I bought a mill yesterday.

[muggs]

Have you checked to see how much it would cost to bring in 3 phase? Motors is what I do, but 100 hp single phase is above my pay grade.

[Woodpecker52]

I ran my Corley circle mill with a 671 Detroit diesel I sold it about 20 years ago down the road, went by last year and it is still working great.  I see them all the time on facebook and craigslist.  Lots of irrigation power units would work also, thousands in farmland around here in south.  A lot of mills were run off tractors pto and belt drives.

[Ron Wenrich]

When we were running diesel power units we had 2 671 Detroits.  One ran the mill and hydraulics to the edger.  One ran the chipper.  I've run sawmills with as small as a 371 Detroit, but you can't run much of any other equipment.  It would probably be okay for a hobby mill.

When we put in the new mill, we put in a gen set that ran all our electric motors.  3 phase 480v.  We had a 125 hp on the headsaw, 75 hp on the chipper, 50 hp on the vertical edger, 50 hp on the horizontal edger, 75 hp on the hydraulics, plus electric on the sawdust blower, green chain and vibrating table.  We had a 28hp Deutz to run the debarker.  To hook it up to the electric company was going to cost $100k and a metered rate with a $1k month minimum.  The gen set route was cheaper.  We used a lot of fuel but produced over $2MMbf per year.  

[A.thorp08]

Due to my new son and trying to be home more than work plus with my wife's health over the last several years my budget is very small with that said I am trying to stay as close to $500 to get going so that means very cheap or free power source I have unusual resources of being able to pick up things in the north east when I stumble upon it. I go to work out of a ship yard in nyc and am a dredge man by trade so my connections run all the way to the bayou. I hope to find a un road worthy plow truck like the one up the hill if the farmer will let it go only bad part is its a gas 454 chevy 20000 miles runs well though. The gas tank is bad but who cares for the house. I have a welder and torch. I've worked on anything from f16's to cranes, boats, cars, dredges, and have some experience aligning shafts engines and gear boxes as well as some general construction. I'm very green to milling but am from a family of land surveyor's and engineers. I'm a year away from an engineering degree this is the only reason I'm hoping I have the tools to get this running correctly. I don't want to be the "thick thin sawyer" I also have easy access to reject logs that go for firewood to cut. When I get home I'll pist pics oc the tooling and hardware I got with this mill. I'm very great full for the information everyone is giving me as well as the links too stuff like this: https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/misc/circsaw.pdf
Very useful information I will be reading this everyday for the next week until I get home to continue  this project. 

[moodnacreek]

The cheapest way to power a mill is to cut a truck in half and mount 2 cross members, 2 pillow blocks and short shaft connected to the transmission with truck drive shaft [2 u joints, slip yoke etc. and mount a 6 c belt pulley about 12" dia. The mill mandrel will need a 24"+ matching pulley.  The tricky part is rigging a hoof or pierce belt driven governor. Or you could saw with a string, no fun at all.  That mill will be run at 500 to 600 rpm in my opinion . Many an old sawmill has been run with an old truck or bus or old  Buick 8. You do what you can afford. The condition of the mandrel and bearings and collars will make or break this operation.

[A.thorp08]

 

 

  That's the two blades the one I have is 50" 36 tooth the one that came is 48" 30 tooth

[luap]

In the picture of the mill showing the cable drive, There appears to be a gap between the small gear on the feed drive and the large gear on the drum drive. Those need to be engaged for that to work. Something has moved there. In your picture showing the tools, shanks etc, I have  the same rotary file and it works good. However a mill file works just as well and is faster so I rarely use the rotary. When you remove shanks and bits only do one at a time, don't try and do the whole saw as the shanks contribute to the tension in the saw plate.[ The lower tooth count saw will require less power to saw.

[Jeff]

https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/misc/circsaw.pdf Very useful information I will be reading this everyday for the next week until I get home to continue this project.

You will be reading that the entire time you are involved with your circle sawmill. Be it at the beginning or twenty years later, thats a very valuable publication. If you are serious about making the mill go and keeping it going, get a hard copy of that book.

[Woodpecker52]

I did the same thing you have done, I was about 25 years old, found a old Corley mill on wood moved it about 500 miles home, ended up building a steel frame for it , restoring it sawing for a couple of years then selling it for about double what I paid.  I had more hours of labor in it than I did sawing but it was fun.  If I had it to do all over I would have bought the first woodmizer when they came out and been way way ahead in my wood adventures and sawdust addiction.

[A.thorp08]

To answer the gear not engaging the winch drum we had unbolted the husk and separated them before that picture was taken. I'm in NYC and have acquired Creosote pile tops as well as pressure-treated anything in the garbage pile it's doing them a favor not having to pay for the disposal.  The dock builders are giving me the hardware to bolt everything down. I also am working on getting a 4-71 to power this or possibly a 6-71 I have a lot of connections. 


 

 

[moodnacreek]

Getting a regular diesel power unit is much better than the riggs I mentioned. A 4-71 is plenty of power for the saws you have because of the low tooth count. Those saw wrenches you show are not cheap and you can still get the pins. The hand crank rotory file is a good tool also and the replacement parts are still made by Meadows Mills.  The saws look like style 3.

[A.thorp08]

I have a friend from Louisiana who worked for a sawmill and we talked for a long time about these saws I knew then that a proper tuned mill sings when correctly balanced which I find to be an art. I'm in for a rough road to find that harmony now with this mill the  former owner said he lost an inch over the length of a 18' cut and said he believed it was because the lead wasn't set correctly. He wants to see this mill running when I get to together. I'm now planning on building a steel frame for the husk I want to get pillow block bearing's for it and hope my father can get them from his job for me I believe its a 2 1/4" shaft I need to figure it out I can get steel I beam from work. I must make sure my adjustments will cover both saw setups.

[moodnacreek]

Been there and done that. The pillow blocks for the mandrel should be double spherical roller bearing , domestic or Japan and they will not be cheap. May I suggest Rex brand as they adjustable clearance and proven on sawmills. The mandrel after cleaned must be checked for straightness and the new bearings must fit almost tight where they go otherwise a new mandrel must be made by some machine shop that does sawmill mandrels. I learned all this the hard way and wasted money doing everything twice. Get that book you have been told about. A steel husk and a real good mandrel can last a life time and if this part is done right and there is trouble [and there always is] you will look at the saw and not the whole mill.

[A.thorp08]

Fortunately I work out of a ship yard and have access to getting the shaft correct I appreciate the advice on the bearings the way I figure it if I want to cut straight long cuts it all starts in the ground and goes up I feel I have the foundation covered but am looking at the husk and bearings as being my point of play. I really wish I would've sprayed the stuff on the shaft before leaving Tuesday I wasn't planning on braking the shaft down until I spotted the steel I beams.

[farmfromkansas]

Have you considered running your mill off a tractor with pto shaft?  Had a neighbor who ran one off a 1066 IHC, about 135 HP, and if you can find one of those tractors, they can be bought cheap.  Probably 1970's model tractors.  They had rear end problems, and no syncronizers in the transmission, but the engines were so good, International kept them and used them in their trucks when they gave up the ag business.