Author Topic: assembling my new sawmill (Read 6304 times)

Daburner87 · « **Reply #20 on:** August 21, 2021, 10:04:19 PM »

Well I can say mine is just about done. Hurricane Henri kicked me into gear. It's coming basically right on top of me and I finished the crane I built to lift the saw head, and lowered it onto the trailer today. Originally expected the mill to arrive in October so I'm way ahead of myself, exhausted but I'm happy. I was able to put her in my oversized carport and she is completely covered and dry. I don't see the storm creating too many problems, in fact I see some good potential to get some free logs out of it.

maple flats · « **Reply #21 on:** August 25, 2021, 01:23:56 PM »

I finally got started assembling my sawmill/trailer, as usual I forgot to take some pictures. I'll get to put in about an hour or 2 again tomorrow. Hopefully I remember to get some pictures to post.
So far I only got 1 section of track on each side and 2 sections of trailer side rail (frame) along with 1 bunk. Tomorrow I hope to get 2 more sections of track on each side and 1 or 2 more bunks. Before I do that I'll need to get it set level front to back and side to side.

maple flats · « **Reply #22 on:** August 25, 2021, 05:41:44 PM »

New plan, I now see that Woodland mills offers a toe board accessory. It rides in a track that goes between the track horizontal members and is just a scissor jack. I'll be ordering one tomorrow. It can easily be moved from one end to the other or wherever needed. It can be run using an included handle or by using a 1/4" cordless impact driver to turn a bolt head. I have 4 such drivers and a whole pile of batteries, that will be my preferred method.
I'll save the actuator for some other project, rather than taking the time to design, build and attach it. (which may have turned out to be 2 or 3 times.)

ljohnsaw · « **Reply #23 on:** August 26, 2021, 12:15:35 AM »

My original toe board lift:

But, I replaced it with a 4T hydraulic bottle jack. Sometimes even that has trouble with some of the bigger logs!

kelLOGg · « **Reply #24 on:** August 26, 2021, 06:58:12 AM »

I welded bottle jack platforms about 12 ft apart between the rails of my mill for log levelling. I have a 3rd moveable 2 x 6 platform for short logs. I have to make sure it is in place before loading the log.

maple flats · « **Reply #25 on:** August 26, 2021, 08:50:59 AM »

That certainly looks rugged. The Woodland mills accessory looks like it can be placed after loading the log as long as there is a few inches of log hanging over the bunk an at least 4" before the next bunk. It's far more compact.
I just placed my order, in the meantime, if I need to shim one end I'll lift it using my excavator.

maple flats · « **Reply #26 on:** August 26, 2021, 06:55:29 PM »

We got a little more done today before the heat and humidity sent me home. So far we (my 12 yr old grandson Logan and I) have gotten the track assembled, 4 sections out of 6 and bolted the trailer frame sections (4 so far) out of 6 long and 4 short sections total.

I see I need to rotate the pic, now to figure out how to do it.
This shows the last part we got done today. I hope to add 2 more tracks tomorrow, but I'll be alone, my grandson is going to the state fair tomorrow and the parts are heavy for me to handle unless I can figure out an assist.

As you can see, I rotated the picture, thanks for the help.

beenthere · « **Reply #27 on:** August 26, 2021, 09:08:51 PM »

Rotate your pic in your gallery. There is an edit function there.

maple flats · « **Reply #28 on:** August 27, 2021, 10:55:25 AM »

I did rotate it in my gallery, now it's correct.

maple flats · « **Reply #29 on:** August 27, 2021, 11:02:25 AM »

While I had planned to work on the sawmill assembly today, the weather changed my plans. This morning it is 100% humidity so I cancelled those plans. 80 degrees and 100% humidity isn't worth it. This afternoon the humidity will fall below 100% by a little, but only because the temperature will climb faster than the dew point.
Did I ever mention I like fall, winter and spring better than summer? This is why. In the winter I can dress to keep warm, in the summer only an AC will help.

Bindian · « **Reply #30 on:** August 27, 2021, 02:34:05 PM »

Quote from: maple flats on August 27, 2021, 10:55:25 AM

I did rotate it in my gallery, but how do I fix it in the post?

I would add the rotated photo, then delete the laying on it's side photo.
hugs, Brandi

maple flats · « **Reply #31 on:** August 30, 2021, 11:36:27 AM »

Thanks Bindian, that is how I fixed it. Now I need to load some more pics into my gallery.
I got a little farther, but only a little. I now have all track sections attached, but only one cross bunk.
I had to do a chore in the blueberries, prepping to plant just 1/4 acre more in a different variety. Rototilled 2x using the 5' tiller, but only about 3" deep so far. Then I added 400# of granular sulfur. It rained shortly after which will help get it down into the soil. In a few days I'll till it in deeper, about 5" is good, then by spring the PH will be right down to the root zone to plant the 250 new bushes we ordered.
Next, back to assembling the sawmill. Cooler, less humid air will heat in by Wednesday. I hope it stays long term.

maple flats · « **Reply #32 on:** September 02, 2021, 08:38:31 PM »

I did get a little more done assembling the sawmill, but only a little. The temperatures finally fell to where I could pack more syrup into retail containers. While my main thrust was to do the syrup, while it heated, 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there I added the front and back cross bunks, and I set 4 jacks at the corners as instructed in the assembly manual. I'll be back doing more syrup for at least 2 more days, maybe 3. Tomorrow I'll likely finish packing amber syrup, then on to packing 2 barrels worth of dark syrup (60 gal), I'm essentially out of dark ready to sell, both at my only local retail outlet and for online orders.
After that I can wait a few days and among other things calling me I'll get some time assembling the sawmill/trailer, then I'll need to bottle more bourbon barrel aged syrup.
I did take pictures but when I was getting ready to upload them, I decided they didn't really show much of what I had done. I'll get more when I get back to assembling the sawmill, likely next week. I think I'm close enough that it will start going much faster when I resume.
Even though I've had the sawmill for 5 weeks as of tomorrow, I likely have only gotten maybe 6 hrs total into the assembly I think 3-4 more should finish it, both trailer and sawmill. Of the roughly 6 hrs in, I had my 12 yr old grandson for 2 of those, the rest I was solo. My grandson will be with me tomorrow, but most of the time will be working on maple syrup, packing, attaching labels, grade labels and pricing, then hauling it either home, to my retail outlet or into my coolers in the sugarhouse. All backup stock is kept refrigerated, at about 35F in one cooler, and at 20-22F in the other.

maple flats · « **Reply #33 on:** September 07, 2021, 07:48:16 PM »

1 or 2 more days, then I think I'll be back to working on my sawmill (again). I had cooler weather so I packed a bunch of syrup from barrels into jugs. The temperature were manageable when I had a 16" fan aimed at my work station at the bottler. I still have 7 more gallons to pack, after I take a bunch of syrup to my only local retail outlet tomorrow (they were very low in stock). Restocking will take 1.5-2 hrs, then I'll pack the remainder, after which I can get back to the sawmill. I've had it since 7/30, still not done. In that time I only have 7-8 hrs actually into it.
Pictures to come.

VB-Milling · « **Reply #34 on:** September 08, 2021, 07:23:13 PM »

Quote from: maple flats on September 07, 2021, 07:48:16 PM

1 or 2 more days, then I think I'll be back to working on my sawmill (again). I had cooler weather so I packed a bunch of syrup from barrels into jugs. The temperature were manageable when I had a 16" fan aimed at my work station at the bottler. I still have 7 more gallons to pack, after I take a bunch of syrup to my only local retail outlet tomorrow (they were very low in stock). Restocking will take 1.5-2 hrs, then I'll pack the remainder, after which I can get back to the sawmill. I've had it since 7/30, still not done. In that time I only have 7-8 hrs actually into it.
Pictures to come.

Hoping you can get back to it as time allows. Following along....

maple flats · « **Reply #35 on:** September 09, 2021, 05:37:14 PM »

I was going to get my 12 yr old grandson to help work on assembly in 2 days, but that has changed. The county where we are is a fairly low density county (population) but the covid numbers look bad. We went from 16 to 35 to 116 to over 200 new cases in 4 days. With my grandson attending in person classes in school (he is fully vaccinated) I still won't chance it. My wife had breast cancer 14 yrs ago and ever since her white cell count has been scraping the bottom. I can't chance bring anything home to her.
For that reason, I'll work on it solo.
I still have 7-7.5 gal of Dark maple syrup in my bottler. Today I stocked my rack and made a list of what I still need. Tomorrow I'll go to the sugarhouse, get the counts there then decide what sizes to pack that syrup in. Then on Saturday I'll work on the sawmill, solo. I do enjoy working with my grandson and he likes to work with grandpa, but we need to protect grandma.

maple flats · « **Reply #36 on:** September 12, 2021, 04:02:26 PM »

I only got about 1 hr in yesterday, spent most of that time swatting mosquitoes. With the rain we've had far too often every mosquito hatched and is hungry this year. I don't ever recall them this bad in the daytime. I had on 2 different mosquito repellents but they seemed to attract mosquitoes. I also set up a fan aimed at me, which helped, but every time I moved I had to move the fan.
When I got home yesterday I ordered a pedestal fan that has 2 speeds, one rated to move 8,000CFM and one at 9,000CFM. That should blow the buggers away. I had planned before that to get a fan to blow the sawdust away from me while operating the mill, now I'll have it sooner rather than later.

Old Greenhorn · « **Reply #37 on:** September 12, 2021, 05:57:27 PM »

I am usually not bothered too much by mosquitoes, but my wife is a magnet for any bug within 1,00 yards. She is always with the spray stuff, bug repellant, or whatever and I shy away form it as not worth it. But the other day I had to harvest mushroom logs on short notice and was in a poor location and the mosquitoes were eating me alive to the point I could not concentrate on were the saw tip was. One one of my runs up to drop logs I mentioned it to here and she gave me a can of 'Yard Guard' and said here, try this. "yes dear" I said and put the can in the mule with no intent of actually using the stuff, it can never work on hoards like that I thought. (but after 44 years of marriage I have learned to play along without complaint, it's easier that way for us both.) But I got back down there and they were driving me nuts, so just for the heck of it I grabbed the can and sprayed the area around where I was working. Holy cow! It didn't clear them out, but it discouraged 80% or more and it was actually quite workable. This weekend I am splitting and stacking firewood and its the same situation and I found the yard guard makes a huge difference but wears off after about 4 hours.
So, Just a thought. I really should get my fogger working again, that did winders, but you have to apply it in the wee hours when there is zero air movement. That would keep them down for a couple of weeks. Uses an chemical made of chrysanthemum seed oil. Supposedly 'organic'. Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there. We are all going crazy with these buggers after all the July rains.

maple flats · « **Reply #38 on:** September 13, 2021, 09:06:05 AM »

I put 2 cans of Cutter's brand of "yard guard" in my truck yesterday. I've never used it in the past, but I will today to try it out.

maple flats · « **Reply #39 on:** September 25, 2021, 03:56:37 PM »

Slow going, but I finally got all of the log bunks on the sawmill, next will come 4 jacks, then raise the mill, remove the steel shipping crate and then add 2 more jacks. I think I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it's not an oncoming train

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Author Topic: assembling my new sawmill (Read 6304 times)

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