DL Timbertech review

[Lyndaker]

A few years back I had asked for reviews on the Dl Timbertech swing blades. I purchased an 8/16 over a year ago now and thought I would give a brief review now that I have been cutting with it a while. 

Set up:
Setup was straight forward and simple. Although the instruction manual that came with the saw was lacking. This wasn't a big problem as the office was very helpful and answered any questions I had promptly. They are currently working on updating their manuals. 

Operation:
I had never run a sawmill before and the learning curve was huge. I'm happy to report that after over a year of running the mill I can make the lumber fly. A lumber off bearer has to hustle to keep up. There was a fair amount of adjustments and fine tuning I had to do to dial in the mill. These included, adjusting for square, horizontal and vertical cuts. Now that these are done the mill needs little adjustments. The mill operation is quite straight forward and intuitive. My biggest complaint is with sawdust (shavings really) control. Many of the mill adjustments are T-tracks and these quickly jammed with shavings. I have solved this by adding dust shields at strategic places. It seems to me that these issues should have been solved by the manufacturer. I am considering replacing the the T-tracks with solid stock which would eliminate this problem. All in all I am pleased with my purchase. The biggest plus for me is cutting a log without handling it repeatedly. Simply roll log in place and cut from top to bottom. I really like the shavings (instead of sawdust) the saw produces. I use them for animal bedding and for mulch for my gardens. 

A few other things about DL Timbertech. DL has their own online owners forum. It is very helpful, active, and also likely the reason there are so few posts here about the DL mills. Owners ask for advice, post modifications, and maintenance issues there. Also the company has just switched owners. I hope this short review has been helpful. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions however please be patient as life is busy. Also writing this was my idea and no one else. I just thought it would be helpful as I would have appreciated a review like this when I was researching buying a mill. 

[jimbarry]

I bought their SB 1020 Super Pro in Jan/2020, came with slabber bar and 35hp Kohler and set of 3 dogs. Nice folks, and helpful. I too experienced the carriage wheels were constantly getting jammed with sawdust. I've seen other owners zip tie paint brushes to the front and rear of the carriage to sweep the aluminum beam rails. I found the frame of the carriage wobbled back and forth too much as it was cutting in either direction. If that frame was better engineered for stability and if it also had a power feed to roll it down and back up the track, it would make for a nicer mill. Just my nickle's worth. There were other things too I didn't like too much about it, mostly in the lateral measuring and vertical measuring. That might of improved if I got to spend more time on it. AS it was, I sold it that spring when a group of guys come over to look at it, thinking about getting one themselves.

[EOLogtruckin]

I purchased an 816 mill with a slabbing attachment last summer. I haven't had a lot of time to use it yet but have a few logs cut. Am a brand new "sawyer" so I am still getting it (or me) dialed in.
I agree with the comments by Lyndaker about the setup and the manual.
I removed the stake pocket for the carriage cart on the "front" of the mill carriage in order to move the angle braces closer to the main frame. From about 4" away to around 1 1/2". The brackets for the top of the angle brace had to have 2 new holes punched in them. I'll see if I can post a picture. This stiffened up the carriage quite a bit laterally. I also added an 1/8"flat triangle to stiffen up all of the cross standard brackets. This helped the lateral movement a whole bunch also.



Angle brace bracket ^



Track cross standard brace ^

It does seem like there is plenty of flex in the swing handle which lets the blade move some event with the handle latch adjusted tight and greased (My mill has the radial multi catch). I've only tried a couple double cuts but it seems like after getting it adjusted as close as I can it still shows a small (1\16")ridge where the cuts intersect. I'm still working on that.

Overall I'm enjoying learning about milling and the D&L machine seems to be pretty decent to my limited knowledge. In my experience with other machinery purchases there have been kinks to work out and quality control items to address so I have not been unhappy with my purchase yet.

Lot's to learn! cg

[Iwawoodwork]

Welcome to the forum from the wetter side of Oregon.  

[EOLogtruckin]

Thanks!