First timer - Building my own Mill and would like opinions

[danielhachey]

Hi all, I've been reading the forum for a couple of months now and have finally decided to make an account. I live in New Brunswick Canada and am looking to build my first mill. Prior to reading this forum I know absolutely nothing about mills. I can work a welder have a little common sense and some persistence so I figured I would give it a shot. I'll lay out my initial plans/thoughts below:

My goal: To build a mill completely from scratch so that I can mill my own lumber to build a garage/shed and maybe make a couple bucks on the side. I'd like to be able to cut 20ft boards.

I just purchased a 21ft trailer frame that was previously an old camper. It's very flimsy so I plan on reinforcing with 2x5 inch steel tubing to make this my frame. Spacing my cross pieces every 3 feet. Is this over kill? Can I go cheaper or smaller than 2x5? (The trailer frame uses 2x5 tubing and channel)

Next I planned on welding angle iron for my tracks. Using some cast iron v groove casters for the rail system.

Other than that, I was just going to build the saw portion as I go. I was going to use a 10hp engine. I'll go for a 13.2ft blade as this was recommended to me by a local saw shop since they are easy to come by.

My biggest question at the moment is - Where and what kind of pulleys do I use to rest the blade on? I've seen people use tires but I would like to go a bit more secure. I've asked almost every shop around besides a bearing shop for pulleys and no one has any idea what to recommend for a DIY saw mill. So bottom line, where do I get some pulleys to rest the blade in eastern Canada (online or local).

If anyone has any suggestions or questions please feel free to ask or add. Again, I have never done this but I'm hoping to get this thing up and running within the next month or so and using as much recycled material as possible to keep it cheap and fun.

Thanks!
Dan

[Woodpecker52]

Check on Harbor Freight for a bandmill it will save you time and money in the long run.

[Hilltop366]

Welcome, I'm not sure where to get the band wheels in Canada, many seem to get them from the Surplus Centre in the US. https://www.surpluscenter.com

[Rougespear]

I got my bandwheel sheaves from BC Bearing.  They are the standard 18.75" B-series sheaves sold everywhere.  So for a source, check you local "legit" bearing house and they should be able to get them in.  Mine came to me from Calgary.

[danielhachey]

Thanks @Rougespear . Does the band fit inside the groove perfectly? I always picture these grooves being too narrow and the blade slipping or the groove bending the teeth. I was under the impression it had to be a flat type of pulley for the band to sit on nicely? 

[btulloh]

A standard b belt goes in the groove and the band rides on the belt. The belt also provides enough crown to allow the blade to track properly. 

Here's a good build thread to ckeck out: 
http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=97853.msg1511008#msg1511008

Also look at @JoshNZ build thread. 

[btulloh]

Welcome to the forum!   Lots of good mill builders here to help you!

[Rougespear]

As mentioned above, a standard b-series belt would ride in the groove and the blade rides on that.  I believe a b56 fits tight and a b57 has a little slop.  I've tried both - I prefer the 56 length.  Woodmizer sells the 57" length fyi.

[danielhachey]

That makes way more sense now. Thank you guys for clarifying. 

[danielhachey]

Now will the tension alone hold the belt from slipping off? I know some people have built guides. But what about back and forth slippage after I start to push the saw into a log. (Obviously I would go slow and feel it out) 

[btulloh]

I assume you've used a vertical wood cutting bandsaw in your shop. Same principals, more size and force with a bandmill. 

[JoshNZ]

You could in theory run it without guides relying on tension to hold it on the wheels alone, but you shouldn't, you'd have to feed it extremely slowly and would run into trouble when dulling or hitting knots etc.

Roller guides are easy to make, or buy. You will probably want something to level the band with the bed too, which this achieves. And steers your blade pitch wise, level with the bed.

I think designing around a set blade length would be a pain in the ass too. Build it with what you've got, how you like it, then measure the blade length with a piece of string or strapping or whatever. Any saw shop will make it to length, they're cheap as chips. I can't put a 10" blade on my hobby table saw for the price my band supplier makes ~4.5m blades up.

[nativewolf]

Check on Harbor Freight for a bandmill it will save you time and money in the long run.

This is true @danielhachey so buyer beware before you get started building.  2 well documented builds by very good welders and both made some build mistakes that they regret but seem happy.  However, they spent some $ on those builds both materials and time spent.

[Dana Stanley]

Check on Harbor Freight for a bandmill it will save you time and money in the long run.

This is true @danielhachey so buyer beware before you get started building.  2 well documented builds by very good welders and both made some build mistakes that they regret but seem happy.  However, they spent some $ on those builds both materials and time spent.

If you knew someone who has a mill and you could copy the design, you would be way ahead of the game. Flying by the seat of your pants, you will end up with a lesser product. Using a proven design would be the way to go. I have a woodland mills and it would be a fairly simple build, plus if there were things you wanted to improve on like depth of cut you could.

[Bandmill Bandit]

Just a couple of factors from personal experience;

I have fabed/built a LOT of things in my life and any one that has followed the projects I have posted on this site will tell you there isn't much I can't build. 

I built things in the 70s and 80s to solve PITA issues on combines (NH TR70s and TR85s) that today are standard features on most combines sold regardless of brand.

I toyed with the build a mill idea my self BUT my wife's wisdom kicked in and I bought a mill instead, AFTER her helping me with the math to get a cost projection and an estimate for time I would spend to build.

After putting that together we had a budget that was actually kinda scary for an unproven design, manual mill with ZERO dealer support, no warranty, built by a *DanG good welder that had never sawn a log.

Pretty much a recipe for a disaster.

Once we determined the value of a personal build and compared it with the value of a proven manufactured mill the choice was a no brainer.

That exercise gave as budget and we came in under that number by about 15 percent on a mill that has a far greater functional AND intrinsic value than any thing I could have built my self not  to mention the money the mill earned during the 2 years it would have taken me to build a mill. I paid the mill off in just under 2 years.

It is very possible that building your own mill may be the most significant waste of $$/hours you may ever embark upon.          
 

[nativewolf]

Bandmill Bandit says it best.  


That said, if you have your heart set on building your own mill lots of folks have done it and a couple just very recently.

[Woodpecker52]

You might want to look at a used mill and restore it check on facebook marketplace.

[Nebraska]

There are several good manual mills whose companies support this forum. You would be able to use them several years and if you loose the fever and want to sell, or upgrade to a bigger hydraulic mill made by a supporter of this forum. It's pretty likely you can sell for nearly what you paid new for it.  I had to wait for needs to catch up to wants for a few years before I could pull the trigger. I looked at kits  and fabbing my own.  I didn't have a big enough space to tie up to do a year long build  a little at a time.  You may well have that time and patience. I bet there are a few used mills near you as well. Best of luck on your adventure.

[RAYAR]

Welcome aboard Daniel Hachey. When I saw your name, I thought Kent County. When I opened your thread, I see NB, so quite possible. I'm in the Moncton area.

Building a mill is no easy task and there is so much to understand about the workings and functions of a mill. By the sounds of things, you have a fairly limited knowledge of the workings of a good mill such as the blade support system and what is required for it to function properly. You may be better off shopping for a used one as you will likely end up with more time, money and frustration spent to correct things that didn't turn out right. Having some time using a mill will better prepare you in designing and building a better mill in the future.

Beware of home built mills as they may also have issues and short comings that the builder wasn't aware of when being built, mind you, there are good quality home built mills out there. Mine for instance is a home / shop built mill that was built to handle 12 ft logs up to 28" diameter. I knew what to look for in a mill and ended up with a quality built portable mill. It's all fully manual and basic, but I have been doing up-grades to it to add functionality. One of the future upgrades is to build bed extensions, a three ft and a five ft to give me a twenty ft cutting length. Keep in mind that most carriages take up around three ft. or more of your bed length. Also don't under estimate how heavy and sturdy it needs to be built for portable use. These are just some of the things to have in mind when building a mill, there are many more things that I haven't mentioned.

Hope this doesn't discourage you too much, but there are so many things that needs to be thought and planned out.

Again, welcome to this great forum

Ray

[danielhachey]

Hi again all, just want to thank you for your input and informative words. I see a lot of people standing behind the decision to buy instead of build. I have been searching for a used mill via marketplace or kijiji, no luck or they're just thousands of dollars. I find most around $7K. In my opinion, and as the inexperienced one I may be wrong, a mill has very few parts. I understand the complexities that would follow and that this would be a total learning experience. When I broke everything down in my head it went something like this: A log deck, not too hard. Rails and guides, again doesn't seem overly difficult, just built onto the deck. Then I would build the carriage system, just copying many designs I've seen online. After the steel has been welded and fitted it was just the saw, which is a motor, pulleys, shaft etc. I will now be doing some research on guides. I've looked into it a bit but understand it is something I would want to do. So again, I may be over optimistic but I've recently built a 3d printer and I figured that would be more tedious than this. I have the help of a fabrication shop for any questions if I get stuck. Plus I found a fairly reliable source of steel. So yes while it is a big project, I have the space, the tools and would likely tinker away on my evenings and weekends. It's more of a hobby than anything, I don't need to make money or mill wood, but to be able to do so and try to build this into a source of income would be awesome. But I try not to get overwhelmed, I just take it 1 small step at a time. Thank you all again for the input, I think my next step as of right now is doing more research and creating a price list of everything and consider my options. 

[Hilltop366]

If you want to build one then why not, about 20 years ago I built a lawn tractor engine driven chainsaw mill over the winter with my dad. I honestly think I had more fun building it than I did running it.

I think you are on the right track breaking it down to components and thinking about one piece at a time, I would start at the business end and work my way to the ground as far as planning it out and building. I would start with a blade, to me unless you have a special need it makes sense to go with a common size blade length and width and start there. So blades then band wheels, shafts, bearings, saw head frame, motor, carriage, lift mechanism.......

Make it strong and adjustable and you should be able to make it cut consistently.

Take a look at the "Cook's Saw" http://cookssaw.com web site, lots of good information. Check out the parts section and there are some good videos too.

[Ed_K]

 Do it. It will be a great learning experience that will benefit you the rest of your life.

[Crusarius]

Thanks btulloh for linking to my build

When I decided to build my mill I had very little exposure to sawing. Probably be closer to zero. Only thing I ever did was see woodmizers run from a far. Never really cared about them. Till one day I decided I needed to build one. 

The mechanical aspect of things is very simple. The features and details is what takes the most time. 

Building a mill is fun. Can also be very rewarding. Feel free to check out my build and if you have any question feel free to ask. I will help however I can.

In the process of building it I learned quite a bit. Then as I was using it to make lumber I learned even more. One day I will sell my current mill and build V2.0 with everything I learned on V1.

So the best advice I can give you is be open to criticism and be willing to change. The #1 thing I hate about my build is the acme thread rod for raise and lower. In future builds I would use something different.

The #2 thing I screwed up on is trying to maximize my cut width by putting the backstop right at the blade guide. This gave me max cut width but now if I have a curved log or any branches barely sticking out I have to trim them off in order to get the carriage past them.

I ended up maximizing my cut width by making my mill capable of running a 158" and a 176" blade.

[RAYAR]

This being a hobby build, then go for it. Lots of info and support here to help guide you through your build. Check out Canuck Woodchuck's youtube channel for Esko's Old Man Mill videos, some good info there. He explains a lot of do's and don'ts and why. You will need to pause the video and study some of the details and also watch them several times to really get some good build tips. I would not go with the built-in lube tank though, have it separate. Have fun building your mill. I may not be too far away depending on your location. I currently have my mill set up in Moncton if you're interested in seeing some details and it's operation.

Ray

[danielhachey]

Hey @Crusarius , I just want to say, your thread is probably my biggest inspiration, cool to see you posted here. I just spent the last 4 hours of my morning reading your thread start to finish, taking notes on parts, calculating prices and throwing them into notepad. It's quite inspiring to see your build from start to finish so I really appreciate the detail you put in. I'll be using your thread as a complete guide. I think I would go for the crane method with a hand winch and snatch block pulley at the top. I like the idea of the threaded rod, but from experience in 3d printing, it seems to over complicate the need to simply raise and lower the assembly and use too many parts (maybe i'm wrong, just my initial thought). 

Also, yes, @RAYAR I'm located just past Sussex so really not too far. When I get a few steps further I would definitely love to check out your setup. The one part I can't wrap my brain around is the log bed and the whole mechanism to hold the logs and have it be efficient yet sturdy enough to withstand some large logs. That and the backstop.