round logs, you may want your bunks fairly level so your logs don't roll off!😁

[Ianab]

I don't think that slightly out of square tracks is going to be an issue. They MUST be parallel of course, and level is usually best. But to give an example, my mill has no fixed cross members, and it's set up on the ground and squared up by eye. The important bit is to get the rails parallel, the other dimensions are nice to get right, but you don't sweat an inch or so. 

[rusticretreater]

I forgot to mention that if you have some bunks that are deformed and impossible to get a good alignment on, get a good bunk and the deformed ones side by side, take a picture and send it to the Woodland Mills folks.  These guys are top notch in service and will replace them.