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My Homemade Mill.......

Started by fishingmike, April 05, 2016, 11:20:47 PM

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fishingmike

So I have been working on my mill for the last 2 1/2 years. With two little ones and a business to run, spare time doesn't exist. With that progress is slow but its getting close. I made the carriage and am capable of a 38" cut. I built the frame this weekend and am a little at loss on what to do. The frame is made of 20' 2x6 rails 3/16 wall. ever 24" from each end and every 32" is a 2x3 tube cross piece. After getting everything welded up there is about 1/2" sag in the middle of the rail. I took care to weld a little at a time to avoid over heating and warping. I put a jack under it to see if it would sag at the ends. Nope. No movement which is good. It means its stout. But I was hoping to put my angle iron track on the rail and use jacks for support but I don't want to have a huge sag in my boards. I"ll post pictures soon.

fishingmike


Don_Papenburg

You welded at the top of your rectangular tube . Now you need to weld on the bottom .  Welding creates heat that shrinks metal  . Start by welding below every other cross tube starting in the center and working out .  Keep the string on tight Stop welding when you are close to straight .  Get a cup of coffee  or a beer and sit and enjoy it . go back latter and check if you need more welding .  If you weld it enough to bring it up to the string in one setting you may have to weld on top again.    Good luck 
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

fishingmike

Quote from: Don_Papenburg on April 06, 2016, 12:42:28 AM
You welded at the top of your rectangular tube . Now you need to weld on the bottom .  Welding creates heat that shrinks metal  . Start by welding below every other cross tube starting in the center and working out .  Keep the string on tight Stop welding when you are close to straight .  Get a cup of coffee  or a beer and sit and enjoy it . go back latter and check if you need more welding .  If you weld it enough to bring it up to the string in one setting you may have to weld on top again.    Good luck
Should I just run some beads on the bottom of the rail or mirror the tube along the side.

fishingmike

Also I plan on welding the angle to the top. Should I plan for this warping and go ahead and heat a little to much on the bottom?

Ljohnsaw

I was both naive and lucky building my mill.  I made two 16' and one 7' sets of tracks.  I used 2x4x¼" box with 5 cross pieces on the 16's and 3 cross pieces on the 7'.  I didn't check the straightness after that welding but it must have been pretty balanced.  Then I welded some pieces of structural steel as spacers to set the 2x3x¼" angle iron rails.  You can see the spacers here:

 

The reason for the spacers is for the log bunks to slide in between the rail and the beam.  You can see three log bunks in the picture.  Once I had the spacers welded on, I welded on the 2x3 angle iron.  In my 16' length, I have a dip of about 1/8".  I'm not gonna worry about that but I probably could have fixed it with a little welding on the bottom side.  However, the truss-like structure is pretty stout!
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Kbeitz

When house trailers are built they run beads of weld on the top of the frame to draw
up the ends of the frame. This is done so when the weight of the home is put on the
frame it's level. So all you should need to do is to flip your frame upside down and weld
a couple of beads of weld on your frame.

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Ox

Don Papenburg gave some good advice.  You must be careful not to over do the heating and moving, though.  Steel likes to move quite a bit the first time, but then less and less after that until hardly anything will happen anymore.  I had one rail of my mill I built do the same thing as yours but mine was humped up in the middle.  Lots of heat and cargo straps pulled it back down, but too far.  Then some more heat on the top side pulled it back straight again.  Some luck is always a factor.  It might be best to get all the welding done on the track first, then see how much it's out of plumb and go from there - this worked for me, is all I'm saying.  The second thing I'd like to say is tough for me because it might be tough on you.  Your mill looks great, both the carriage/head and track.  Nice and rugged and well thought out.  The one problem is the way the engine is driving the blade, specifically the tooth direction.  The engine needs to drive the other bandwheel so that the blade is pulling through the cut in the log.  The way it is now, it's pushing through the cut in the log.  This will be nothing but problems for you, unfortunately.  A member here, gww, went through this with his homemade mill build.  I'm hoping it's not too late to turn things around.
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

Ga Mtn Man

I would also suggest that you replace the mason's twine with some stout fishing line pulled very tight.  Even pulled tight, twine will sag significantly over 20'.  Space the line of the frame at each end with some blocks of equal thickness so the line doesn't touch the frame.

Good luck getting her straightened out.   You can do it!  8)
"If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy." - Red Green


2012 LT40HDG29 with "Superized" hydraulics,  2 LogRite cant hooks, home-built log arch.

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: Ox on April 06, 2016, 08:26:29 AM
Don Papenburg gave some good advice.  You must be careful not to over do the heating and moving, though.  Steel likes to move quite a bit the first time, but then less and less after that until hardly anything will happen anymore.  I had one rail of my mill I built do the same thing as yours but mine was humped up in the middle.  Lots of heat and cargo straps pulled it back down, but too far.  Then some more heat on the top side pulled it back straight again.  Some luck is always a factor.  It might be best to get all the welding done on the track first, then see how much it's out of plumb and go from there - this worked for me, is all I'm saying.  The second thing I'd like to say is tough for me because it might be tough on you.  Your mill looks great, both the carriage/head and track.  Nice and rugged and well thought out.  The one problem is the way the engine is driving the blade, specifically the tooth direction.  The engine needs to drive the other bandwheel so that the blade is pulling through the cut in the log.  The way it is now, it's pushing through the cut in the log.  This will be nothing but problems for you, unfortunately.  A member here, gww, went through this with his homemade mill build.  I'm hoping it's not too late to turn things around.

The really simple fix is to turn your blade inside out after you turn your engine around.  You will then have your engine more centered (front to back) over your posts.  I also see your v-belt on your band wheels is a bit loose. ;) Hopefully that was just for test fitting.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

fishingmike

Thanks for the tips! After welding on the angle and welding along the bottom, I got it to within about an 1/8" Next step is to build my log stops and clamps. I also plan on changing the motor around so it pulls the blade. Mostly I am just building and figuring things our as I go. Cutting pieces of and re fabing is a part of the process for me. Any suggestions of the log stops?

Ox

I would suggest not to build backstops like mine.  I used Linn Lumber's blueprints and it seemed like a good, simple thing at first.  It's time consuming to use.  It's a square tube within a square tube that slides up and down and locked in place with a stop bolt.  I can't use them from the sawing operator's side - I have to walk around to the other side of the mill every time to set the backstops.  I would suggest backstops like Turner Mills has.  Works just like the hydraulic Woodmizer system, but manually.  I would think the pivots are bushed somehow, for longevity.  I'm thinking of making this a winter project this coming year - to convert over to the better system that runs all the backstops with one lever.
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

fishingmike

I was thinking something like whats on an LT 15 but link them together so they can be moved at the same time. I have a winch that I am going to use to make a clamp with.

Ox

Good plan.  Git'r done!  Looking forward to the pics.
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

Don_Papenburg

Sorry for not replying sooner But just remembered it to night . I would weld (with the frame top side down ) up from the cross tubes , straight up because the tubes a rectangular, like you had a taller tube.  Make a good bead and both the same size ,or as close as you can.  Start in the center and work out to the ends skipping every other cross tube . weld both frame rails at each end of the same cross tube before moving on to the next tube. Hope that is not to late to help.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

fishingmike

Sorry to all who are helping and following. I haven't had much time lately to do any updates. I have made a lot of progress. Today I will be cutting some lumber! If its not too late when I call it a day I will post some photos.

fishingmike

Well I made some boards 8) No photos at the moment. My phone is being a turd. I do have a question. What kind of accuracy should I be expecting. I know that some mills will be more accurate than others but what is a realist expectation? I cut a 1½ x 7½ x 12' at the start I was true 1½ x 7½. At the other end I was 15/8 x 7 5/8. I would like to be as accurate as possible but maybe I'm just too picky :-\

Ljohnsaw

First thing to check is did the blade pop up the 1/8" when it exited the log/cant?  If so, then your tracking is off, the blade is dull or the set got messed up on one side of the blade (probably the top from riding too far back in the guides or on the tires).

When i finish a cut, I let the blade stop and I run the carriage back to the start.  I watch how the blade follows the top of the cant.  It should just barely scrape the sawdust off.  If it doesn't touch the sawdust, then it was diving.  If it is pulling hard on the top of the cant, then it rose up during the cutting.

The other issue may be stress in the log causing it to rise up off the bunks as you were cutting.  Make sure you have it dogged down good and rotate for the next cut (180°) if you see movement as you are cutting.

All that being said, 1/8" is pretty good.  On mine I'm less than 1/16" most of the time.  Knots will make the blade do weird things.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Magicman

Varying thickness from end to end is not always the sawmill.  There is the possibility that stress caused the cant to move.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Ox

Also, be absolutely sure the mill is true.  Plumb and level is also key for nice lumber.  If you have it on the ground, they always settle some, sometimes quicker than you think.  Congrats on making some sawdust!
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

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