First sawmill

[reswire]

Good luck with your new mill!  Looks like you have all you need to get it up and running.  You are young enough to have the enthusiasm to succeed, just make sure you have good help around when running your mill.  My grandfather used to work  a circle mill, and he constantly warned me about the need for safety, and keeping those around you on their toes!  Good luck!   8)

[OldRedFord]

That is a honkin beam, something isn't right, how wide are the trusses, as in, how deep is the building?

The KSI.. K=thousand pounds, SI= per square inch tensile strength. The structural steel I grew up with was A36, you'll usually see that somewhere on the web of older steel, 36,000 lb tensile strength. Modern stuff is mostly 50ksi steel.

I'm shooting for a 25foot wide building, with a 2:12 roof pitch and 2' overhang on each wall. 

[Don P]

Let's walk through the inputs;

beam span= 252

Trib width. The roof is 29' wide total, half is supported on the entry beam, half is supported on the back wall. Trib width on the beam is then 174"

uniform load 30

yield strength 36, assuming a pre owned beam

I'm getting a barely pass at W12x16 lbs per foot.

Lets look at the dimensions of that.. 12" deep, 4" wide flanges, 1/4" thickness of web and flanges. A W12x19 is the same with 3/8" thick flanges.

[moodnacreek]

Let's walk through the inputs;

beam span= 252

Trib width. The roof is 29' wide total, half is supported on the entry beam, half is supported on the back wall. Trib width on the beam is then 174"

uniform load 30

yield strength 36, assuming a pre owned beam

I'm getting a barely pass at W12x16 lbs per foot.

Lets look at the dimensions of that.. 12" deep, 4" wide flanges, 1/4" thickness of web and flanges. A W12x19 is the same with 3/8" thick flanges.

Geez Don, in New York you could charge for that info .

[Nebraska]

Would welding 1/4" angle iron flanges with a half inch hole  drilled through to said original   W beam,   then  building up a header consisting of 4, 2x12  between give you enough strength to span the opening? I'd use 1/2 in galvanized bolts every 16".  That would give the beam a 16 in plus depth. 

[Don P]

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but I wouldn't know where to begin. A truss of some form would work.
I'd start by scouring scrap piles for something with those W12x19 dimensions or larger.

[Nebraska]

I actually have a similar I beam, and a sawmill. Just where my mind went....an "I could do it this way" thought...A truss would be far more practical as would a big enough beam.  My ancestry  shows through,  my brain remembered one in my little pile of red steel....

[OldRedFord]

A very easy alternative has come up. 

In the photo say I wanted a open shed in front of my shop. I build the support structure of the roof to be higher then the peak of the building, gable end is facing me. 

Do the exact same thing for the sawmill building. The lower section over the track, edger etc and the higher, front facing gable over the log deck. 

 

[Don P]

Making the gable end the log deck does give the potential for a building size opening 

[moodnacreek]

Log deck openings on a sawmill building are always worth a glance. Mine is a steel 6x8 arched [box] gard rail under a 10x12 wood beam and it is only 21' opening. Often they are 25' and wood with cracks and starting to sag. In the old days they would put a truss on the roof with a center pull up rod. Not often seen is the cable under the beam with center fulcrum and the cable pulled tight with turn buckle or eye bolt. They key to this trick is the strength of the post/beam connection. If done right this is a very strong support for the span with a light beam.

[47sawdust]

A lot of the granite sheds in Barre Vermont are built in the manner described in the previous post.
I find the design very pleasing as well as functional.

[OldRedFord]

In addition to the 4-71 Detroit, the sawmill also came with a Allis Chalmers 2900 turbo diesel engine from a combine. I think it's around 130 hp. 

Is it powerful enough to run a three blade Frick edger? 

[moodnacreek]

In addition to the 4-71 Detroit, the sawmill also came with a Allis Chalmers 2900 turbo diesel engine from a combine. I think it's around 130 hp.

Is it powerful enough to run a three blade Frick edger?

You will do fine with a 30 hp engine for normal edging. After that you are wasting expensive fuel.

[OldRedFord]

Finally got down to get another load of sawmill parts. This time the chain trough in the pit and the section of track with the carriage winch above the pit. 

All that's left to move now are four large blocks of concrete that make up half of the support footings for the log deck. At this point I can start putting it back together. 

Just stuck on working out the saw pit and the sawdust chain will have to go the opposite direction from how it was set up.

 

 

 

 

[OldRedFord]

I think I'm going to not use the sawdust chain and go with a blower. I'm thinking of adapting a old walk behind parking lot blower for the task. Has anyone done this? 

[Don P]

Sorta, that's the same blower I believe attached to a tow behind grass wagon.
This was a gang rip going on, ignore the lucas. To the right of the tractor driving the Belsaw is a trailer with one of those blowers mounted on it. You can see the hose from the tongue mounted blower going up into the box. When he is running the vents on top open to let the air out and the dust mostly stays in the wagon.


 

[moodnacreek]

When I piled sawdust behind the mill I used a chain. That got out of control [and I am on the creek bank] and I moved the slab wood saw back there and needed access  so now it is a blower putting sawdust in a large wagon box.   I really don't like sawdust blowers; they are loud and can keep dust in the air. They take more power than a chain also. If I had unlimited room it would be a chain.

[OldRedFord]

When I piled sawdust behind the mill I used a chain. That got out of control [and I am on the creek bank] and I moved the slab wood saw back there and needed access  so now it is a blower putting sawdust in a large wagon box.   I really don't like sawdust blowers; they are loud and can keep dust in the air. They take more power than a chain also. If I had unlimited room it would be a chain.

Noise is relative when you have a Detroit running the saw. :D  If I did go with the blower it would have a gas engine for power. 

[OldRedFord]

Figured I'd move the carriage inside seeing I'm going to be doing some logging behind my building to make way for my septic system installation. Felt like a safe move. Will also be looking at the wheel bearings while I have it inside. 

[markd]

What a great project! Here it is November 2022 how's it coming along would love to see how you're doing.

[OldRedFord]

What a great project! Here it is November 2022 how's it coming along would love to see how you're doing.

I'm hoping to get going on putting the track back together and setting the husk frame soon. 
Trying to make up my mind on how to remove sawdust from the pit....
One of the track adjustors on my loader decided to give up on me. Waiting on parts to fix that. 
After the loader is fixed I can finish up grading out the sawmill area. 
In between all that I need a septic system installed before December 17th when my permit runs out and a inspection on my rough electric/plumbing/framing work on the house before then too. 
Sure is busy being a one man band! 

[moodnacreek]

If you can do all that I am confident that you will actually saw logs one day. Of the few circle mill builds I was aware of around here in the past 40 years none ever ran. Last year it took me 5 months to install a mill in an existing building with the leg sets/concrete already there. I worked on it every day and had everything on it repaired and painted the summer before. I am still cleaning up the mess I left by concentrating on nothing but the sawmill. Keep up the good work, Doug

[OldRedFord]

Work on getting the Frick sawmill back into shape has begun. 

I simply dismantled one of the dogs on the carriage and will be making a new pin that goes through the gear. Clean up the rust and check the spring in each handle. There are five dogs on my mill.




 

 

[OldRedFord]

Wanted to take a look at the wheel bearings on the carriage so I took one wheel off. Honestly did not expect tapered roller bearings. Grease is so old it's almost rubber.



Planned improvement for the dogs. New handles with a ball threaded on the end.   

 

[OldRedFord]

Decided to check one of the wheel bearings on the sawmill carriage. Packed full of grease that was almost rubber. Each wheel.seems to have one outer race with two taper bearings.

Here's a short video of the outer race in the one wheel I pulled off. All the wheels seem to have a fair amount of slop.

I googled the bearing Timken 14136A but so far all I see are bearings with individual outer races and not a one piece setup like it appears I have. At the moment I don't have access to a press to push out the race.

The bearings are a interesting design and have a lip.

https://youtube.com/shorts/zPa8OhiBiVE?feature=share