Well, the truck brought the Burg Bandsaw head yesterday. We set it on the deck and the wheels had to stretch to fit the 52" track. Mr Burg told me 52 in from inside to inside. Fortunately, I was able to adjust the position of the wheels side to side to match the track and make it easier to roll. Then I spent the morning at my friends shop putting some straps on the sides to hold the head in position while being transported. Took it one mile and darned if there wasn't enough movement to allow the wheels to jump off the track. So much for that idea. Will have to strap it down until I can figure a more secure way to take it down the road.
The next problem I see was the height of the crank on the winch that moves it up and down. It is about 8 inches higher in the down position from what I can reach. The rails just clear the top of the tires so I don't think I designed the deck too high. Solution is to modify it so I can put the crank closer to the ground by using some chain sprockets. Unless some one has an inexpensive idea to put a 12 volt motor on the winch.
I then put some oil in the engine, gassed it up and started it. When it was warm, I rechecked the oil, put a small log on the deck and set the height and pushed it through the log. Worked like a champ. My buddy and I sawed 3 small logs up and called it quits.
In the morning I am going to build a temporay step platform so I can reach the winch.
There are some features of this Burg mill that I like and some I don't. When I get back to finishing the head based on the Linn mills, I am going to combine the two. Bottom line based on today, I think I am going to like working with this mill once I get the winch height resolved.
At any rate, I'm excited to be able to saw my first log on my own mill and not on someone elses.
Dave
Are you taking lots of pictures Dave? ;)
I'm glad to hear you're up and running with the new mill!
Nothing like the feeling of milling that first log. Congratulations Dave. :)
Post some pics when you get a chance.
Paul, I have been too busy playing with the mill and working on the mill shed to try to figure out the upload problem with my camera. Sorry about that, but I promise to take some pictures and get them posted.
You should have seen these small logs. 2 of them were short, (36") one a box elder and the the other a oak that had been cut for quite a while. I turned them into cants to put on the resaw. Now that I have the mill, I can work on getting a few cants cut to set the old resaw up. Tomorrow, I think I'll try to put a real log on the mill and maybe saw some real boards. I can saw as short as 32 in log if I could see a good reason to.
Way to go!
I remember my first log. You will too, I bet? :D
Congratulations Dave and happy sawing. :) :)
Hey Dave congrats!
One question...will that be painted A.C Orange? When ya comming up?
Buzz,
No, I decided not to paint it Persain Orange. The Deck is Blue (Ford tractor Blue), the head is red, and the trailer wheels are White. Red, White and Blue just as an American built machine should be.
Don't know when I'm coming up. Having too much fun here. When I do, I'll let you know before hand
Dave
Congratulations Dave, loking forward to those pics.
Congratulations Dave 8)
You will probably stop smiling in a week or two ;D
Great feeling to know you can go out and fling the saw dust anytime you feel like , huh Dave. Glad to hear you got her up and running. Was just sitting here with Old Butch and he says "I can remeber my first dog too, her name was Lady". Log Butch, Log. :o He's getting hard of hearing I think ;D
I sawed a little more yesterday and noticed that the cables on the lift winch caused the head to get non parrallel with the bunks of the deck. It looks like the cable on one side crept sidways which of course took up more length of the cable. Any of you fellows who have manual mills with cable lift seen this problem and how have you resolved it?
Thanks
Dave
Way to go, Dave. Glad ya got it going.
We JUST finally got the little bugs outta our mill.
Been sawing about 1600 bd/ft in 6 hours, the past few days.
Just wait till ya get one of THESE baby's dogged down.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/04_01_03/bigcedar5.jpg)
We have 24" dia tires with 2" clearance all around, inside the covers. 8)