Useful sawmill mods

[Magicman]

Mine is a tractor umbrella that has a clamp on the bracket and is securely fastened.


 


 

[YellowHammer]

I used the info from this topic and fabricated dragback/fingers for my LT-40 as well as an outfeed table to make sawing much more efficient.  This combination sure makes sawing easier, especially if working alone.  I thought folks might want to see it in action.  One of these days, I might finish painting the table.  The sawdust is being sucked into my shop duct collecter, the same one I use for my planer and table saw, and being discharged into a dump trailer

http://youtu.be/4UGD0LNGUIM

At first I left the last bed rail extended which works best for longer boards, but then I folded it back and like this better for shorter 8 footers because the board drops from the cant and the end closest to me raises up to make it easier to grab. 
Now I need to add power rollers so I don't have to slide the boards on the stack by hand.
YH

[Bibbyman]

Great job!  Somehow it all looks very familiar to me.   :

We have a big roller on the back end of the table that makes off loading long and heavy stuff easier.  We've also found that all we really need most of the time is the one dangly guide on the far left.

[bedway]

Nice set up YellowHammer, sure helps the back.

[YellowHammer]

Bibbyman,
It should look familiar, I wore out UTube watching your videos 8) and a whole bunch of others.  I decided to build the guide fingers after having a few dragback boards get out of control and come at me like missiles.  Then I built the table after a few boards hit the ground.  I'm really pleased how the addtion of these two simple mods makes a world of difference in the ease and efficiency of sawing.  Very little wasted motion or effort.  I see how using only a minimum of fingers would beneficial, as they obstruct the view.  Now if I could build a live deck and reduce the edging slowdown I might even feel like I'm getting the hang of this.
YH

[Jemclimber]

Here is just a small change I made to the clamps on my lt15. The 15 clamps are angled back slightly, about 80ish degrees, so when a cant is clamped it lifts it up off the bed and the cant then gets cut into a tapered piece. It is very frustrating. I wanted the vertical bar of the clamp to be at a 90 degree angle to the bed and to apply a slightly down pressure to prevent it from lifting the cant.

I put the clamp chassis in a vice and put a very slight bend in the top and bottom (the horizontal part that slides on the bed) to angle it forward. Next, I welded a small tab on the bottom front to remove the slop that the vertical bar slides in on the lower part. This keeps it at a 90 and then the cam action forces it slightly down when clamping.


 


  

 

[tgalbraith]

I've been trying to think of a nice waterproof container to store spare blades in that can be attached to the mill, anyone have slick solutions?

I don't have a bandmill, but I would think that if you cut about 4" off the bottom of a plastic drum, made a seperator from plywood that would slip inside and a plywood cover that was attached with a hinge and some sort of clasp; it should hold two spare blades nicely.

[Magicman]

Mine does not attach to the sawmill, but it is waterproof.


 


 
A sawed off and shortened garbage can.

[terrifictimbersllc]

In the back of your new truck does too attach to your sawmill. 

[Magicman]

Yup, in a way I guess that everything is hooked up.    

I filled that Magiccan today.  We crank up early Saturday morning.  Next week will be busy also.

[WDH]

Jemclimber, that is slick!

[Woodchuck53]

I like it Yellowhammer. I plan on building one for my partner's LT 40 when I get home. That will save him a few steps in a days work. Thanks for the thread guys. Chuck

[YellowHammer]

It's a very simple addition but sure makes the dragback 100% more useful and a lot safer with the command station.  Without the fingers sometimes a board would veer off uncontrollably from the dragback and get way out of shape, either fall off the right side of the mill or come at me on the left side.  Either way, I didn't like the unpredictability.  I haven't had an uncontrolled board since I built the fingers, and the whole system is much safer and less effort. Course it's not an original idea, you can easily reverse engineer them from the information on this site as well as the WM videos.  I tried to just buy one from WM for my LT-40 but they are not specifically offered, so I figured I'd just build one.  Since I figured WM knew what they were doing (they did) I just tried to duplicate their design for the LT-70, except mine doesn't have a folding arm, my fingers are mounted so they just flip back up and over the bar out of the way. 

Woodchuck, I used to play a little basketball at Lousiana College, in your home town, many years ago.  Pineville is also where I developed an addiction to real Cajun red beans and rice 8). 
YH

[Woodchuck53]

Played in that old gym myself all those years ago. We still make red beans and rice so come on down.

[Magicman]

Did someone say "red beans and rice"  ???   

[barbender]

I'm way north of red bean and rice country, but I like them ;) Here we are on food again ;D

[Woodchuck53]

I ate a few red beans and rice while running around MN, and both Dakota's. Ya'll just need a little more seasoning. Great people.

[swampbuggy]

The log loader on the Norwood has to be removed so the head will go by it. I took the mount and had it extended so now I only need to turn it around to mill. I also added the electric winch because now it can stay hooked up all the time. Sure saves on the back aches and to date, with the increased leverage, I haven't had any issues with the mill staying level and in place. 

  

  

 

[learner]

Hope this helps.  We have a problem with the sawdust building up under our belts.  So we came up with this little tool.  Everytime we change blades we clean the belts and run this around the pulleys to clean out any build-up.


 
We used molding clay to get the shape of the pulley then just cut a piece of 1/8" steel to match it.  Be sure to de-burr and clean it up so it doesn't scracth the inside of your wheels.

[stamper]

I replaced the blade lube tube [copper] with stainless steel, also put a bushing in the end to regulate the water, This was on a Norwood lumbermate. I have mounted strap winches [log truck size] on my loader bucket [on the back] so I can pick & carry a log or beam where I can see it. I hook the straps on the cutting edge of the bucket, So I can set it down, tilt the bucket to unhook

[petefrom bearswamp]

Poston got me to thinking. I just read thru the entire thread, wow made my eyes glaze over in some parts but what a wealth of info.
Here are some things i have done.
Just like Bibbyman, I removed the hydraulic lever decal plate after the first day of sawing.
Then I removed the factory levers on the toe board pair and replaced them with bolts about 1-1/2" shorter so i don't hit them by accident.
Being a lazy sort, I sit on a stool behind the CC center and quickly got tired of craning my neck to view the log or cant.
I then rotated the center in about 10 degrees and now look straight down the mill.
To prevent the boards that are returning from hitting me, I put a deflector board on the left side of my homemade outfeed table.
Another mod I did at the suggestion of my neighbor Tim Roberson, was to weld a 3/8 drive socket on the tensioner in place of the short lever.
This allows me to use a 3/8 drive ratchet handle to tension and de tension the blade very quickly.
I will now make my first attempt a posting pics



  

  

 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

To prevent the boards that are returning from hitting me, I put a deflector board on the left side of my homemade outfeed table.

Good idea Pete. That's a whole lot better than a Hockey Mask.  ;D

[WDH]

Great mods, Pete, and congrats on the pics.  They showed up nice  8).

[learner]

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  Thought i'd share this little mod with you folks.  We sometimes get logs with knobs that just aren't worth the time with the chainsaw.  Well sometimes they are just big enough that the de-barker will jam up on them and stop the forward movement.
So I came up with this.  If you look in the black circle you can barely make it out.  It's hard to see because it's clear.


 
That is a piece of 1/8" thick clear vinyl.  It's the same thickness as the original flap but you can see through it.  This lets me see when I'm about to hit a knob and move the de-barker out and around it.  No more jamming.
Global Industries in Buford, GA sells 12" x 7' replacement cooler flaps for $17.50.  Plus shipping of course.  This makes 8 flaps when cut in 10" segments.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Are they heavy enough to prevent debris from flying back at you?
Pete