Useful sawmill mods

[doc henderson]

mine has no way to clean the wheels and track.  I wonder if it could be made to be "as needed" with a set screw, or angle so it cleans on the back drag and not while cutting forward.

[Southside]

Look at it this way, if it doesn't work you have 4 bolt carrier groups already built for another project.  :D

[fluidpowerpro]

That was actually what I was going to do initially but one thing led to another and I ended up with the spring loaded plunger. 

[Southside]

You were going to build BCG's but ended up making sawmill parts instead?  :D 

[fluidpowerpro]

No, was going to do what doc described....

[fluidpowerpro]

I also added " track scrapers" to help clean off sawdust. They should also knock off pieces of bark that sometimes falls on the rail. They do shorten the max cut length by about 2", but I can flip them up if the 2" ever bites me.


 

 

[doc henderson]

I have some white plastic covers that knock stuff off the rails.  looks good!

[rusticretreater]

Here is a pic of the setup on my mill for folks to reference.

[Crusarius]

I have some scrapers that are just gravity. if I made them heavier they would work better. But, they definitely do a good job of keeping stuff off the track so the wheels do not get gummed up.

[barbender]

Here I though those were 6.6 Duramax injectors🤷😁

[fluidpowerpro]

The steel cable set up on the Woodland Mills unit is so simple it's a shame I didn't think of it. Oh well, Ive spent the time building mine. Might as well use them and see how they work. 
Do the cables work good?

[Wlmedley]

The cables do work good.After awhile they get a little frayed on the ends and they work even better.

[fluidpowerpro]

As you can tell I've got my saw in the shop working down my list of "things that would be nice" mods. 
Another thing on the list was side extensions for my log lift. My lift arms are 6 ft apart. When I add my bed extension to cut longer logs, the log is no longer centered on the arms. If the butt
 end of the log happens to be towards the end of the mill, the log isn't balanced, and it would tip. 
The extensions I built are 2 ft long and bolt on so I can also flip them around to use on shorter logs that fall between the arms. I am worried about the channels they bolt to twisting, so     I'm going to add some webs on the back side of the channel to add strength.

[fluidpowerpro]

I want to start doing a better job of sawing parallel to the bark. One thing that would make it easier would be to have a laser, so that's next on the list. 

I purchased this laser and now I need to figure out how to mount it. 
The first thought is the mount it on the movable guide bar but I have a lot of reservations about doing that because of vibrations.

Does anyone have any suggestions?



 

 

[Crusarius]

Those extensions are a great idea. as for the laser I do wonder how the vibration will effect it. only thing I thinking of is if you can mount it to the bed but no idea how to make it go up and down with the blade. Or temporary magnet when you are trying to setup for the first cut?

[doc henderson]

I mounted the base for mine with gorilla double sided tape.  it will pull wood fiber off a door.  I use mine to be sure i am past the log, and or behind it when I raise or drop the head.  points down at the leading edge of the blade.  to get the cut plane, I think you will be looking at that before sawing, so after you start the cut, you will not be raising or lowering (I hope) you saw head.  so it will not be vibrating much as you set up the cut, before starting through the log.

[Southside]

Mine is mounted to the frame around the guard doors, there is some vibration when you see it on the log, but honestly it's nothing that causes an issue. 

[NaySawyer]

@OlJarHead .. read your WM manual .. mine says where (on the loader port) and how to install a pressure guage and what pressure to expect.  I would use a quick connect so it is only installed when testing.

[never finished]

Fluid Power I found the biggest part of the problem is the sawdust falling straight down from the guide. Same kind of mill. I found some felt with a sticky back. Put it on the bottom frame and let it stick out over the track just a little. It cured 90% of the problem. I'll try to get a pic. If I don't get it on here I'll have it at the sawing project.   

[fluidpowerpro]

That makes a lot of sense. Keep the sawdust off of the track to begin with.
I'll look forward to seeing you at the project.

[Wlmedley]

Rigged up a mirror on mill so I can see off side .Dug through my collection of junk and found enough stuff to make it fully adjustable with a little cutting and welding.Works pretty good although seems to attract sawdust.

 

  

[Southside]

Nice - that mill is WAY to shinny.  :D

[Wlmedley]

It's only got about 100hrs on it.I keep it blew off with a leaf blower and shed helps a lot.Just now getting to where I can cut pretty good lumber and I have this forum to thank for that  :laugh:

[fluidpowerpro]

Made these today. I was talking to never finished at the sawing project and he told me about his, so credit goes to him. They are caps I can slide over the top of my backstops to hold the log a little further away from the exit side blade guide. Often times when taking first cuts off the top, if there are stubs or the log is crooked, I end up hitting the blade guide. This will hold the log an inch further away allowing more clearance. When I built my mill I was so focused on being able to cut as wide as possible, so my backstops only held the log about a 1/4" away from the guide. Theoretically that is fine but as we know, logs are rarely perfect so I struggled with it way too often. With these, once I have a cant, I can slide them off.

 

[Crusarius]

That is a great idea. I did the same thing and then ended up relocating the saw head to have more room. I wish I had thought about spacers.