Small Circular Sawmill Build

Bullheaded · July 06, 2022, 08:24:02 PM

Done for today.....
Tomorrow, I will start on the pillow block adjusters and the blade guide. Waiting for a rainy day to cut the arbor shaft keyway.

DMcCoy · July 06, 2022, 08:50:44 PM

Boy those teeth/shanks look just like mine. F style(?) Discontinued, mine are 8/9.

moodnacreek · July 06, 2022, 09:35:17 PM

Quote from: DMcCoy on July 06, 2022, 08:50:44 PM
Boy those teeth/shanks look just like mine. F style(?) Discontinued, mine are 8/9.

? Discontinued , The F is the most popular insert mill saw in use today. 7 8 and 9 ga. bits and shanks should be easy to get. Prices however have gone way up.

Bullheaded · July 07, 2022, 06:55:55 AM

The bits/shanks are 3 Style.

Crusarius · July 07, 2022, 10:52:06 AM

I am definitely in for this build. Looks great so far.

Bullheaded · July 07, 2022, 04:06:28 PM

Thanks! I have to throw a little bit of fun into the build....
However small the job, I just love using my old timber framing tools. Im inletting the white ash cross plank for the belt tensioner quadrant.

Bullheaded · July 07, 2022, 05:16:09 PM

Three notches in the quadrant arm gives me a total of almost 7" of belt tensioner travel. Waiting on belts and a sheave to try it out. Works slick as can be!

Bullheaded · July 24, 2022, 11:57:24 AM

Progress,
Somewhere between peeling logs and making firewood, I have been plugging away on the mill build. I finished the belt drive, found a nice saw guide for $20 and found a Belsaw carriage drive($50) that I am going to incorporate into the build. I have to turn up the 1 1/16-14" guide inserts and insert

holders. Waiting on a chunk of 12L14 to get here for that. I have the 30" blade turning 1050 rpm no-load. It spins up nice. The Belsaw carriage drive should be relatively easy to incorporate into my husk.

moodnacreek · July 24, 2022, 09:35:05 PM

That carriage drive, I suppose will be ok for what you are doing but they are a real piece of junk. If I remember they are put together with roll pins that break. I welded set collars to the pullies that would not stay. Also sawing small red pine poles will want a faster speed than 1 inch per saw revolution so gear it up some. The V belts don't slip like flat belts do so there is no variable feed like Bellsaw used to advertize. Any thing you do to that feed will make it better.

Bullheaded · July 28, 2022, 10:14:27 AM

Quote from: moodnacreek on June 04, 2022, 09:02:51 PM
It will be the same amount of work as building a full size sawmill. For a machinist rebuilding an old hand set mill would be easy. There are many out there and they are not worth much. A miniature sawmill would be cute and fun for a while but so limited, just my opinion. Just the same I am glad you are interested in a circle mill.

Moondacreek 1......Bullhead 0
Since the bits are non-existent for the 30" No.5 blade, I found a nice 43" 3-style

blade to continue the build. Pulled and cleaned all the shanks and sockets yesterday. It was running fine @ 500rpm, so I am belting it up the same. I may run it down to either Menominee Saw or Moraska Saw and have them check and hammer it. Was going to try it first.

moodnacreek · July 28, 2022, 01:06:40 PM

A 30" saw can take way more abuse than a large mill saw but no saw likes heat. Straight edge that saw all ways with a long and short straight edge. If it looks good to you I bet it will run.

Bullheaded · August 10, 2022, 04:38:17 PM

I had some free time today, so I bushed and trued the slip wheels in the Port Huron carriage. The wheels were either work-hardened or cast of chilled iron as I had a hard time cutting the rims even with carbide. Dont ask me how, but one of the wheels had nearly 5/16" eccentricity at the hub bore, meaning 5/8" hop at the carriage! I cut the clearance groove deeper in the vee wheels while the axels were in the lathe. Wheels were bushed with 660 bronze. I still have to tap for grease zerks. I am really having a tough time finding anyone with a dry white ash log 12 1/2' long for the carriage beams.

beenthere · August 10, 2022, 05:40:44 PM

Are the carriage wheels shaped as shown in the CIRCULAR SAWMILLS by Lunstrum for the matching rail?

Bullheaded · August 10, 2022, 06:01:56 PM

No, if you are referring to page 69. One is a vee wheel the other flat. The vee wheel is solidly fixed to the axle and rotates at axle speed. The flat wheel is larger in diameter and slips on the axle, hence the reason it is bushed. The flat wheels in my pic are deceiving in that I chucked and cut half the width at a time. They look crowned but are not.

Ron Wenrich · August 11, 2022, 04:50:22 AM

You do nice work.

moodnacreek · August 11, 2022, 09:37:05 PM

A no. 5 saw you say? That's before my time. Must be a Hoe pattern with a really large gullet. Someone has teeth for that somewhere. The real old saw shops I knew about are all gone except Payne. Last I knew Menominee had 4 1/2 bits. 4 1/2 style went out in the nineties, 5 must of been long before that.

Bullheaded · August 18, 2022, 11:34:33 AM

As I plan my foundation, I am looking for input on design. Bouncing around in my noggin right now is a design incorporating concrete pillars set well below frost(4ft). Since I have to rely on others to cut my carriage and bed timbers, I am thinking 12' sections. I have 45' of American guide track. I also have available, (5) doug fir laminated beams 6"x16"x 25' long, thoroughly creosote "embalmed" and in excellent condition. These came from an old USFS bridge in Watersmeet. All comments are appreciated as I plan and execute this stage.

Bullheaded · August 18, 2022, 11:38:35 AM

I also have available 20' stix of 20# mine rail. These could be used instead of wood rails.

Crusarius · August 18, 2022, 04:43:15 PM

you should not span 12' at a time I would double the piers. no more than 6' span unless you are going huge on what is spanning them.

Bullheaded · August 18, 2022, 07:11:44 PM

The (5) doug fir beams made a 30 ton USFS bridge at a 23' span.....

Crusarius · August 18, 2022, 07:29:59 PM

ok, nevermind what I said

Don P · August 20, 2022, 05:38:07 PM

The bridge timbers should be fine. The weak link is the foundation. Ripping a trench and pouring a "beam" would help make it act as a unit, especially at the turning end. Lately I've been leaning towards digging out and filling with clean gravel that is drained out to daylight, then pouring a thick "sidewalk" that the mill sits on. Hopefully getting the whole thing to move together.

Ron Wenrich · August 21, 2022, 08:08:01 AM

On the loading and turning end, most guys add an additional support to reduce the pounding taken on that end.

Bullheaded · August 21, 2022, 10:20:32 AM

This is great advice. Keep it coming.

Don P · August 21, 2022, 11:49:07 AM

The 5th beam can be cross bunks, basically with threaded rod pull together a ladder frame. Hmm wouldn't hurt to sammich some diagonals in the frame so when the carriage slams the ends it doesn't move the tracks. Think about the feed cable though.

I like toespace under the track. If you pour the sidewalk, set pairs of long opposed wedges between the concrete and the 16" tall track timbers you can have toespace at the dogs and setworks with fine track adjustment in that gap. Then the ability to tune and lock those level adjustments. Now think about lateral track tuning, that might best be done up on top at the 6x16 beam, adjustable mounts to slide perp to the blade and fine tune the guide track straight.