Finally building my little mill

[biggkidd]

Hello and happy new year everyone!

I've been a member here since about 2014. I lost track of this forum for some years but unfortunately for y'all I found it again. lmao!  

As the thread title stated I am finally ready to build my bandsaw mill and this project has been on my to do list about twice as long as I've been a member here or about 20 years maybe a little more. I decided way back when I wanted to build a fully adjustable large mill with as many power options as I could workout. Now granted the area I live in doesn't have lots of large trees in fact most of our trees will fit a 26 inch mill. Then again there are LOTS of large yard trees within a few miles. You know the kind most sawmills won't touch with a ten foot pole! Yeah those that might have a ton of metal or other surprises in them. So that explains why I wanted a larger mill than I need for my land and buildings I plan to build from the mill.

I already have just about everything to make this build happen in hand with a few items still in shipping. I have literally been collecting parts for near 20 years. Here's most of what I have to work with to give you guys an idea.

(NIB) = new in box (NOS) = New old stock
2) old campers for their frames
3) 20 foot sticks of 2 inch angle iron for the saw head track (NOS) been in the weather for awhile.
1/2 sheet of 1/4" steel (NOS) been sitting out in the weather for some years though
2.5" box tube 11g (NOS) also been sitting out
18.75" pulleys to use for band wheels (NIB)
Shafting material for pulleys (NIB)
22hp Honda clone from Harbor Freight (NIB) or a used 22 hp liquid cooled Yanmar 3cyl diesel
centrifugal clutch (NIB)
pillow block bearings (NIB)
Blade guides (NIB)
30 blades (NIB) 144 inches
a few various DC motors and winches to use for lift and or motion
3) PWM's ordered and on the way for motor speed control
8) Eight stabilizer jacks ordered and on the way
2) long dual wheel trailer fenders to make the band blade surround
4) 2 ton bottle jacks for log leveling
1"x36" all thread for the band blade tension and adjustment
1) old DC powered saw to make a debarker
1) idler pulley
And a slew of other old junk for pieces parts. I am probably forgetting more than a few items.

I have not figured out power log handling options yet that may have to come later. Would love to hear ideas or options for this. I have vertical and horizontal power options figured out I think. (hope)

So the mill track will be around 5'6" X 30' making a log length of about 26 feet possible. The camper frame rails are 5 foot 8 outside so that's a given width. Like I stated most of our trees are much smaller than that so I am making the off side idle wheel so it can adjust from 144 inch bands with about a 26 inch cut width to bands long enough to cut 66 inches or there about. That way I can run the band size to match the job.

We start demolition on the campers this week providing the weather holds. My son in law is helping me with the build.

FYI We live on a small homestead and have the tools and hopefully the know how to make this happen. Dollars we may be a little short on which is why it's taken me twenty years to get to this point.

I would appreciate any tips and or suggestions along the way.


Thanks

[mike_belben]

Welcome back. Take lots of pics  8)

[Jediwood]

Hey biggkidd, I'm with you. Just joined the forum but been reading for a long time. I'm also just starting a bandsaw build since you can't buy one right now, new or very high priced used. Love Building stuff so figured I'd dive in. I've looked at every mill build on here and can't wait to start. 

Sounds like you have a great start to getting parts. I'm not that far. I'm building an all hydraulic mill, similar to a cooks 36 or woodmizer 450. I picked up a 40hp diesel I got used. I got all the steel I need. I ordered cooks parts, wheels, guides, and idler shaft but can't get drive assembly due to out of stock, kinda like everything now days! I got 1144 shaft to make the axle but looking for advise on getting some heavy duty bearings. Hopefully I can find them local but figured one of you guys went threw some bad ones before you found the good ones. Any info would be great

Love the reads here, biggkidd post some pics on your build. Thanks guys

[biggkidd]

I got a lot of my stuff at Surplus Center

[biggkidd]

Got a bunch of stuff ready to start on the camper demolition yesterday while it was 74*. Today it's been raining all day and 62* now here's the kicker. Tomorrow is now supposed to be in the low 30's with 3 to 6 inches of snow. My son is law is here all week to help me build this and the weather is throwing a major wrench in the works.

[JoshNZ]

Sounds like it'll be a capable mill, look forward to seeing lots of pics!

[fluidpowerpro]

Good luck on your build. I recently built a hydraulic mill bed/trailer and put a purchased saw head on it. There are lots of pictures in my gallery so take a look and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[Jediwood]

Thanks, I will check it out, when I figure out how to find the "gallery" ! Still figuring this out

[fluidpowerpro]

If you click on my name (fluidpowerpro) it will take you to my profile. When on that page click on View Gallery.

[Jediwood]

Got it, thanks. Looks like no sleep tonight cause I'll be looking at sawmills all night again :D

[biggkidd]

Glad you asked I wasn't sure either...

[biggkidd]

Go figure for once they got it close. Rain switched off to ice about 7:30 -8 am this morning. Never seen this much wind in the winter. We were hoping for weather like last week to get this built this week. Instead the weather has been foul since last week. Depending on the melt factor we might be able to get something done Wednesday or Thursday if we're lucky. Last week we were working without shirts or in tee shirts it was in the 70's after all! 

[Jediwood]

Found my bearings locally. Dodge bearings from motion industries. 2 7/16", not cheap but should be good. Weather is awesome here biggkidd, got above 0 today, teens tomorrow. Hey fluidpowerpro, do you remember the part number on your log turner motor? Want to get all my motors ordered this week. I found a local guy with a bunch for sale, just want to check on the size. Yours turn pretty good?

[Ljohnsaw]

I would go with the diesel over the gas engine.  I guess big trees is a relative term.  I see you have 144" blades (1.25" or 1.5"?).  I have 184" and that's not big enough on some of my logs!

 
How wide of bands will you be using when you do 66" cuts?  Those bands will be 224" or so?

[biggkidd]

Ahh good questions. The 144's are 1.25 we can run 1.5's for wider cuts. I will have to make a couple changes if we ever need to go to 2 inch bands. I don't think it would be to involved just swapping guides and band wheels. Unless I missed something else.

The diesel is still an option although I tend to prefer gas. Mostly it's the smell and fumes from diesel that get me. I just don't think I'd breathe well with a diesel running 2-3 feet from my head. Of course newer diesels are a lot better about smell and fumes. I haven't personally run the little Yanmar either my son in law has and said it didn't smoke or anything but that doesn't tell a lot.


This job just got a little more involved. We had ice & snow with high winds yesterday. This morning there are a couple trees along with ice & snow on top of the the campers we need to dismantle. 

[fluidpowerpro]

Found my bearings locally. Dodge bearings from motion industries. 2 7/16", not cheap but should be good. Weather is awesome here biggkidd, got above 0 today, teens tomorrow. Hey fluidpowerpro, do you remember the part number on your log turner motor? Want to get all my motors ordered this week. I found a local guy with a bunch for sale, just want to check on the size. Yours turn pretty good?

The motors I used are old TRW Ross (now Parker) MAG series, 23 cu" that I had lying around. They have more than enough torque. My system flow is about 4 GPM and the speed is about right. I have 2 turners on my mill that are plumbed in series.

[biggkidd]

No progress on the mill build again today. I did get the first pack of stabilizer jacks in the mail and they look like they will work well. I'm thinking, I know trouble right... But anyway what I'm thinking is these jacks have a ratchet type adjustment. I also have a couple screw type tongue jacks I can use along with the one powered screw type unit already on the tongue of one camper. The mill is going to have 30 feet of track. My question is how many jacks or stabilizers do I need on each side? Also if I'd be better off putting a screw type at each rear corner with the one on the tongue to sort of set the level then drop the stabilizer jacks to make everything nice and tight along the length.

In my experience more is better than less when it comes to foundations which is essentially what the jacks and stabilizers are.

Opinions or ideas please!

[Ljohnsaw]

Well, it depends...  Your using two camping trailer C-channel frames for you mill bed?  From what I've seen, they are not the most robust things around.  Will you be adding more than just your 1/4" angle iron track?  How big/heavy of logs will you be milling? 

My 4 or 5k screw jacks are mounted about every 8' on my mill, one on each side.  I've had 33' logs of probably 10,000 pounds that I've set not too gracefully down on it.  Usually have to re-level after that.  But my frame is 1/4" 2x4 tube with  1/4" 2x3 angle welded on top of that with 2" spacers.  Makes for sort of a truss arrangement for more strength.

[biggkidd]

You got it the channel with the angle on top. SO it sounds like your opinion like mine is more are better. 

[Ljohnsaw]

You got it the channel with the angle on top.

No, I don't have C-channel, I have tube.  HUGE difference in strength.  Take a close look at your trailer frames and evaluate that against what you plan to mill.  You mention some big stuff so you need all the stiffness you can get!  The only thing I would have done different is use 3/16" tube instead of 1/4" - both for the weight and the cost.  Well, that and I would probably have just bolted the angle iron to the tube rather than weld.  That caused a minor bow in the track on one section.

[biggkidd]

I got what you meant and I understand you have box tube I wish I did as well. Unfortunately I have to work with what I have and these C channel frames are it.

[Ljohnsaw]

OK, then support it well!  If you have some scrap, maybe tack on some plate to make sections of if tube?  Not sure if welding on it will create more of a problem, though.

[Iwawoodwork]

My mighty mite mill came (used) with 4 drop and pin stabilizers and what a pain to level. I added 6 screw tongue jacks, 3 to each side, I have about 20' of 8" H beam frame and they work very well. on yours I would put 4 and I would have the log rests spaced as close as possible, maybe 3' apart between the rails and if possible, whatever metal channel you have extra, you could weld under or alongside for added stiffness. even if it was only8-10 feet in the center of the frame would help

[JoshNZ]

My mill is 16ft long, 3 legs on each side, plus the axle, which I thought would provide support but it is completely useless, if the axle will be used as a support you need to put a block between the axle and frame to lock the spring movement.
The legs were enough to support the size of log the mill could handle, as long as care was taken while loading. A farmer pinged a 1.5ton oak off the end of his silege forks while loading one day, that did a bit of damage.

I quickly grew to hate deploying and packing up my mill, and it became permanent on piles in the first year lol hasn't moved since. Obviously didn't make it easy enough for myself.

[biggkidd]

Really chomping at the bit to get to building here but the weather isn't cooperating at all. More parts came in today. I now have all 8 stabilizer jacks and the 3 PWM's in hand. 

Since we couldn't work on this today we serviced the tractor. That included a trip to NAPA where I about lost it when the prices rolled up. I got pretty much the same stuff last year for about $68 this year was over $200 and we only got about 1/3 of what we went after due to the prices. The real shocker was the small 3x3 inch diesel fuel filter that was $2 and change last year was $21.98 this year. Pretty much everything excepting a jug of Mobil 1 was 10 times it's normal price. It was amazingly $30 for a 5 quart jug which is about what I paid for one last year. We already had the oil for the tractor heck all the fluids for it all we bought for it was a few filters. The Mobil 1 is for our little Honda EU2000. Also got 3 V belts for my daughters 85 F150 and an oil filter for the dozer, was going to get all the filters for it but that was another $200 over what I had already spent. Never thought I'd see the day 4 filters for a 50 year old machine were over 200 bucks. Prices are just flat out insane!