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General Forestry => Sawmills and Milling => Topic started by: HaroldSiefke on February 18, 2013, 10:09:24 PM

Title: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: HaroldSiefke on February 18, 2013, 10:09:24 PM
My mill is pretty basic so when I get it to the shop I keep adding thing on. I just re-powered it with a 20.5 robin subaru. I think that's going to be great 8) The motor fit pretty well. Had to change only a few things. Now all I have to do is plumb in my pineywoods turner and I will be back milling. I am going to use the hydraulics of my wood splitter to power the turner. I put two quick disconnects on it. Does anyone know if I will have to put a shut off valve on the pressure side to make this work? The shut off valve would go after the T so I can shut off the wood splitter hydraulics.   
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: drobertson on February 18, 2013, 10:16:21 PM
I don't mind working on the mill, pretty much the only way to keep going when something happens, but would rather just keep sawing,  not sure about your valve,  someone else should help soon.   david
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Chuck White on February 18, 2013, 10:35:34 PM
I enjoy working on my mill, especially verifying the alignment.

Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: LeeB on February 18, 2013, 10:42:43 PM
I don't always enjoy it but if you want to keep using it, you must do what needs done. Today I was going to buy a new radiator bracket that had broken. I rewelded it twice before. WM wanted $43 for it and even the guy on the phone said that was really high for a twisted piece of metal with a couple of holes. I had to agree and made a new one from a piece of flatbar. Looks like crap but works just fine. The flatbar was  piece of scrap I had picked up somewhere.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on February 18, 2013, 10:47:45 PM
My wife claims I work on it more than I work with it.

She is known to exaggerate now and then!
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Magicman on February 18, 2013, 10:52:23 PM
I do not like to have to work on the sawmill.  I'd rather be sawing.

LeeB, I finally welded enough gusset on that bracket that it is now afraid to break.   ;D
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: pyrocasto on February 18, 2013, 10:54:22 PM
Quote from: Bandmill Bandit on February 18, 2013, 10:47:45 PM
My wife claims I work on it more than I work with it.

She is known to exaggerate now ant then!

That's the truth with me, but I did build my mill.  :D I very much enjoy working on the mill when it's adding on, but not so much when it's fixing something broken. Just added bearings in the back stops, should have done that long ago. Also just added a electric solenoid for the lube, so it turns on and off automatically. No more coming in the next day to a puddle of lube when I forget. Next is the homemade "setworks".
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: pineywoods on February 18, 2013, 10:59:46 PM
Harold, on the shut-off valve question, I'm assuming you just T'd into the output of the pump and the return line with 2 hoses going to the turner control valve bank. If that's correct, then yes, you need a shutoff valve on the inlet to the log splitter valve. Otherwise, oil will flow from the pump, through the splitter valve, and back to the tank. There won't be any pressure going to the turner. Be sure to hook up the hoses to the turner before closing that cut-off valve.

To answer your other question, I'm as much a tinkerer as I am a sawyer. My mill started life as a basic mizer manual lt40G18. It now has a kawasaki liquid cooled motor, home-made hydraulics, home-made auto-clutch (just flip a switch), home-made remote console, and a sawdust blower system. The woodmizer service guy's won't touch it  ;D I modified my wm blade tooth setter so it sets both left and right teeth at the same time, and the current project is to upgrade the blade sharpener. I don't have much choice about working on the mill.  Way back in the dim dark past, some voodo witch put a curse on my family that is passed down from generation to generation. Anything we own has to be worked on before you can use it. ::)
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: kelLOGg on February 19, 2013, 04:56:37 AM
Quote from: pineywoods on February 18, 2013, 10:59:46 PM
Anything we own has to be worked on before you can use it. ::)

Amen to that for me. I bought the manual MP32 and made mods like I wanted them. It may not be "better" but it is like I want it.
Bob
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: bandmiller2 on February 19, 2013, 07:30:13 AM
Hal,before you buy an expensive high pressure shutoff valve consider a spool type diverter valve their quite cheap and made for what you want to do.Push pull and you can have pressure to ether the splitter or mill. Frank C.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Berggie on February 19, 2013, 07:34:56 AM
I like to build and work on my mill just as much as sawing, I built every part of my mill so far and enjoy all of it.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: mmartone on February 19, 2013, 07:50:34 AM
I dont like to work on the mill at all, I was in the dumps when the chain broke the other day. I love to mill, I hate to work on it. I know it needs and alignment tuneup but am putting it off.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Solomon on February 19, 2013, 09:41:39 AM
I enjoy working on my mill.  Although I don't have much trouble with it.
I replaced a flow divider and I do some sanding and painting on it to keep it looking new.   I would like to upgrade the pump to maybe 14 gallons per minute. The one on it now is a 9 gallon.  After 6 years I'd like it to move tha cylinders a little faster.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: petefrom bearswamp on February 19, 2013, 09:45:26 AM
Despise working on it, but is necessary unless it is something major.
I am only 1 hr from Hannibal so go there when necessary.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Ocklawahaboy on February 19, 2013, 09:55:36 AM
My time with the mill is so limited, I hate putting wrenches instead of logs to it.  I've had to do a few things and need to do a few more.  Really want to design a manual toe board for it.  I have it mostly figured out but not quite.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Buck on February 19, 2013, 10:36:08 AM

THAT'S IT!!

I don't have much choice about working on the mill.  Way back in the dim dark past, some voodo witch put a curse on my family that is passed down from generation to generation. Anything we own has to be worked on before you can use it. ::)
[/quote]

I suffer from the same curse! ;) ;)
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: John Bartley on February 19, 2013, 10:57:04 AM
Quote from: Magicman on February 18, 2013, 10:52:23 PM
I do not like to have to work on the sawmill.  I'd rather be sawing.

Yup, what he said!!
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Cedarman on February 19, 2013, 11:59:32 AM
If my mill is not moving back and forth, we are not making money.
But, just because the mill is moving back and does not mean we are making money.
Anything that takes away from productivity, I do not like.
I don't dislike working on the mill.  It is a mental thing.  I try to find enjoyment in whatever I am doing.
If someone hired me to work on their mill, I would enjoy it.
I enjoy problem solving , rather than fixing the problem after it is found.  Such as figuring out that the reason the mill was sawing out of square, even though the square said 3 corners were square.  The fourth was out of square which is geometrically impossible, thus indicating the square was not square.  In this case, get a new square and realign the mill, which I let the sawyer do after the bad square ate his lunch.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: millwright on February 19, 2013, 06:30:16 PM
If you were to hook the pressure side of the turner into the tank return of the splitter you could eliminate the need for a shut off valve.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: saxon0364 on February 19, 2013, 07:05:02 PM
Quote from: pineywoods on February 18, 2013, 10:59:46 PM
Way back in the dim dark past, some voodo witch put a curse on my family that is passed down from generation to generation. Anything we own has to be worked on before you can use it. ::)

I think your great great granddad and mine ticked off the same witch or something. :-\
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Tree Feller on February 19, 2013, 07:43:36 PM
I don't enjoy working on anything I own. I don't even change the oil in my truck, I take it to a oil-changing place.

Forced repairs are especially aggravating to me. Be it a lawnmower, ATV, boat, tiller, chainsaw or sawmill, I don't keep equipment that demands constant repairs. Routine maintenance should take care of wear items. Anything else is just a pita.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: HaroldSiefke on February 19, 2013, 10:17:52 PM
Well got pineywoods turner plumbing almost done. Thanks to the man him self. I used allot of used parts. So I ended up only buying the three cylinders new. I have less then 300 dollars in it. I got most of my parts off old farm equipment. It seems to function really well off the log splitter. I have to hang lines and finnish putting the claw part on. The next thing is going to be power back stops. Mine has pocket that a tube slide down in. Has anyone made hydraulic back stops for there mill? If you have pitchers of them would be great. If not i will copy the wood-mizer ones that pineywoods has modified.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Peter Drouin on February 19, 2013, 10:25:21 PM
I will, I spend to much money on all the things I have  not take care of it :D
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: SPD748 on February 20, 2013, 09:58:05 AM
Well,

'Working' on my mill is, at least for me, what it's all been about! Oh, there's an occasional board or two :D

-lee
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: POSTON WIDEHEAD on February 20, 2013, 10:07:00 AM
Quote from: SPD748 on February 20, 2013, 09:58:05 AM
Well,

'Working' on my mill is, at least for me, what it's all been about! Oh, there's an occasional board or two :D

-lee

;D
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: never finished on February 20, 2013, 08:00:01 PM
  I like working on my mill. Most everything I have is home made or home improved. Pineywoods is my hero!!!. I have dreams of some day going south on a day trip just to meet him. Iffin he can spare the time. Of course most of my derams and ideas are Never Finished.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: dboyt on February 21, 2013, 08:31:16 AM
Quote from: saxon0364 on February 19, 2013, 07:05:02 PM
Quote from: pineywoods on February 18, 2013, 10:59:46 PM
Way back in the dim dark past, some voodo witch put a curse on my family that is passed down from generation to generation. Anything we own has to be worked on before you can use it. ::)

I think your great great granddad and mine ticked off the same witch or something. :-\

She musta really gotten around.  I figured it was my ex-girlfriend I broke off with when I met my current one (the one I've been married to for over 30 years).

I love working on the mill if it is to make it run better or save me some work.  The log splitter for turning logs is a great idea, and I can see using it to power a log lifter, as well-- and maybe even splitting slabs for firewood at the end of the day.  I don't mind maintaining, adjusting or tweaking it.  I hate repairing it, though that hasn't been an issue since I sold my previous mill and got the Norwood.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: bandmiller2 on February 21, 2013, 08:47:45 AM
Hal,I don't have hydraulic backstops on my bandmill but their connected and can be operated from a lever on my side of the mill almost as good and scads cheaper. Frank C.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Ga Mtn Man on February 21, 2013, 09:05:51 AM
I love to tinker on the mill, so long as there's no pressure to get finished up.  It's no fun being in the waning hours of daylight with mill parts scattered everywhere and a saw job to get to first thing in the morning.smiley_fused_bomb
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Delawhere Jack on February 21, 2013, 04:54:50 PM
I'll take 8 hours of working on the mill over 30 minutes working on any vehicle.

I HATE working on cars!! smiley_devil The day they put an OBD III diagnostic port on a sawmill I'm hanging up my bands.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: HaroldSiefke on February 21, 2013, 08:52:34 PM
Quote from: bandmiller2 on February 21, 2013, 08:47:45 AM
Hal,I don't have hydraulic backstops on my bandmill but their connected and can be operated from a lever on my side of the mill almost as good and scads cheaper. Frank C.
Do you have any pictures of your back stops? Did you build them? I need to figure out how to make them be adjustable and move up and down any home inventions would be great.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Stephen1 on February 21, 2013, 09:04:45 PM
My B in law likes to say if it doesn't need fixing why would we buy it and keep it:-)
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: macpower on February 21, 2013, 09:06:14 PM
I repair equipment all week long. On my own time I want to saw, not fix things! My Thomas is about as bullet proof as they come. It only seems to break when I do something stupid! I don't mind the regular maintenance, when I'm doing it, it means I getting ready to saw.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Jim H on February 21, 2013, 09:10:02 PM
Quote from: Delawhere Jack on February 21, 2013, 04:54:50 PM
The day they put an OBD III diagnostic port on a sawmill I'm hanging up my bands.
No port on mine, I have to count flashing lights to read codes from the ECU. A code reader would be easier.           
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Bandmill Bandit on February 22, 2013, 10:56:13 PM
Quote from: Jim H on February 21, 2013, 09:10:02 PM
Quote from: Delawhere Jack on February 21, 2013, 04:54:50 PM
The day they put an OBD III diagnostic port on a sawmill I'm hanging up my bands.
No port on mine, I have to count flashing lights to read codes from the ECU. A code reader would be easier.           

There is one available from Kolher.  Think it is about 250 ish.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: Happycamper on February 23, 2013, 08:20:53 PM
I won't mind working on my mill once it is set up and running. The more I know about it the better it should work for me and the easier to make needed adjustments. Just now getting acquainted with it.
                                    Jim
Already found that the head is hard to raise so made a change to it. Can raise the head W/O hernia.



 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/31755/LT_10_Lift_Assist_006_28Custom29.jpg)
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: HaroldSiefke on February 24, 2013, 09:23:51 PM
The new 20.5 hp subaru motor and pineywood turner worked awesome on the woodland modified mill. Pretty soon there wont be a stock part on this mill. I'll have to rename it :D The mill handled the motor and turner nicely. I thought maybe it was to much motor but after running it on a 26 inch cotton wood today I would not go any smaller on motor size. The turner made it so I never even used my peavey. Thanks again pineywoods. Now is on to hydraulic back stops.
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: markkelly on February 25, 2013, 09:50:22 PM
 8) 8) 8) 8) I love to work on my mill!!!!  I can't wait until I can find time to work on it 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: How many of you like to work on your mill?
Post by: bozzaa69 on March 05, 2013, 07:59:04 PM
I built my mill from scratch. So the work has already been done. It was allot of work though. I like sawing better than building it though. Although building it was a great skill honing and learning experience.