Yup, Frank, I'm the proud, new owner of a Mobile Dimensions sawmill. 8) 8) 8) 8)
The mill checked out just like the guy said it would. All the rusty color on it is just surface rust. The engine performed well, and everything else seems to be in good shape.
He had some little Red Cedar logs for us to play with. He had gotten into the books, then practiced with it, beforehand, so he had figured out how to run it, pretty well. Since the logs were so small, we cut mostly 1x2's and a few 1x4's. I got frisky and cut one slat less than 1/4" thick, just to see if I could. All the lumber came out even and true.
The mill has the 12" edgers, and comes with a pair of spares. Also included are about 50 each of teeth for the edgers and the main wheel, as well as a handfull of inserts. He has the manuals, the regular owner's manual, plus a larger, service manual, the tooth puller, some extra dogs, etc.
Also included is the sawdust chain, and it's chute, motor, etc. That will be nice to have, when it is set up at home, but it is huge and heavy. I don't yet know how I will get that part home, as it is 40' long. We don't know, yet, if it can be disassembled.
It will be a few weeks before I can bring it home, but I have plenty to do, between now and then. :o :o :o 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
BTW, Frank, the title of this thread was just a "payback" to all my old English teachers. ;D
HEY, how 'bout that! I got my sawmill, and my tooth twee, all on the same day. 8)
Congratulations on the second tree and the sawmill, Dan.
I expect to see a cloud of sawdust on the horizon when I look to the west in a couple of months. :D
Welcome, Dan, to the family of fine mill owners. They are Orange too. I don't care no more, as I are no longer the teacher, I was, once. :D A point to consider when you spearte the sawdust shoot. If it is not bolted but needs to be cut with a torch; 1. cut the sides of the shoot a different distance from the end. (example one side at 19 1/2' and the other side at 20 1/2' and the bottom at a zigzag pattern that way when you reweld it will not all be at the same stress points. I hope I am making sence. Anyway, congrats on the new toy and if Timber Beast and I can help, don't hesitate in letting us know. The best of luck with your cutting ventures.
By the way they are not called inserts, but "shanks". :P :P :P :P 8) 8) The extra edger blades are quite valuable also. I have never need to replace any but the fact you already have them is with moocho $.
Way to go, Dan!
All this tool talk just has my little heart a palpitatin'! I may just have to go out and play with my chop saw.
That is, if the temperature ever gets out of the single digits!
:o
Congrats on the new mill, but I've got a question for ya. The reason I'm asking this is my lack of knowlege on the Mobile dimension mill. The one you bought looks pretty stationary.
Are they really portable mills? Or are they best set up in one place and not moved? Guess what I'm getting at is a mobile mill really mobile?
Gordon
Congrats, Dan, sounds like you done good!! You'll be sawing a lot of lumber! Great that you got the manuals, too.
Gordon, MD can be configured on a trailer, that was where I first fell in love with one, and decided to buy. A guy up around my woods had one, brought it out to the land and sawed me about 1500 bd. ft and was gone before dark. MD sells the trailer kit, though mine is stationary, I could retrofit it and tow it anyplace. I figured I'd set mine up where the trees are, can always move it if I need to. They do have a website, not sure of the address.
Dan, if I can answer any future questions, I'll do my best, but I don't think you'll need any help, especially since you have the books. 8)
:)www.mobilemfg.com :)
Gordon, I set my first mill up inside of a building. I located the mill on my own self-designed trailer. I had to have a trailer for a site specific situation. The second mill is on a factory dsigned trailer that makes it very mobile. It is a very unique mill in and of itself. They only made two of them like mine and mine was the prototype for what they were thinking about building. It has very unusual bells and whistles all centered around hydraulics. 8) 8)
Gordon, while this one is set up stationary, right now, it is on a trailer. He just took the wheels off, and lowered it a bit. The fenders are removable, but, unfortunately, they left one of them on, and it got a little beat up. The guy has put new tires on the wheels, and will have it ready for me to drive away, when I go to get it. The trailer is 8x24, plus about 3' for the tongue. I will leave it portable until I figure out what direction my business will take, but I'll probably settle in to a permanent location, eventually.
My THANKS goes out to all of you for your help and support, especially to Frank and Timberbeast. Operating the mill seems to be a piece of cake, but I'm sure I'll have lots of technique questions, soon.
My Darlin' Bride lined up my first WHACK of logs for me, yesterday. She stopped by to see a friend, who has about a dozen good pines to be removed. He has another friend who is trying to get a mill, and he told us that the first one to get in operation would get the trees. He declared us the winner, yesterday. 8) 8) 8)
Dan, With that long of a trailer I strongly suggest that you make sure the mill unit is all the way toward to tongue. secondly, I suggest that you place some extra wieght on the tongue area. In this way you will help eliminate any tale sway in the trailer at speeds of 50 and above. I have put as much as 600lbs when moveing my portable unit. I run with a '99 F 450 4 x 4 and it makes all the difference in the pulling action for tail sway. Again, Congrats, and welcome to the sawmillers brotherhood. The best of luck in your venture. P.S. Stay Permanent. It will pay off better. 8) 8) 8)
Congratulations, Dan. Hope you have a bunch of fun with your new mill. May the sawdust pile high and the boards be straight and true. ;D
After looking at the Mobile Mfg website, it looks like you got a pretty good deal!
Thanks for the info and the website link. That is a nice setup.
No wonder you guys talk so highly of it.
Gordon
Yes- it's one of the 2 new links on my new laptop. I'm slowly copying stuff over. Having a lot of fun. :) lw
Thanks to all of you for the encouragement. I'm getting excited about getting into production.
It's getting to be nitty-gritty time, and I need to think about the things I need to support and maintain the mill. The books come with it, but I don't have possession of them yet, so I'll ask FP and TB. What do I need to sharpen the teeth with? A little hand operated grinder comes with it for use in the field, but what about in the shop, and at locations where power is available? Do you guys sharpen them on the mill, or do you always replace and grind later?
Are there any other supplies or equipment that is specific to this mill, that I will need before I can operate? If so, I'd like to go ahead and order them now, so there won't be any surprises, later. :o :o
Also, the mill is equipped with 24v DC power to raise and lower the carriage, but it looks cumbersome to set up if using it in the portable mode. Is it practical to raise and lower with the hand crank, keeping in mind that I'm no longer in my 20's. :-/ BTW, we didn't find a crank with it. Is this something that would only be available from MD?
Dan G.
Use the 24 volt unit. It will save on the following: shourlder joint replacement costs. tunnel issues for your wrists and hospital as well as dr. costs, equipment purchases fro m Mobile Mfg., instalation time and materials, frustrations, loss of time in just turning the handle. ;D The hand grinder lasted a very short time aroung here. the wife got tired of turning the handle for me :D and I could not afford to hire it done so I ordered the one the Mfg. Co. has. It is money well spent. I usually have tow or three complete sets sharpened in advance so it helps in down time cutting. Have them sent you an extra stone for the unit. You can purchase your own or they have a stone dresser that is very handing also to keep the stone dressed evenly across the surface. This prevents the teeth from getting ground unevenly.
I have my teeth sharpened by a guy I know who is a tool-room machinist. I know the guy, so he does it free, and the teeth last longer than when I fumble with them. I think you'll find that they last longer than the manual says between sharpenings. If you have a lot of weight to lose, or want to build up your upper body, use the hand-crank for raising the mill, I can send you my crank handle (I really will). You'll be cranking more than sawing!
A cant hook would be real handy for loading logs onto the mill.
Also, you can get (if you don't have) sets of "mid-dogs???", so you can set more than one log at a time on the bunks and just move down the line and saw them. You can also get raising pieces for the bunks, with which you can raise the small end of a log on the one bunk, to get a better yield, or raise both sides with small logs. It's better to have the small end towards the head of the mill, saves wane in the learning process! Have a ball!!
Timber Beast,
I am sorry to disagree with you to a point. Yes the idea of small end toward the opertor is good when learning, but I have found that you have more difficulity in getting hold of the scrap piece since it is further away. I keep the larger end towards me and that way I get hold of the scrap and discard it into one of two places, the chipping trailer for chipping or the firewood gig for cutting. 8)
8)
I favor the small end as the blade entry end. Now, of course, I am using a bandmill, but it sure makes it easier to judge the size of a log and to level it when looking at the small end.
I have been cutting 8x8's on the job I am on now and the requirements are that there is to be no wane. It is for a Gov. subsidized poultry composting barn. The logs are so small that the slightest miscut will cause a failed post and it will have to be cut up into 6x6's. These posts will cost $97 retail to the farmer so every one I create is money in his pocket. I don't think I could cut one of these logs "backward" and get a good post. :)
Frank, I understand your point, but it could be frustrating to a new user of a MD to figure he's getting a 1x12, and find out the last two feet has bark on it. I generally saw the way the logs end up when I skid them (I skid from several areas). I make a "dry run" without cutting before adjusting my top blade, but I do believe you will get maximum "non-waney" wood with the small end towards the head, and quicker. Just one guy's opinion, understand! I usually let the first slab fall and lay until I finish the log, it will usually fall on the bunks and be out of the way of the blades. The top slabs usually come back with the board. Then again, most of what I cut is only 8 foot.
Yes, with 8' logs it is not so bad. I cut many of my logs in excess of 8'. the majority of the time they are 12 to 18 feet, and the build of trimmings at the farrrrr end is a mess if I do not place larger diameter end of log at the operators end of the mill. :'(
Here's my 2 cents.
On butt logs, I prefer to have the large end closest to me. I find it eliminates too thick of a slab. It also lessens the carriage travel. I hate running the carriage and not cutting anything.
Downside is that you are cutting into mud on dirty logs, and dragging it through your cut.
On my old Corley I like the small end on the front bunk. That way if I need to adjust for taper the handle is right there to set the log out. It just saves a few steps, epecially on 16 foot stuff. Eights and tens it isn't so bad. We had some logs sawed a few years back in the U.P. and the mill owner told us how he wanted the logs positioned in the yard so when he put them on the skids the small ends would end up on the front of the carriage. Just saved him jockeying around with his loader and made for more jockeying for us with the trailer :D
I get em how ever they came in on the truck. That means everyone is different. But on our mill it don't matter.
Guys,
I have da built in adjustment handle that keeps the far end of the track stationary and I can adjust the operators end to fit the taper of most any log. I hade some today that I had to adjust some 4+' on an eight foot run. It took about 5sec. for tht adjustment. It all boils down to what each of us has for a set-up and how comfortable bwe have become in the methods we use. ;) Now, that sound like some of those folks we have sent to Washington D.C.. :D :D Ron, As far as the mud is concerned, etc, I wash all of my logs before sawing. I use a 4,000PSI pressure washer. It does the trick for outside junk. 8)
Frank, that would work here for about the 2 months we have above freezing. :D
I was just re-reading this thread, and generated a dumb question. I've not used nor owned any of these saws (yet)- I have briefly used a lathe. So it hits me suddenly- how DO you decide how to true up the log to get the max yield from it? In a lathe you chuck the piece in at what would approximate a center of gravity, and as it turns down, the fibres are in as parallel a line as possible to the plane of cut. I can see if you could do that to a log that you would get the least amount of cross-sut fibers in each board. But you go on about taper- which is a fact of life- so do you figure out what is the 'flattest' side of the log, put that side down to start, and then just start slabbing til you get into useable material?
I am sure when I get a chance to go see a mill in operation, answers to questions like this will become very obvious. ::)
lw
LW,
Yes, for all intense purposes, that is about what happens. I make my first pass, removing the bark to a point of being able to cut either a 1 x 4, 6,8, 10, 12, or a 2 x in the same dimensions. with the top and bottom edger bladesI can omit any wane. I then determine, by way of the customers cutting list what dimensions will come off next, by raising the track and carrage to the appropriate height and move in a left to right direction across the diameter of the log. This then becomes a repeat process until the log is completely cut.
Well, every log is different, just as every sawyer. Also depends on what you are trying to make out of the log.
Here are some of the ways I tackle log positioning on our Wood-Mizer mill.
If I were trying to make a beam out of a log, then I'd "box the heart" by leveling the centerline of the log on the bed of the mill. This is "split taper" sawing. Your slabs tend to be thick on the butt end. This is also how we tackle most common construction lumber sawing.
If the log as "sweep" (crook), then I'd put the hump up on the bed. I'll adjust the top of the little end level with the top of the big end and saw off the hump first. Then the opposite side will have a slab heavy on the butt end. This technique generally produces the most usable lumber.
For grade sawing logs with a lot of taper, I'll sometimes "full taper" saw them. This is, I'll raise the little end of the log until I am sawing parallel to the outside face of the log ON ALL FOUR FACES. The resulting cant will look like the Washington monument when it is squared out. When I hit a face with below grade lumber on it, I'll put that side up and lower the cant flat on the bed and take the taper out of it. (Tapered boards are allowed in grade sawing and are measured for width 1/3 was down the length from the small end.)
All of the above is contingent on what other defects are in the log such as bad faces, cracks, knots or hole/rot in the heart of the butt end, etc. For example, if a log has a blaze or scar on one face, I'll put that face up on the mill and take all the taper out of it right off.
A major crack across the end of a log will likely make me decide to turn the logs so the crack is 45 degrees to the blade. Thus, most of the crack will fall at the edge of the board and may be edged off or not cause the board to be downgraded. A crack in the middle of the board will cause the grade to be lowered or not make the grade at all. Knots on an otherwise clear log should be placed on "the corner" for the same reason.
About every log will pose some variation to the above styles of sawing.
Jeez Bib you answered that just like a real sawyer would :D
Actually, I used to think that you guys with the portables were just playing, but I now know better. In fact I'm now jealous.
I usually split taper most of my logs, especially the long logs. My maximum taper is 4 inches. I can get rid of short lumber in most species. I also box most of the hearts.
For defect, I always try to get it at a 45 degree from the face. It gives you more cutting units and longer cuts which can bring you up a grade.
Hay Jeff.
Mary said to tell you it ain't the size of the tool that makes a craftsman!
Thank god for that.
Hey Jeff! You could always buy yourself one, and join in the fun. ;D 8) 8) ;D
Remember, I am an employee of a sawmill. I can't afford one. Maybe if the forum gets 30,000 more members you could each send me a dollar...
Jeff, We only need about 23,000 members at a dollar each. for a Mobile Dimension :D :D
Dan G., How is getting the mill set up, going. I was sawing up a storm of sawdust today and was thinking of you and your new toy. Let us know how things are going, please.
Frank, I don't have the mill in my possession, yet. I'm still waiting for the money to get here. :( I had to get the money from my 401K plan, and put up with all the red tape the Guvmint requires. It should be here by this weekend, and I'm on vacation next week.
I really didn't expect to be getting a mill until summer, so much of the preparation remains undone. I have a lot of work to do before I can really call it "set up," but I'll just find a flat spot and go for it, till I figger everything out. I do have a shed I can store it under, and just pull it out when I'm using it.
Tom, get finished with your daily work EARLY, next week. It will be getting dark early, because of that big cloud of sawdust 'bout 200 miles to the west of you. 8) 8)
Well, now I'm really in a delimna! The money arrived today, and I'm on vacation next week. Should I go get the mill, or just spend the week sittin' on my butt watchin' Judge Judy and the soaps?
Oh Danny boy.
The pipes are callin
back and to the plain so wide
It's you what must go.....and me what must wait
to gather your mill without no freight
and see your pipes laid straight
beneath a log at your home.
So come ye back when sawdust is in your petunias
and slabs and boards are thrown about you're yard
I'll be here in the sunlight on the porch swing.
oh Danny boy....oh danny boy you're on your own.
don't try to sing this :D
Only if it is 40o below zero. GO GET THE MILL and begin a journey mar more entertaining than the soaps or the judge. 8) 8) AND KEEP US POSTED, please! ;D
I'll take these generous advices under advisement.
Thanks.
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Tom, I tried to sing it, despite the warning. I think I hurt myself. ::)
I KNOW I hurt myself, but it was still worth it.
Go, my son and enjoy the taste of sawdust for your ownself.