building sawmill beds

[krusty]

Hi gang,

Am thinking of building a bed for a chainsaw mill similar to a Procut or similar. Any thoughts on what size of rectangualr steel tubing I should use for the bed itself? I would like to make an extra long bed due to the long timbers I hope to saw, and realize that the legs will give it the most stability when in use.

For those whom make their own bandsaw mills, what size of tubing are you using?

Bruce,

[D._Frederick]

Nothing smaller than 6 X 2 X 1/4 tubing, if you are going to build a track longer than 24 ft., it should be heavier.

[Furby]

D., don't that also depend on if he plans to move it around or leave it setup on a slab or something?
I will agree, the heavier the better if you plan to move it around.

[wiam]

My rails are 3" by 5" by 1/2 angle.

Will

[D._Frederick]

Will,

You have plenty of metal in a 3 X 5 -1/2 angle. If you have the 5 inch part of the angle vertical, you should not have a problem other than it being heavy. I started out with my mill track built with 3 X 4 -1/4 by 20 feet. It had too much bow in it and was hard to get it level. I added  a piece of 6 inch channel to the sides of the track to stiffen it up, it made it easier to level, but is heavy to put the wheels under it and move it.

If I had to do it over, I would start with tubing for the track frame. If you are going to leave it set-up permanetly, you could save a few bucks by using a lighter weight tubing.  Also, you should take into account the size of logs you plan on sawing. If you are going to saw a 20 ft log that weights over a ton you should have more metal in your track frame.

[wiam]

The 5" is vertical. I had an axle under it but right now it is set up in the barn.   The angle will flex if there is not a support in the middle.  If I run 6 supports there is no flex.  The frame is 20'

Will

[rebocardo]

6x3 (3/16 or 1/4) for a min. of deflection.  What will make a big difference is placement of leveling jacks and cross members.  A leveling jack every four feet will provide a min. amt of deflection.