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Done for the winter

Started by Corley5, December 27, 2001, 06:54:29 PM

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Corley5

Finished my last sawing job today.  Just a few cedar posts that a friend wanted flattened on two sides to a 4" thicknesses.  Then cleaned the old Corley off with the leaf blower, great way to clean off machinery but wear glasses, pulled the engine's exhaust stack down and put the props under the roof just in case the snow gets too heavy before I get to it.  A heavy snow load and an unexpected rain spelled disaster for neighbors planer shed a few years ago.  I'm not taking any chances with the old building.  It doesn't amount to much but needs to keep the mill dry until we get the new building up and the mill moved in the spring.  We've been cutting timber on Grandma's place and are well on the way to having enough big tooth aspen cut for the new building.  I've cut some nice ones.  One was 30"DBH and white to the center.  It'll make great rafters.  They make a satisfying crash when they're that big and hit the ground 8).  So the mill's been put to bed for the winter and when it wakes up in the spring its first job will be sawing its new home.  Does anybody else in cold, snowy climes put their mills away or do you saw through it?  I'm may do some sawing next winter once the new less drafty building is up and I'm set up in a more convenient place for snow removal and getting logs in and lumber out.  That's a year away though.  Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and may everyone have a Happy New Year!  
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

stickbilt

Hi Greg,
 Just curious about what kind of building you're going to put up for the mill. Do you know the rafter spans and sizes that your are going to use? I live in NH and I'm not familiar with the aspen you described. The only trees I see around here that big are red and white oak and white pine. I'm sure there are other species that get to 30" DBH but I don't see them around my woods. What kind of winter temps do you get there and how much snow do you typically get?
 Thanks, Stickbilt

Tom

I just saw right on throught the winter.  Sometimes it gets as low as 35 degrees before I wrap it up and go to the house for coffee ;D

woodmills1

with a portable i can cut on any space that is clear of snow and has logs. 8)  last year that meant no cutting, cause just as soon as i had logs it snowed again. and just when i cleared the snow i didn't have logs  a few years back i cut in a teeshirt in january.  no snow here yet so logs are in my future. :D
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Corley5

Preliminary plans are for a 24'X 72' pole building with 10' or 12' sidewalls. Poles will be 4"X6" eight feet a part.  We'll use 2"X10" for headers and 2"X4" for wall purlins.  I think we're going to build our own trusses this time around but may buy them.  In either case they'll be of 2"X6" construction on 4' centers with 2"X4" overlays and a steel roof.  Our hay barn is built the same way with a four twelve pitch.  It sheds snow when the temp reaches the mid thirties.  We love metal roofs 8)  We also may go 28'  wide and may go with a six twleve pitch.  My house is six twelve with metal and doesn't hold much snow.  The building is still in the planning stages.  The building the mill is set up in now is 20'X56' with a shed roof.  The mill's 54' of track just fits.  Grandpa got the edger after the mill was set up and the building built so it sits just outside at the end.  The building isn't wide enough to run the edger with the mills power plant.  We use a flat belt off an H Farmall.  The old shed probably wouldn't fall in under a heavy snow load but better safe than sorry.  It has 2"X8" fir silo staves on 2' centers for rafters.  But it doesn't have much pitch.  The year the neighbor's planer shed fell in Grandpa and I shoveled snow off the mill roof in the rain in January.  That wasn't fun at all.  Talk about wet and cold.  We typically get 100" plus of snow.  It's not uncommon to get 150" or more.  We got 15" last night and it's snowing again.  Maybe another eight tonight.  Petoskey which is about 15 miles NW of here has gotten almost four feet since Christmas Eve.  Still better than Buffalo NY.  It does get cold here but the Lakes tend to moderate the really cold stuff unless/until they freeze over.  We do get below zero weather.  We haven't had any yet this year but the weather forecast is calling for highs struggling to reach zero a week from now.  If we can believe the weatherman.  Average winter highs are in the twenties and lows in the teens.  Big tooth aspen is nice to work with green.  I built my house with green big tooth aspen.  Cut the trees one day, sawed them the next and nailed them up on the third. When it dries it's hard to drive nails in to and has a tendency to warp and twist.  Nail it in place before it gets a chance to move.  Nice wood, clear and white in good logs.      
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Kevin

Millsy,
We need to get you a coffee mug with a block heater so you can stay outside and continue milling.  :D

Ron Wenrich

There are a lot of different ways to design a mill layout.  A lot will depend on the amount of sawing you are anticipating.  But, you want to make it as efficient as possible.

Most handmills run everything out in a straight line.  They usually use deadrolls, and push everything down the rolls to be stacked.  Your 72' building allows for 18' of lumber stacking beyond the track.  That may be enough.

A lot of mills have gone to a green chain.  These run at a 90 degree angle from off bearing rolls.  If you have a live off bearing system, a green chain works real well.  

The advantage to a green chain is that you can saw, and throw everything on a the chain and sort it out later.  You will be able to stack a whole lot more lumber side by side then end to end.

I know one guy who runs a small mill by himself, on weekends.  He saws until the green chain is full or he is out of logs.  Then he goes down and sorts the lumber.  Slabs go off the end.

Green chains are pretty easy to build.  Many use just regular chain and are driven by a couple of horse electric motor.  The chain sprocket can be gotten at most farm stores.  They used to use them on manure spreaders.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

woodmills1

coffee mug with kick start option and add on generator for electric block heating wattage :D :D
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Corley5

  At present I've got dead rolls to move the lumber from the saw.  A green chain would be nice.  I'd have to go wider than 28'  or longer than 72' to have room for a green chain.  Wider and I could put the edger at the end of the green chain.  Longer and it would have to go on side of the green chain towards the end of the building.  Either way would require the edger to have its own power source as there wouldn't be room to belt it to the saw mandrel.  Which is no big deal, it runs with a flat belt and I got several old tractors with flat belt pulleys and that's how it's been run for years anyway.  I don't plan to get real serious with sawing.  just my own and a little custom work.  I am seriously considering one those Logosol molder/planers.  I think tongue and groove paneling, and siding in cedar and pine would be a good product.  
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Ron Wenrich

Here's a setup a friend of mine had.  He run a double carriage - 2 16' carriages that were bolted together.  He could do 40' timbers.  He run it all with a 471 Detroit, and another one on the chipper.

He left the end of the track outside.  It made for easier loading of the log decks.  At night, you park your carriage inside.  I've used this setup as well on some handmills.  I could never understand why you want to put up more building than necessary.  The only thing you'll get is some surface rust on the track.  A little bit of old drain oil can keep it off.

He then run his slabs and lumber out on converted dead rolls.  He converted it by putting a belt on the rolls, and making one roll live.  He did this by making a live offbearer at the head saw.  You probably could run this off of mandrel.  Same goes for the sawdust drag.

From the live belt, it went right onto the green chain.  He put his edger right there and turned it opposite of the usual way.  He ran his boards back towards the headsaw.  Then he had spiral rolls at the tail end of the edger.  The board and edging strips run into another conveyor and back towards the green chain.  To run the edger the opposite direction, he put a twist in the belt.  

He generally run with 2 people.  But, if you put an on/off switch on the chain, you could run material on it, inch it ahead, and then edge it after each log.  Stack when the chain gets full.  Should hold a couple of Mbf, depending on length.

Most green chains are only 12' wide.  Thats what we run and can run 23' material on it.  Our shed is 25' wide, and we pull from boths sides.



The other thing I have seen done is to run your edger with hydraulics.  We did that for a number of years.  Power came off of the mandrel and you can put it anywhere.

I once saw an Amish mill that had 25 belts coming off of a long mandrel to drive different things in his mill.  It was an automatic and ran with a Detroit 671.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Corley5

My old mill needs to be under cover.  It's still on the original wood.  Weather wouldn't be kind to it.  The idea of running the edger on hydraulics is interesting.  It would do away with long flat belts.  For sawdust removal I've got an eight inch wide, 14' long grain elevator powered by a 1/2 hp electric motor that sits under the saw and deposits the dust in a manure spreader outside.  When full the load is spread on a hay field.  For now though I think I'll stick with everything in a line.  The edger sits so there is about 10 feet between it and dead rolls.  Edge boards are pulled off the rolls and fed through it or stacked next to it to be run later.  Everything goes on to a trailer or wagon at the end of the mill.  Usually it is custom stuff so it gets hauled away.  For our use it is normally nailed up in few days so it we seldom sticker anything.  I like to have two people tailing.  In nice logs  I can swamp one man.  Small logs it isn't as important.  
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

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