I bought a 7800 dollar ball cap...

[zopi]

and just to be nice they sent me a shiny orange sawmill...

just waiting to get off work this afternoon was killing me...so I said to hell
with it and left. (what're they gonna do? Fire me?..nahh I know too much..)

showed up at Rowland Equipment, those fine folks were kind enough to fetch the mill off the truck
for me and load it on my trailer...so I got it home, pulled all the boxes out, played with the cant hook..
Me likey da logrite... 

Then...I started scratching my head...how, is all 140 lbs of me s'posed to get an 800 lb mill head off of
the bloody pallet and onto the bed....uhhhhhh ohhhhhhh....nobody mentioned that I'd need a forklift or such..
and i'm fresh out. jeeeeezzz...

So how did our intrepid hero solve his perplexing quandary?

I cheated.

and i'm not telling...it'd make some of you guys queasy..

Let's just say it involved a very old tractor, some heavy timber, alot of chain, a hardhat (Stihl ;D)
and a chainhoist...not pretty, but very effective.

The mill went together pretty easy..mostly...I put two bed sections together on the trailer once I got the
head installed on one..probably not what the folks at WM had in mind..but it worked..rigged the mill up to walk off the trailer,
and promptly had one of hte back mill feet plow through my trailer decking (short pause for colorful language here)
guess I will have to mill myself a new tailer deck. she who must be obeyed thought that was pretty funny...

So, I finally yatched the foot of the mill through the bloody decking..got her stood back on her own 8 feet and rigged her off
trailer..

installing a blade for the first time should not be attempted in the half dark...it seems to be a neat trick at best.

So that's as far as i got...didn't even start the engine yet, tomorrow I will once again attempt to Git R Done...last bed section
and all the little doo dads installed...way scrapers and such.

the construction of this beast impresses me..I know good engineering when I see it, and WM has a good thing going,
I work with some massively over engineered equipment at work...and this mill is right up there.

the rope feed often asked about works well, and is simple...any good sailor loves simple things that work well. (I
had to crank it up and down the ways a few times of course..just to make sure it works ok.. :D)

For those of you who are on the fence about the Lt15...at this stage of the game, I do not believe you will go wrong with one,
of course I have not sawed with it yet, but i'm sure you will hear about that in nauseating detail in a few days.

I took some pictures..but I am too bloody tired to resize them and post..

And its ORANGE! 8)

[WDH]

Welcome to the club!!

[SwampDonkey]

If I were in the market for a mill I'd go with a LT15 also. I wouldn't have any intentions of custom milling or doing it for a living. But, not against the idea of someone bringing a few logs by to make sawdust.  ;D

[ErikC]

  There's no stopping it now.....you've been exposed to a fatal sawdust infection. Exposure to wood will only inflame it. Yer wife will miss you!!!

Erik

[zopi]

  There's no stopping it now.....you've been exposed to a fatal sawdust infection. Exposure to wood will only inflame it. Yer wife will miss you!!!

Erik

nahh..she want to learn how to run it too...she can't hope to run my big chainsaw mill...but this one will be a breeze for her...or..maybe it'll be too much work for her and she will want an LT40hdg25...or something..<G>

There is a couple of dirty jokes in there somewhere... :D

[ErikC]

  In all seriousness, theres several ladies on the ff who saw. My wife enjoys ours when she has the time. You may become green chain puller and not sawyer if she gets her hands on it!  ;D

Erik

[SwampDonkey]

I dunno, some of you fellers have an act to getting your women folk to pull chain across muddy creeks to skid logs, while sitting back in a warm dry tractor cab.  :

[zopi]

  In all seriousness, theres several ladies on the ff who saw. My wife enjoys ours when she has the time. You may become green chain puller and not sawyer if she gets her hands on it!  ;D

Erik

s'ok...i'll just go play with my CSM...make WIDE boards. 

[zopi]

I dunno, some of you fellers have an act to getting your women folk to pull chain across muddy creeks to skid logs, while sitting back in a warm dry tractor cab.  :

She can open the gate...she got out first....

Cab? what is the Cab you speak of? :

[Dave Shepard]

Congrats on your new mill! What hp and what size blades are you running?

I believe SwampDonkey is referring to an older post involving Norm and Patty. ;)


Dave

[sawguy21]

So where are the pics of your shiny new toy mill poking holes in your trailer deck? Huh  ??? Inquiring minds need to know. ;D This sounds like the start of a serious addiction.

[bandmiller2]

Ever notice wives around the mill always seem to be in management,and know more than you do.

[zopi]

So where are the pics of your shiny new toy mill poking holes in your trailer deck? Huh  ??? Inquiring minds need to know. ;D This sounds like the start of a serious addiction.

Didn't think to take pictures of the trailer deck fiasco...I was too busy jumping up and down and cussing.

[bandmiller2]

Zopi,its going to be tough to hook up a steam engine to that mizer.You done it sawdust is like quicksand.Next is the setup to sharpen and set the bands.Your interested in steam,I would love to have a HRT boiler with a dutch oven and a Skinner uniflow engine for the circle mill.Frank C.

[Bibbyman]

Congratulations!   8)

It'd been nice to have taken a series of pictures of the uncrate to the first  sawdust make. 

[OneWithWood]

Zopi, Zopi, Zopi, we thought we had you trained better than this.  Even though you were probably a bit excited when the new tool arrived your first move should have been to grab the camera and record the event for our enjoyment  ;D 
Now you may be lost to us  :(
You will be making sawdust and all sorts of things and probably forget your camera again.  It is a vicious cycle.
STOP NOW WHILE YOU HAVE A CHANCE!
There is still time to take a series of photos leading up to the slicing of the first log.  Don't let us down, Zopi.

Oh, and congrats on the wonderful Orange sawmill  8)

[zopi]

Zopi,its going to be tough to hook up a steam engine to that mizer.

Wanna bet?

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2007/12/do_you_want_a_nuclear_reactor_in_your_backyard.html

[zopi]

Congratulations!   8)

It'd been nice to have taken a series of pictures of the uncrate to the first  sawdust make. 

I got some pics of the uncrating..but i got a little busy juggling heavy stuff by myself to mess with it during the assembly..I will try to finish up tonight..I will have some good pics of the
First Log tho'....

I do believe a trailer kit for this thing will be in order...can't load the little bugger by myself.

anyone got any torsion axles laying around?  :D

[zopi]

Zopi, Zopi, Zopi, we thought we had you trained better than this.  Even though you were probably a bit excited when the new tool arrived your first move should have been to grab the camera and record the event for our enjoyment  ;D 
Now you may be lost to us  :(
You will be making sawdust and all sorts of things and probably forget your camera again.  It is a vicious cycle.
STOP NOW WHILE YOU HAVE A CHANCE!
There is still time to take a series of photos leading up to the slicing of the first log.  Don't let us down, Zopi
Oh, and congrats on the wonderful Orange sawmill  8)
.

dontchu have a kiln cart to load or something? :D

i'll have some good pictures for you to drool over...

[Part_Timer]

Congrats on the new mill.  I had an LT15 before the Peterson and liked it very much.  It was well built and easy to run.  My daughter wishes I still had it as I won't let her run the swinger yet.  If you get a chance try the Munks. blades.  They worked well for me on hickory and osage.
What part of VA are you from?

[olyman]

I dunno, some of you fellers have an act to getting your women folk to pull chain across muddy creeks to skid logs, while sitting back in a warm dry tractor cab.  :

oh oh--here we go----- ;D ;D

[woodworker9]

Congrats on the new LT 15.  I have serious envy.  In a couple of weeks, I'm going up (for me) to Woodmizer in Wisconsin to check out the LT 15 for myself.  I've been lurking around this site for over a year now, listening and learning.  I build custom furniture and cabinetry, and have been having logs milled for me for about 10 years now.  It's time I did them myself.

This site has been an integral part of my learning curve, and helped me decide which mill I want to start with.  Thanks to all for all the great knowledge, and you'll be hearing more from me, mostly questions :D  , in the near future.

Woodworker9

[zopi]

Part timer...I live about five miles from michael vicks former pet shop... :  just outside smithfield..

Woodworker...feel free to pm me...I have much advice for those putting the beast together...here's some hints..
borrow a loader, forklift or have an a frame or something...you have to lift the bloody head a foot and a half to get the
bed sections off of the pallet...and..put the rope stops on the bed sections >first< don't ask me why I know this.

It is not a one person job.

I will be cutting tomorrow hopefully, I got the beast put together finally..aligned pretty much everything..it was pretty much right on from the factory..I must tweak the up/down assy...the absolute measurements are off...klose enuff fer now tho..
It's a good thing i have done a bunch of combat systems alignments..if you can transfer the centerline of a ship
from the keel to the main deck using theodolites  aligning a mill is playskool stuff...it's also good that I don't have a machinist clinometer..I'd still be out there trying to get it a little more level... :

for those who doubt the rope hand crank...my 7 year old girl can crank the mill up the track....

heh...i was kind of mad because I thought the hose for the water jug was missing...it's under the *DanG jug...glad I didn't
make that phone call...I can hear 'em laughing...

didja know that an lt15 head is about the same size as an electra glide...i needed a cover....

I will have pics soon I promise...we will take pictures ad nauseum of the First Log. I think it wants to be a table..

[zopi]

oh...I will be re routing the water hose, I can see already that reaching over the bed/log to kill the water is gonna suck..
i'll figure out where to route it to the operator side and put a little ball valve in...flick the valve just before dropping the clutch...

[WDH]

 

Here you are, Zopi, in a day or two 8).