Yet another DIY band sawmill

[Magicman]

You will probably pick up a few new ones when it actually happens.   :P

[Ox]

There's more twisting action to the log than you think, especially when milling the top of a new log and it's just kinda balanced there.  I've been lazy and not clamped/dogged logs enough and almost had disastrous results from the log turning while milling.  That'll wreck a blade and pull the whole mill head out of alignment if it ever caught.

As for end clamping - This is my mindset:  I tend to look at what most of the mills are using.  There has to be something to it and I don't think that I'm smart enough to think better than all those others who are in business manufacturing mills.  There's a reason these things are done a certain way.  Side clamping is really the only way to get any kind of bite to keep the log from rolling around and at the same time keeping the clamp low enough to be able to mill close to the bed/bunks/frame.  That being said, I've never seen or heard of an end clamping mill and perhaps it would work.  Maybe some others could chip in with their opinions. 

[Picky2016]

Now, everyone knows how much of an attention span I have, lol.

And just because everyone else uses this method doesn't mean there's not a better mousetrap?

Quick design shown from above log.



And this way, if someone else patents then end system, we have a record of it, lol.

[Hilltop366]

Would probably work for cutting through making all live edge slabs and if your logs are similar in length.

I'm thinking it would be cumbersome when cutting various lengths logs or trying to put a flat face 90° to the bed when squaring a log.

[Ox]

The log-end clamps - Give it a shot!  You never know, it might work great and we'd all learn something new.  I'd be interested to know how you would go about adjusting for different length logs.  Are you thinking along the lines of pipe clamps to slide back and forth the length of the mill?

[Picky2016]

I have a couple ideas I'll work on. Will try to stick to mill for now!

Ran into my first glitch tonight. When I mounted my engine I realized the muffler was going to contact the top bracket on carriage essentially giving me a 12" cut! Back to the drawing board. Whoever said measure twice and cut once, never worked with my meccano stuff! In a fit of ingenuity, I added an 12" extension and looking at things, moved the uprights. I ended up sandwiching the posts and ending up with two braces as opposed to one at the top.

Then I took her all apart for final weld before I realized I didn't take a pic for the visual guys.  Gonna hopefully get her back together with proper fasteners before weekend and I'll post some photos.

[Kbeitz]

Mufflers can be moved... I had to change my air cleaner.

[Picky2016]

All welded up and reassembled! I fabbed some bracketry to hold blade guard and lower will hold guide rollers.



Quick trip to machine shop and voilà! Two guides.



I then realized that I fixed my muffler clearance issue and created a futur guard collision issue with my new uprights. Will have to cut the lower upright off and raise 6" or so. That's the problems you get with engineering on the fly, lol.

[slider32]

There are some big commercial vertical bandmills that end dog the logs, it lifts the log right up, and lets them spin it between cuts.

You mentioned getting blades custom made, are they from R&D bandsaws (tufftooth.com)?  Was wondering what their millbands were like, I had good luck with their woodworking bandsaw blades.

[Ox]

Keep up the good work.

[Joe Hillmann]

Now, everyone knows how much of an attention span I have, lol.

And just because everyone else uses this method doesn't mean there's not a better mousetrap?

Quick design shown from above log.



And this way, if someone else patents then end system, we have a record of it, lol.

For that to work the clamps would have to be raise-able and be able to adjust for different length logs.  I do a lot of live edge siding from small logs I pound the hook of a comealong jack into each end of the log with the cable going under the mill then tighten up the come along.  It works but I wouldn't want to use that method if I was rolling the log a lot.

[Picky2016]

Well, I am probably the most optimistic person one would meet. For all you sceptics reading along, I'm with you guys. I got band on today and tried to get her to ride up on crown. It keep sliding down to last tread. It's like it's using the tread pattern as guide. So I gave her a couple spins and she stayed on. No promises of it staying at 3000 fpm but time will tell.



I also added the roller guides, I will weld the three pieces together tomorrow for stability.



I've read that some tire users have shaved the faces flat. Will find out I'm sure.

[Picky2016]

I did notice a downfall of my meccano tubing, everywhere it's welded, it's fine but where it's bolted, it does have a squish factor. I'm going to spend today cutting sleeves and installing them inside the tubes. Only happens at bearings and adjusters, where it's the most critical! To change blade, I just let air out of tires, slide new one on with a little cursing and air them back up to 30 psi and it's good to go.

[thecfarm]

That should stay on. I change blades on my Thomas and I have to adjust it too. I watch the blade and I can tell if I am adjusting it right. I give it a few quick spins and if it stays on track,I go with it.

[Magicman]

I believe that if you could toe the tires outward a bit in the throat the blade would track closer to the tire's center, but it may not matter anyway.

[Ljohnsaw]

Now to put this on the right thread...

As MM said, you need to be able to adjust the toe-in / -out on each tire to get it to track well.  You need it to track where you want BEFORE you put your blade guides in place.  The blade guides are ONLY for preventing the blade from going back as you are cutting (and providing about ¼"-½" of down pressure).  Even then, the blade should not be pressing much on the backstop.  The washer you have on there looks like a normal zinc washer.  It will wear out pretty fast.  Speaking from stubborn experience, get some Cook's guides and save yourself a lot of headache!

[Picky2016]

Well John, I thought of this and this is what I came up with. The center of the zinc washer is bigger than bearing I'd so it spins with bearings, But I will redo them. And yes, the blade barely touches them. I'm sure I could run without the guides.

Well, a little drawing for the budget challenged mill builders. After looking at several guide designs, I came up with a 10$ guide. No yelling for use of metric system please. You get three bearings as listed and a 20mm bolt. Bolt them all together and voila, a budget guide! I'll post pic tomorrow. . If the two bearings aren't as wide as your liking you can just add a washer or two.

The blade sits on the two smaller and backs on larger one.

**20mm bolt not 9/16" as shown***

[Picky2016]

And yes, the tires are toed out about 1/16" per side. I have adjusters on pillow blocks. This is another spot I had to install some sleeves. Early photo.

[Ox]

Lots of guys run guides like that.  Beauty of it is, parts are cheap and easy to replace.  Some are push down guides like this, others are sandwich guides top and bottom and one in the back edgewise for back control.  All using the same bearings.  Yeah, they wear out but a good snort of gear oil or needle injected grease in those bearings now and then will make a big difference in how long they last.  A lot of guys just run them as they're bought and new bearings like that aren't usually greased or oiled very good off the shelf.

[Picky2016]

And there we have guide 2.0

[Picky2016]

And just so you guys don't think your knowledge doesn't go very far, some midnight reading last night has convinced me to try and play with tire pressure and tension adjusting in an attempt to get band riding up on crown.  ;)

[Ljohnsaw]

Looking good on the guides.  Do as Ox says - grease them up good.  I wasted 3 sets of bearings the minute I ran water (coolant) on the blade.  I switched to Cook's and no issues so far.  On the tire pressure - I did mess around with mine a bit.  I have a manual tension screw.  If the tire pressure was too high (60 psi rating on the tires - doughnut spares), the blade would not stay on the crown, seemed counter intuitive.  So I run a bit lower (50ish) and tighten the blade until it stops fluttering.

My method (YMMV) is put the band on and tighten a little bit.  Adjust the tracking until it is right where I want it.  Adjust the blade guides (put into position).  Tighten blade until flutter stops, running at full throttle.  I usually don't touch the tracking any more now.

[Picky2016]

Will do John, and for the record, it was your mill story I read last night!

[Ljohnsaw]

Hope it helped more than confused! :D 

As far as toe in, I haven't checked in a while but I'm betting that I have between ¼' to ¾" on each side.  If I remember, I'll measure when I'm back up there on Wednesday.

[Joe Hillmann]

Well, I am probably the most optimistic person one would meet. For all you sceptics reading along, I'm with you guys. I got band on today and tried to get her to ride up on crown. It keep sliding down to last tread. It's like it's using the tread pattern as guide. So I gave her a couple spins and she stayed on. No promises of it staying at 3000 fpm but time will tell.



I also added the roller guides, I will weld the three pieces together tomorrow for stability.



I've read that some tire users have shaved the faces flat. Will find out I'm sure.

That blade MAY stay on but it won't cut straight it will probably try to rise out of the cut.  You need to get it riding farther back.  Ideally you would get it with the gullets riding right about where the back of the blade is.