Useful sawmill mods

Magicman · September 27, 2009, 04:47:00 PM

You are the "Man with the Can". That is a really nice fuel tank !!! I use the same re-filling procedure (except I always fill everything up when I finish the day). I also drilled my fuel jugs to vent and use a screw..... :D

DR Buck · September 28, 2009, 05:32:17 PM

Quote from: backwoods sawyer on September 27, 2009, 02:17:30 PM

Here it is aged in place.
As far as filling goes, every morning I just lower the head down to the 1" setting, step up on the rail, and top it off using a five-gallon diesel jug that I modified by drilling a vent hole and plugging it with a course thread screw.
I keep my bulk tank out behind the barn and just carry the five-gallon jug with me when I am off site. I have not found a real need for a gauge, as most of the time it only takes 3-4 gallons to run for the day and I leave the mill idling most of the day unless I will be away from it for more then just a few min.

That thing sure aged a lot in 13 hours. ??? I'd build a dozen more if I were you just to have them ready. ;D

Dave Shepard · September 28, 2009, 08:40:41 PM

Bibby, I have one of my backstops that looks like that, but only because the band dipped hard and sawed the bolt head off. :D Found the roller, just need a new bolt.

That's a really nice job on that tank. That is TIG welding at it's finest. ;)

backwoods sawyer · September 28, 2009, 08:48:17 PM

Well when you work them a lot they age very quick. I put it on this spring and it has not so much as wiggled since.

The fist job I took my mill out on was up on top of a mountain, from the point we left the paved road, where I locked in the four wheel drive, we climbed over 900ft up a partly gravel partly dirt cow trail, they called it a road, the head bounced off the travel pin as the tire went over a protruding hunk of rock as I looking straight down the face of the bluff to the valley below.
Woodmizer had addressed the problem of the head coming off the travel pin by adding a safety chain, which I was thankful that it was there and attached. When I parked the mill on the lower of the two landings I found that the saw was damaged but the head was fine. About two weeks later when the job was finished and having drove twice a day over the same narrow cow trail along the bluff where the log truck driver had decided he was going to quit driving log truck ever again and had walked down off the mountain. I decided that I wanted to find a way to hold that head on the pin as I did not want that head moving around back there on the way down off the mountain. Therefore, I took a ratchet strap and tied the head down to the frame, and ever since, I have always strapped the head down every time I put the mill in travel mode.

Chuck White · September 29, 2009, 05:34:18 AM

When I was using my FIL's LT40 Manual, the saw-head bounced off the travel pin a couple of times while going in to a job!
When I got the mill home next, I got my drill out and drilled a hole through the travel pin and put a washer over the pin and installed a large "hair pin" through the hole!
To this day, my FIL uses the washer and hair pin!

Magicman · September 29, 2009, 07:36:14 AM

Quote from: Chuck White on September 29, 2009, 05:34:18 AM
I got my drill out and drilled a hole through the travel pin and put a washer over the pin and installed a large "hair pin" through the hole!

Now that is a slick idea.....

Bibbyman · September 29, 2009, 09:02:34 PM

One good mod deserves another.

I was always bumping my knee on the corner of the hydraulic decal plate. I had developed a constant sore spot on the inside of my legs just below each knee.

After sawing 4,000+ hours on it I decided I could do without it. So while was having some welding done, I had the welding shop guy cut the plate off.

Here is the control box with the decal plate removed.

Magicman · September 29, 2009, 09:48:41 PM

Quote from: Bibbyman on September 29, 2009, 09:02:34 PM
I had the welding shop guy cut the plate off. Here is the control box with the decal plate removed.

Now you done went and done it....Now you don't know which lever to move...... ;D ;D :D :D

zopi · November 01, 2009, 04:24:44 PM

Log turner for the LT-15....I went to an auction awhile back and bought a tripod the guy used to pick up logs to
buck for firewood....set it up over the mill fram and hang an electric wich from it...wrap the cable around the log, drive in a short spike to hook to and winch..just turned a 1500 lb pine log....and my back doesn't hurt...it's a pain to set up, but I'll come up with something more elegant later....

zopi · November 04, 2009, 08:04:31 PM

Lt-15 owners who do not move their mills..do yourself a favor and build yourself a dead deck..being able to load six or eight logs at a time is so much more relaxing that stopping every log and getting the ramps out and rolling the log up..now I can load enough to keep cutting for a few hours...is nice.

I do need to figure out something a little stronger than what I have...1500 lb pine log was a little shaky on it...

Dan_Shade · November 04, 2009, 08:10:52 PM

why not saw out some bunks, using 8x8's or 10x10s or whatever you need?

caver · November 04, 2009, 09:39:14 PM

No pictures but Baker uses a bungee cord to hold the battery down. I bought two battery clamp hooks with wing nuts at the farm store. I cut a small piece of angle and then tapered the ends down to meet the threaded rod coming up from the j-hooks. Drill a hole in each side of the battery tray. Bend a small v in the battery box wall at the hole as you barely have enough room for the battery and these j-hooks. The angle was close to my battery terminals so I slipped a piece of vinyl j-channel under the angle. It was some left over vinyl house siding material I had handy at the time.
Another thing I did was install an el-cheapo battery isolator to stop the milliamp drain from the Honda engine.
Something I want to add in the future is a few ladder brackets for nudging the log against the back stops. A guy over in the area of my property has an EZ Boardwalk
mill. He had used a Baker HD18 before he bought this mill and liked the ladder brackets on the EZ Boardwalk. Cutting my first big log I quickly understood why he liked those brackets or whatever you want to call them.

DR Buck · November 05, 2009, 06:25:12 AM

Quote
After sawing 4,000+ hours on it I decided I could do without it. So while was having some welding done, I had the welding shop guy cut the plate off.

Why not just bend it down out of the way? I know I've sure bent a few things on my mill. Not all of them were planned or thought out. :D :D

Dan_Shade · November 05, 2009, 06:29:22 AM

see, that's where we differ, Dave.

When I got my mill, I took one look at it and said "It sure won't look like this when I'm done with it." Now, when I bend something, I got "See, I was right."

:-)

bandmiller2 · November 05, 2009, 06:36:27 AM

Zopi,mentioned a dead deck for a stationary mill,why not for portable??I made two real heavy saw horses to use for a dead deck.One man can move them[actally one old duffer] yet they will hold several good logs.If you walk beside your mill leave a gap and use oak pieces to roll the logs on the mill.Frank C.

Chuck White · November 05, 2009, 12:02:27 PM

Quote from: caver on November 04, 2009, 09:39:14 PM
No pictures but Baker uses a bungee cord to hold the battery down. I bought two battery clamp hooks with wing nuts at the farm store. I cut a small piece of angle and then tapered the ends down to meet the threaded rod coming up from the j-hooks. Drill a hole in each side of the battery tray. Bend a small v in the battery box wall at the hole as you barely have enough room for the battery and these j-hooks. The angle was close to my battery terminals so I slipped a piece of vinyl j-channel under the angle. It was some left over vinyl house siding material I had handy at the time.
Another thing I did was install an el-cheapo battery isolator to stop the milliamp drain from the Honda engine.
Something I want to add in the future is a few ladder brackets for nudging the log against the back stops. A guy over in the area of my property has an EZ Boardwalk mill. He had used a Baker HD18 before he bought this mill and liked the ladder brackets on the EZ Boardwalk. Cutting my first big log I quickly understood why he liked those brackets or whatever you want to call them.

I found one of those little "roll-up" snow sleds that the kids use, it was in the dumpster at work and cut it to fit up the front and across the top of the battery and kind of force it into position when I put the cover on the battery box!
It keeps the battery terminals covered and safe from shorting out!

zopi · November 05, 2009, 04:40:17 PM

Quote from: Dan_Shade on November 04, 2009, 08:10:52 PM
why not saw out some bunks, using 8x8's or 10x10s or whatever you need?

MY mill is elevated a couple feet off the ground...easier to handle the lumber off of it...

zopi · November 05, 2009, 04:43:35 PM

No r

Quote from: bandmiller2 on November 05, 2009, 06:36:27 AM
Zopi,mentioned a dead deck for a stationary mill,why not for portable??I made two real heavy saw horses to use for a dead deck.One man can move them[actally one old duffer] yet they will hold several good logs.If you walk beside your mill leave a gap and use oak pieces to roll the logs on the mill.Frank C.

No reason why not, most guys I know that have portable WM's just put a couple bunks on the ground and roll the logs up to the loader arms...

Bibbyman · November 05, 2009, 06:43:03 PM

When Mary and I were at the farm show in Springfield, MO. last month Baker was there with one of their little mills. They had a "dead deck" there to roll logs right onto the mill. It looked like it could be knocked down something like a scaffold frame. I'll look to see if I can find a better picture. Maybe Adam can provide more info.

WH_Conley · November 05, 2009, 08:11:08 PM

If I go portable I will use the customers logs and build a dead deck, if they have a loader of some sort. These are the last logs sawn. Use a dead deck at the house.

zopi · November 06, 2009, 02:20:24 PM

Quote from: Bibbyman on November 05, 2009, 06:43:03 PM

When Mary and I were at the farm show in Springfield, MO. last month Baker was there with one of their little mills. They had a "dead deck" there to roll logs right onto the mill. It looked like it could be knocked down something like a scaffold frame. I'll look to see if I can find a better picture. Maybe Adam can provide more info.

Would appreciate it..I don't see anything on their website...I just put three bunks on top of power pole sections and pull logs up the ramps either with the tractor or with an electric winch....something like what is in the picture with
a modified tommy lift tailgate would be alright...

zopi · November 08, 2009, 09:24:31 PM

The best yet...electric lights in the sawshed! Next up, a toolshed for all the crap the mill collects...with acorner for my forge and anvil....but that must wait until
mama's storage shed is built...

Magicman · November 08, 2009, 09:53:48 PM

Quote from: zopi on November 08, 2009, 09:24:31 PM
but that must wait until mama's storage shed is built...

Priorities ???

paul case · November 08, 2009, 09:55:43 PM

this may sound like a brag ok it is . my e-z boardwalk is set up stationary and has been there a year and a half the ONLY mod i have had to make is to hang a bucket on the sawdust discharge. thats the side that you push from and walking thru all that sawdust was more work.the bucket will hold serveral cuts worth of dust and keeps the walk path clear a lot longer. makes for less shovel work is anyone else using an e-z boardwalk? pc

zopi · November 08, 2009, 09:57:39 PM

you'll notice I have a sawmill shed and she doesn't yet have a storage shed...mine are in order.

besides, the big downstairs bedroom in the house is taken up storing crap we don't need but won't get rid of..I wont to get the shed done so i can finish remodeling it and move into it...