My Design for a Band saw Sawmill.

[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
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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
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so are you making these saws and selling them to the public ?
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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 ...?