My Design for a Band saw Sawmill.

[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...
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 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....
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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...
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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
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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
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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.
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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!
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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 !
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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
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 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>
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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!
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all in all the saw mill works and works good.... it was worth the effort to build it.
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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!
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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
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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 !
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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!
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its been raining here the last few days so I haven't got too much done.
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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!
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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
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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
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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.....