This is my first post on this forum. I am Dutch an live in The Netherlands (what a surprise). I am building a small manual sawmill to mill the logs from my own property (as a hobby).
I put some some pictures on the gallery for those interested in my first attempts in this area.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/b1_0225.JPG)
Any comments and/or suggestions are welcome of course.
Best, from a rainy sunday afternoon in Holland.
roghair welcome,
The bandwheels,are they all steel with slight crown?or do they have a belt or rubber outer surface?
albert
Welcome aboard, as we say. What kind of trees do you have to mill? Some of us would think you don't need a sawmill to cut tulips! :D :D
Hello and Welcome to the Forestry Forum, roghair. :)
Thanks York, Lud, Magicman!
The wheels are indeed covered with rubber which I slightly crowned. The saw stays perfectly on the wheels with the teeth (plus 1/8") over the edge. To replace the rubber I saw people using some kind of cork-rubber, which I used on the second wheel. The original rubber on this wheel was in bad shape, so I replaced it.
Lud, sometimes I think we should keep it with cutting flowers... But I will try to saw oak (N.A. red oak and European oak), accacia, beech, but mainly fir (pinus nigra, sylvestris, larch). I have WM blades with 10/30 profile, can I use this profile also for harder woods like accacia and oak?
Hi Roghair. Welcome to the FF from a fellow dutchman . I was born there but emigrated to Canada many years ago . Please make yourself some guards and install them before a blade breaks and you end up wearing it or accidently put some part of your body in harms way . scouter Joe
Welcome Roghair! My parents came to Canada from Holland (my dad from Heerenveen and my mom from around Dokkum). My wife's parents were also born in Holland. I have been there a few times to visit family. It has been a while, so I can't remember what species of trees you have around there, but I do remember very strong winds at times and extremely flat fields (some of which are below sea-level).
Unfortunately I can't answer your questions, but again, welcome!
welcome roghair. your mill looks good! yes you can use the woodmizer 10* bands on harder woods like oak and acacia but if they don't perform as well as you'd like some of us have had success running the 7 or even 4* bands. post some pics of your land/trees :)
Welcome to the Forum! Good luck with the mill!
Welcome to the Forum, Roghair!
Thank you all for the welcome words and nice to see some of you have their roots in this small country below sea level.
I wont turn on the saw before I have the guards installed (I promised my wife). Welding the sheetmetel is not easy though with my arc welder.
mikeb, below is a picture I took on the property I bought a few years ago. It has 16 ancient "gravehills" from 3000 bc. These little hills are now national historical monuments and should be preserved for the future.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/grafheuvel.jpg)
On the second picture you can see we are cutting the trees from the hill to renovate the 'grave' (you need a lot of fantasy to call this a grave). These are the trees I will saw as soon as the sawmill is ready.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/045.JPG)
The land is 27 hectare which is around 67 acre.
I am not a sawmill expert by any means, but just from looking at the pictures and comparing to mills I have seen and used, it looks to me like the flat bed rails might accumulate some sawdust and give you problems. all the ones I have seen had a thin edge that the wheels rode on, so they wouldnt gather sawdust and start riding up on it. maybe you could add some sort of sweepers so this doesnt become an issue.
maybe you have used it enough by now and found that it wasnt a problem.
overall though it looks very sturdy, some really good craftsmanship there... enjoy
That is wonderful that you were able to buy some land. That is exciting. I look forward to buying a larger parcel of land myself some day in the future. That must be interesting to have those ancient graveyards on your property. Do the history professors or archeologists in your country know what nationality of people are buried there? Are they planning to do any excavations to explore the graves, or will they leave them as they are now?
redlaker, you are so right, the sawdust with these wheels is simply impossible, but I wanted to save some money since I had these for free. I think you call this penny wise and pound foolish. I have replaced them with v-grove wheels (30 EUR each) and an angle profile. I will post some pictures soon.
Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Roghair!
Hi Okrafarmer, what kind of land do you currently have, what are the prices per sq acre in your area?
The barrows are from the bronze ages; no nationalities back then I guess :)
I looked for some information, but hard to find in English. If you are interested this might give some insight.
http://www.cannockchasehistory.org.uk/_Tumuli.htm
Quote from: roghair on December 11, 2012, 03:48:32 PM
Hi Okrafarmer, what kind of land do you currently have, what are the prices per sq acre in your area?
The barrows are from the bronze ages; no nationalities back then I guess :)
I looked for some information, but hard to find in English. If you are interested this might give some insight.
http://www.cannockchasehistory.org.uk/_Tumuli.htm
That is an interesting web site, Roghair!
Right now, my wife and I only have one acre of land, with our house on it. The price of land varies drastically in various parts of the United States. Anywhere from $500 or so per acre in some places, to many thousands or even a million dollars per acre in some highly sought after locations. Around my area of South Carolina, if you buy raw land of 20 acres or more, you can usually buy it for $8,000 to $12,000 per acre. However, if you get farther away from the city, the price drops. Where my parents live in Kentucky, you can get a 40-acre parcel for around $2,000 per acre-- $80,000. That would not include a house on it.
How about in the Netherlands-- how many Euros would you have to pay for land?
It looks good, how big are the wheels? They look large from here. How wide can you cut?
Even going to V groove wheels you may still want to cover them and put some kind of scraper to keep the rails clean. My homemade CSM had V groove wheels and I was constantly picking out the packed sawdust to keep it rolling straight.
Thanks Jemclimber, the wheels are 25" and the max distance between the blade guides is 21". I think I can handle/saw a 24" log which is more than enough for the kind of logs a have. I don't have the equipment to move bigger logs around anyways.
I think you are right with the build-up of sawdust in the grove wheels; will make some kind of scraper. How do the commercial sawmills handle the sawdust on the bed and in the wheels?
Quote from: Okrafarmer on December 11, 2012, 08:59:42 PM
How about in the Netherlands-- how many Euros would you have to pay for land?
It depends totally on the zoning plan of the land:
- nature-only land (woods etc) 1-3 Euro per square meter
- agrarian land: 5-10 Euro per square meter
- Land that allows you to build a house: 200-600 per square meter !!
So if you can change the zoning scheme from agrarian to "house allowed" you are a rich man :), but that seldom happens anymore.
If Euros and Dollars were equal, it sounds like the nature-only land is a similar price to the same kind of land sold around my area, except that here, in many cases, it is not zoned, and they would let you build a house there.
We have more "nature" land available in most parts of the US, than there is in most of Europe, I think. ;)
My wife grew up in northeast France, just on the other side of Belgium from you. :)
if you look at the woodland mills website, they have a pretty simple idea for wheel sweepers that looks like it would be pretty effective. its basically just a piece of stranded cable thats frayed out on the end that rides on the wheels to scrape them off. seems like it would work pretty well and wouldnt be hard to make. I cut on an old norwood that used a piece of felt to clean the wheels, but it ended up getting jammed up a couple times and made it really hard to push along.
On my lt15 WM it has the wheels covered, with covered felt between, and on both ends a piece of plastic (appears to be lmw polyethylene) about 1/4" wide with the rail profile cut out to push the sawdust out of the way. The plastic pieces bolt on and can be adjusted for wear.
Those large 25" wheels should lesson the metal fatigue on your bands and hopefully make them last a long time. Very nice.
We do three things when we change blades. Clean the belts, blow all the sawdust out of the housings and run this little tool around the wheels to make sure nothing has built up under the belts.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/30097/1213122030.jpg)
We used molding clay to get the exact shape of the pulley. Then just cut and ground a piece of 1/8" steel to fit it. Be sure to de-bur it and make it smooth. It breaks up and removes any build up. And believe me. Some woods make dust that WILL get under your belts.
Great idea Learner, should post a picture of that nice tool in the sawmill mods. Thanks.
That is a nifty tool. smiley_thumbsup
Thanks for the advice Jemclimber and redlaker1. Today I made something based on your hints, I hope it works sufficiently. Will try in the weekend.
On the left-front wheel I made two scrapers; one in front of the wheel and one behind the wheel. I think this wheel will meet most sawdust since the blade is just behind it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0283.JPG)
The rubber can easily be adjusted or replaced if necessary.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0287.JPG)
the other wheels have just one side with a scraper
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0288.JPG)
nice work, looks like that is going to work well. curious to hear about the test run
Welcome Roghair ;D
I think oil impregnated UHMW polyethylene,in contact with the rails and the wheels,would word much better.
I have some if You need it,just Pm Me Your details. :christmas:
Jim
Thanks jamesamd; question, is this material flexible enough for this purpose? When I google it, it looks more like a solid material ... If you think it will work better, I should try, but I live in The Netherlands. Maybe more difficult to send some??
Roghair, you really don't want something very flexible for this application. You need something that will push material out of the way, but not wear on your rails. I'm sure this stuff or something very similar is available to you locally.
Roghair,it will work fine,just send Me Your delivery info and I'll send it off as soon as I can.
Jim
Roghair, welcome to the forum.
Your mill displays some top notch metal working skills, it should serve you well. One thing I noticed is that the driven wheel pulley may be a little small. Bandsaw mill blades (for 1 1/4" blades) perform best between 5,000-5,500 feet per minute. From the photos it appears your mill may be "geared" a little fast.
Again, welcome, and please keep us updated on your progress.
Jack.
Hi Jack, Thanks for the feedback, It indeed looks a little small but I have a 1:2 reduction with centrifugal clutch on the motor. See picture.
The motor has only 13 hp. On Cooks saw webside I read that with 13 hp the bandspeed should be not more than 4000-4500 feet/min. If the motor runs 3000 rpm the output shaft (after 1:2 reduction) runs 1500 rpm with a 4" pulley driving a 10" pulley on the driven wheel which is 25". This result in a 4000 ft/min bandspeed. If the motor runs on max power (3600 rpm) the bandspeed is appr. 5000 ft/min.
After I made the wheel guards I can test again (I promised my wife not to turn on the saw before those are insalled... and she is right)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0214.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0232.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0236.JPG)
Quote from: Okrafarmer on December 11, 2012, 08:59:42 PM
Quote from: roghair on December 11, 2012, 03:48:32 PM
Hi Okrafarmer, what kind of land do you currently have, what are the prices per sq acre in your area?
The barrows are from the bronze ages; no nationalities back then I guess :)
I looked for some information, but hard to find in English. If you are interested this might give some insight.
http://www.cannockchasehistory.org.uk/_Tumuli.htm
That is an interesting web site, Roghair!
Right now, my wife and I only have one acre of land, with our house on it. The price of land varies drastically in various parts of the United States. Anywhere from $500 or so per acre in some places, to many thousands or even a million dollars per acre in some highly sought after locations. Around my area of South Carolina, if you buy raw land of 20 acres or more, you can usually buy it for $8,000 to $12,000 per acre. However, if you get farther away from the city, the price drops. Where my parents live in Kentucky, you can get a 40-acre parcel for around $2,000 per acre-- $80,000. That would not include a house on it.
How about in the Netherlands-- how many Euros would you have to pay for land?
I have just bought 285ha (1 ha = 10,000m2) for as MUCH as U$8550 (contains aprox 1300m3 of roundlog hardwood), so if you want to invest..
You mean the land was $8,850 per hectare? That sounds decent, if it's covered with wood. Is it there in Bolivia? What species of trees do you have there?
No I mean $8850 for the entire 285ha!!
we have ipe, massranduba and tigerwood and 2 others which sell well in the local market. When you clear the area it gets more expensive because cattlefarmers pay the big money here and we clear it more or less just taking out the big trees
Welcome roghair
Nic job on your mill so far keep us posted.
pete
Quote from: harrymontana on December 24, 2012, 10:40:30 AM
No I mean $8850 for the entire 285ha!!
we have ipe, massranduba and tigerwood and 2 others which sell well in the local market. When you clear the area it gets more expensive because cattlefarmers pay the big money here and we clear it more or less just taking out the big trees
Wow, I'd buy a hectare or two from you! I'd like mine with the trees still on it. . . . :)
Finally I was able to do some test cuts on the mill today. I wanted to test the scrapers that should keep the track and the wheels for the carriage clean.
As you can see on the picture, they work suprisingly well; better than I thought they would. The track and the wheels stay clean while the rest is covered with sawdust.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0307.JPG)
It was also a nice experience that the saw with the new WM blade - I ordered in Germany through the Dutch dealer - could actually make real lumber/boards out of the test log (120 cm long). The boards were flat and the saw went perfectly through the knots. I know that for you guys as experienced professional sawers this might sound a bit exaggerated, but it was a good moment after all the hours I put in so far... and of course the forum has been a great help so far.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0305.JPG)
I also made some guards for the saw wheels, but while working on the sheetmetal covers I got worried about the blade when it would break. So I stopped and went to the FF to see if there was any thread on that issue. I found this one and decided to make the covers from plywood next week.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,43434.msg627340.html#msg627340
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0303.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0299.JPG)
Bruce29, why did you decide to make the covers from sheetmetal in the end? How often breaks a blade and what damage do you have on both the blade and the cover?
I think commercial mills all have sheetmetal or Al covers; do you guys ever have severe damage or is everything so smooth inside the guards that it is not possible to ruin anything?
When a blade breaks, it does not matter if the cover damages it. It is broken anyway.
If an unbroken blade comes off, either something is wrong with the bandwheel alignment, or you did a bad thing and knocked it off. In that case, there are many things that cause blade damage, one of which could be the cover.
The cover will not prevent damaged pride. :-\
Hmm, good point... So you say a broken blade can not be welded again and should be thrown away? I have no clue how often a blade breakes, but it sounds as if that happens you just (shame yourself) take a new blade and continue.
BTW when do you saw, it seems you're always online... ;)
Roghair, congrats on the first cut! I think we all remember how rewarding it was the first time we produced lumber from a log.
About welding broken blades. If it was a new or nearly new blade it may be worth welding, but if it has been used a lot and resharpened several times, odds are that there are other stress cracks in the blade that will soon fail.
Very impressive workmanship on the mill, by the way.
Quote from: roghair on January 06, 2013, 04:35:31 PM
So you say a broken blade can not be welded again and should be thrown away?
A new blade is not going to break anyway. When old ones break, and eventually they all will, the metal is fatigued to a point that it soon will just break somewhere else. If I knock one off, then it is just shame on me. No apology for one breaking. I do not keep blade records, but a broken blade has probably been resharpened 6-8 times.
Quote from: roghair on January 06, 2013, 04:35:31 PM
BTW when do you saw, it seems you're always online...
I sawed the week before Christmas and also the 26th & 27th, which ended my sawing year. I have 17 sawjobs, 14 of which are local. I'll go to whichever one calls first with news that it is dry enough to get to the logs.
Since my last few birthdays, I try not to ever saw more than 3 days per week. The sawmill needs a rest. ;D
roghair, very nice work on the mill! outstanding work, I have not much to add other than with your obvious skills you might consider building some covers for the wheels, and just to add a comment on broken blades, of all the ones that have broke on me, they kinda get kinked up just a bit, making any attempt at a salvage almost impossible. Nice mill man, happy for you, take care, david
roghair, welcome to FF! 8) Your mill looks great, cuts well too. I am relatively new to this sawmilling adventure, it's become an addiction ;). Beware.
I've never had a new WM blade break. However, I have had a couple of new bands from other manufacturers break. One blade was on my homemade mill, other on the WM superhydraulic. No major damage to mills, a few scrapes. Had a few older resharpened blades break as well. Suprises me everytime it happens.
Keep up the good work.
Congratulations on your first test run! That's great!
I have broken a new Woodmizer blade. ::) It can be done.
When a band breaks or comes off, it can damage the inside of the guards, but on metal ones, it usually isn't too bad. On the old Woodmizer I run, there is quite a bit of accumulated damage to the parts surrounding the blade, but the mill is around 23 years old, and I only contributed a fraction of the marks!
Very nice work.
Just as a matter of information, If a WM band breaks in the weld, they will replace it free. Since all bands have a S/N, they can trace it back to the machine/operator that produced it.
Good to know. I don't think mine did. :-[ In case you're wondering how it happened, the Pecan made me do it. :-\
Good info guys, so I might as well continue with the sheet metal covers. I was halfway already.
Since I learn so much on this forum about sawing techniques and problems one might run into, but no experience myself to share, I thought I post some pictures of my project here in my garage in The Netherlands.
OK, I finished the sheet metal guards as you guys suggested:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0333.JPG)
Doors open:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0335.JPG)
Also covered the pulley:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0329.JPG)
As you can see on this picture there is some space between the motor and the wheels. Since I had no specific place for the lub tank I thought this might be a good spot. But also I have to save some of this space for the battery in case I want to add a motor for the up/down of the head.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0336.JPG)
I had some Hi-Macs plate left over from a kitchen sink I made for my son that was just enough for the lub tank.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0341.JPG)
added a level indicator and a small tap:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0349.JPG)
Contains 18 liter (appr. 4.5 Gallon) which should be enough for my 'high throughput wood industry':)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0350.JPG)
Also added a measurement strip with two indicators; one with the absolute distance to the bed and the other one adjustable. Don't know yet how that works out in practice, but is what I see on some manual mills...
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0357.JPG)
These are cm of course
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0358.JPG)
I think the sawhead is ready for the moment so I put on the plate which I took from the original vertical bandsaw where I got the 25"wheels from. As you can see it is from an old (royal) company from Rotterdam, that does not exist anymore. Just honour the old craftmanship ;) Don't mention my ugly welds.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0386.JPG)
Time to work on the log bed; these are some parts of the track that will installed on my property.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0384.JPG)
These will be the logstops and bunks (if that is the right word?). I thought it would be a good idea to cover them with stainless steel, so I spent some money on that.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0383.JPG)
Roghair, looks great and very neat. I don't think I've ever seen a shop this CLEAN! 8)
Wow! Looks very well thought out and great craftmanship. Nice job.
Allan
Welcome to the forum roghair. That is a nice looking mill you built.
You sure are industrious! Good work so far, it's looking great! One day you will be making lumber.
8)
Roghair, that is very impressive and meticulous workmanship!
you guys have been so complimentary that I needed the dictionary (meticulous, industrious), thanks!! This forum even improves my English ;D
Quote from: roghair on February 01, 2013, 12:12:18 PM
you guys have been so complimentary that I needed the dictionary (meticulous, industrious), thanks!! This forum even improves my English ;D
:D I know the word for "industrious" in German, but not Dutch! Maybe it's similar.
You can feel free to teach us some Dutch words too, we always love to learn new things from other countries, too. ;)
Okrafarmer, What is the German word? In Dutch it is "hardwerkend" (hard working). German and Dutch are more different than you might think.
Quote from: Okrafarmer on February 02, 2013, 12:53:26 AM
You can feel free to teach us some Dutch words too, we always love to learn new things from other countries, too. ;)
It would be handy to have the same words for the different species, that's what I struggle most with in English (maybe learn the Latin names :P)
Welcome Roghair,to use american slang "you done good".Band breakage is influenced greatly by how much tension you put on the band and of course how many times it travels around the wheels.Bands will come off the wheels usally its when you try to back out of a cut or catch the back of the band when giging back.You could put a piece of plywood on the inside of your sheet metal guards,even glue it on with mastic.How are you planning to set and sharpen your bands.?? Frank C.
Nice thread and nice mill you have there. About the latin names. They are good to know and use. Even here in the states there are many names for one species of trees. The latin names solves the problem of all the others names. ;) I only know the slang names. That is what I grew up with.I brought a book to help me out. Just the ones in the state I live in.
Roghair: Welcome. This has been a very interesting thread.
To All: Concerning breaking blades my record is 6 broken new bands in one day. All broke in the weld. The next two out of another box became metal detectors. Yup OUCH!
I showed two of the bands with ends to a W-M rep and he checked them out for the info on them and told me they should never have gotten out of the factory and replaced the entire box. Didn't get much lumber sawed, but got a lot of experience changing blades. Note: The customer paid for two.
Gerald
I had one batch that broke in the weld. WM replaced them all under warranty. :)
Quote from: roghair on February 02, 2013, 04:23:54 AM
Okrafarmer, What is the German word? In Dutch it is "hardwerkend" (hard working). German and Dutch are more different than you might think.
Wow,
hardwerken is actually very close to the English "hard working" which is the same as industrious. The German word I learned was
FleiBig. For those who don't know, we don't have the letter
essett in English, and because it isn't on our keyboards, we substitute the capital B for it. It is another letter to make an S sound. Why they need two letters to say ssss I don't know, but in English we also use C to sometimes make the ssss sound too. So the German word
FleiBig is pronounced "Fly-sig" (more or less). I just thought it was a funny word to learn in my first year German class in high school, when it seems there would be many more important words to learn! It was in a chapter about adjectives describing people. We also learned
krank, mude, schlimm, faul, gluchlich, und ungluchlich.
Quote from: Okrafarmer on February 02, 2013, 04:21:07 PM
Wow, hardwerken is actually very close to the English "hard working" which is the same as industrious. The German word I learned was FleiBig. For those who don't know, we don't have the letter essett in English, and because it isn't on our keyboards, we substitute the capital B for it. It is another letter to make an S sound. Why they need two letters to say ssss I don't know, but in English we also use C to sometimes make the ssss sound too. So the German word FleiBig is pronounced "Fly-sig" (more or less). I just thought it was a funny word to learn in my first year German class in high school, when it seems there would be many more important words to learn! It was in a chapter about adjectives describing people. We also learned krank, mude, schlimm, faul, gluchlich, und ungluchlich.
OK, yes I know the German word fleissig. In Dutch you can also say "vleitig", which is "diligent" in English (all more or less the same). BTW In the Netherlands we use International/US keyboards and have no eszett (or ringel-s) on the keyboard, we just make it 'ss'. I think most European countries have their own keyboards, but we don't fortunately.
Do you all learn foreign languages at school? We have English, French and German for a few years and English throughout the schoolperiod (mandatory).
Quote from: bandmiller2 on February 02, 2013, 07:28:57 AM
...Band breakage is influenced greatly by how much tension you put on the band and of course how many times it travels around the wheels.Bands will come off the wheels usally its when you try to back out of a cut or catch the back of the band when giging back....How are you planning to set and sharpen your bands.?? Frank C.
I am confident now the bands will not break easy and if they do on the weld, I know where to go (thanks MM). I have 5 WoodMizer blades 1½" x 0,045" on 25" wheels so the blade can have some tension I think. My motor is only 13HP and as a result probably not capable to pull the band in pieces...
Don't know where to sharpen yet, I guess WM has a service in Germany as well. I will call the distributor here in Holland who supplied them.
I also have 5 blades from Pilana (Czech), 1¼" which I have not tried yet, but they look very similar (gulet) as the ones from WM only a bit smaller (narrower) and thinner.
http://www.pilana.com/en/band-saw-blades-for-wood-up-to-50-mm-width
Roghair, I think our language requirements vary by state. I took one year of French, and two years of German in high school. In college I studied Chinese. I've studied Spanish on my own (very important in the US). I am not fluent in any of those languages, but I love learning more about languages and learning new words.
when you weld sheetmetal with a stick welder it is very hard to do but it can be done , you have to use 3/32 rod and turn the welder to about 60 to 70 and just spot it and dont stay on it for more the a couple of milliseconds, or maybe put some thicker little blocks of metal on one piece and then spot the sheet to the block,
thats alot of years welding ,its way better with a mig welder and faster and cleaner,if your good with the stick you should make it work for mahing your guards ,
jim
Jim, thanks. That is in fact what I tried. But I am not an experienced welder so I burned some holes to be honest.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0317.JPG)
Quote from: roghair on February 03, 2013, 04:22:43 PM
Jim, thanks. That is in fact what I tried. But I am not an experienced welder so I burned some holes to be honest.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/DSC_0317.JPG)
That's still better than I can do!
thats not too bad , it looks pretty decent , good job and good luck , you could fill the burn holes with a little body filler if you wanted and nobody would know, its really hard to fill holes with a stick welder .
jim
Roghair,
Congratulations on a very professional looking mill. When your not cutting perhaps you can manufacture and sell mills.
Jim
Happycamper, I think I spent less than $ 1500 on this mill (out of the pocket) BUT if I have to calculate the hours.... So given the amount of time it took me, I can not make a living out of building mills. It's also a very small market here in Holland (I would estimate WM will not sell more than 5 mills a year here).
Apart from the time to build it, it took me a lot of time to understand how a mill actually works; I never saw one in my life, believe it or not. The basic concept of a mill is not difficult to understand and makes you think you can easily build one yourself ;D But then, if you never operated one, you have no clue about the dynamics, the required power, which bands to use, how to balance and align the wheels and the blade guides, how to raise and lower the head etc. I read a lot on this forum and watched hundreds of youtube video's on home made mills and commercial mills and tried to find what was feasable for me; I could not justify to spent too much money on this project.
Now that I am in this stage, I know what I would do different next time to design a simple low cost mill (that might be taken into production if there is a business case).
First I need to set up the mill on my property and saw the logs I have before they rot. And than I fell some more I hope 8)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/b8_089.JPG)
If I have the lumber, I can build a shed for the mill, tractor and arch and replace this temporary shed I made for the tractor for the winter.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/020.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31167/019.JPG)
:-[ Does this makes sense:
- I bought a small tractor to haul the logs
- built a mill to saw them
- use the lumber to build a shed for the mill and the tractor
- now what?
It would have been cheeper to leave the logs in the woods or on the firewood pile, but not as much fun as I have so far on this project. I can't wait to saw many logs to lumber!
"It's (not always) the economy, stupid" ???
Quote from: roghair on February 04, 2013, 06:52:17 PM
:-[ Does this makes sense:
- I bought a small tractor to haul the logs
- built a mill to saw them
- use the lumber to build a shed for the mill and the tractor
- now what?
It would have been cheeper to leave the logs in the woods or on the firewood pile, but not as much fun as I have so far on this project. I can't wait to saw many logs to lumber!
"It's (not always) the economy, stupid" ???
:D :D :D No, it does not make sense. You should have built your own tractor, too! :D :D :D
Only kidding. It does make sense what you did, because:
1. You will be able to mill many more logs than merely the ones you have now, including:
2. Logs from other people's land-- they may pay you to mill them
3. You will find many other uses for your tractor
4. After a while, you may be able to make sawmills to sell to other people in your country (or even other countries nearby). But first you need to try it out and make sure you get all the little problems figured out so that you will have a really good product to sell when you decide to make them for other people. :)