Some assembly required--adventures in South Carolina

[Okrafarmer]

I got the bare-bones 8" Warrior model. There are several upgrades and options for this machine, and over time, I hope to purchase some or all of them. On my wish list:

1. Spare blades, including the ones with old-school insert teeth-- great for when you hit metal
2. One of the at least two slabber options-- the dedicated slabber is supposed to be real great and be able to mill up to 60"
3. Trailer package-- I want the wheels and hitch so I can go down the road with it and not have to take it apart
4. More powerful engine-- the 13 hp Honda should be fine for now, but I can imagine the more powerful one being nice in oak, pecan=devil, etc.
5. Single-end sizing option-- really saves a lot of time when you're milling by yourself
6. Rail extension-- as it is, the mill easily accomodates up to a fourteen-foot log. It would be nice to be able to do a sixteen. Mike told me of a trick to use to do sixteens in a pinch, but like most tricks, it involves some extra time spent.
7. Cordless drills to use instead of hand cranks to power the two up-down cranks. This I can buy locally, of course, and that may be my very next upgrade.  ;D

[YellowHammer]

Nice video and saw.  Seems like a nice rig, very smooth. 

[Ianab]

I did notice the need to adjust both ends of the mill on every cut. That must be a bit of a pain working alone? With a good off loader it's not such an issue, but your helper needs to know the system and have some hand signals worked out, especially if you are changing cutting patterns to get the best out of a log.

The power up / down isn't such an issue, most of the moves are down and easy. It's just the winch back up for the next log that takes some cranking, but it's not a heavy lift.

The "flip and cut from the other side" trick works, but you usually have to spend a minute or 2 leveling things up again. We are usually working in the middle of nowhere on all sorts of terrain, so I've got pretty good at wedging the wooden bunk ends up to level the slab.

Raise the saw, then use your tape from the horizontal blade to the bottom of the D log, at each corner. You want to be referencing your cutting from the blade, not from the ground, as there is no guarantee the two line up exactly. Then you use a lever to lift the end of the log and slip some shims / wedges under the low corner. Yes if you have a concrete pad, you can set up some serious bunks and a jack for leveling of course. 

If you are just using wooden bunks, you set the small end one a little higher to account for the taper at the beginning.. Then when you flip the log it will be close to parallel again. Measure and shim an end as needed.

But referring back to the "cutting oversize logs" thread, you don't have those problems  ;D

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, Ianab, I am using some of those methods, and/or I have considered them and may use them at one time or another. Great advice.

One great thing about the turbosawmill is the ease with which you can adjust the angle of the monorail to follow the contour of the log. For instance for taper cutting, you can simply raise one end or the other until your cut is parallel to whatever part of the log you wish-- whether the pith, or the top surface, or whatever. The same can easily be done for the left and right alignment, too. The intrinsic design of the TS is genius that way, and much easier to handle than a Peterson or Lucas two-rail system. However, the tilt of the blade compared with the ground is not easily changed. I would suggest this would be a possible great improvement for future model development, though it obviously is not necessary for simply going down through a log without flipping it. However being able to put the blade at all angles between 0 and 90°, and maybe a little beyond, would really aid with leveling up on the back side of a 180° flip for finishing out a perfect wide slab out of the middle of any log. It would also aid with true quarter sawing!

[Okrafarmer]

Yesterday, I finished the pine log I started, leveled up the mill better, and milled a 13' white oak log for dump truck sides and trailer decking. The white oak log wasn't real big diameter, maybe 12" on the small end. I got five 1.5x8" pieces out of it plus one 1x6x10' piece and a bunch of firewood. I'm really not fast with the mill yet, and still making mistakes and learning its capabilities and limitations. On small diameter logs it gets frustrating trying to make the log hold still especially as it gets down to the last little bit. I have a plan for how to improve on that. If there's part of the log I don't need at the end, I could drill through it with a bit and brace and put a dowel down through to a matching hole in the bunk block. That might help keep it from jumping around so much. . . . .

Also I need to see if there's some way to tighten up the center section of the beam since it sags a little. While cutting boards this is of minimal importance, but when I flip the cant over to make my single wide slab, unfortunately it results in being thinner in the middle by an inch or so, because it doubles the effect of the dip.  ;)

[mad murdock]

Great to see you making boards , Okra! It sure seems to run smooth! On the smaller logs, have you considered making some timber dogs ( small chicks made of steel to help keep the log in place) or nake some log dogs of rebar withe the ends of the points clocked offset 90 deg so you could stab one end in the ground, and hold the log from both ends that way? Thanks for the vid, your son did a great job! I caint wait for my mill to get here! I will be singing the " Wells Fargo wagon" song soon enough! 8)

[Okrafarmer]

I am strictly planning not to use metal for log dogs. Replacing or retipping one of these blades is a lot of money.  ;)

What kind of mill did you say you are getting?

[mad murdock]

I am strictly planning not to use metal for log dogs. Replacing or retipping one of these blades is a lot of money.  ;)

What kind of mill did you say you are getting?

I ordered the ultra lightweight M6 I will be powering with an 075 I already have. I also am getting the Alaskan slabber cradle single point sizing and a couple extensions.

[Okrafarmer]

Ah, good for you! I considered getting that setup, but I didn't already have the chainsaw, and decided to bump up to the 8-inch. I do want to get a slabbing device at some point.  ;D