Woodmizer manual mill upgrades

[jb616]

 

 I have seen the large post on upgrades but many of them are for hydraulic mills. If it is ok, I would like to start one for the older Woodmizer manual mills and start off with one of my own. As Jeff stated in an earlier post, the older mills will only cut down to 2.5 or 3" off the deck as the head comes down on top of the battery box. I have added 2x2 square tubing on mine to offset this and will show a picture.  They are only 16" long as you need clearance as well for the driven side blade guide. I have extensions that I can slip on as well for larger logs, but the 16" will work for 20+" logs. The upgrades I want to see are the removal of the driven side blade guide on the bottom, a different (better?) clamp system, and an upgrade for top of the log stops so that they don't dig into the log when trying to turn. I have seen the log turner by Yellowhammer but would welcome any log turners that are different. I'm not getting any younger and I am not able to upgrade to hydraulics at this time. 

[pineywoods]

JB, you have come to the right place. There's tons of info here on upgrading manual mills. I went that route with a 95 manual lt40. The logical tendency is to think adding the factory upgrades. That usually doesn't work out, better to trade up. Over the years, I have added a bunch, a little at a time. Now have full hydraulics (less a loader which I don't need), much Faster up/down, remote control, kawasaki engine, and autoclutch. I'm looking into home-made setworks. Mostly not for production enhancement but to accommodate my aging bod. All documented with posts here, with pics and videos..
Almost forgot, not a mill mod, but a sawdust extraction system (blower) is one of my favorites...