New member, odd bandmill build.

[Colombo]

Great site with some good information. I'm in the middle of a bandmill build and would like to thank the members here for the quality and quantity of information provided by this community. My minimum specs so far are 42" x 11" max capacity. Should I want more depth? I went with a linn basic frame kit mostly for the parts and made a massive redesign, setting up for a 15' 2" blade. Stationary 44-48" wide track 20' so far, might stretch that to 25' for a clean 21' capacity.  Advice/experience on length? Turned the pillow blocks on end (marine construction experience) and major redesign of carriage to sawframe connection, rollers instead of sliding. Have a simplified adjustable  mount for the blade guide rollers going together soon. I am building on a budget and using more than a little scrap and repurposed material. A question on power is on my mind 17 hp diesel or 22 hp gas?  Some reasons for the capacity are the trees available since the hurricane are quite nice and I'm starting to collect good pieces already. Having a number of connections in the construction/clearing business supply is close to or free. The plan is for personal use and custom order only. One other question, any thoughts on building the carriage to be able to hang a drum or stroke sander off the back, effectiveness/accuracy on a rail system? I see a few builds going on here, if y'all want another I can post some pictures as I hack my way thru this.

[thecfarm]

Colombo,welcome to the forum.
Length question I can help you on. I have a Thomas Bandsaw,built here in Maine. Looked at sawmills for 20 years before I bought one. My mill will cut a 20 foot log,never have,I only saw up to 16 foot. But this gives me 4 feet of room to get the log on and get the head out of the way. Most mills will only have about 6 inches to spare for a 16 foot log. So go long,if you can. Makes it much easier to saw.

[Ljohnsaw]

Welcome and YES, post your progress!

A far as capacity goes, 42" is good but the 11" is not "necessary".  I built mine to have about a 18" throat capacity thinking I needed that for the big beams I will be milling.  In reality, you whittle the tree down to your final beam taking off side lumber.  So far, I'd say the deepest cut I've made is 6" that I can recall.

Power size will depend on what is free or cheap ;)  How much production do you think you're going to be doing?  Diesel would be the way to go if you are planning on doing a LOT.  But its going to be heavier.

Track length - the more the merrier!  I have two 16+ foot sections and a 8 foot section.  Still not enough.  I'm going to add 5 foot "parking" areas for the head at each end.  The logs will not be supported by these sections so they will be a lot lighter build.  Then, for more length, 5 foot sections between the three heavy sections that will support the logs.  That will give me a cut length of 50+ feet.

[Colombo]

I was off poking around the site, thanks for the replies. The extra "room" to park makes sense, I like clearance for handling and loading too. May use a gantry/trolley and end load the larger logs onto the bunks The diesel vs gas for me comes down to a question of torque I guess, does it alone make a difference in performance on a bandmill? I'm not planning on running hours on end and the little oil burner is very porky. The big question on my mind is the carriage right now since I'm getting ready to finish the rear part of its frame and if I want to hang anything on that...  42" sanders and planners aren't cheap, I want one but I'm not sure a track run one would be a good idea, in fact I suspect a planner on a track might be a little crazy. Just building a powerhead and hanging it on existing machine however is attractive from a cost effectiveness, overall footprint and existing material handling equipment view though.

[Ianab]

Only reason I can think of to have a deeper cut would be to quarter saw larger logs. First thing you want to do is split the log in 1/2, and with a 36" dia log, that will need ~18" depth of cut? OK, you are planning on slabbing, but that's not always the best option with some species, Quarter sawn is sometimes the best option.

As for the planing, mounting a rotary cutter or sander on the mill is possible. The swing blade mills already do this. Take off the saw blade and replace it with a large disc with carbide cutters mounted on it. Then you run down the length of the slab, return and adjust sideways a few inches. Repeat until the log is flat. Sometimes you have to remove a bit of cup and warp from the slab, and might have to hog a bit of material off, but you end up with a true flat surface. I run a big router and bit mounted on my old sawmill frame for this. Not as fast as a bigger gas engine powered cutter, but it gets the job done. The finish is good enough that you can then  carry on with a handheld sander.

As you already have rails and a carriage with height adjust there is very little work needed to make a big "router bridge". A LOT easier to move a router on wheels, and have the big heavy slab sit still on the deck. Compared to the mechanics of moving a big heavy slab of wood through a planer or sander anyway. 

[Crusarius]

I am definitely in for the ride. Really like what you have described so far. I am in the middle of my build as well. I started with the same kit.

Where are you located?

oh yea, WE NEED PICS!!!

[ktm250rider]

I used 2x4 steel for my frame.  Standard lengths were 24' so thats what i went with.
Ill be interested in you engine choice as well.  Ive looked at the 18hp Duromax but im not sure its actually 18hp.  Its listed at 440cc while most other 18hp engines are up around 600cc's.

[Colombo]

Ianab, thanks for the point about quarter sawing. If my mind is right the quarter sawing is done after squaring two sides? If so I should be able to handle about 24" dia. maybe a bit more? I didn't even think fly cutter for planing, now I'm thinking about 12" dia. at most 4 passes and done (down the road but will be thought out, thanks).    Crusarius, I'm down in chilly Florida  ;D don't care for these frosts much. The 190 basic sawframe kit is what I picked up after looking and maths and second guessing myself. I figured 90% of that kit was useful for my build. Happy with the kit, like you not everything was quite square but close enough for my taste. I'll get some pics up tomorrow. Gone off in some different directions so you might not recognize it.   ktm250rider, .250 wall 2" square for carriage 4 post, 2x3 angle for rails, 2x3 .250 wall box for the bunks, It's on a concrete pad so anchor bolts after leveling. Trailer may be later. My steel came in 20' sticks, hmm someone may be skimming steel.  Just some general directions I'm going follow, let me know if any red flags pop up in anyones mind. I'm mounting the pillow blocks vertical for strength, we never ever ever mounted them sideways when I was building boatlifts, maybe just superstitious but I hate that POP sound (wedge plate for adjustment). will be rolling some rings for the pulley/bandwheel as I want metal (but don't want to pay for it) and to true them as much as possible, a step on the inside to locate in the v grove and heat and shrink on the wheel. Simplified adjustable guide roller mount with paired wedge washer adjustment. I'm not 100% on this but I'm thinking of mounting the motor mount on the yoke assembly for a couple of reasons the main one being to be able to dismount the engine easily I have a feeling I'm going to be semi mobile down the road and don't like vandals and thieves. Also would like as many parts as lite as possible. Die spring/s in cup over the hyd adjuster for a bit of give if needed.  I'm using the roller wheels off of the harbor freight 1 ton trolley for both the carriage and sawframe lift, Z mount style on the lift 1" 5 tpi acme screws (with a coupon the rollers with bearings and an axle each cost me about 10.50 apiece). Probably go with the same 22 hp Crusarius is using. Got a good used Kubota but the thing is a tank. A little off subject and in the future maybe but up for grabs, little PTO driven vertical saw for a Gravely L?

[Ianab]

Ianab, thanks for the point about quarter sawing. If my mind is right the quarter sawing is done after squaring two sides? If so I should be able to handle about 24" dia. maybe a bit more?

Yeah, possibly a little more if you made cuts squaring up 2 sides. Trim off a couple of inches of taper and sapwood from each side, then take a "D" log off, flip again, and another D, leaving a ~5" live edge from the middle. Break that down into Q-sawn boards, then work in the D logs. A bit of extra handling, but those big logs are the ones you want to be quarter sawing as they will have some of the best wood.

I come from the swingblade side, where you can quarter saw as easily as flat saw, but I can see the extra work involved in quarter sawing on a band mill.

[Crusarius]

Chilly florida. your funny

Just an FYI. Tube comes in 24' lengths angle and other structural pieces including flat come in 20' lengths.

I was confused on your description for setting the tracking but I Like the way Linn does that. with 1/2" thick piece of steel tapped 3/8" for the adjuster bolt. Then welded to the frame. I have a detailed pic in my build.

[Kbeitz]

Rolling the rings and truing them up should not be hard to do
but how will you balance them? I made one for my shop saw
and I have spent hours trying to get it balanced.

[Colombo]

 Crusarius, Heres the style of alignment adjust I'll be using for my blade guide rollers. This is also a test to see if I've figured out the photo posting. hopefully I don't get in trouble here. Not the actual bolt but the idea for full 360 degree adjustment against the guide roller frame should be clear.

     Kbeitz, I'm a bit confused, is adding a bit of weight to a spoked wheel bad for a band mill? Trying another pic. 

   Bandwheel mocked up missing the wedge plate between the pillow block and sawframe end plate. It will be reinforced with an angle plate.

[Colombo]

While I'm on a roll...  Upright rollers shown laid out, soon will be lap welded to a 1/2"x 3" bar about 1.5' -2'. long. adjustable for fine pitch of the sawframe. 2nd pic showing positioning on upright. yes there will be safety pins. 

  

 

[Kbeitz]

Adding weight is what you need to do but finding the right spot
and how much weight without a balance machine is tough. It's
just a guessing game.

[Colombo]

Two hardened edges and a hard axle were always close enough for me, let it roll to the heavy point.

[Crusarius]

The wheels from Linn lumber are balanced already.

[Kbeitz]

My problem was that taking away the heavy point did not balance the wheel.
It's like a car/truck tire. You got to know also what side to put the weight on.

[Colombo]

Setup and evaluation. Found a 1/4" error on the height of the pillow block mounts, I forgot the yoke frame fits around the idler frame. Glad I caught it. I should have +- 7 degree adjustment of the sawframe on the carriage upright rollers. This thing is getting heavy, I may be overbuilding it. Looks like I'll have up to 42" clear width at full 11" depth, bigger than I expect to need. I may have  missed my track width by a bit 46.5" inside.   Later this week I may be picking up an old camphor log I stashed on a friends lot, advise is requested on this monster, it's solid, no rot, about 12' long and 38" at the widest the base was whittled by some chainsaw hack and is showing all burl all around the base, I cant even discern the grain. The bad? news, the tree died in a hard freeze in 1986. Is this thing going to be like trying to saw a rock? Also have to cut and pickup a nice 29" at base pecan hickory, a lot of wave in the diameter, not quite starfish shaped but close. Both rootballs are available too, should I drag them home? I've got the room to store them until I get some experience and the mill done.

[Kbeitz]

I would not make them your first cut...

[coach08]

Hey. I am in the process of changing my mill over from rubber tires to steel wheels, and I'm interested in your build.  Do you have a better picture of how you are going to tension your blade and adjust your wheels to track the blade?

Thanks!