My Design for a Band saw Sawmill.

[Bob]

Well I have been wanting a Band-Saw Sawmill for about 20 years now and I decided to draw up plans and make one finally....
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what I usually do is Draw the thing to exact scale so I can take the measurements off the parts in the drawing... all I have to do is select them and it gives me the dimentions of the thing...
however when I modify a part it goes into a different mode and I can't get the measurements off of it any more so I simply take them off the grid measurements... which works in a pinch.
well this drawing for some reason is going to have to be entirely off the grid. its no biggy but
I do like to look at the part and tell its a 2"x2" tube 24" long and stuff like that
now I have to count squares that are 1" square.... oh well !
....
 I designed this to be powered by a 8hp B&S engine a bit small for the task but it should work ok.
but its the biggest engine I have that runs good, the 12hp is out there but the rings are so bad in it I doubt it will even start anymore ! LOL
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I designed the band saw around 2 wheels and spindles that I had on my old screw type log splitter
anyone can substitute the small trailer wheels from "Northern tools catalog" easily enough.
... the drive for the wheels that are on spindles comes from a "U"shaped attachment cog that would fit in the slots of the Rim on the trailer tires... so the drive method would even stay the same
if you had to go out and buy the parts.
... I discovered that once I had the drawing done (at about number 5) that I wouldn't be able to replace a broken band saw blade unless I took the entire drive out... so that had to change.
and then I added a clutch, a kill switch, and height adjustment,and even a push bar.
the problem is seeing all the detail in a few pictures....  but if anyone wants more pics I'll be happy to post them so just say so...
heres an over all pic of the thing.
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Bob......

[Bob]

you'll notice in the drawing that there are 2 square sizes, the larger one is 1ft square and the smaller one is 1"square....
its approx 6ft wide and the wheels and spindles age approx 16" tall...at least in the drawing... I wasn't about to go out in the rain to measure them what ever it is I'll make'em fit
LOL !
...
Bob....

[Bob]

OK, well, I went outside and measured the tires/wheels I plan to use on the band saw sawmill...
and lo-and behold  my guesstament on their height was way off, turns out they are 19.5" tall
so I re did the drawing to reflect that because when I made them bigger they hit the sides !
so I expanded everything sideways and raised the main bar up top about 4" or so
... anyway...  its still about 5.5ft to 6ft wide, same height and length. same animal just a bit longer pieces in it to make it up... its cutting ability is 22" between the blade guides
.... should make lotsa' lumber ! LOL
...
Bob...

[Bob]

Well, lets see.... I added sliding clamps to the band saw blade steadier, so that can be adjusted now. added clamps on the up/down so it can't Move when sawing....
and made 2 log dogs to hold the log from rolling.
 and in general fixed up the drawing to better show what it is.
I figure an 8hp to 15hp would make this baby cut real good.... but allot of the speed of cutting depends on the blade used.... My Friend John Gill had I think a 20hp engine on his store bought mill and it never bogged down no matter what he was cutting ! and it cut at a slow walking speed, not a crawl.
 I haven't put a guard around the blade because the blade is already covered by the frame, and adding more weight just makes it harder to deal with.
 I may add some blade catchers to keep the band saw blade contained if it should come off the wheels. but I haven't decided on that yet.
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heres the final drawing Pic's
Bob.......

[Bob]

one last pic from the other side.
 You'll notice that the handle is down(enguaged) for the clutch.
 (where the operator stands to push the handle,to move the cutter through the log.)
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Bob.....

[Bob]

Now... One thing I really do NOT like about this design is the rails that the thing rides on....
1. they have to be perfectly parallel. and stay that way !
2. they have to be level... on ground that ISN'T LEVEL at all
....
that's a major problem unless I make a rigid frame work for it to set on, like put it on a trailer
or something....
 but that means Loading the logs on to the trailer instead of dragging them up and rolling them over.
I do have a tractor so I could load them without much hassle... and I'll be bringing the logs to the mill with the tractor anyway.... so just a Kant Hook attached to the bucket should allow the lifting of the logs.
... but that is still up on a trailer problem.... I'ed rather have it on the ground ...
I might weld 2 spreaders on to the rails but I know in so doing  (welding up a rectangle out of steel) it will inevitably Twist out of plumb so perhaps if I made spreader bars that plug into the rails to keep them the right distance apart and then all I'd have to worry about is getting it level....   I figure once its set up it will stay there more than likely... and I won't be moving it around much.... but if it was on a trailer I could move it real easily and take it to the pasture where all the logs ARE !.... easier all the way around !  I could use jack stands to set under the trailer/sawmill to steady it and make it solid.  but I am worried about BIG logs...
a 20" diam Pine log 11ft long is so heavy my tractor cannot lift one end of it.... the back of the tractor comes off the ground!   .....
so that almost makes it a Necessity to bring the rails to the log! not the log to the rails ! HEHEHEH
....
so I am kind of in a quandary about which way to go at the moment.
any suggestions people ?
... I'm kind of favoring building it on a trailer.... with rollers and a boat winch I could load logs fairly easily..... hummm
....

Bob.....

[Manta]

Bob,

First place I ever worked when I left school,  back in 1959,  was a timber yard.  when we were out in the field we use to move the big logs by lifting just one end off the ground and dragging them along with the tractor.
The tractor in use was a Fordson Diesel Major fitted with a winch and a big sprag on the back to pull against.  Maybe you could rig up something similar.

Manta.

[Bob]

ummm what are you calling a sprag Manta ?  I don't follow you !
...
 i'm sittin here eating a big breakfast .... and plan to go out and work it off this afternoon hehehe
... the tractor has a 3 point hitch on it so I can hook a chain to the drag blade or plow on the back and lift a log end up ... if its not too big. just lowering the impliment to the ground and hooking a chain to the log and then to the down impliment, and short couple it and then raise it will almost alwayse get what ever it is off the ground ! but there is a limmit , it won't pull out stumps that way LOL.....
....
the more I think on it the more I think I'll build it on the old tractor trailer up the hill....
though the trailer deck is totally shot... it is long enough so I could cut 20ft boards into lumber if I wanted to.... almost all the trees here are under 2 ft in diamator.... most infact are about a foot in diamator to 18" or so.... although the big pines are ...well...BIG and they may well pose a problem...
 I got to thinking I could make the saw mill on the 30 ft trailer and even add a roof to it to keep the rain off me .... with a winch and a few rollers getting a log loaded shouldn't be that hard.... I guess if it is I'll have to devise a ging pole to load the logs... so it can be done one way or another ! HAHAHAHA
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Man, I will sure be glad when it DRIES OUT A BIT !..... I haven't seen this much rain sense I was a Kid here ...about 40 years ago ! LOL !... I guess Back east is getting hit really hard...setting records all over the place for the most snow  ever !.... better them than me ! LOL !
.....
Bob......



 

[Bob]

Well, I went up to that trailer thats been sitting in one place for at least 20 years
the tires arn't looking very good... obviously... and the wood plank deck is almost completely rotted away... in fact I'd be scared to try and walk on it <GRIN>
but the frame is there and in good enough shape to use, its a large Mobil home frame that was cut down for the job of moving the tractor and household goods its 3 axles under it are a pain and My step dad finally chained up the last set of axles and took the wheels off so it would turn corners better!
 its 6' 6" wide between the main rails which seams rather wide but should do fine actually as the Band-saw design is 6' wide if I remember correctly so adding a few inches is no biggy at all.
...
I cut down about 3 more fairly large oak trees this morning making a few more 12 to 15 ft logs... I've got quite a few logs lined up now.... and when the ground dries out enough I will go haul them with the tractor and put them in a stack so they dry good.
....
I have my reservations of trying to cut dried white oak with the ban saw sawmill though because that stuff is so very hard you cannot drive nails into it ! no .....REALLY!
you have to pre drill holes and use long sheet rock screws to build anything out of this oak ! its very hard on saw blades once it dries out ! but it is a beautiful wood!
...most of the logs I have cut already are destined for a bridge over a small creek.
as this creek or Rill as I call it divides the property on that side of the pond, right now I am driving through the creek in the Putt-putt to get to that side of the property
and clear brush.... so a good bridge is needed there....
 Boy I tell ya I dunno what I did without that little  buggy/putt-putt its a Carbide model of a 4 wheel go-cart, with a rack on the back and a roll cage and 2 bucket seats
it has a little 150cc motor in it with electric start and its perfect to throw the chainsaw in it and go over and cut brush ! My sister got it for me from "Tractor Supply"
and I have used the heck out of it... its only has the back 2 wheels powered but you wouldn't know it, as it goes just about anywhere !
anyway... my back is hurting from using that chainsaw this morning so I'm taking the rest of the day off ! LOL !
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Bob.......

[Bob]

Well, I'm committed to making the band saw Sawmill now.... I cut the axel off of the wheels and drilled a few holes in a 2"x2" hunk of angle iron I have, and attached the wheel/pintle blocks (axels are bolted to a nice heavy alumimum block that used to at one time be attached to leaf springs I think.)
anyway, to make a long story short I attached both wheels to the angle iron and put the old bandsaw blade around the tires.... tightened up the adjustment ( I made 1" long slots when I drilled the holes on one end) and then spun the tires by hand .... and to my amazement the band saw blade stayed on just fine !
....
I may make a diferent motor hookup than in my drawings but I haven't decided yet.  I am think of trying a electric motor and a friction drive to run on the tires... and see if that works or not.
.....
the biggest reason I haven't built one in the past is because keeping the band saw blade on seamed so precarious at best .... and I find it strange that this thing is staying on so easily ! <GRIN>
...
if need be I can add a slight twist to the wheel mounts to change the orientation of the wheels to help keep the blade on...but thus far there has been no need ! hehehehehhehe
.....
 all in all I'ed say it looks like its going to work just fine.... all I gott'a do is BUILD IT!
heheheheh
...
Bob........

[Bob]

Sense I have to build it as cheeply as possable .... I'm scrounging up the metal to do it with here on the Ranch.... I found an old steel bench that I moved down ages ago that has 3" channel iron in it...
so I cut off one of the best rails and am going to use it as the SLIDES on the side instead of the tubes
that are in my drawing... a few straps and a locking bolt with a "T" handle should take care of the up and down movement of the band-saw unit.
... I welded the channel iron on to the 2" angle iron this evening... I just eyeballed it and I am hoping it is straight enough! LOL
...
I may get the straps on the SLIDES tomorrow... hard to say... I have a bunch of things to work on!
.......
Bob...

[Bob]

I havn't got the slides on yet, I got busy getting the silly band-saw blade to track correctly
finally got it close... a washer is too thick to ise as a shim it takes 2 pieces of that shimstock Randy sent me to get it in line so the blade stays near the center of the tred on the tires...
...
 HOWEVER I may have a serious problem... I noticed that the wheels/tires and rims are not spinning perfectly... they are off center...and this is bad !
both wheels are off by as much as 1/4"
they go up and down when ya spin them by that much! .... DRAT THE LUCK !
.... I may try taking a carving tool or grinder to them as they spin to true them up ...but I don't think I can get that much out.... the tread is only 1/8" deep....so I dunno if its worth the bother!
... I put the wheels in sink by making sure they were orentated just right and that seams to help but the band saw blade goes up and down by almost 1/4" regardless of my tinkering...
that in itself is not acceptable.... unless I don't mind a wavy line on my cuts !
or 1/4" Kerf ! ....
all in all I think something is going to have to be changed.... perhaps buy different wheels  I don't know!
...
who'ed have thought that a military axel would be so out of round ?   ok, I figure its probably a "Howitzer" set of wheels... or small cannon to be towed behind a jeep... at 45mph that thing would be Hopping all over the place back there ! LOL ! maybe that is why they go slow HAHAHAHAHAHA
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Bob.....

[Bob]

Well, I tried an experiment with my band-saw sawmill yesterday.... I rigged up a wheel on a 2hp electric motor that turns at 3440rpm and held it against the tire on the band saw.... in a "friction drive" arrangement. it reached top speed and was just about right for the speed, not too fast not too slow.... but the darn thing Hopped all over the place and shook like the house afire!...
 I can't have that kind of shaking on the band saw so I've deiced to try another set of wheels I have
their 15" plastic rim semi pneumatic tires that I got for the gyro copter ages ago and discovered that they wern't near strong enough for the job heheheh.... they are mounted on a boat trailer jack at the moment that I made up but discovered that they flexed way to much for that too !....
sense the band saw will only have a max of 30 to 50lb of tension on the blade they should be fine for the saw.
 Although they are smaller in diameter than the other wheels they do spin true!
 so I am in the process of getting the mounts for the wheels made up
the wheels have a 5/8" bolt as an axel that I welded to a pipe as the connection between the wheels
I'll simply cut off about 6" off the pipe and weld that to a plate so I can put my adjusters on the plate and anchor that to the angle iron on the band saw frame ....
I'm going to have to re work almost everything to change the wheels but if I'm going to do it, I just as well do it RIGHT !   I will use a 12" V belt pulley attached to the spokes on the wheels
and then use another step down pulley off the motor as a Jack shaft to lower the speed of the turning
if I am careful I think I can get a 24:1 gear reduction from the motor to the Band saw .
.....
I got looking for a decent motor to put on the band saw Sawmill and the biggest motor I have is a 8hp
.... that's not very big at all ! but it will have to do I guess as I don't have the money to go buy a 20hp motor ! LOL
the other engines I have here are too big....but I may consider using one of them anyway once I get this thing working good.  I have a Mercadies 240cid. and a 2000cc VW engine and a chevy citation... and even a 351v8 in the old dodge ! LOL   but all of these are too heavy to be on a trolley moving on stilts!
.... so for now I'll use a small B&S 5~8hp and use that
....
it was encouraging to see the band saw spin up the other day.... the blade stayed on well and looked to be able to cut wood at a good clip....but that depends on the hp of the motor to pull it through the wood I guess !
....
Bob.....

[Bob]

Ok well.... I got the trailer wheels off and the smaller plastic wheels on ...
I made up some new spindles for them sense they fit a 1/2" bolt.... I just welded a long 1/2" bolt to a piece of 2" angle iron and drilled 4 holes in each one as mounting holes...
I then put the spindles on and held them on with vise grips, and got the band saw blade on and spun it by hand and it was staying on very good.... its "BOUNCE" was much much less than with the other wheels
so I think I'm on the right track !...
 I also mounted a 12" v belt pulley on one of the wheels...
...
if the rain holds off I can have the thing running with a electric motor in no time....
but if i put the Jack-shaft on it to reduce the RPM that will take some more time.
I don't like the idea of being near that thing with it "Singing" at high RPM's and not having a guard around it ! .... the way it is now if I hook the motor to that v-belt it will be a 6:1 reduction
sense the motor turns at 3440rpm  that's 573.33 RPM on the wheels... which is purdy darn fast... but it should take it with no problem..... so I think I'll give it a try and see what it acts like.
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I have to get the spindles mounted properly first though .... and some spacers made for the spindle bolts (their about 4" too long! LOL)
...
anyway... I'm making progress !
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Bob......

[Bob]

well, I got the wheels and their axle's mounted and tracking fairly good....
it hasn't spit off the band saw blade yet and stays mostly in the center of the tires<GRIN>
I welded a 1" water pipe to the top of the "spredders" the things that will travel up and down on the height adjustment.... and welded a motor mounting plate to it...
 I need a fairly large v-belt now, and I'm going to add a tensionier to keep the band saw blade good and tight . I'll mount that in the center between the 2 wheels pointing up.
if I do it right it should maintain a constant pressure on the band saw blade.
...I'ed like to have it spring loaded that way it can flex when it needs to... sense I am not dealing with perfectly circular things here... building in FLEX is a good idea!
...
right now I am planning on using a 2hp electric motor on it just for test purposes.
because I figure there will be allot of adjustments on the thing before I finally get it correct to cut logs.
... next will be the guides and tensionier....I dunno where I'm going to find berrings but I gott'a have 4 of them.... maybe 5
...
anyway... making progress
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Bob......

[Bob]

Bummer deal dude! 
I found a v-belt almost the right size... in diamator... but its a 3/4" wide belt so it don't fit the pulleys... so I took it with me to tractor supply and used their belt guage on it and bot one the next size bigger and in 1/2" wide width....
brought it home  "Sure it would fit" and I'll be darned it was about 6" too short!
thats really strange too because its much shorter than the old belt I have.... not longer
...anyway I'll take it back and see if I can exchange it fer a longer one....
but this time I'll match it up to the old belt ! LOL
.... that'll teach me to trust their numbers! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
...
Bob......

[Bob]

hehehe well I got the right v belt finally, and put it on the band saw... made sure it was tracking good and then plugged it in... it promptly spun up and then spit the band saw blade off and that took the v-belt off and  both went flying across the yard... while i cowered behind the bench!
.....
the looseness of the blade allowed it to flop around so much that it just worked itself off I think
... so I put a caster wheel ( one with bearings in it) in the center and tightened up the blade
but before I plug it in again I want to put the guide rollers on it so it stays on there this time...
...I am making the bottom guide rollers adjustable in and out so if I am cutting a small log I can move the guides out close to the wood.... or on a big log, I can move them back...
... I almost have the slides done for the bottom guides, one on each side and I will put one guide up top next to the tension roller to keep the top of the band saw blade on.... with that done I should be able to plug it in and test it cutting a 2x4 !!!
...
 I'ed like to get some small 2" caster wheels that have bearings in them, or at the very least metal wheels on the casters... all I have right now is normal plastic casters which I doubt will last very long at all... maybe one run ? LOL
....
I have found that I can adjust the wheels to have the band saw blade track to the front ,center or back of the tire width.... what I will need to do is adjust it to where it is tracking to the center to back half side of the tire and then with my guide wheels to keep it on the center they will have a constant pressure or contact on the blade.... this will keep it on real good I am sure...
its impossable to put a roller in front of the blade where the cutting teeth are but on the back of the blade its completely flat.... I am sure it will eat through a plastic wheel in a short time
thats why I am thinking of metal caster wheels... maybe if I oil them good they will last a long time... because I doubt I can find metal wheels with bearings in the center ! 
...
its getting closer at any rate...slowly but surely ! LOL
...
Bob......

[randy]

Hey bob, I've seen a few using sealed ball bearings as guide rollers, just using the outer race directly against the blade.

[Bob]

yah ! exactly ! my shop-smith bandsaw has small bearings on it like that...
problem is ...finding bearings of different sizes is harder than finding wheels with bearings!
...
 I used to have a bunch of roller berrings around this place but I have used them up on "invention/experiments" and there is not a single roller bearing to be found...
however... I might be able to get some from old altenators however..... I think I have a few of them laying around collecting rust!... I don't doubt that a bearing would be far superrior to a caster wheel!
.... Hummm... I'll havt'a see what I can scrouge up ! LOL
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thanks fer the Info Randy !
...
Bob.....

[Bob]

 ummm you wouldn't happen to know where I could find roller bearings hanging on a shelf for sale would ya ?
...
i havn't spent much time in town lately, but I bet if I looked I could find roller bearings somewhere!
...
 Bob....

[Bob]

hehehe I went out to the shop and found a motor that was already taken apart and left in a can...
it had 2 bearings on it... a bit small but should work great
... I managed to smack my finger with the hammer a good one so I am typing this with 5 fingers and not 6... as I usually do....my hunt and Peck is adversely hampered ! LOL... got a nice blood blister forming on my index finger and it "SMARTS"... as they used to say ! LOL
...
still I'd rather have bigger bearings on it.... but if nothing else I can use those 2- 1/4" bearings for the job... I'd rather have 1/2" ball bearings on it as they are wider and there is quite a bit of flex in the system...
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humm thunderstorms are moving in I see best to turn off and un plug the computer I suppose. ugh!
...
later...all
Bob.

[randy]

Most industrial supply houses have bearings, here where I live there's several places to get bearings and seals, them alternator bearings should work good.

[Bob]

I have an old "invention" that proved to be a joke... where the saying every action has an equil and oppisit reaction....  I tried to mechanically take away that equil and oppisit reaction so I would have a force in only one direction.... it didn't work ! although I built it well and without comprimises...
try as I might (even suspending the appratious by ropes!) it never showed any force in one direction at all....   so I have some old bearings on that thing that I will take off... I was going to keep it and hang it on the wall as a conversation piece <grin> because that is all its good for!
... the bearings will be perfect for the saw mill blade guides... so that problem is solved!
just gott'a dissasemble that old "centrifical engine" thing!
 I did learn from that thing though, that there is no way to Mechanically asorb the equil and oppisit
reaction of an out of balance wheel.... something I have been working on sense I was 12 years old!
but I think it can be done with hydrolics or air power... thats another project all in its own , some time in the future  HAHHAHAH!
...
I re-drew the drawing I have of my bandsaw plans to reflect more of what I'm building... and now have a better idea of problem areas...
 the idler on the "CLUTCH" to engage or disengage the turning power to the bandsaw blade. has to have either a long dog leg in it or a 4" long spacer to reach across the wheel to reach the v-belt
... to get away from that problem I think I will turn the wheel and v-belt over and put it on the inside instead of the outside... making putting on the saw blade easier  and making the belt closer to the frame where the clutch is mounted. seams allot more sensible to me than reaching across the entire thing to get to the belt ! LOL
I am doing this with the electric motor first, but I plan to mount the 8hp B&S on the saw when its all working good... the electric motor makes it so much easier to test stuff with.
...
so minor changes in the works... which will cause other changes down the line... haven't thought it out completely but I am sure its the way to go....it will mean re adjusting the spindles and everything to do with keeping the blade on the wheels and tracking right but its gott'a be done!
...
 I have yet to start preparing the 30ft trailer for its new found purpose, but when the weather gets better I'll get to it.
...
thanks for the info again Randy !  I hope this winter hasn't been mean to you and yours !
Keep ur' Powder Dry Buddy!"
...
Bob.......

[Bob]

Well, the other day while I was in tractor Supply I found sealed roller bearings, 5/8"x 1/2"x 1.5"
so I bought 3 of them... I have them now on the bottom guides and am getting ready to make the top guide...
 I've had the band saw running now about 5 times... and even cut a 2x4 with it.....
 it kind'a bogged it down a bit but I am sure that is because of the LOOSE DRIVE belt! <GRIN>
 being loose like that gives me a "Soft Start"
but it did cut the 2x4... so that's something anyway !
....
I am seriously worried now about the HP requirements of that thing. to get it to work good I may have to buy a 20hp motor from northern tools so it will cut good!
... although there is always the 40hp engine on my Gyro copter but that's "OFF LIMITS" fer scrounging parts!( unless I get the 75hp engine working! Hummmmm)
HAHAHAHAHAHA
...
 any hoo.... I've been playing with the tracking getting it better and better.... and still think I need that 3rd guide up top to keep the band saw blade away from the drive belt.... so I'll put it on
next... and then it's time to work on the carrage for it...
...
I know that electric motors are much more powerfull than gasoline engines when considering the HP ratings.... but I am not real impressed so far on the 2hp electric motor... it should have cut that 2x4 without even knowing it was there.... perhaps with the belt tight it will ...I dunno yet! HAHAHA
... I was planning on using the 8hp B&S on it but I am not so sure that would work very good!
...
 the band saw blade I am using is one off a Wood-mizer Sawmill that John Gill gave me... he had hit nails with it and took off a few teeth and dulled it up real good, and I haven't tried to sharpen it yet.... but His Woodmizer had a 20hp or 25hp motor on it... and it cut really nicely
if I can get mine to cut like that I'll be quite happy ! LOL
but it is a big band saw blade ...about 1.25" wide and over 6ft of a Loop and it would take allot of Power to drag it through a log!
its not a 1/2" wide tiny band saw blade...this thing is huge!
....
anyway I ran it for a good 5 minutes to see if it would get out'a sorts and spit off the blade and it never did, so I'm making good progress on it.
...
my blade guides do work and they actually turn... so that's good!
I think with the last blade guide in, the saw part will be done !
...
I'll see if I can get some pictures taken of that thing so you guys can see what I've been fooling with ! HAHAHAHA (and how far from the original drawing I have made it! Necessary when building with "Found METERIAL")
....
Bob......

[Bob]

I'm pleased to report that the band Saw project is coming along just fine!
I added angle braces to the unit and stiffened it up and that cured 98% of the shaking! now it just vibrates a bit.... which makes me very happy !
....
tracking of the band saw blade seams to be working very good now...I have made 3 guides and have them
ALL completely adjustable...
 I have ran the saw for quite some time now to make sure the tracking stays put and it does....even when cutting a 2x4 board.... 
...
today I will try to add 2 more guides for the up and down flexing of the blade as it is moving up and down about 1/2" on the guides I made... I want to keep it within 1/8" so more rollers are needed
... although I was thinking about not using rollers there, but I think I should because other wise it will ware on the blade... even if I put a teflon block for the blade to slide through... (the teflon would rub away real fast !)  if I used oak blocks it would probably do just fine... but it would rob
hp... so I'll try to find 2 more 1/4" roller bearings like I did earlier and put Vertical rollers on the bottom roller guides to keep the blade in the right spot!
....
 I thought of just using a fork out of steel welded to the bottom roller guide to keep the blade in the center of the roller... but if I'm going to all this trouble to make a saw mill I just as well do it right and put rollers on it ! LOL
....
all in all besides that vertical roller thing on the bottom guides its ready for the trolly system
...which will have to wait for the money for the steel.... in the mean time I can get the 30ft trailer ready for it.
....
I'll try to get those pics today ! <GRIN>
...
Later all !
...
Bob.....
 

[Bob]

ok I made the 2 vertical guides for the bottom roller guides and got them on there ...man that made a big difference!  
... it runs, tracks good and cuts that 2x4 great as long as I don't push too hard... if I do, the belt slips! LOL
... here is a pick of this monster !
 
 Its setting on a channel iron/pipe bench that has no top.... (that's not its frame)
this is JUST the cutting head .... it consists of the side slide-rails, the green 2"angle iron center
frame rail and the pipe up on the top to stiffen it, pluss all the guides and wheels and stuff
... as I mentioned before I will eventually put a gas motor on this thing, and a clutch
the slide rails that I have to make up now will look like upside down "T"'s  and have wheels to roll
along the trailer frame rails....
...
my hope is to have it mounted on the trailer and load a log with the tractor and or boat winch or come-along.... this should give me a flat place to cut planks from... JUST AS LONG AS I CAN GET THE THING TO ROLL STRAIGHT DOWN THE TRAILER.... without binding in any way... I fear that will be a good trick indeed ! but we shall see !

...
Bob...

[Bob]

And here is a drawing that reflects all the changes from the original plans... sort of "after the fact" type thing.... but when you work with "FOUND" Meterials thats what ya gott'a do ! LOL
...
Bob...

[Bob]

And here is a Close up of one of the 2 bottom "guides"...
...
Bob.

[Bob]

Ugh ! I just spent about 2hrs trying to get the old rotten decking off that 30ft trailer... and I finally got the back end almost clear.... no doubt about it I am going to need it down here where the electric power is... doing it by hand will take months ! LOL !
...its an old 12 wide trailer house frame that has been cut down to 30 ft over all and 2x8 decking planks were laid down as a bed about 30 years ago... well its never had any preservitive put on it and its been setting in the weather all that time.... tis a shame actually because Ken did an exelent job on it.... it hauled the tractor and many loads of house hold stuff... everything in the house fit on that thing ! LOL....
 anyway time to reserect it into a saw mill... and its going to be a big job.
half the boards are crumbling in my hand ...which makes those boards super easy...but the other half are good solid wood...down deep any way... and they don't break....
 I am thinking of taking the tractor and running a long chain under the planks and ripping them off
with the bucket....instead of using my back ! HAHAHAHAHAHA
...
 The side rails of the trailer are what is important for the saw mill...as that is going to be the spot where I roll the trolley on.... and from what I can tell they look to be in good shape...
....
the Sawmill part of it feels like 80lbs or so at the moment...( I moved it a bit this morning)
so when its done ... gas motor and all, it will probably weigh 150 to 200lbs....
 that's enough weight to keep it from bouncing around. which is good
....
it'ed sure be nice if I could put one of these car engines on it, or perhaps the old mercadies diesel... but that is a bit more hassel than I want to get into right now  not to mention moving it when its cutting!.... so I really need a small engine say 2 cylinders 20 to 30hp in that airea
... something will present itself I'm sure  LOL
...
later all !
Bob......

[Feral]

Speaking about presenting itself, hay Dad, how about this 350cc uh Honda? up here? Last I heard it runs... Fair game if you ask me...

[Bob]

Ummmm... because its air cooled and needs a big fan ... though I suppose I can rig one off the driven thing.... its a thought !  HUMMMMMM
... no doubt its CHEEP ! LOL right up my alley
...
Bob.......

[Bob]

that actually has potential... (the honda 350cc engine)  its probably raited at 30 hp and if I ran it in low gear it should work fine... it'ed need a clutch hooked up, and if I remember correctly that clutch slipped a bit....  carberators is the biggest problem with that beastie... the floats are permiated with gasoline... heheheh by now I suppose they have dried out though !
...keeping that thing COOL would be the hard part, although it has an electric start it also has a Kick start on it if I remember right...... I'ed wann'a hook up the electric starter  because I'm lazy !
HAHAHAHAHA
...
 with the engine mounted so the sprocket is facing the right direction , the cooling air will have to be horizontal to the band saw... so a large fan would have to be employed to keep it cool...
which I have a few around here because I knew they would come in handy ! it would be wisest to force the air through the fins of the engine in the usual direction (from the front of the engine)
and if need be I can make up some cowling to do that.... and I could still have the fan sideways to the engine and not have any problems of getting power to it to turn it....
infact I could weld a 2 v-belt pulley to the drive sprocket, one to power the saw one to power the fan !
.....
i think its more trouble than what its worth... to be honnest.... there will be starting problems
battery problems, and cooling problems... the one that worries me the most is cooling it !
I don't think the charger works on that bike as the selenium rectifier is toast... but I probably got one around here somewhere ! LOL
....
but for sheer  power that should actually do the trick.... getting it running good first would be a better way of deciding if its worth the hassel I think !  LOL
... another thought is the high revs of the bike engine ...it develops its high hp at 8,000rpm
 more than double of what I am planning on for the saw... although 1st gear has a 1.2:1 ( I think)
I should be able to run it at about 4500rpm to 5000rpm at the engine, for the saw's slower RPM
....( the 2hp electric motor I'm using on it now turns 3440rpm and has a 1.5" pulley on the motor shaft and turns a 12" v belt pulley on the wheel...that's a 8:1 reduction and should be turning the saw blade wheels at 450rpm if my calculations are correct...
which is a good clip.... I don't think I'ed want to see that thing go any faster than 1000rpm !
...
 
but actually for cutting FAST...that engine would be the ticket... if I could keep the saw together under it ! LOL ! ... if I could run the bike engine at 6000rpm the saw would be singing !
but I dunno if the plastic wheels would hold up under that kind of punishment! ... I kind of doubt it ! I could replace them with some metal spoke type wheels I saw at Tractor supply though... cutting the planks fast is where its at ! ...
as long as it doesn't ware out equipment too bad I'm willing to try for it!
....
 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ( I think its asking for serious trouble ...I didn't design it to turn that fast!)
....
I'll have to think on that awhile...
...
I think I'm more inclined to try a smaller motor first ! HEHEHEHE
...
Bob......

[Bob]

I got looking around the place for an engine for the sawmill and I decided on the 8hp thats on the 4000kw generator ....that I haven't used in over 20 years !.... sense I don't use it its a Perfect canadate!
....
it still pulls through and acts like its in good shape so I will remove the engine and start mounting it on the band saw soon...
...
I oiled up the bearings on the sawmill.... first time sense I put it togather and plugged it in
and it promptly spit off the band saw blade ! LOL !
.... it seams that the idlier wheel on the far side is not in very good alignment ( I did mess with it yesterday...oops!)  and I got oil all over the band saw blade... its good to know these things before I try and use it I guess ! LOL !
...
 using the motorcycle engine is just too much hassel... the 8hp B&S has about 304cc and if need be I know I can put on a decent carberator and get another 10hp out of it ! ... so it should do the trick
and is in like new condition....dispite the weathered apearance <GRIN>
...
I hope I can get that generator off the motor shaft without too much hassel !
...that is one of those things that "we shall see what we shall see" type things ! (they are notoriously hard to get off ! )
...
re adjusting the wheel on the band saw shouldn't be any problem... just time consumeing...
it will need a washer between the base of the wheel mount and the frame to get it to track properly and then all the other idliers will have to be re-adjusted once again...
...
I was measuring the max cut of the band saw... its max depth of cut is 7-3/4" deep and 36" wide
... I can if I feel it needs it , change the depth of cut by cutting out the angle iron in the center
... but I seriously doubt I'll need to do that.
7-3/4" is the width of a 2"x8" milled plank  and If I want wider planks I can cut then horizontally
... So I see no reason to change it at this time !
...
 the 8hp B&S should do the trick I need.... it may cut a bit slow but it will be a great starting place....  if I can cut a 10ft plank in 5 min I'll be happy ! ...it took my chainsaw about 10 to 15 minutes to do that !
.... and sense its a band saw it SHOULD do it that fast !... we shall see
 I only need a bigger engine if I really want to cut super fast , like a 10ft plank in 1 min....
and I can wait a bit for the cost of a bigger engine ! LOL
...
you'll notice I said 10ft plank and not 8ft.... in actuality I plan to be able to cut 20ft long boards
and that's because I am putting it on a 30ft trailer.... usually I amagon I will be cutting 8ft 2x4's
or 2x6's  I will however start by making some planks for the deck of the trailer ! HAHAHAH
...
 a long time ago when John Gill cut my floor planks for me  on his saw mill he made them 3" by 12" by 12ft long.... something like 18 of them and that made excellent flooring!
  I'll probably do the same for the decking on the trailer... just 2 walk ways on either side of the log is all I need....
...
so that's the plan I am going to run with now....
...
 I'll post more when I make some progress on it !
...
Bob

[Bob]

LOL ! I got the motor off the generator today....
I had to cut it off as the crank was real long and tapered ...one of those really tight fits.... and was rusted to become part of it....  so I cut it off with the recipocateing saw.... heheheheh got the engine running too after breaking an ear off the intake manifold.... that I siliconed back on ! (oops) so far its holding... 
that is one strong engine ! .... its hard as heck to pull through when its setting on the ground not anchored to anything.... but I got it running and I killed it and re started it with a single pull a few times.... so it looks to be a winner !....
I will need to get a sprocket for that motor shaft....its thicker than anything I have around here ! probly a 1" crank ! or 1.25"
all in all it was a good days work... got it running and I'm happy with that...
tomorrow is re align the bandsaw wheel and get ready to mount the motor ! ...
...
later !
Bob......

[Bob]

ok... just so you know.... don't bother siliconeing a manifold bolt flange back on... even with RTV high temp silicone.... it don't hold ! <GRIN>
... Now I need to go buy some alum/alloy welding rod so I can weld the manifold ear back on...
  I played with that darn engine for at least an hour and a half trying to adjust the carburetor and it just wouldn't adjust and run right... it keeps surging !
 I know the little needle adjustment on the bottom of the carb is screwed up...
the threads were frozen so I had to drill it out and I put a short piece of vinal hose in there and it seams to be holding it in and all that... and not leaking...
but it may well be the problem of the surging... no real way to fix it except replace the carburetor... which I may wind up doing !
....
I also think the governor on it is helping it to surge... I'ed like for the governor to WORK so I have left it on there and keep trying to make it work HAHAHAHAHAHHA
... although I gave up and held the throttle steady and the engine ran steady for a bit
then started the surging stuff all over again... 
so I think the vacume leak and carb adjustments are the major problem so I will attempt to remedy that before I start hunting for another carberator ! ... any carbs around here for that engine would be in worse shape than the one I am trying to use now !  LOL
... I did find a carb that just might bolt right on there, its on a old wore out 12hp engine that I doubt will ever run again...no compression at all and that was when it was running last.... now its frozen stiff and I can't turn it over... so the carb is probably all rusted out inside but it is a possibility !
...
... I might go out there and see if I can make it fit on the engine... it would save having to weld the intake manifold that I broke... as it won't be needed ! hehehehe
...
  Great weather here today ! ... I'm even sweating its that warm ! LOL !
...
I got a pully for the engine and put it on there... this morning... and I adjusted that one wheel so it tracks better....works good again.
...
slowly getting it together ... sure takes allot of time !
I'm just hoping all this work will be worth it and it will cut me a bunch of Lumber!
HAHAHHAHAHA
...
Bob......

[Bob]

I put a diferent carberator on that 8hp engine... it starts and runs but not smoothly ...
still needs fine tuning....
...
 I ran into a MAJOR problem.... the tracking of the band saw blade!
...
 although it was tracking acceptable going in the one direction... I realised that the 8HP B&S turned in the other direction, so I had to change the thing all around so the tracking of the bandsaw blade would stay on going in the other direction... so I re wired the 2hp electric motor to go in that direction and set to get the tracking correct....
  I spent ALL day on the tracking ! I finally got the blade to stay on but its not stable
at all.... it will run for a minute tracking fine and then all of a sudden one wheel will track off center.... and the blade moved to the front or back half of the tire!
and THAT is as close as I can get it !....
  I also noticed that the screws that I put in the rim of the tire to hold the
semi-Pneumatic tire from spinning on the rim were pulled out ! this made the drive wheel all wobbly...  and apt to slip on the rim again...when under a cutting load.
...
 I showed Feral my problem and  She agreed that I need new tires and rims as the ones I am trying to use just are not strong enough ! .....DARN IT!
...
 so I am thinking either wheel barrow wheels or some wire spoke wheels for garden utility carts I saw in Tractor supply are the answer.
....
I never thought finding tires and rims that were strong enough would be so hard !<GRIN>
...
I know from looking at sawmills on the web that guys have made that most of them are using trailer tires and rims/spindles. I have a small trailer axel up by the Old Quanset Hut, that may well be the answer to this problem once and for all...
... I'll investigate that idea...
...
the Motor, the 8hp B&S starts and runs now... but as I said ... not smoothly
but I think I can get it working better... by fine tuning it... strangely enough the carberator came off a 12hp  but is SMALLER than the carb that came off the 8hp...
(way to go B&S!...  IDIOTS!)... but it makes adjusting the carb easier....though top hp may well be out of reach ... I still think it will be enough to power the saw...as its a strong engine !
 I had to do a complete tear down and clean up of the carb but it survived it well.
(unlike the other carb hehehehehe)....its a simplier carberator sense it is so old
2 adjustable jets...one for the idle jet and one for the main jet.... and two butterflys.... and a float chamber...that's it !... my idea of a good carberator ! LOL
... I think part of my problem lies in the points under the flywheel, it seams to be a bit erratic in its running... only time will tell there I guess... gott'a fix it what ever it takes as it has to run smoothly.....
...
I also picked up an idler pulley for the clutch I will make for the engine engage/disengage lever... so I can have the engine running and the band saw not spinning.   but I have yet to even mount the gas engine  so the clutch will wait till later.... getting these wheels sorted out is most important now!
....
Bob......

[Bob]

OOOK ! I think I solved the problem ! I found an old small utility trailer axel among the piles of Junk on the ranch... it has 4 bolt hub spindles on it and I have seen white spoke tires and rims for sale at harbor freight and Tractor supply that should fit it...
I took off one hub to take with me so I can check before I buy'em...to make sure they fit right...
that will give me larger wheels which is what I'ed like for the band saw...and strong enough to handle the stresses involved...
 .... Although it means I'll have to re-work the darn thing one more time at least I know it will work this time !...
I should build in tracking adjusters this time instead of using washers as I have so far as shims to get the adjustment correct......  but we'll see how it goes.
...
this is more what I had in mind to begin with... something strong enough to take my abuse ! LOL ! because those plastic rims just ain't making it ! hehehehehe
....
however mounting the pulley to the rim may well be a problem... but one step at a time!
... it may well take allot of work but I am sure I can accomplish the task !
...
this solution is far better than jerry-rigging it yet again !... I am too good at that!
and it is never a good soulution ! making do is a good skill, but not in every case..I have to make it a point to "DO IT RIGHT" rather than jerry-rig something...as I can usually fix something in a very easy way !...<GRIN>
...
now we'll see if I can afford the tires and wheels ! LOL !
...
Bob.....

...

[Bob]

hehehe well I went to town today and Treated the wife out to lunch, and after lunch we went to Harbor freight tools,<GRIN> I just happened to have the Hub with me in the trunk too ! imagine that ! ...anyway I took the hub into the store with me and went to their trailer parts area and found a match... the 8" utility tire and rim for $29.95 each...although their not much bigger than the plastic wheels I have been using they will do the job I think... so payday (when the money is in the bank) I'll go get 2 of them !
...
 so I cut the spindles off of the trailer axle and am starting to make the mounting plates for them...
... I think I will drill one hole and make an arched slot in a plate and then 2 slots in the band saw frame this will allow me to adjust the spindles angle easily. I do think I will use larger bolts than I have been using (1/4") and move up to 1/2" shank size or 5/8" hex head wrench size... sense only 2 bolts will hold on each wheel... they will have to hold the spindle very securely.... so I may well get it all adjusted and working good and drill an extra hole as a pin to anchor the spindles down "securely" as a Locking bolt.
....
 If I can get it working good without the tensionier WHEEL I added to it , I will... as its just another component to ware out...
...
I think with slots on one side  and simple holes on the other I can accomplish this
so one spindle will be non adjustable in lateral position but it will have angle adjustment.... and the other will have angle adjustment as well and a slot to get the tension correct.......
 this is the same way I had the old military tires/rims on it to begin with and it worked ok.... 
 sense I am changing the wheel size though I will probably have to make new slots in the band saw frame ! ( UGH!) but its really hard to guess at the distance between the spindle holes in the frame until I get the wheels here and clamp the spindles and wheels on with vise-grips and move them around till I get them where I want them !
...
...
 in the meantime I will get the spindle mounts made up and the 8hp B&S running good... that should keep me busy !
hehehehehe
....
Bob.......

[Bob]

YAHOO !  I got the trailer wheels, got the spindles made up and bolted on and decided to go ahead and use the tensioner wheel I made up for the other version, its on there,had to re-make the bottom guides as they were too long in some areas and too short in others... got them on and adjusted !
had to cut a step in the top pipe to accommodate the motor while still using the same belt... I could have went and bought another belt but that one is brand new ! ...and I'm cheep ! LOL
.... anyway I plugged it in after checking the tracking a hundred times (and the tracking is super stable with these wheels and axle spindles ! ) and it spun up a bit slower than it had before due to the added mass I guess but it reached top RPM in about 3 tenths of a second... and it set there and spun like its supposed to ! much less shaking... just a vibration now... tracking stayed rock solid all the time then I remembered I only put the wheels on snug not TIGHT ! so I stopped it and tightened all the lug nuts and put the big pulley back on... ( i had to place the v-belt pulley on the outside of the wheel ) put it all back together and ran it for about 10 minutes and cut a 2x4 with it....
and it was much easier to cut the 2x4 this time as the blade is steady in one place now....
... so the band saw itself is a success NOW... what I need to do now is get the 8hp B&S running good
make up a clutch lever for it and then make up the carriage for it.
....
the tires and wheels set me back $68.00 from Harbor freight tools....I got them yesterday...  
 Not too bad for a good working  HUGE band saw !...
  I can't wait to try it out on a log.... it should be really neet to cut a plank !
.....
Adding the 8" trailer tires changed the cutting height to 10.5" max depth cut now, so  that gives me more flexibility in how I cut wide boards.
...
so I am back where I was a week ago before I discovered the wheels I was using weren't going to work !
... heheheheheh
...
..
Bob......

[Bob]

ok here's a Pic I just took tonight, showing the bandsaw sawmill so far.
the engine is just sitting on there ( not bolted down yet) as I have to get it running correctly first.
....
today I made up the carage Holders and lock down bolts to anchor the thing at any given height.
...
I discovered that the exhaust pipe will be in the way,  and the carb will barely clear... so I may have to move the motor a bit more to the left...what ever that will entail!
...
 the band saw runs with the electric motor now perfectly... I've no complaints at all except the power of it..... I can almost stop the saw with a 2x4 just by pushing hard and making a fast cut.
the belt slips, not the motor bogging down, so I may well need another v-belt or a chain drive to keep it from slipping when cutting a log.... haven't tried that yet ~!
....
here's the pic.
...
Bob......

[Bob]

today I finished up making the clutch arrangement for the Band saw...
the other day I lowered the engine mounting plate about 1.5" to give the belt a bit more slack
I then added a lever and bracket to hold a Idler pulley to be pressed into the bend of the belt when in operation.
 I added a lock, and will make a emergency slap release for the clutch (Feral's Idea!...and a damm good one too !) that way the engine can be disengaged by swatting the  lever !
...
 And if the engine was Running the entire saw would work !
...
I cleared off the rest of the wood decking on the old trailer where the saw will mount...
soon I will drag it down closer to the shop where I can start making it into the saw mill !
...
Bob...

[Bob]

I have been thinking about the rolling carriage for the band saw...
and I know it has to have 4 wheels on it and both sides will be attached together by a single bar across the top... but My concern is getting the thing to roll squarely down the rails without binding
and that may well be harder than it sounds...
...
sliding mechanisms are easy to picture in ones head but in reality when one makes them they bind really easy... I made a Wood-lathe one time that slid just fine until I welded the head stock plate to the rails... then, the tail stock would slide about 2" and stop/bind up.... and you had to twist it to get it to release... it was a pain in the butt !.... on the Radial arm saw I made I got away from the bind up problem by leaving the sliding pipes bigger than necessary and it doesn't bind... never has ...but its also not real tight and it can be twisted out of alignment if your not carefull !
...
even though the 2 rails of the trailer are "Parallel" getting something wide to roll down it evenly
without twisting and binding up is going to be a real pain !
... its 6'6" between the rails on the trailer... so the width of the saw carage will span that...
I am thinking that side ways roller/wheels  to keep it from binding is a must as well as wheels to roll on... so the only thing touching the trailer will be WHEELS... that may or may not work... I don't know yet.... but I think its my only hope of it working...
 if I just hang strips of bar stock down to keep the wheels on the rails they will bind from corner to corner at 45 degrees across the carriage....  at first I was thinking that is all it would take to keep it on the rails but more thought on the subject tells me that just ain't going to work !
so 4 wheels to roll on and 8 wheels to guide the rolling wheels...4 on the outside facing in and 4 on the inside facing out , all facing the rail... all in slots so they can be adjusted in depth.
...
I think that will work best.... but I wish there was an easier way....
anyone have any bright ideas ? hehehehe
...
 I could reduce the number of guide wheels to 4  only on the inside or outside of the main rails... but the carriage has to be strong enough not to flex at all....( which I think it will have to be anyway! <GRIN>


Bob.......

 

[Bob]

well, I removed the engine and put it on  the bench so I can get it running good there... its easier to work on there !... got the intake manifold all welded up and re milled to fit back on and hold the carburetor... gave it a few pulls but only got it to fire a few times, and it hurt to pull on that starter rope so I gave it up for a few days LOL
...
I did discover that my clutch lock lever will have to be moved...about 1 inch, and I'll  have to re adjust the lever to compensate for that. but its no biggy !
...
I spent my day between 3 things  the saw mill, the bike and the lawn mower/tractor...
i got the starter fixed on the lawn mower... and got the clutch working on the Bike...
and didn't get the engine running for the saw mill.... yet.
... but tomorrow is another day....unless it rains.... then its a Rainy day ! and that don't count !
hehehehehe
...
still not sure on how to fabricate the trolley system for the sawmill.... guess I'll have to "Wing it"
HAHAHAHAHAHA
...
Bob....

[Bob]

Today was a good day to stay inside out of the rain and Hail... so I got nothing accomplished on anything! LOL
...been thinking on the trolley system but that's about it.
so i've got nothing to report !
...
Bob...

[crb]

Bob,  check out harborfreight,  they have a couple of sawmils
you might get some ideas from.
crb

[Bob]

Oh ? I know Northern tools has 2 for sale, didn't know Harborfrieght has any !
thanks !
Bob....

[crb]

Bob,
Have you been to diybandmill.com? Lots of pics.
crb

[Bob]

Nope and thanks for the addie !
 I finally got the 8hp to run constantly.... and mounted it on the band saw... adjusted the clutch
cut a spring and fit it for the latch... fired up the motor and cut a board with no problem...
... so... Success !!!! so far !
... now the hard part... making the carrage/trolly system for it on the trailer !
....
 sure was nice to see the thing spin under the 8hp motor.... i've been working for that for a long time
and its very gratifying to finally see it work under its own power ! HAHAHAHAHAHA
....
Bob....

[Bob]

hehehe well I found the meterial I need for the trolley on the sawmill its the bench I have the saw hooked to now!   it has 2# 6ft 3" channel iron rails in it and thats just what I need !
they will be the horozontal porton that sets on the trailer frame rails....
however I need to get the saw unclamped off that thing and moved somewhere else so I can dismantle it !
hehehehhe....
 I am almost positive I will have to have a slight off set to the Posts that go vertical so I'll make that out of 1/2" scrap plate... and weld the posts to that then weld the plate to the channel iron
...but I won't do that till I get that trailer down here so I can work on it and build it on the trailer rails... so I know it will fit for sure ! hehehehe
...
its raining again today... and we gott'a go to town later  so I ain't going to get anything done today ...darn it !
.... oh well such is life on the Ranch ! LOL
...
Bob......

[Bob]

Well, I've accomplished allot sense my last post....
in short I have both sides of the trolley made up and On the trailer with the bandsaw between them...
Hopefully I'll have them laced together by tomorrow night... and the engine back on and the band saw blade back on... I took them off to put the thing on the trailer... the monster probably weighs 250lbs now, hehehehe I loaded it with the tractor though so it wasn't bad at all.
....
I'm getting real close to testing it out on a log!
... though I don't have the up and down mechanism on it yet...
... a friend of mine Sonny Jeffers reminded me that I could use a vertical shaft Lawnmower engine by running a v-belt to 90 degrees.... I have a 21hp Murry lawn tractor that I could steel the motor out of ... but I'ed have to put the old lawn tractor motor in it to make it run again in a short period of time as I need to cut grass with it ! LOL
so IF the 8hp fails to cut a tree I know the 21hp will do the job !
...although it will entail a bunch of modifications...heheheh
... I'll try the 8hp first... I think it will cut ok...but we'll see about that!
...
I made up my own rollers out of 2" pipe and some 5/8" washers and some 5/8" re-bar as axles... it don't roll the easiest but with a bit of oil on those wheels it rolls real easy! LOL
...
I'm a long way from being done on it , but I think its one of those things that will be in constant evolution.... simply because there are so many parts and different ways of doing things.
one of those , I'll try it this way, and if it don't work good... I'll try something else ! LOL
...
I'll post another pic or two when I got it up and running doing its thing...which should be some time soon!
....
Bob.......

 

[Bob]

Ok SUCCESS !
 I got it up and running, got the trolley working/rolling up and back on the trailer ok...
and the bandsaw re-assembled
...
 here is a pic of it as it sets now...(1st pic)
and this one is of it actually RUNNING, spinning the bandsaw blade !!!!!!! WOOO_HOOO!
...
Bob...

[Bob]

Ok ... they always say the "proof is in the pudding"  meaning we'll see if it works or not...
well I went out to the Pasture and found a 4"3" long log about 15" in diamator... brought it back
and put it on the trailer bed... it just fit over 3 cross braces and I put some vice grips on each side to keep it from rolling and braced it real good.
...
 So I fired up the saws engine and eased the bandsaw blade into the log.... it started cutting fine but imediately started cutting Upwards !.... I got in about 2" and realised it was binding on the blade itself at that point so I backed it out ...turned it all off and inspected it real good... it indeed did cut Upwards from the start.... and bowed the blade a good inch in the proccess!
... I got to looking for the cause and realised that the saw blade itself was indeed pointing UP at about a 15 degree angle when compaired to the trailer bed !!!!!
so I cut and re welded the vertical posts and got them perfectly vertical.... and realised that the guides were pointing up now.... so I pulled them off , bent the tubes slightly and re worked the bearing guides to reach out further on the blade ( longer bolts and a bunch of washers!)
... but sense it has been raining for 2 days stright I havn't tried it sense...
 I am almost positive that 90 percent of the problem is the band saw blade itself... its dulled, a few teeth missing and I think the Kerf is gone out of it... so I will sharpen it somehow and try it again once I do ....that's what I get for making my saw around a discarded bandsaw blade ! LOL
....it was discarded for a reason!  John hit the log dog with it ! so replaced the blade !
that's the one I got.... so sharpening and re working the kerf is needed... I hope I can pull it off ok... I dunno... never done a bandsaw blade before , but I think I can fumble my way through it !
LOL !
.... 
I did discover that the motor will have to be ran at about 3500RPM other wize the engine boggs down fairly fast... but if I keep the RPM up  it does a good job...
... we'll see what it does when I get that blade sharpened up...and cutting in a stright line !
....
... its almost there anyway !
...
Bob........

[hydrotinkerer]

Bob, After looking at the pictures I don't see the OSHA approved safety gaurds in place. Just got to kid you a little. lol

[Bob]

LOL ! Yah Well... that's more weight! and blocks the view of the blade.... because if I see it starting to come off I hit the clutch reliese lever and run screaming like a little Girl !
 LOL !
....
that reminds me that lever needs to be extended a bit more ! LOL   and painted Bright RED!
...
Bob.....

 

[Bob]

BTW... my pushing place is on the other side of the wheels of the band saw... so I am back away from that meat saw if it should come off of there....
...
Bob...

[Bob]

Ok... here's the proof you've been waiting for ! hehehehe
 last night I sharpened the band saw blade and set the kerf real wide...
 it makes a rough cut about like a chainsaw but it does the job
the saw engine runs wide open or darn near it... and it cut the plank in about 3or 4 min  the log is 4'3" long....
....
I still have a bunch to do on it but FINALLY I can see some progress ! YAHOOOO!
...
 I think I'll party ! HAHAHAHAH!
...
Bob.....

[Bob]

hehehe,
 Well I flipped the log over so the flat side was down and trimmed of the top
... but before I did that , I took my Oil can and oiled allot of things... being very careful not to get it on the blade or tires..... "WRONG MOVE" ... the blade came off twice.... luckily at very slow speeds....but it did come off...  I think the reason is the way I have the tension er arranged on the thing.
 when ever I engage the clutch I do it very slowly, and keep an eye on the blades tracking...just in case it tries to wander off the wheels before it gets stabilized at speed. that kept me from having to chase down the blade 2 times after I oiled parts....
 Odd how just a small amount of oil will muck up the works but it sure does....
 if I had it to do all over again I'ed take out the tensionier wheel and make the tension on the blade by moving the far wheel out ..... I may do that eventually anyway...
...because of 2 things 1.the tension isn't enough...it needs more tension on it and I have it as tight as it can go...
2. it plays with the tracking in weird ways.... it would be far better from a tracking standpoint not to have the 3rd wheel in there.
.... I'd also place the driven v-belt on the inside of the rim instead of the outside so when the blade does come off ( and it will at some point in time) it doesn't tear up the v-belt... because the inside of the wheel is the back side of the saw blade... no teeth to cut up the v-belt.
...
 so I may well end up doing these things...
...
I have been seriously giving some thought to the raise and lowering of the saw...I think I will simply use a 1" pipe across the top next to the side ways bar, and put a crank handle on it and 2 cables going down to the band saw head.... it will need a good lock on it so that will more than likely be a fine thread case hardened nut and bolt that I can squeeze into the shaft to stop rotation.
and just put a "T" handle on it.
...
cutting the top bark section off the log wasn't all that bad... but took a bit longer than the other cuts...
 then cutting the next plank was very long for some reason... it probably took me 15 minutes to cut just the one plank.... I think because of the oil... and I noticed the tracking on the tensioner wheel was jumping all over the place so I was going easy on it....
but it did cut another plank.... I only have one more 2" plank left in that little log then I'll have to find another log to play with! heheheheh
... its a very Pitchy piece of Pine and the "saw dust" was building up on the blade and wheels, so I took my puddy knife and spun the thing by hand and scraped most of it off... I am sure that is why the tensioner wheel was acting strange because it had 3 lumps of pitch on it! ...
having a hand crank on that Drive wheel is really a nice convenience... all it is is the long bolt
that sticks through the pulley.... I cut off all but one...and use it to turn the saw... it really helps !
...
 The engine is barely running however... the carb came loose... I tightened it... its stripped out threads on the bottom of the carburetor are leaking gas now and is reluctant to adjust the fuel ratio
very well.... I'm thinking I'll take the float bowl off and fill the hole with J.B.Weld , then drill and thread it and see if that works..... I could try to fill it with the aluminum welding rod but I think it would all discentrigate on me while doing so... welding the intake manifold was hard enough!
...
so my conclusions are ....
 Don't use the same method I did for a blade tension arrangement... make one of the main wheels to go in and out for the tension....(remember it also has to twist to make the tracking work!)
...a bigger engine would really help as its barely got enough hp to pull itself through the log.
(that's probably because of the large kerf I gave it the other night.)
(sense the trailer the band saw is on is leaning down hill  I can take my hands off the saw and let it feed itself... it will bog it down quite a bit, but it still does it, and cuts really fast when I do that...so it does have enough HP... but just barely!)
 use Store bought wheels on the Carrage... don't make your own metal rollers like I did the wideness of the rollers instead of helping is a hindrance... the saw dust is pan-caked on the left rail and I have to take a wire brush to it after each pass.... (a shield should help keep the saw dust off the rail and eliminate that problem, but the wheels just don't roll worth a darn !)...
the trolley does get "Cocked" to one side from time to time....that's something I tried to eliminate
but it still happens as I feared it would. however the vibration of the saw allows it to work down the log at a slow pace anyway regardless.... that motor shakes the whole thing real bad!
(a smooth running 2 cyl opposed engine would be the cats meow ! )
....
I have yet to tackle the "Log Dog" Dilemma... so far I have just put clamps on the rails the log is setting on to stop it from rolling... that is all the clamping I have done to the log!
...
But ... it works ! and it cuts a log.... cutting enough lumber to do something with is another thing altogether ! its slow and troublesome at this point in time but I hope to refine it to work better.
it is by far and away, better than a chainsaw sawmill..... LOL   
I am guessing but I think it will take about 15 to 30minutes to cut a 10' plank 12"wide... each cut!
so about 45 minutes per board.... not the greatest... but far faster than my Alaskan saw mill!
and about 4 times as SLOW as a store bough band saw sawmill.... but that in all fairness is probably just the saw blade!
....
here's 2 more Pics'
...
Bob.......

[randy]

Tap that intake manifold out to the next size up and install downsized studs in there

bob.

[Bob]

the intake manifold is not the problem ...I welded that up and machined it down to size it fits fine.
the problem is on the float bowl there is a high speed needle jet adjustment a brass fitting that has a needle jet in it... the fitting itself stripped out the threads in the float bowl... the fitting descrintigated from corrosion but i found another that is working great.... but the threads are no longer there.... I had to drill them out and insert a vinyl hose and screwed the fitting into that...
...its been working, (although Jerry rigged), but it started leaking... I have found that the red High temp silicone is NOT good for ANYTHING with gasoline.... that stuff swells up and melts away...
...I might try  J.B.Weld in it and tap the J.B.Weld maybe that will work.... the problem is it needs something to grab on to ... so maybe taping the hole that i got in there now will give it enough traction to be able to thread the J.B.Weld... I think it will...
 once that is done then I have to clean out the 2 passage ways coming and going from the little valve...  if I put toothpicks in the passage ways I will be able to at least find the holes when I drill the hole to be tapped out.... then a hunk of bailing wire or torch tip cleaner should clean them up good enough ! <grin>
....
 its just getting around to it now....
 I tightened the spindles a bit ago and put air in one of the tires and it tightened up the blade real nice! LOL.... tried to start it and it wouldn't run... checked the gas and sure enough its dry as a bone in there ! LOL.... could be why it quit last time  !  but I was ready to turn it off anyway and didn't pay any attention to it ! HAHAHAHHAHA
...
I took allot of my "Radical Kerf out of the band saw blade this morning...it should cut better now
still has plunty of Kerf I think.... even if its not very sharp...
( odd that!... because I just sharpened it!)
...
anyway ...waiting fer gasoline so I may fiddle with that carb later today ! LOL!
....
Bob....

[Bob]

well, I've been busy sense my last post....
I broke my band saw blade about a week ago.... so sense I can't cut anymore planks I decided to refit the band saw..
....
I added another long piece of angle iron on top of the existing angle iron that I have the spindles bolted to... to add strength.... it was flexing too much  I think...  that made the main beam that everything sets on allot stronger. its now a 2" square tube 6ft long and the spindles mount to it...
 I made a sliding joint for the far wheel on that square tube so it can twist sideways for tracking adjustment as well as slide up and down the rail for tension adjustment...
and sense I am buying shorter blades (144" instead of 167") I won't need the 3rd wheel in the center
that mucks up the tracking so easily...
I took my broken blade and measured 144" and cut and tacked it together so I had a Length to adjust things to.... it worked real well. with a properly sized blade on it I could make the tension adjustment bolt and lock nut. which I did and tightened up the blade and its now tight enough not to flop around so bad... I am purdy sure that is why the blade broke... it flexed too much...
because it didn't have very much tension on it at all... even though it worked well, it wasn't optimum
by any means.
...
I tried to fix the old carburetor again and finally gave up and went and pulled the engine off the Chipper/shredder, a 7hp B&S and come to find out the carburetor is exactly the same....
 (I know I had trouble with that engine flooding out at times... )
so anyway I pulled the carburetors off both engines and put the one from the 7hp (good one ) on to the 8hp... and tried to fire it up ... it ran ok but as I thought it might it flooded out and started leaking gasoline... float stuck !... so I pulled out the float and found it had gas in the float so I drained it out and re soldered the hole and put the float back in .... then the engine ran too lean...
so I pulled it out again and re set the float depth and finally got it just right... (the float setting on those carburetors is very very touchie... )
anyway sense I got the carb working FINALLY! I decided to hook back up the governor on it so the engine would maintain the RPM like it should... we'll see about adjusting the governor when I can saw again!
....
I had to re work the lower guides as well , their sliding bracket on the angle iron had to be changed to a box over the square beam, which I did.    although I won't know till I get a new blade on there and tracking correctly if the lower guides will reach the blade properly or not.... I think they are going to be about 1/2" to 1" too short... if so I'll have to fix them as well.
...
I took out the center Post on the main frame when I added the angle iron piece and then welded it back in there after I was all done with it...
...I did a bunch of touch up welding in places that needed a bit more as well.
 the upper guide I will leave in there to help keep the top band from flexing too much... sense I have it made up anyway !
...
All in all I've had to just about re-make the entire saw heheheheheh!
but soon as I get some bandsaw blades I'm ready to do the final adjustments and put that puppy to work!.....
...
with the engine running great now,(and new sharp blades) it should cut about 2 times as fast as it had been.
 ... I can't wait to try it!
...
although I haven't made up the Log holders (log Dogs) yet I'll get around to that soon as I can get some square tubing so I can make them adjustable.
...
I'll try to get some new pics of the saw posted soon.
...
Bob...

[Bob]

ok... now that I got the bandsaw completely renovated to a better design, I gave it a quick red primer paint job ( UUGLY isn't the word!its much worse than that ! HAHAHA)
I made up 2 log-dogs that should hold the log securely in place for sawing...
 here is a drawing of one below...
...
 the idea is to drive the "Spike" into the log, as close to the bottom as possable and then clamp the
unit to the frame of the trailer...
 after building one, I tried it out and it looks like its going to work very well. so I made another
....I still need 2 more of them for the other end of the log...
and more importantly... some sort of vertical "Fence" to push the planks against when stacked on their edge so SMALLER boards can be cut off of them... like 2"x4"s and 2"x6"s
... I have yet to devise this "Fence" but I have some great ideas for it... if I can find the meterial for the job ! LOL
...
Bob........

[Bob]

Yesterday I put a 1 gallon milk container Holder on the saw... (oppisit side of the engine)
this will hold the water for lubrication and cooling....
...
other than that I worked on my bike and mowed grass and trimmed trees ... hehehhe
....
Bob....

[Bob]

OK yesterday the UPS truck brought the blades I ordered from Wood-Mizer.com I got 15 1.25" wide 144" long blades for $260. (or there abouts)
sense I re worked the saw to not have that 3rd wheel in there for the tension adjustment and everything was already done and ready to go, soon as I got the blades I took one out and went up and put it on the saw... it fit perfectly, and I adjusted the tracking and then adjusted everything ,double checking it all ... and then fired it up and cut the top of the log off....
the new blade does cut faster than the old dulled one....but not by that much I did sharpen the old one
and it looks like I did a good job of it hehehehhe.
adjusting the tension is much simplier now with the one wheel on a slide... the whole unit realy works good now I am quite happy with it...
 I still have to work on the govener and get it to work better as its not reving up the motor enough like it should.... but it cut a fill size plank about 2" thick x20" wide by 11ft long in about 10 minutes when I held the throttle with my left hand.... which I only did for about half the cut...
....
all in all I am satisified with the saw mill... it works and works good and is making me lumber out of trees on the place...and that is what I was hoping for !
...it still has ugly paint on it but that is minor... some day I'll paint it John Deere green but that can wait ! HAHAHAHAHA
....
I did a bunch of calculations and discovered that on the slower RPM of the engine the blade speed is below optimum by quite a ways... I need to run the motor about 5000rpm to get the blade speed to where it should be... and at that speed everything smoothes out and it cuts very good and fairly fast too... so RPM is the key to this saw !
I have been running it at around 680Inches Per Second for blade speed and it should be around 720 to 750 from what I understand.... just increasing the engine RPM to 6000RPM will take it above 1000ips
so 4000 to 5000rpm is the "sweet-spot" by my calculations.
the water jug seams like a good idea... its supposed to keep the pitch off the blade and indeed it seams to be working that way... I just let it slowly drip on the blade on the right side and it pulls the water into the cut.... cooling, lubricating and de-pitching the blade all in one !<GRIN>
although I do still need to anchor the aquarium air valve that I am using to control the drip on the saw blade... that is a minor chore to get done
...
My buddy Sonny Jeffers is going to make a band-saw sawmill now that I have HAHAHAHA...and wanted to know the wheel diameter which is 16" so I ran up a bit ago and got the measurements.
....
tomorrow I will re-adjust the driven wheel's twist as the blade is not tracking close enough to the lower guide at the moment.... should be easy to do !
having a handle on that pulley sure makes adjusting the tracking easy ! other wise I'ed be trying to spin the wheels by hand and getting cut up by the sharp saw blade !
I'll see if I can remember to take my camara up with me and take some pictures of the finished product
.... anyway... it works great !
looks like I made a machine that will make me work my ass off now ! LOL !  whats wrong with that picture ?  HAHAHAHAHA!
...
Bob.........


 

[Manta]

Bob,

Hey,  a completed project ! That's novel.

Manta

[randy]

Nope, The project just started for Bob, Everyone he knows will be wanting boards. Now he needs to build the guards he needs on that thing, at least to catch the blade if it comes off or breaks. Hmmm could even be made from the boards he's making. 

[Bob]

LOL !
it happens every once in a while Manta ! ....
I still have many things I can do to it but the basic thing is done... 
Guards ?  I'ed rather chase the blade down ... see how far it goes ! HAHAHAHA!
...
needs a push bar on it too....
and an engine Kill switch !
a roof over the trailer to keep the hot sun off me while I am slaving away cutting lumber!
automatic log loader.....
automatic feed....
I can go on for ever ! LOL !
...
but its close enough fer me !
heheheheh
Bob.......

[Bob]

Holey COW !
(that's a see-through cow by the way guys!)
hehehe I discovered this morning that the spring on the governor was off.... it evidently came off when I was mounting the engine on the saw... so I got in there with my long needle nose pliers and hooked it back on there... I re set the tracking on the driven wheel so the lower guide was incontact with the blade like its supposed to be and in general checked everything...
I flipped the big log over and anchored it down and fired up the saw and set the engine's RPM where I thought it should be with the governor screw adjustment...
put the thing in gear and cut the top off the log in about 3 minutes... that was Prudy impressive but its not really a hard cut.... I re set the saw lowered it 2" and cut a plank off that log in less than 5 minutes.... that's a 2"x18"~20" wide by 11 foot long plank all good wood too !
it cut so well I was astonished ! I tried to get a measurement on the speed by guesstimating it as I cut, and came up with a foot in 10 seconds  plus or minus... that thing really cuts good ! it cuts faster than my chainsaw ever hoped to ! and its no sloutch ! HAHAHAH
...
it seams the major problem was the governor not working... I could tell it was kicking in when I began the cut and it worked flawlessly !
I am really supprised that it cuts so good with such a small motor on it !  but boy do it ever cut good now ! ... it takes about 2 times as long to set up for the next cut than it does to cut the plank ! heheheh
...
 Now if I can refine the raise and lower system, and perhaps put in a pin system to make 2" cuts yet keep the infinately veriable adjustment that I have now  I'll be all set !
it will make resetting a snap... right now resetting for the next cut is a pain in the butt!
its slow, time consuming and prone to error... gott'a do something about that !<grin>
...
one thing for sure ...its a keeper NOW !
...
Bob......


 

[Bob]

well today I cut another big plank off that log and was done with that'en
so I put the oak log on there and cut it up !
it cut almost just as fast, and the log is about 1/2 dry, white oak (very hard wood!)
at one point the bandsaw blade quit turning so I eased up on the pressure a bit, slowing down on the cut and that seamed to cure the problem... I think, but am not sure that some water got on the v-belt from the drip system causing it to slip.... its that or just working it too hard ! HAHAHAHAH
it cut through that oak in about 5 minutes its a 1.5"x12"to 15"x 11' plank and I got 3 of them from it so far... i think I can get one more but not sure on that!
...
all in all the saw mill works and works good.... it was worth the effort to build it.
...
I'll put on another big pine log tomorrow and start cutting it up....
then I will probably stack all the planks on the bed and make them into 2x4's and 2x6's  because that is the lumber I am in need of at the moment.
however a few of those big slabs are destened to make rear steps on the house, nice wide treads will make good steps!
....
stacking the slabs on the trailer is going to be a challenge... haven't worked out how I'm going to do that yet but I have a few ideas !
... getting 10 2x4's per slice should be easy.... that should be impressive to see ! LOL !
...
Bob......

[Bob]

welp, I got a few pictures of the saw today so I could post them.
here goes...

[Bob]

and a few more...

[Bob]

My problem now is the trailer bed that I am using as a base for the saw...
besides the obvious BOW in the trailer the problem is holding the logs in the right place
and more importantly, the sliced pieces of log so I can cut boards out of them
here is a shot of the trailer showing the cross ribs ...every other one is different
going from 2" channel iron to the original trailer sheet-metal stamped out cross ribs.
I am thinking of adding these Posts ( first pic) so I have a vertical edge to attach to or push against. to keep the planks up right.... I will just have to be real carefull not to run into them with the saw blade ! LOL
...
Bob...

[hydrotinkerer]

I was wondering how the lumber mill was going?

[Bob]

Better !
with the govener fixed on the motor it really cuts through a log fast !
I bought a brake winch of 1500lb capasity ( a bit large for the use, but it was the smallest with a brake)... and replaced my makeshift up/down crank system with a hand crank winch on the right side... I have not tested it yet but I think its going to work out great...it will make height setting/adjustment a snap and it will hold the saw put without having to lock the locks on the side....another time saver
...
I put in 2 vertical posts on the trailer so I can cut planks/slabs  of wood vertically
... I will try to make up some sort of Jack to lock the boards against the vertical posts so they can be cut.... that's today project !
....
the vertical posts holders are 2.5"pipes about 12"long with a hole drilled in the side and a nut welded over the hole and a bolt put in the nut to hold another pipe that slides into that pipe.... making the height adjustable.... even completely removable!
...
its been raining here the last few days so I haven't got too much done.
...
but there is Sun shining out there this morning ! WOOO HOOO !
....
Bob.......

[Bob]

ALL RIGHT !
I just came in from cutting my very first 2x6 !  FINALLY !  LUMBER!!!!!!!
hahaha
been working towards that for a long time now and finally I got results!
....
Sense I put the vertical posts in there the other day all I needed was a way to hold the
board against the posts... well I took a old vw car jack (friction jack) cut the base off it and welded it to a hunk of 3/4" water pipe (after cleaning it up and getting all the rust off of it ) then I cut a notch in the top of the jack to hold the edge of another hunk of 3/4" pipe and then formed a loop out of 3/16" steel rod to Hold the pipe steady with the end of the jack.... then welded that together and took it over and put the long end under the lip of the "I"beam frame and the other end to the plank leaning against the vertical posts and jacked it up against the post.... and it looks like I can jack that 3/4" pipe right through the board if I want to ... lots of pressure there if I want it.... but I just snugged it down , fired up the saw and cut the bark off the edge of the wide plank...
moved back and reset, and cut a 2x6 off it with the next pass...
 turned it off and came in the house  HAHAHAH sense I only got 5hrs of sleep I'm not running on all thrusters  hehehehe
...
in essence the jack I made up is a mechanical Port'a Power  just not hydrolic...
and not near as strong.... its just a length of pipe that gets longer when I move the lever....  and its perfect for holding the boards firmly so they don't move and bust a blade...
 and talk about fast cutting... cutting that 2x6 was fast...like walking speed !
now to stack 6 or so big planks on there and cut up a bunch at once! that will be FUN !
....
Bob.......


 

[Bob]

and before I called it quits tonight I made up a PUSH BAR for the saw...
that way my hands/fingers are not wrapped around the main frame's bar that is about 1" from being in line with the blade.... that has been making me nervous for some time now... if the blade broke it could Actually cut all my fingers off in one move... not a good thing... so now my hands are back away from the thing a good 6" or so and behind the frame work !.... I feel better now! HAHAHAH
...
if it don't rain tomorrow I'll haul the trailer back up the hill and load a bunch of planks on the bed and cut some lumber .... but any time I PLAN on doing something outside it ALWAYS RAINS!  so I'll try a different strategy ... I PLAN on staying in the house tomorrow and doing nothing ! ..... ( we'll see if that works! ) HAHAHAHAHAH
....
Bob.....

[Bob]

Well I spent most of the morning cutting up Lumber I got about 20~25 Usable boards now that are stacked and drying...
soon I will be in the need for more logs hehehehe
...
here's one last pic of the saw mill for the record... it is done!
.....
Bob.....

[Bob]

Well Bummer deal Dude!
I broke me saw!
I cut a plank off the last Log I had hauled up and when I tossed the first cut off it caught under the trolley frame and the leverage action tossed the whole appratious off the trailer !!!!
... my own dern fault ...obviously... although it didn't hurt much... it did tweek the wheel legs
and now pinches the trailer rails and is a real bear to push now.... it just does not want to roll at all.
so... I hauled the trolley and saw unit down to the welder again, and fixed that "tweek" in the wheel angle by putting a post inside the upright... welding that to the cross bar, and then welding a nut on there to clamp the whole thing down... now the twist is "Adjustable" not fixed.
...
My old pulley on the main drive wheel has given up the ghost too.... it has been cracked for years
but I used it anyway  without welding up the crack....  well that crack finally broke off 1/4 of the circumference of the pulley... I tried to weld it but its not real aluminum... its a POT Aluminum  Aloy... of some kind... and doesn't want to weld....Melt Yes , weld NO... HAHAHHA
so I need to buy a new Pulley and a fix it to the aluminum disk and then put it back on the saw's drive wheel...
 alwayse something to do on the Ranch ! ...that's just how it is ! HAHAHAHHA
...
Bob......

[Bob]

Back Up and running , and with a new coat of paint....
yes it will cut big logs ! HAHAHAHAHA!
...
Bob....

[Bob]

the new drive pulley is from a washing machine I had laying around the place here that I dismantled for the parts years ago... its an 8" pulley and took some doing to modify it to fit the saw but I did get it done... it fits the lip of the rim almost exactly.... I was worried about loosing too much power by going with a smaller pulley but it does speed up the blade considerably ... so I think its cutting about the same as it was anyway.... cutting the plank in the picture was done at walking speed when only cutting 3" of wood ! HEHEHEHEHHE
...
all in all I'd call it a great success.... I just wish the trailer was FLAT and not arched ! dern it anyway ! hehehehehe
...
Bob........

[Bob]

I was cutting up the last of a big log the other day and decided to put a large slab of log on edge
so I could cut some wide 2x8's out of it... and maybe even a 4x8 or two....
when I discovered the saw was cutting oddly.... the blade was not cutting straight but wandered up and down a good 1/4" in height.... So I moved the guides closer to the wood and tried again
and it helped some, but it still was wandering a bit....so I tried it one more time this time going about half the speed and it was a perfectly flat cut.... so although it can cut very fast it may wander and not cut a flat cut... it may well be due to the blade tension as the tires may be leaking a bit
changing their diameter a tad... making the blade less taught... I expect this is the cause for the sudden wandering of the blade.... because it hasn't done this before.
...
although I have a good 4 layers of boards on my drying stack now , from 2x4 to 4x8's their not very uniform some are 1 3/4" thick others are 2 1/4" thick.... same goes for their width it vari's a great deal.... still its very usable lumber.
....
I think what I like the most is the 22" wide 2" thick planks ! now that's a board ! HAHHHA
...
Bob...

[Bob]

I bought a Circular saw blade sharpenier from Harbor freight for $69.00 the other day
and today I added a chainsaw bar piece to it so it will hold the bandsaw blade...
it will be SLOW work with as many teeth as the band saw blades have on them but I am confident it will sharpen the blades with no trouble at all.
its from Chicago Electric Power tools and is called "Saw blade sharpener" it sharpens from 4"
to 15-3/4" circular saw blades... its item number is 96687 if any one is interested in trying to get one ...
all I have done to modify it to sharpen my band saw blades is  take off the circular saw blade holder and replace it with a piece of a small chainsaw bar that I had laying around...
the band saw blade will sit in the grove and slide in it so I can sharpen every tooth... its got a ratchet or "click stop" for the tooth so its really simple to use...
 the next thing I need to do is configure something to hold that big loop of a bandsaw blade so its steady and the rest is just sharpening it.
....
once its set up properly I simply advance it to the next tooth (it clicks) and I push back on it to make sure its seated in the tooth foot real good, then pull the handle and sharpen the tooth.
...
I figured with all the circular saw blades I have here ,....and all of them dull, it would be a good investment even if I couldn't get it to work on the band saw blades... but that doesn't look to be a problem at all... ( but I haven't tried it yet on the band saw blades)
...but I  have a short piece of the 1st bandsaw blade that broke that I am using as a guide in the set up...and it looks like its going to work very good indeed!.
...
that's a good thing too... because it seams my new blade I put on the saw is dull already... dragging the logs on the ground gets gravel stuck in the bark and I believe I cut through a few rocks with it ... OUCH !  so I went over the log and sure enough I found a good 2 handfuls of gravel stuck in the bark.... and dried mud.... heheheh guess I should clean my logs first ! LOL !
...
Bob........

[Manta]

Bob,
Just make sure you check your logs for nails before you cut.

Manta

[Bob]

HAHAHA yah on this old ranch there isn't a tree standing that doesn't have nails near the base of it that is for sure HAHAHAH... I should pick up a metal detector for the task ! 
...
I discovered on my Sharpener that I will need one more post for steadying the chainsaw bar I have for a guide for the bandsaw blade... because it has a tendency to move after awhile ... and that's not good at all... looks like the best way to stop that is to ADD another post and make a "U" shaped clamp laying on its side to clamp to the Chainsaw bar piece... "U" shaped so I can adjust the angle of the cut...
right now I'm using 10 degrees pitch to the teeth but on chainsaw chains I'll probably need to change that quite a bit.
...
But I did sharpen all the teeth on the scrap piece of bandsaw blade and it worked like a charm...
but I think with the good bandsaw blade on it it might move on me and change the angle of the pitch...
that's why I think I'll add another post.  not totally necessary but its better for me as I have a tenancy to get sloppy on repetitive tasks ! HAHAHAHAH
...
Bob......

[Bob]

Today I put a Kill switch on the Bandsaw-sawmill... Not really Note worthy but something I've been meaning to do sense I built the dern thing! HAHAHAHAH
....
its been too hot to cut lumber lately...
so I've just been staying in the house under the cooler trying to stay cool ! LOL
...
I did get the post made for the band saw blade sharpener... its all ready to go Now
... although I haven't figured out a way to hold that big Loop of blade at the right angle and be steady too... I'll probably just wing it and see how it goes when the weather cools down some !
...
Bob......

[Bob]

I cut 2 nice planks the other day out of a big log.... the saw is working real good
although its a bit slower cutting now than it was with the larger pulley on the drive wheel
after adjusting the engine speed up a bit it seamed to cut allot faster...but I can't push as hard as I used too.... so its very important to lube the rollers on the frame so it rolls easy! LOL!
....
I hauled down a 2x4x11' and cut a few boards out of it on the shop smith to make a shelf in the closet
I finally decided to put the jointer on the shop-smith to true up the boards... that worked really slick
cleaned them up in the process too.
 so I used the first wood from the Band saw Sawmill, on the house...heheheh
 the first of MANY to come I am sure !
....
Bob......

 

[Bob]

Looking back at all the modifications I'ed have to say that changing to a smaller pulley on the drive wheel was not the thing to do.... it boggs down fairly easy now and it didn't used to do that... so staying with a 12" pulley is probably a better choice than the 8" pulley... even considering the faster speed of the blade...
  All in all it cut faster with the larger pulley on it...although the RPM of the engine has to be ept quite high.
...
 Right now I am running the engine at High RPM Anyway because when I push it into the log it slows down quite a bit....so I really think its better to have a larger pulley in the first place.
...
just so you know!
...
Bob.......

[crb]

Bob,
Do you wedge the piece you are cutting, or does it pinch the blade?
crb

[Bob]

Nope  No wedging is needed... the blade is about 1/16" thick and cuts a 3/32" to 1/8" Kerf...
with a bit of water added to the cut, the saw dust balls up and fills the cut behind the blade...
so it cuts the same from beginning to end...no binding at all....with or without the water !
... this also makes it easier to slide the plank off the log when your done with the cut too... as there is a layer of fine sawdust on the log when the cut id done and plank removed.
...I actually  tried wedging it with the old saw blade on it and it made no difference at all!
I put a hatchet in the cut and drove it in about 3/4 the way ... no change at all in the cut there after!
... so its not needed...which is very convienient !
...
Bob......

( I used up all the logs I hauled up now... a good 10 logs all 11ft long most were over 20" in diameter... so I am done sawing lumber till the rains come, because using the chainsaw is a no-no because of the fire danger now....but that's ok its too hot to mess with it anyway! HAHAHA!)
 

[Bob]

We had at least 12" of rain in the last 2 days here in the last week...it really came down !
 I went up there yesterday after the rain and it dried out for a day... and checked out the saw mill
spreyed WD-40 on all the bearings and fired up the motor and let it spin the blade for a while after reducing the RPM...
 I went ahead and set up 2 planks on their edge and cut some slices off of them and came up with a 2"x2.5" for use in the Kitchen... the wife has me doing all kinds of CLOSET re modeling and Kitchen changing now...( I have the Lumber, but not the needed plywood... so I'm safe ! LOL)
...
the Saw Mill cut fantastically...I am really happy with the results and I think it was well worth the time and effort to make it.
... I will start getting more tree logs up soon to get my Log pile started I plan to cut them down and haul them up but not saw them till late spring or early summer.
...
I still need a way to make "Consistent"depth cuts... right now height is adjusted by loosing the side "T" handle clamps and then using the brake/winch on the side to raise or lower the saw... this works very well, but GUESSING at the thickness has proven to be very inaccurate...very inaccurate INDEED!
my lumber supply varies in thickness from 1.5" thick to 3" thick for my 2"X4" wann'a be's...LOL
and I have found that I don't want to take the time to measure the cuts while cutting so I just guess and go for it... that has to change so I have consistent lumber!
 I may just mark the log by carpenter pincle and set the depth of cut to the mark... that's probably the easiest solution...
this is because for every log I put on the trailer it takes a different cut to get below the bark the full length of the log... some times its a big cut other times its not....
but from that point on it could be standard to have it at 2" below that starting point or even skip one and have it 4" deep....
... I havn't figured out a way to do this yet that isn't super dificult <GRIN> so I think I'll just try marking the log and try that.
... its easy enough to get the saw blade to within 1/16" of a mark without having to crawl in there and really look close at it...and that seams close enough for my use.
...
I am probably going to cut my logs at 11ft and 8ft long bigger ones will be cut to 8ft now so their easier to load on to the trailer/saw bed.  the 24" logs were just too hard to load at 11ft
HAHAHAHHA
...
I did notice a blade guide bearing that was trying to sieze up its one of the old ones I used originally from a drill.... I have a replacement new bearing already so I'll replace it one of these days....
the new bearings I put in are still as good as new.... which is good to see, I expect them to last years.
...
I purposely sprayed the saw blade real good with WD-40 while it was spinning before shut down so it wouldn't rust up so fast.... we'll see if that helps...as it was covered in rust.
... covering the saw with a tarp would be prudent... I may just do that to try and keep it dry!
..
Bob....

[Manta]

...covering the saw with a tarp would be prudent....

It may have been...before the rain came.

Dave
(Manta)

[Feral]

...covering the saw with a tarp would be prudent....

It may have been...before the rain came.

Now you are getting picky

[geezer]

     Bob  Just a thought but if you slabed the top side then rolled the log over yep i know  more work but  you could place a scale  rule  with a pointer or stop somewhere on carriage measure bottom to cut be same ever time  i think!!!!   Glenn

[Bob]

LOL so true !  but WD-40 to the rescue !  HAHAHAHA
...
Bob...

[Bob]

Hay Geezer !
 um.... DUH ! measure from the bottom UP.... what a concept ! ...Now why didn't I think of that ?
...
 LOL YAH I usually do roll the log over (unless they are Really big and I feel weak!)
 I knew there was a reason for slabing the top then rolling the thing over so the flat side was down
 but as time went on I forgot it I guess !...
 I could use the Pin method that I would like to have on it that way.... if I measure from the bottom UP
Good thinking Glenn  thank you very much for bringing that to my attention!
...
a few times I have squared up the log to get a better product out of the remander but it is very wastful that way... my trees are not too tall here and they taper a great deal in only 11ft. a good 4" all the way around.... that means in order to get a square log I have to cut 4" thick slabs off the top
bottom and sides.... those slabs are waste as there is really nothing I can do with them.
but if I trim say 2" off the top I can get a good 6ft to 8ft cut before I run into the bark
most of the time I do that .... a little bark never hurt nothing ! and its good wood till you reach the bark... so I can get quite a bit more lumber that way.
...
what I was doing at the last before I ran out of logs was just load the log on the trailer/sawbed with the tractor's loader and anchor it down and just slab from the top down
this leaves bark on both sides but a nice plank of wood in between... I cut 3 or 4 thick 4"thick slabs this way and hauled them down to the back door... just recently I made back steps for the house out of them by just trimming them to size and laying them on cinder blocks... it turned out real nice and sturdy...and it looks nice too !..  those slabs are heavy however... its all I can do to move one
but there are so many things I can do with a board like that !
...
but as I stated earlier and you gave me the soiltion too.... I need a way to accurately set the depth of cut....
  I'll try slabing the top and rolling the log over and  then measuring from the bottom up and make Marks on the vertical posts that hold the bandsaw and cut from the top down from there
this should give me uniform slab thicknesses !
....I can use the same marks to cut the slabs into 2x4's as well...after the bark has been removed on the planks.
...
thanks for the Help !
Bob.....

 

[Bob]

Well You'll be happy to know that the "measureing from the bottom up works real good !
the other day I took a more or less random cut  from the top of 2 planks stacked up there and then from that level I measured down in 2" segments and marked it heavy with the carpenter pincle.... today I just came in from cutting about 12 useable boards and I have to say it works great! I just cut  the boards off and then move down to the next mark and cut again....
....
sense that works so very good I will probably put a steel ruler on the crank side and a sliding clip to mark where the cut is being done at  then just measure the depth of the next board as needed.
... it definately needs a clip/marker though, because at the end of the stroke I usually raise the saw a click or 3 to get it high enough to move back over the plank for another pass.. once back at the start THEN I do my resetting for the next cut without that mark or something to go by I'd be lost.
.... though with the pincle marks at 2" segments I didn't have any problems at all it was obvious where I was... so all I had to do was lower it to the next mark down, clamp both sides and start it up and cut another slice...
....
I am going to have to make some wood the size of a normal 2"x4" however   you know a planed 2x4 is 1-3/4"x 3-3/4"  not really 2"x4" ... trying to use the honest to god 2x4's is like trying to fit a 2x6 in the place for a 2x4 ! LOL !
... anyway I made a bunch of 2"x2" boards for the kitchen and a few 1"x2"...
I hauled up another log for the saw Mill too while I was at it so I made myself more work again ! LOL
...
the saw is cutting real good, but the engine is not running the best... like there's water in the fuel
..... I filled the gas-tank this morning and ran it about an hour ...choking it every once in a while to suck out the crud.... think I got most of it by now ! HEHEHEHE its running fairly good now.
...
Bob...


 

[Bob]

THe one thing that I did do in making this contraption that I hope others will learn from me is the use of the "Brake Winch" to raise and Lower the band saw... I had cables and pulleys and what not on it and it really wasn't working very good at all... following Sonny Jeffers Suggestion of using a "Brake Winch" was the best move I made !
  However,  Having Locks on the side is a MUST when using that sort of winch as it will creep due to the vibration... not because of its strength.  the LOCKS I made were simple "T" handle bolts on fine threaded nuts welded to the frame to pinch the main vertical Post to hold it in place.
this has worked out great so far, but one side is getting a bit warn with all the tightening and loosing
... so I may need to come up with a better LOCK in the future.
...
Bob...

[Manta]

Bob,

Do you use these planks 'green'  or do you stack them for a year or so to season ?

Dave
(Manta)

[Bob]

Well, the logs that are really DRY I've just been hauling a few sticks down to the house as is...
but the Green logs I have stacked the wood in a big square that's about 1~2ft high now... sense its been setting in the summer sun those boards are as dry as popcorn now....er  well WERE till the 3" of rain we just got.... now their wet again because I didn't cover them (OOPS!)
Now I'll have to wait till they dry out again... that'll be late spring I guess...about the projected time for redoing the inside walls of the house... they need re paneled and more wall studs put in sense my Dad only put in one stud every 4 ft !  so more studs, insulation,gap closing and foam sealing
and then new paneling.... and the house should be 95% better at holding the heat in the winter and the cool in the summer!
... but that's another project down the road !
...
I try not to use GREEN lumber on anything Manta because if warping and shrinkage...
it really is surprising how much a green board will shrink !
...
Bob...

[Black rock]

Hi everyone
Let me start off by saying that i know practically nothing about US. I've think there is a bit of a language barrier, i come from Russia, so I want to ask, let me talk to you here. I have already learned alot by reading as many of the posts. I have some plans for a bandmill if you want them then I'll post them here. Since 1999, I made a lot of different woodworking machines in Russia.
Bob, you'll do fine, and thanks for this thread.

[Bob]

Howdy Black Rock !
welcome to Hydroxy Hut !
 Sure post away ! I'd be interesting to see other designs !
 I'm fairly good at getting through language barriers.... so don't be afraid to post because of that!
if nothing else we can type morse code ! LOL
....
thanks for your interest!
...
Bob......

 

[Black rock]

These my machine sell well in Russia i think because of the cheap prices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6xVAPefY0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWysHIDdlwo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8-OaY8BJYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pf1NQ8Njkg
I can lay out drawings jigs later, or more photos. Do you not know where buy wheels more than 19``  made of steel or cast iron in America?

[Bob]

Black Rock !
 Hay thanks for the picture !
 to answer your question ,  No  in fact I do not know of any place that sells cast iron wheels of more than 6" in diameter!
 we got by that problem by using normal tires and wheels... and they seam to work quite well for us!
... my first set of wheels were too far out of round to use however, but the trailer wheels and spindles worked just fine !
...
 I like your method of raising and lowering the bandsaw... I had something like that but went with a break winch which was better by far for my saw... especially because the way I had it originally it was very hard to turn the crank ! LOL
...
so are you making these saws and selling them to the public ?
...
Bob.....

[Black rock]

Another my brick in the wall. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVcVyL0VqlE&feature=share 
I thought I would share this with other readers that would like to have there own mill but just cant afford the production mills. Up works real good but I would appreciate any constructive criticism of my choice of parts and their compatibility in my machinery. Can be on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001966512298
If something is interesting to ask my. I do agree and yes there are things I would want and would like. We know the hardware can deliver and I think this makes us want! We have been used to similar technology in other devices which we know can do it and has it ...?