Richland's Homebuilt Mill/pictures/first cut!!!

[RichlandSawyer]

jrokusek,

  They are west river folks and dont think there aint but a dozen trees in all of Trip county :D
Ok well i may be stretching that a bit but they are pretty scarce over there. My parents farm 1600 acres west of Winner. Hogs,cattle and sheep also.

[jrokusek]

jrokusek,

  They are west river folks and dont think there aint but a dozen trees in all of Trip county :D
Ok well i may be stretching that a bit but they are pretty scarce over there. My parents farm 1600 acres west of Winner. Hogs,cattle and sheep also.

And prairie dogs...don't forget about prairie dogs...... :D
Heck we have 400 acres and must have at least 40 trees on the whole thing.  The rest of you guys with your cherry and walnut growing everywhere make me really jealous! 
Jim

[Dan_Shade]

how well does the blade guide work?  that looks pretty slick.  I need to do something with my mill's blade guides

[RichlandSawyer]

Hey Dan,

  The guide moves very nicely but there is a little slop in the whole thing but i think a bigger pair of drill press vicegrip will shore that up. The small one i put on there just doesnt seem to have enough "lead in its pencil". The white guide  blocks on top are Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene [UHMWP] . I used the drill press vice grip because it will clamp the guide rail without damage to the metal like a set screw.And makes for quick and easy adjustment of the guide. As for the real world test we'lll have to wait alittle longer. Its so close to sawing wood i can smell the sawdust.

[RichlandSawyer]

Howdy all;

A friend stopped by to see the new mill, he is an engineer from john deere specialized in redesigning problems with cotton pickers already in the field. He looked over the mill and had a few suggestions. His recomendation was to power the mill with a 6 cyclinder diesel engine running a hydraulic pump and power the band drive with a hydraulic motor. I told him i had already considered this but was gonna use a honda v-twin until an over paid john deere employee came along and offered up the additional parts for free. His response.. "LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE DOING A FINE JOB, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
I guess thats a no on the donation of equipment. Sure would be nice to have that hydrostatic drive on the blade though.

[sawhead]

I am thinking that 21 sawshop did build some of their bandmills with an angle cut ,not sure how they worked out but it would seem that it would be good.

[RichlandSawyer]

Hello again,

  Cant believe its may already. I done some work to the mill so i thought i'd stop by and share the progress.
The big red 24hp honda arrived about a week ago and man is she perty. (side note: UPS guy said "I thought you were just joking about delivering a sawmill one piece at a time!!!) guess the jokes on him. Anywho mounted the motor and fired it up. Idles pretty rough when its cold but seems to smooth out when it warms alittle. I spent a full day lining everthing up and tracking the band. Then came the big test running it with the band and guides in place I ran it up to full throttle and its smooth as glass. All seems to be going well. I've got more work to do on the squaring arms and clamps then its time to throw a log on and have a go.












I made these really cool jack bolts to slide the motor and tension the belt but what you cant see in the picture is there is no way to get a wrench in there to turn then. The oil filter and lines to the oil cooler wont let me get to the bolt. Guess thats the fun part of homebuilt.

[D._Frederick]

RichlandSawyer

About the lead on the band entering the log, I have only seen one mill made this way, a European design. It reduces the support on the band and you have more blade in the log.

I was looking at your guide set-up and was wondering how do you align the guide to be in the same "plane" as the band is when you move the guides in or out? They have to track your log rest to saw a square board.

[RichlandSawyer]

Hi everyone,

    I just finished a log dog and thought i'd share some pictures and see what ya'll think.








D_Frederick,  I can adjust the drive wheel up and down to get it lined with the blade guide then the entire carriage is hanging on roller chain so it can be tipped in any direction by adjusting the lift pins on the end of the chains. Also the carriage can be moved so one side of the blade will lead into the log or it can be left straight.

[woodbowl]

That aught to work RichlandSawyer. The only problem I see is ........ you should have moved that big ol' sheet of card board so we can see what kind of good junk you've got!   ;D

[getoverit]

Man I could use some good junk right now

GREAT job Richlandsawyer   Keep up the good work. By the way, you realize that by putting those red pipe clamps on there that you are just creating a good target for something metal to saw off.... right??  ;D  psssssttt... I've already tried to saw mine off but SHHHHHHH about it

[RichlandSawyer]

I've thought about that because of all the conversations here about decapitating dogs and being an industrial controls expert i've considered making that part of the mill idiot proof. But from what everyone says you are not a true bandmiller until you have scars on the log dogs. So i may hold off until i make some perty red paint fly.

[jpgreen]

I see he's got a nice red wagon... but we want see more..  ;D

[D._Frederick]

RichlandSawyer

I hate to say it, but I think that you will find that your dogging system is not stiff enough to hold a large log or cant. Your idea is not bad, but you need heavier material.

[RichlandSawyer]

D_frederick,

   I'm kinda worried about that too but figured for $1.99 each at HF i'd give it a try and hopefully it will get me through this year and this winter i'll try to add hydraulics. Its hard to test it strapped to the bench, should have it on the mill in a couple hours and i'll let you know how strong it is.

RS.

[RichlandSawyer]

The day has finaly come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by the way the log dog works pretty well, the angle iron piece needs an angle brace but the rest seems like its gonna work good.





The first cut on the new mill (i cant stop smiling)

[getoverit]

Great job Richland! Looks like you got the mill to cut nice and straight. Keep the pics rolling !

[scsmith42]

Man, that's outstanding!  Nice work and congratulations.

Scott

[RichlandSawyer]

Just got back from the bathroom checking the mirror. Still smiling, that chunk of walnut has been laying out in the weather for 8 1/2 years waiting to be milled and the inside looks perfect. I'll slice off a couple pieces and make some nice shelves to comemorate this day.

[RichlandSawyer]

Oh by the way i was only running half throttle and that blade went through there like it was nothing.

[Jeff]

HURRAY! 8)

[DanG]

Waytago, RichlandSawyer!! 8) 8) 8)  You've done a great job with that mill.

Now, have you any thoughts about what sort of chunk of wood you're gonna send Jeff for the ForestryForum ceiling?  I've got an idea, but it is entirely up to you. ;D

[jpgreen]

Has all the earmarks of success..  8)

Congratulation on your triumph RS..  8)

[highpockets]

Looks like you've got it going your way.  Congradulations.  Ain't it sweet????????????

[Snag]

Nice lookin' rig you built.  Glad to see it works great too.  You must be as proud as a new dad.  Congrats on the accomplishment.