Up and running!

[Bullheaded]

I am finally up and running with a circle mill! I recently bought a complete Belsaw M14 mill from the original owner who purchased  installed it in 1975. Being and old Paper Mill maintenance man, he followed the Belsaw concrete foundation plans to a T! I built legsets per the plans and hope to eventually upgrade to a heavier old American or Corley mill. It has been a very exciting last couple of weeks for me as I got closer to achieving a lifelong dream of my own sawmill. There is still a full page on the To-Do list but I just couldn't wait any longer to mill a couple boards. A month or so ago, I rounded up (24) tamarack and smaller hemlock logs. They were standing recently dead. Here is a shot of the first couple of boards.

[Bullheaded]

My offbearing slide. The cut boards and slabs slide right on to my tractor forks.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Nice setup. Good looking boards.

   Unusual forum name - did your wife pick it?

[Magicman]

That looks and sounds exciting.    I would love to watch a video of you sawing. 

[Bullheaded]

Nice setup. Good looking boards.

  Unusual forum name - did your wife pick it?

Two wives have fired me.....enough said?

[Bullheaded]

Magicman

That looks and sounds exciting.    I would love to watch a video of you sawing. 

I would very much appreciate your input. PM me a good phone # or email and I will send a video or the 25hp Wisconsin growling away....

[Magicman]

It's OK to post the YouTube video on here for everyone to watch and enjoy. 

[thecfarm]

Me too!!!!! 

[hardtailjohn]

Good for you!!  I love my Belsaw!!  I was beginning to think I was alone instead of just outnumbered here.
Can't wait to see videos of sawing. What are you powering it with? They're a great little mill for what they are!
John

[Magicman]

When I saw that one I was wondering about yours John. 

[DanielW]

Great pics! I love my little Belsaws. I have two - A little M14 and their heavier-duty D-1148 model. I have three other circular mills: A Lane, A Frick, and one oddball unit. But I find I'm using the Belsaws most, because they're so handy for one person to operate. With any of the larger mills, you need at least two or three people (and a lot more power) to run efficiently.

You'll hear a lot of folks tell you how the M14's were an economy/light/farmer mill. Which is true, but it always bugs me to hear people criticize them like this. Yes, they're light and don't have the best setworks. But still heavier-duty than 95% of the hobby-grade bandmills most folks have. And even the M14's will outstrip any bandmill by miles in daily BF production (if you can keep the sawdust cleared).

I'm a little surprised that Wisconsin has enough power to run it. The Belsaws are light-running mills, but I still find I need 35+ HP to keep the blade at the hammered speed. I'd love to see some videos of it running.

If you ever need any parts, let us know. I have a collection of assorted parts, and have drawn other parts I needed in CAD so I can send to machine shops for them to plug into their CNC and spit them out pretty quickly.

[barbender]

Cool mill, Bullheaded! 

You're in good company here, we have quite a few guys here that habitually get fired by their women folk😁

[Bullheaded]

YouTube link of me milling dry Tamarack. This one was 17" at the butt when I started.

https://youtu.be/o4fniXThjoM

[Bullheaded]

Current state.

[rusticretreater]

Man that open blade was scary. Looks like some good improvements.

[Andries]

Great video, and good looking 'improvements'. 
Also known as essential luxuries around here.
I suppose a smaller tractor 50 hp or so might give it more grunt, but then you wouldn't be able to catch your boards on the fel forks. Trade offs.
Is a sawdust collector in the plans?

[Bullheaded]

My current thought for sawdust removal is a a gas powered leaf vac/blower unit with 6" pvc. I am watching FB for a local Agri-Fab unit to pop up at a good price. I quickly tired of raking and scooping at the end of the day. I would love to have an old-school chain conveyor, if just for the mechanical monkey motion. I am off grid so everything is gas or lp.

[Daburner87]

Thats really cool.  Nothing fun about sawdust hitting you in the face, hope that update helps you.  I gotta do something on my mill to stop the dust blowing back at me.

[thecfarm]

Yes, on the improvements.

[DanielW]

For some ideas about sawdust removal and to stop the dust coming back in your face, check out these two Youtube videos (hopefully these links work). The first is from a small operation not far from me that uses an M14 and resaw for their cedar business. You can see the centrifugal blower they've put over top of the headsaw to blow any dust carried around the saw away from the operator and over towards the drag chain (it also shows the proper way to turn logs on a Belsaw carriage, and a very efficient operator).

The second video shows a really tidy portable M14 setup. They've taken the cross-auger/tailing-elevator combo from an old threshing machine and use that to carry out the dust cross-ways from under the saw and elevate it to where it can dump in a trailer or loader bucket. I confess I shamelessly copied that for my M14 - though I need to put a smaller pulley on the mandrel (or larger one on the auger) to drive it, because mine's running too fast right now.

https://youtu.be/E53bdvrviZk?t=23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=977eq3p9fEU

[Bullheaded]

Thanx Daniel, I had watched both those videos several times but completely missed the auger detail as I was not in "sawdust removal" mode. I would love to see a couple pics of your setup. I like the idea of the auger running off the mandrel as it eliminates another engine. I was given a running Farmall M yesterday and hope to eventually shaft that to the mill as stationary power .I also want to eventually convert it to LP as the fuel source. It is very inconvenient for me to purchase and store gasoline.

[DanielW]

A Farmall M on an M14 is a great combo - That was a popular combo for decades, and what I run on my M14 when I take it to the local antique machinery show (kind of): I actually use a W6, which is pretty much the same as an M (the M was the row-crop model while the W6 was the standard-tread model. But engine and many other components were the same).

One of the nice things about the M/W6 is how popular they were. Lots of parts and aftermarket goodies: You could find and put a set of Super/fire-crater pistons & sleeves in if you want more power (or if you need more compression for running LP). And you could probably find an original vapourizer/LP setup from a similar-sized tractor of that era if you wanted to. Lots were made (though I think IH didn't actually offer LP on the M's/W6's until the 'Super' series). There seems to be a lot of Moline U's that were LP: That's a similar-sized tractor and engine - You might be able to grab the LP paraphernalia off one of them if you can find a donor one.