My Design for a Band saw Sawmill.

[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
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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.
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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.
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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!.
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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 ! 
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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
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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.
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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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)