Anyone running one? Will be sawing ties and grade. Before anyone asks I do know how to run a bandmill, I currently work full time running a Baker Dominator sawing 25-30mbf a wk. Thanks
These guys like the ac 36 so much they got two...either that or theyre so slow that they need two to tango lol
https://youtu.be/8SZO9wnMPxU
I like the looks of the AC-36, I really do...whats your take on the Baker?
Yeah, those mills look slow and those Amish guys look lazy. ;D
Bob
Amish or Mennonite?
I'd guess Mennonite from the equipment used like the skid steer. That is one busy helper keeping two mills loaded with logs and removing all the slabs and flitches as they come through. And he doesn't look like he's even in a hurry just steady.
Anyone notice that video is sped up just a little like 25%. The noise of the chainsaw gave it away.
4x4, there are things that I like about the Baker like the setworks, right side log squaring (opposite of WM), straight up and down backstops, 12.5 gpm hyd, etc.
The negatives are ball screw up and down spindles, nice and accurate but very expensive when they go out ( like $1500), rubber timing belts thet run the up down that have a tendency to break out of nowhere letting one side or the whole head drop, often ruining the aforementioned ball screws.
Amish. Mennonites don't necessarily have beards. I worked with many a Mennonite and a few Amish. The equipment used depends on their church. One of the largest mills in the area is Amish owned. Big trucks, electric mill, just like all the Englishers.
I also think the video is sped up. A little too jerky.
Ron,
Good point. I have a young Amish farrier who does my mule's toenails. They use electricity, indoor plumbing and even hunt. This surprised me as I thought they were opposed to firearms but I have since learned many hunt and harvesting deer is just another work project for them.
these mills will run just like the rest of them, maybe even better,, it does seem to me that with each manufacturer they just have different fingerprints, if this makes any sense,, I mean some orange will run flawless while others struggle with a multitude of issues, same with the blue bakers, and so on. Log quality and supply determine so much in regards to production, not even counting the material handling of the by products, so, once again a piece of equipment is just a bit of a gamble. JMO>
That is just exactly how I run mine, just not hardly that fast. I can't help you with production numbers, as I only work by myself anymore, since #2 son got a job he could actually make some money at. Did you notice that the guys in the video had warped the gooseneck that the hydraulic, and control lines run in. There are flow controls on the different functions to vary their speed. I have mine set quite a bit slower than they do. The drag back arms on that machine are different than mine as well, guess they have changed a few things in the last 10 years or so. They are good solid machines, I doubt you could wear out the mill itself. I personally don't like the 62 horse perkins motor..had trouble out of it and its parts are expensive to replace. The setworks on mine are problematic as well. And as far as I know Cooks don't have a route to tune up their machines the way Woodmizer does. That would be nice. All in all though, I guess I still like my backwards mill. ;) Banjo
Quote from: WV Sawmiller on July 30, 2017, 02:37:12 PM
Ron,
Good point. I have a young Amish farrier who does my mule's toenails. They use electricity, indoor plumbing and even hunt. This surprised me as I thought they were opposed to firearms but I have since learned many hunt and harvesting deer is just another work project for them.
In my area the Amish learn to shoot real young.I seen them shooting a 12 ga. better that most grown ups.
One 12 year old shoots pigeons flying.
Banjo, what kind of setworks problems were you having? Do you remember any sort of number while you were sawing "big time";).
The main reason I ask is I am not impressed with woodmizer. The customer service is great but I have had to call them too DanG often with freaking electrical problems. Electric feed, electric up/down, electric hyd. pump, etc. Theres a reason you don't see all that crap on circle mills, it ain't cut out for sawmills.
Quote from: JB Griffin on August 02, 2017, 09:08:50 PM
Banjo, what kind of setworks problems were you having? Do you remember any sort of number while you were sawing "big time" ;) .
I went and visited a forum member who had an ac36 and he said that the difference in hyd temperature from when it was cold to when it got warm would mess with the set...I'm really liking the looks of the new WM LX450 as soon as they make one with all regular dependable hydraulics, a 55hp yanmar diesel or bigger diesel, accuset two on a pedestal so you can move all around like the super 70, cant hold down clamps, hydraulic drive roller toeboards and an offbearing conveyor, I'll be trading in the ole 40
Are they using a hyd. motor or cylinders?
I kinda like the look of that mill too, but I'm too *pithed at wm to buy one.
Quote from: JB Griffin on August 02, 2017, 09:28:34 PM
I kinda like the look of that mill too, but I'm too *pithed at wm to buy one.
I'm not sure what its got.. but I've been really impressed with my wmz it's not had an easy life I can get pretty rammynjammy sometimes and it just loves it. I do know that when I took it easy with it it was never happy, so maybe try to take it less easy on your wmz :D . I been on the fence between wmz and baker for my next mill (not gonna [size=78%]be anytime soon but I'm always thinking about it) and I'm kinda settling in on WMz..the engineering is there, and the customer support is there...could use some better parts or at least an option for higher quality like napa gives you. Baker makes some decent stuff but as for support they kinda just left me in the dark. Their manual said one thing, and when I called with questions I got different wrong answers that made my problems much worse and.l now the guy who straightened me out just quit! [/size]
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If you call Baker the only guy to talk to is Brad.
I'll keep that in mind thanks I think I had called during amateur hour lol
Problem with set works is that it blinks and it loses its settings. It started doing that right after i got it. Cooks had a man working for them at the time that tried to help me figure out what the problem was but he retired or quit before we got it worked out. I have just used the scale since then. It would be nice to have the set works actually work ..especially when some body asks for some off the wall dimensions. It would be helpful if Cooks had a service route like Woodmizer has. My problem may be a ground somewhere, but i have checked everything i know to check. I am retiring from the state job i am presently working in 8 months and i hope to fig a little deeper into the problem then. The maintaince guy where my # 2 son works is pretty sharp on electrial issues and has shown interest in helping me with it. I bought this mill new, and for the money spent i sm very disappointed with the set works. I would not have said anything about it if I had not given Cooks a chance to fix it. Thats my take on it. Banjo
Quote from: Banjo picker on August 03, 2017, 10:47:18 AM
Problem with set works is that it blinks and it loses its settings. It started doing that right after i got it. Cooks had a man working for them at the time that tried to help me figure out what the problem was but he retired or quit before we got it worked out. I have just used the scale since then. It would be nice to have the set works actually work ..especially when some body asks for some off the wall dimensions. It would be helpful if Cooks had a service route like Woodmizer has. My problem may be a ground somewhere, but i have checked everything i know to check. I am retiring from the state job i am presently working in 8 months and i hope to fig a little deeper into the problem then. The maintaince guy where my # 2 son works is pretty sharp on electrial issues and has shown interest in helping me with it. I bought this mill new, and for the money spent i sm very disappointed with the set works. I would not have said anything about it if I had not given Cooks a chance to fix it. Thats my take on it. Banjo
What I would try is to run a new ground and hot wire. Bypass everything. Just try running it on your
new wires and see what happens.
That's what I would try. Bango how does the wiring get from the controls to the head on your mill. Steve
The computer controls are in two different places. The control box is located on an arm that swings out, that arm has the hydraulic levers that turn, clamp, and dog the log as well as the levers and loading arms. That is all on the right side of the mill. The box that controls the computer is behind the mill on a cable that you can walk around with. There are a couple junction boxrs that the wires are connected to. All those wires run to the power supply through the flexable gooseneck. Thats a fair distance. Bsnjo
I just got home and went to the mill and took a couple of shots of what I was talking about in the previous post.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18028/1501793783998-799146534.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1501793818)
That is the set works on the swing arm. This swing arm is quite nice, as when you are edging on the mill you can move it into position where you can reach your boards and controls at the same time.
Here is the pict of the remote control on the cable...it can be put in the vacant box on the right of the screen, but I usually leave it at the location behind the mill.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18028/1501793847665-401201691.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1501793976)
This shows the gooseneck that the hydraulic lines and electrical contorl cable run through.(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18028/20150822_150424.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1440290991) I appreciate the feed back on trying to come up with a fix. Banjo
Do any folks that work at Cooks read the forum ?
I like the looks of a Cooks mill
It would be nice to have set works
Banjo
If you leave the head in one place and run the setworks through a few cycles does it still blink off or only when the head is traveling. Steve
Quote from: Bruno of NH on August 03, 2017, 06:35:34 PM
Do any folks that work at Cooks read the forum ?
They are in the "Sponsor News" but there are very few posts from FF members or Cooks. I emailed them about not seeing enough responses from Cooks but ... no change. They make nice rugged products but apparently don't see the need to promote them to the forum members.
Steve i will check that. I want to say it blinks off when the mill is traveling forward, but i will look at it to be sure.
I think i was probably instrumental in getting Cooks to sign up here as a sponsor. Tim Cook personally delivered my mill and i told him what a great site this was, and that most people who were going to buy a mill are going to find this site and ask about the different mills. Where that had an effect or not...i cant say, but they became sponsors shortly thereafter. I agree with Bob about them making a super tough mill. Banjo
I think its great when a sponsor interacts with the FF .
I like to hear what they have to say :)
I'm thinking about one of the Cooks extra wide cut mills
Quote from: Banjo picker on August 04, 2017, 08:13:02 AM
Steve i will check that. I want to say it blinks off when the mill is traveling forward, but i will look at it to be sure.
I think i was probably instrumental in getting Cooks to sign up here as a sponsor. Tim Cook personally delivered my mill and i told him what a great site this was, and that most people who were going to buy a mill are going to find this site and ask about the different mills. Where that had an effect or not...i cant say, but they became sponsors shortly thereafter. I agree with Bob about them making a super tough mill. Banjo
Banjo If it works good sitting still I'd try running a extra ground wire grounded to the head, the post, the engine, the mill frame and the swing out controls. It might be trying to ground through the roller wheels and losing contact. Anything is worth trying. Steve
I gave the mill a quick check this afternoon. It will blink off when its setting still and not using any hydraulic feature. It comes right back on, but thats no good as it would have to be reset. When I first started it up, it stayed on for a couple of minutes....I began to move the guide arm in and out and turn on the debarker, raise the head up and down and it started blinking on and off. Then it would blink on and off when nothing was being done at all. Tomorrow I am going to just crank it and not move any control and see if it starts blinking. Banjo
To check the ground easy with out the head moving find a good ground on the head and frame and hook up a good pair of jumper cables. Also if it stays on for a few minutes and then acts up it could be something like a resistor in the power supply heating up. My B20 had a little chip or resistor in the wiring harness that fed power to the computer, when it goes bad the display on the compter would fade out or get real dim and sometimes it would lose its set. I bypassed that little chip and put in a 1/2 amp fuse to protect the computer from a power surge about 2 years ago , no more fading display and the setworks work great. Steve
Banjo,
Troubleshooting electrical bugs can drive anyone nuts.
Just shoot an email to shannon@cookssaw.com along with your phone number and let him know the best time to give you a call and we'll get you taken care of.
James
Thank You James at Cooks sawmills :)
I will do that, thank you. Banjo
Banjo
Any resolution to your problem from the Cook's people? I like a lot of features that Cook's offer but would not want to sign up for computer troubles from day one with no support from the manufacturer.
After I gave it a close look, I found a wire down under the bottom that looked like it had been chewed into by an animal of some kind. And to be honest I have been either too busy sawing to make the repair or its been just too cold. And right now I am dealing with trying to get a couple medical issues resolved before I lose my insurance at the end of March as I am retiring from the Mississippi Dept. of Transportation. I had a basal cell cancer cut off my cheek yesterday and as soon as that heals up I am having my nasal passage looked at to see if they can help get me any more air in there without having to work at it so hard. I will give Cooks a call when I have the time to devote to getting the problem fixed, and I feel sure that they will be helpful in doing so. I normally use the scale anyway, unless I am having to cut some "not so normal" dimension lumber. But I do intend to get the computer fixed when I have the time. When I give them a call, I want to be able to stay with it untill we get it worked out, and right now I just dont have time to do a repair that can wait. It worked great when we first got the mill and my son Bobby was running it. I am sure it will again. Banjo
I sure wish I could find a like new Cook AC3667T Sawmill or a Baker 3674D for sale.
The Baker 3674 has some updated setworks last time I checked. 36" wide cut with 74 hp diesel I would say most would be smiling with it
Quote from: Cactus Mountain Mill on April 21, 2022, 01:17:13 AM
I sure wish I could find a like new Cook AC3667T Sawmill or a Baker 3674D for sale.
A baker 3665D 2019 just sold at auction last week for 75k 3-4k hours. There is an auction in Oh with some mills.