New DIY Bandmiller

[Clovis]

I've finally signed on to the Forestry Forum site!!!

I've been going through past forums for quite awhile and and have been absorbing all the great information. I'm a do it yourself bandmill builder, and i'm still in the building stage. Its going to be 36' long and 42' wide with the capacity close to that. Full Hyd. bed and head feed with a winch for the band up and down adjustment. It will not be portable, I had a part time business before that required travelling and it's to much with a full time job to boot. looking forward to all the great info this site provides. Hello also to Robert Long from Puce Ontario, Canada. Although we have never met we are kinda related, (Father inlaws - Brother inlaw)8)

[thecfarm]

Welcome to the forum,Clovis.I suppose you meant 36 feet long and 42 inches wide.The lenght is great,but why so long? I take it you have some big logs to saw.We like pictures of your progress.There is a help button on top of the page to teach you how to post pictures.Good luck.

[Clovis]

Thanks for the welcome CFARM, yes it is only 42" I have to remember to hit that shift key. I made my mill longer for two reasons. 1, I am going to build a new cottage, to replace my old one that has 5 different additions, with the ash trees that came from my bush.(Ash Borer) Its going to be a timber frame of some sort. and 2, its not going to be trailered so I figured I needed to have an advantage over the couple of outher guys around with portables. Wasn't all that much more work or money to go that long. 8" I-beam and 3"by 3/8 tube base. Allmost all of the steel is used stuff and that helped to keep the cost down. It has a full hyd. bed and the head frame is mooved by hyd. motor and chain drive.

[beenthere]

Welcome to the forum..we'll look forward to chattin with you and learning more about your operation.  We like pics, but you probably already know that... ;D ;D ;D

[brdmkr]

Welcome!  Did someone mention that we like pics?

[Dave Shepard]

Welcome to the forum! Niche markets are good, if you can find them in your area. Are there many timber framers in your area? They like to buy from a sawyer that knows how the timber is going to be used, so they get something they can work with.


Dave

[bandmiller2]

Clovis man welcome,wise choise to make a long mill ,will set you apart from the pack.I built my bandmill and enjoyed building more than using.Did most of my engineering in the dark just before I drifted off to sleep.Long is not hard if you have the proper set up and aux. equip,some of the slabs can get a little testy.A hyd log turner will be manditory.Enjoy the trip, mill builders make the best sawyers.Feel free to ask their is alot of knowledge and common sense here. Frank C.

[Clovis]

I definately have a lot of pic's but they all seem to be to big of a file to load. I have to figure out how to insert them reduced. (any help here would be appreciated): This has been a long process and I definatly have enjoyed the building part! Now if you asked my girlfriend she may have a different opinion on me enjoying my time building it. My mill is 30 minutes from home in the county. I built a log turner (claw type) but have not tried it yet. It took 20 hours in one weekend and has 3 hyd. cylinders. Never mind all the endless hours thinking about it and trying ti figure it out. The mill is sort of scabbed together because it needs to be painted before the final tuning / assembly. Clovis

Ps. I have never seen a sawmill in person before! I learned it all on the internet reading.