I bought this mill in pieces back in March. It's been a fun project putting it together, and I am finally sawing very nice lumber. The mill came with a 60hp three phase motor that I haven't come across a big enough generator to run it yet. I bought another mill that is in really rough shape but it came with a caterpillar d4400 power unit. Motor was stuck pretty good. I took it all apart to free it up and it now runs like a top. All of the mill is sitting on telephone poles that I placed in the ground all the way to ledge. The hydraulic carriage is 240v single phase which is quiet and works well. I still need to build a sawyers platform and hopefully a building around it in the near future. The mill is a lane no.1 with upgraded hydraulic dogs.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/61845/B4BB9766-8F06-4DB5-AB80-B764D6B851FF.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1625617049)
Congratulations on getting-r-done. I know nothing about a circle sawmill except that I love to watch them sawing. ;D
One word of caution; since you have components using 240VAC, be absolutely positive that you have the sawmill frame securely grounded not only to a ground bed but also back to the power co's multi-grounded neutral. (MGN) smiley_thumbsup
Those circle saws intrigue me.
That is an awesome machine, I bet it was really satisfying when you got that Cat power unit fired up for the first time after freeing it up yourself!
It sure was! Filled my shop with smoke for a few hours from all the burning acetone/atf concoction I used to free everything up.
Heavy duty, the steel used back then was well casted.
Osterman, where are you located? please fill in your profile with location area, some one might want to come watch your mill.
Will do Iwaw. I'm in southwestern nh. There aren't many of these circular Mills around. And even harder to find are the old time sawyers that ran them. I'm 30yrs old and trying my hardest to keep this old machinery alive.
Quote from: Osterman.r on July 07, 2021, 09:12:46 PM
Will do Iwaw. I'm in southwestern nh. There aren't many of these circular Mills around. And even harder to find are the old time sawyers that ran them. I'm 30yrs old and trying my hardest to keep this old machinery alive.
Maybe not operating mills but the has to be quite a few in Vt. and N.H. alone. Lane and Chase where very popular in New England. Chase quit in '87 and Lane in '04 [+-] Now that you have one you will find more.
Quote from: Osterman.r on July 07, 2021, 09:12:46 PM
Will do Iwaw. I'm in southwestern nh. There aren't many of these circular Mills around. And even harder to find are the old time sawyers that ran them. I'm 30yrs old and trying my hardest to keep this old machinery alive.
All of this makes me happy and gives me hope.👍
Wish you were closer would enjoy seeing your mill. I have an all steel circle mill that is in 4-5 pieces that is on my "get to it" list of things. I enjoy yours and others pictures and post about the rebuilds, have picked a lot of info from them.
Here it is folks. I will try a few different camera angles this weekend so you can see more sawing and power unit, and less sawyer
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZX1DpiElfY (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZX1DpiElfY)