bandsaw mill: build vs buy

[BeeBazaar]

while I'm planning to build a bandsaw mill, i have been looking at a lot of options.  some of the smaller ones are $2500 +/-.  The woodlands and the frontier specifically for that price.   what are the big pros or cons to either?  I know the assembly and build time will be far more with a custom sawmill, but I assume you will get more bang for your buck building.  and build to whatever spec you want.  But from someone who has never done either, what are the pros and cons that are deeper than what's on the surface?   I don't really see anything comparing these options when I look, or Im looking in the wrong places....

[Den-Den]

It is difficult for me to compare building vs buying a mill, kinda like comparing apples to oranges.
Unless you like building things and have some fabrication experience, I can not recommend building one.  If you enjoy the satisfaction of "I built it myself" and have the tools / skills, I can not imagine why you would buy a factory built mill.

To address the cost:
Assuming you will have to buy most of the materials, you are NOT likely to be able to build a good mill for less than the low end factory built mills.  You should be able to build a stronger, more capable mill than the low end factory mills for the same or slightly higher expense (not counting your labor).

[Daburner87]

The biggest pro for buying new vs building is that these machines are well thought out, and figured out.  There is no guessing, or testing involved.  Simply follow the assembly instructions, and get to work.  I recommend spending more upfront on a bigger machine as it will make milling easier, and faster.

Plenty of people have built their own whether to save money, for the fun of it, pride or perhaps they think they have a better design?  Truly I don't have the time to do all that work.  It's a lot to think about, and I'm not an engineer. I buy products because I can't make them, nor do I have the time to.  $2500 is nothing for a well operating machine.  But for my money like I said I would go a bit bigger.

[NaySawyer]

Do both!
A sawmill is not the best project to start off with.  A lack of skills, knowledge and tools will cripple your enthusiasm.  I would recommend finding a used wreck of a mill and restoring it.  If making parts is not of your ability they can always be bought.

[Redmt]

I faced that dilemma also. I bought several sets of plans. Carefully studied them and made modification notes as I went.  I went through my material stash and figured what I'd need to purchase and went as far as making a steel list and got quotes for a couple different suppliers. 
I'm a better than average welder and a good fabricator. I have every welding process in my home shop. I also have a full size Bridgeport and a 12" lathe. I'm semi retired and have plenty of time available. Taking everything into consideration, I bought a nice shiny new 130Max from Woodland and am happy as can be.  

[BeeBazaar]

I faced that dilemma also. I bought several sets of plans. Carefully studied them and made modification notes as I went.  I went through my material stash and figured what I'd need to purchase and went as far as making a steel list and got quotes for a couple different suppliers.
I'm a better than average welder and a good fabricator. I have every welding process in my home shop. I also have a full size Bridgeport and a 12" lathe. I'm semi retired and have plenty of time available. Taking everything into consideration, I bought a nice shiny new 130Max from Woodland and am happy as can be.  

what was the deciding factor to buy vs build?

[barbender]

 I had a shop built mill, that someone else started from rudimentary plans and I finished. I spent a TON of time re-engineering and tinkering on it. Eventually I sold it, now I own a Woodmizer LT40. I like the Woodmizer way better😁

 I love fabrication, but if you primarily want to saw lumber I'd say buy a mill. On the other hand, if you love fabrication, and trouble shooting and engineering and have the tools, facility and time, you can build a really nice machine. I would advise you to have a good look at a factory built, top shelf machine to see how they tackled some of the design problems and things that are easily overlooked, like guide roller adjustment, guide arm layout and adjustment, and a hundred other little things.

 Also, most of the plans I've seen online, none of them impressed me much. For one, they were selling plans but never had any examples of finished machines, big red flag there. And then I see some things in the design that are just not well thought out. I think a lot of these were made by people that never even built a mill from their own plans, and I suspect they wouldn't even know how. 

[kelLOGg]

I'm a pretty handy- how to guy but I would never undertake building my own. I bought a manual Cooks mill (MP32) 20 years ago and added my own electric-driven features. I knew I didn't want to make a living from it but considered myself a serious hobby sawyer; the mill has worked out well for me and has paid for itself several times. I think you should decide what you plan to do with the mill and let that factor in on your decision as to build or buy.

[Crusarius]

I ended up building a mill. Many reasons. 

One I love to build stuff and building is half the fun. 

Two I looked at a lot of different mills and most of the price points ended up over $10k when I started the journey. I did not have $10k laying around and I really did not want to finance it. 

Three after looking at all of the different mills each one had a feature I really liked, but not a single one had all of the features. 

If you want a quick and easy start to milling buying one is your best option. Mine ended up taking me a full year before I called it done. Yes, I was sawing before the full year. But I finally called it done at the one-year mark.

I spent a lot of time in the shop just staring at it trying to figure out what to do. But in the end, I am still very impressed with what I built considering I had never sawn a board until I built my mill.

I had a 6" wide spruce beam that I needed to take 1/8" off of one face to get to the size I needed. It was 20' long. I could not believe when I was done that it was 1/8" exactly the full length. I even got out the calipers and checked it.

[Redmt]

My decision was made simply because of all the time consuming intricate parts like roller adjustments and tracking adjustment components that would have to be manufactured. There's a lot of pieces not designed for a mill that could be used but doing so makes for a hodge podge mill. Buying direct from the manufacturer ensures everything is compatible and replaceable from a single source.

[rusticretreater]

On building your own:

It may not be the bestest, fastest, shiniest thing out there, but the price is right.  And if there is a problem with quality, I know who to go talk to.

-- RusticRetreaterism.

[BeeBazaar]

I honestly thought there would be more pro build lol.  

My thoughts are this:
It's like a barn, you build a small one and you will regret not going bigger.  

To get a 36 to 48" capability will be a lot of money vs building on my own time and dime.

I agree with Crusarius that building is half the fun.  And if and when issue happen I have a fundamental understanding of the assembly and build.

I design and build with some gabbing at work.  The scope of the build doesn't scare me.  I'm just now finishing up a 3 yr overhaul of a chemical process equipment at work.

I think Crusarius nailed it with options here and there across mills.

I do appreciate the feedback.  I was just curious as to the shortcomings if either route.  

I have bought some plans. Ii probably won't follow to a tee but it's nice to have a reference. I will probably even buy Matt cremona's plans too.  More info is better than less.  Though I doubt I go strictly his route either.  In fact I know I will have a gas powered mill.

I'm just gonna break it down in sections:
Track 
Carriage 
Motor 
Saw 
Drive 

Of course this is after u find a place to put the thing 🙄

[WELumberjack]

I agree with Redmt and Den-Den, and went the route of Daburner87.  If you have the ability/expertise, the ambition, the means ($ & tools), and the ability to problem-solve, you can build a bandsaw mill to whatever size and complexity.  It totally depends on your end goal and those main factors.  I followed Matt Cremona's giant bandsaw build on YT and have been inspired by Mattias Wandel's upright designs and plans through the years.  But I don't have the support equipment, the size logs, the space, or the ingenuity to embark on any builds like theirs.  There are many other examples on FF of others who fabricated or modified their own mills or other tools (like Crusarius did).  There are those with plenty of experience in other careers/skills and tools that they have transferred to the design and building of a bandsaw mill; and they have the time and space to get things accomplished.

I started out with a pile of logs that I thought were too good for firewood; so I tried my hand at chainsaw milling first. Then tried to make my own homemade chainsaw milling apparatus similar to Norwood's small log mill using Unistrut, but found that ultimately the chainsaw kerfs were too thick, cuts too inaccurate/inconsistent, and wasted too much lumber for the size of logs I had. It took a lot of time to find the parts I needed and trial and error to get things to cut flat. Even finding others to do things I lacked the tools skills to do (weld) took lots of time. I ended up hiring a sawyer off of Craigslist who sawed my pile of logs with a portable WM bandmill in 4 hours and I was hooked.  I eventually found a USED '93 WM LT-30 Hydraulic bandsaw mill that had the features I was looking for.

By building yourself, you save on the labor and the engineering/R&D that companies have spent years/decades to develop/perfect. Some new mill designs come on a pallet and boxes and you put them together, saving on the put-together and shipping costs.  The others are already put together and ready to use out the door; It just depending on what you're willing to pay for (and in some cases these days, wait for) if getting something new.  Used is a viable option too.  I was content with the experience WM had, even with a used mill of that vintage, that I can still get parts for and cuts accurately for what I want it to do.  When I researched Frontier mills, I believe they are designed in the US, but manufactured overseas to reduce the price point compared to the Norwood models.

Also, do you know anyone else in your area who has experience doing the same thing?  That may save you a TON of time and error (& $$).

Some people are self designers/fabricators and problem solvers. The rest of us aren't. Best wishes whatever route you decide to go!

[Crusarius]

I am kind of surprised that there are not more pro build. But most ppl do not have the time or space to take on a project of this size. If you look through my gallery and build thread you will see how tight my shop was and how I had to stack everything to keep it all inside.

I think I need to start selling plans 

[BeeBazaar]

I've read thru a lot of your build.  It's def going to be referenced.  Very nice!

Now putting together plans.... That's what I don't have time for lol

[rusticretreater]

I also hate spending money on plans.  I tend to build things by looking at pictures and then rolling my own solution.

You might want to look at the woodland mills site and view their assembly diagrams.  They have a lot of good ideas.

Look at the manuals and the drawings.  The manuals show you how the sawhead is constructed in detail.  The lifting mechanism is pretty slick.

https://woodlandmills.com/manuals-and-drawings

[Ianab]

Cost wise, I think that if you had to buy all the parts needed, you won't save much. The commercial manufacturers will get wholesale pricing on things like engines and bulk steel. They then have their standard plans, with jigs and production lines set up, so assembling a mill is relatively straight forward for semi-skilled workers.

However if you are the "collector" type that happens to have assorted bits and pieces laying around already. Like a usable engine, band wheels, and some good straight steel. That's where the DIY mills come in. If you have most of the big ticket items (or can find them cheap), you can put something useful together for little cash.

The other option is buying a new (or used) basic mill, and adding some upgrades. Power feed, power up/down, toe boards, log turner etc. You are starting with a basic working machine, and adding some of the optional extras that make the more expensive mills more productive.   

And there's also the folks that simply like building things, just for the satisfaction of saying they did. They may be more interested in tinkering with their mill than actually sawing wood, and that's a valid hobby too.  ;D

[DanL]

Good morning.

I am on the other end of the spectrum. I am only a hobby sawyer. I can design, fabricate, weld and source materials. However, I went with purchasing a Woodland mills HM 126 (no trailer) which fit my sawing needs perfectly.

I ordered the mill which at the time was about a 2-3 month wait. This wait time allowed me to prepare an area for the mill and collect/acquire roofing material to build a shed.

The mill arrived and I had it operating over 2 days (a weekend) of SLOWLY and carefully assembling it. In 3 months of Hobby (part time) sawing I had my construction lumber to complete the sawmill shed and enough to build another shed for drying lumber. With lumber prices during the pandemic, those 3 months of hobby sawing paid for the mill. Anything sawn from this point forward is icing on the cupcake!

Time is more precious to me now than the price of the mill. I chose not to build the mill but to spend my time sawing on the new purchased mill. Each person has to decide what the outcome of his invested time, materials and labor will be. At this time I am way ahead financially and preparing to cut mucho Eastern Red-cedar to build a she-shed for the wife with the mill that has paid for itself at least once already.

Good luck with your adventure!

Smelling the cedar dust now,
Dan

[Magicman]

The only resource that you have that is truly limited is your time.  It all boils down to how you want to spend it.  Building or Sawing.  ??

[Crusarius]

I did look at a couple mills before I decided to build one. What I noticed was a base model pkg was very affordable and easy to come by. 

However, as I started looking at adding features the price jumped dramatically. I think it was at least a $4000 jump to add the little conveniences I wanted. 

So, if the base pkg mill will work for you then its going to probably be even cost to build vs buy. But if you want more features, larger capacity, bigger engine... now you will be better off building one.

[BeeBazaar]

A buddy was using a chainsaw and talked to a guy that had a small woodlands.  He was all about the small one and has already talked himself into a larger one that's twice the price.  I think he will have 7k into it before he ever gets it at this point.  which is kind of my concern with buying and what you are alluding too.

[Ljohnsaw]

My turn.

I've always liked to tinker. I had the plan to build a cabin with the wood from my land. All I needed was a mill that could handle 36"+ diameter and 30 to 40 foot logs!

That put me in the $20-40k range pretty quick. So, being cheap and somewhat foolish, I decided to build based on ideas on the Internet. I regret wasting time on a "trailer tire" version and trying to make my own roller guides. Cook's rollers are the only way to go.

I also went through three power iterations. Bigger is always better! I probably have less than $3,000 invested and I have sliced up a 46" diameter x 38 foot log. I spent money on MHE, like my SkyTrak and my little backhoe, Davis Little Monster.

[Vintgegreen89]

Do both!
A sawmill is not the best project to start off with.  A lack of skills, knowledge and tools will cripple your enthusiasm.  I would recommend finding a used wreck of a mill and restoring it.  If making parts is not of your ability they can always be bought.

Exactly what I've got going on! Starting with an old Norwood M4 and building it into what I want. I'll have approximately 4-5K into a like new mobile 20 foot mill, that will be capable of 28" diameter logs. The new entry level DIY mills just don't have the strength and build quality of the old ones.. with freight cost being what they are it all comes down to keeping weight down and fitting into smaller boxes. A home built model just wasn't an option for me at the end of the day, just don't have the facilities to do it. If I didn't want to do job away from home I would have went with the WM hm130max. There are so many options for entry level mills, it's really hard to decide. I just kept looking and eventually came onto the right deal, it only took me 7 years.. 😂

 

[Crusarius]

Be sure ti make a new thread and take us along for the ride!!