Trucking a sawyers cab

[Sawyerfortyish]

Just bought a new to me mill. It's a meadows mill only about 9 years old. It has a computer in the saw cab and the cab is 6'x 8' and 10' high. We've been discussing how to move it without laying it on it's side. I can't put it on a regular trailer because of the hight and don't want to lay it on the side or front because of the glass and the computer inside. My thoughts were to put it in one of these low dump trailers that you pull behind a pickup. Set it on a couple 2x planks and lag it down in the bed so it dont walk forward or back. then bolt a plank at the top of the metal sides across to both legs so it cant go side to side.  Is there anything I should do to the computer for the 100 mile long trek down the bouncy highway?

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

First off congrats on the new mill Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) It should be fine that way lagged down with afew straps over the top also  Mate  ;)  8) id face it backwards with the door facing the front of the trailer you wouldnt want to cop a stone through the front window or have it blow out on you on the way home Mate  ;)

Hows the mill setup too just like to know these things  too ??? :D ;D

Regards Chris

[customsawyer]

If you put it on a low profile flat low boy trailer it should not be much over 13' high which should clear all the over passes. By putting it on a flat trailer it would make it load with a fork lift.

[Sawyerfortyish]

The mill was very well taken care of it's a #3 meadows bought new run by the owner. They used it to just face the log then everything went over to one of 2 band resaws with runaround systems. The mill was doing good til they bought a very expensive computerized optimizing edger that didn't work. that put them under along with the economy.

[Ron Wenrich]

Why not use a low boy or a similar trailer that you can pull behind your pickup?  You could lag it down, but you should also strap it down.  I would consider putting some sort of tape on the windows to help prevent any breakage.

The computer should be OK.  Maybe the monitor should ride in the cab of the truck.  Anything lose should be taken out of the cab.  

6x8x10 is a pretty big cab.  Mine is about 4x5x8.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Ron the cabs come in 4x4' and 4x5" internal and the cabs can come built on a stand about 4' of the ground that have a larger foot print with a deck the same size out the back of the cab as the door opens outwards so you can get in easyer Mate  ;)

That will be one nice mill dose it have a vert edger on it or are you going to transfer everything to a std horizontal after the headrig Mate  ???

Regards Chris

[Gary_C]

You should not have a height problem on any trailer as the standard allowable height is 13'-6" and you are supposed to have a minimum clearance of 17 feet. But make sure you have straps fastened on fixed points to the front and not just hold downs to prevent the cab from blowing back or tipping. And drive slow and expect it to pull hard.

[Sawyerfortyish]

This cab is on 4' legs and has a deck of about 2' off the rear where the door is. Gary where i'm at I can't tell you how many times I've taken down cable or phone wires with my 12'9"tall log truck. Some of these guys that string wire must have read that code. Meadows miller I have a cornell horizontal edger I transfer everything to. A vertical edger will be on my wish list. Ron our lowboy has the carrige on it right now and were not sure just where to unload it yet. So all I have left is this dump trailer and I want the mill out of the place it is asap.

[Gary_C]

Gary where i'm at I can't tell you how many times I've taken down cable or phone wires with my 12'9"tall log truck.

That's OK, just put a sharp blade up to 13'-6'' high on your log truck and clear a path. It's the overpasses you have to worry about. ;D ;D

We had a farmer here with a field cultivator that the wings were at 13'-6" high and he cleared out all of those low cable wires.  :

[r.man]

Sawyer, sounds like the legs and step should come off to avoid potential problems on the road and to let you sleep at night.

[Sawyerfortyish]

r.man can't do that almost everything in that mill was run from the sawyers cab so there is several valve bodys hanging down below it. I also spooled up many hydraulic hoses and electric wires after color coding everything with zipties and hung them there to. The carrige is hydraulic so was the transfer decks that led to one of 2 resaws on each side of the tracks and also the slab dump and god only knows what ever else. this is gonna be a nightmare to set this back up. I hope this is the last mill I ever have to move and set up. This is my 3rd mill so at least I know what everything is suposed to do and how it's suposed be set up and work. I'm still not to sure about not having any dials or numbers on the carrige. It's all in the computer screen I'll have to look at thats the learning curv i'll have to get over

[Ron Wenrich]

When I went over to the computer, the learning curve was about 15 minutes.  Now, I don't even look at the buttons to push.  Same goes for the controls.  I have lots of buttons on both handles that control tapers, sets, downturns, dogs up/down, dogs in/out, and cant flipper.  We also put in a programmable feed and a button with a timer for the slab dump.  There's a couple of rocker switches for the vertical edger.  You can get real busy in a hurry.

You will have to read the manual so you know how to program the buttons and adjust the display.  I put my monitor down close to the bottom of the window.  That's where you'll be looking when you're sawing, so all it is a glance to see the screen.  I've seen guys that hang them close to the ceiling, and that will get rough on your neck.  I developed neck problems from moving my head back and forth a couple of thousand times a day.  I also started to get carpal tunnel from repetitive motion until we changed some of our control switches. 

If you go over to a vertical edger, you will lose production.  Too much going on for one man to do.  And you have to move the carriage further on each cut.  That makes a difference at the end of the day.  But, your slabs are a lot more manageable if you have a chipper. 

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Sawyer You shold have the backstand read out telling where the headbloks are come up on the digital dislay Mate  ;) I ran a slant band with a chipping head where the setworks where shot on the carriage  i was just sizing  of the backstand readout which was about the only thing that worked on it   : when i was filling in for a sawyer on a mill where i had to also run the debarker and the infeed to a multi head horizontal band reasw all at the same time an i still managed to get about 40000bft out per shift   ;) :D :D

Ive heard to expect a drop in production of about 20% when using a vert edger which i reckon would be about rite  ;) and what i bugeted for in my figures when i did the business plan for the New #2 Auto Meadows awhile back  ;) I still reckon it would be the better option for a smaller miller wanting to hire only 2 to 3 men  ;)

Ill be sticking with the old girl once i get it going and will most likely upgrade to auto over time she should see me out  ;) ;D ;D 8) 8)

Regards Chris

[Sawyerfortyish]

Well it was an all day afair but every thing is home with the shinny side up safe and sound

[paul case]

good deal,
congrats on the new mill, caint wait for the pics of that thing up n runnin.    pc