ta schmid mill

[Bret mazur]

so i found this old mill in the back wooded lot of a person house they had no idea who from how it got there,so i went i offered money for it i ended up paying 150.00 for it. Pulled  it out and its a nice t.a schmid band saw mill head and 20 foot steel frame rails with log dogs and movable up rights no cables to raise or lower the head everything else was there no engine no water container. So i refabbed the mill added the cables lubed everything and set up the frame onto a hay wagon frame opened up.ive run it quite a bit ive built three buildings using the mill.ive learned alot on milling and making boards ive sold a couple of loads of boards to people and the boards were nice learned blade set tightness ect. So i learned where to set the blade at but the fact is its alot to set the blade tension and i dont have a way to measure the tension there bolts that you tighten so if anyone has suggestions on how to measure the tension with out great engineering im all ears,also i am looking for blade guides and ideas for maybe making them into the future guides also i am looking for the casters the head rolls on on the frame rail cause there not your avereage casters and they are u shaped and only 3/8 to 7/16 bolts that aere holding it in i made washers to hold the bearing plates in place so that the head doesnt binding while rolling on the frame while sawing.if anyone has any info please let me know also i am looking for other mills like it i cant get any pics no where and noone has any info or and a manuel for this machine there isnt one available noone knows nothing.seems like a big secret i ve seen posts here prior dating back 2010 2012 ta schmid him self was on here i immagine hes dead and gone by now,so please send me what ya want send me an email or share on here please,if ya wanna chat ill send ya my number id be glad to talk to whom ever.im located in earlton ny its near catskill ny coxsakie area.thanks.  do have photos of mine if i take the time to add them lol.

[thecfarm]

Seem like whatever you are doing to tension the band is working ;)
I have no "proof" when I tension my band either. I just push down on the band and I can tell that way.
All I know the lumber comes out good and the band stays on the wheel. I must be doing something right.

[Old Greenhorn]

Bret, welcome. I know you've been a member for a few years, but we don't hear much from you... yet. Fill in your profile and post some pictures of this mill, I bet you get a lot more responses. Right now we don't know what your are looking at or seeing. You are not very far north of me. I'm down and west of Kingston a little bit.
 The band does need to be tight, but without having a way to measure it, it can be difficult to gage. On my manual mill I just 'know' how it feels to be right, just like Cfarm. On the LT50, I have a gage to go by.

[47sawdust]

Very good sawmill,not much info.on them. When they come up for sale they don't last long.

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Bret.

My Brother-inlaw has one, he's had it now for over 20 years.

I've only laid eyes on it a few times.

[fluidpowerpro]

Regarding how to set blade tension. I'm not familiar with your mill but reading your post I think your saying that you tighten the blade by adjusting a bolt? If so, you could use a torque wrench and once you determine the proper tension, always torque it to the same amount. That is how I do it on my mill.

[richhiway]

you can get a tension gauge that goes on the blade. Might be called a strain gauge?

[richhiway]

i searched it came right up

Lenox 62126 Band Saw Tension Meter | 5-3/4" x 2-1/2" Size

[47sawdust]

A fella has a T.A.Schmid  mill a couple towns over.I could contact him and go get some pictures if that would help.
One just sold in New Hampshire for $9500.00

[fluidpowerpro]

The Lennox tension gauge is definitely the best solution but if you don't want to spend that much money, I would think you could come up with another way. The main thing is that whatever you do is consistent and repeatable. Couldn't one use a scale and measure blade deflection once the blade is tensioned? Kind of like a drive belt. You would make sure the guides are in the same spot every time and always measure at the mid point between the 2.
This is just me thinking out loud. I have never done it this way, so just throwing it out there.

[beenthere]

Yes, you can put two clamps on the blade and measure the distance change as the blade is pulled in tension. Measure with a good digital caliper.

It is same as what the Lenox is doing.

Bandsaw Blade Tension

see reply #2