New to the Forum and new to building a homemade saw mill

[mikejp]

Please excuse my miss typed word. My brain was trying to say horiz shafte engine but my fingers typed vert. Sorry but for everybody whose hopes I had up its horiz. I don't know it you could mount a vert engine horiz or not. Sorry

[bandmiller2]

Mike, I don't think you can take a verticle shaft engine and turn it 90 degrees oil sump and carb issues.You could probibly make the turn with belts.Every bandmill should have a blade guard.Easiest is a strip of metal say 6" wide run around boath bandwheels from 6 o'clock around the top to the outher wheel.The plywood 1/2 to 3/4"thick to cover over the wheels on the front,easily removeable to change bands.The bandmill I built I swiped the two cyl. Wisconsin engine off my old hay baler.Frank C.

[bandmiller2]

Good Mike I see you have a horizontal shaft engine.You have a power lift for your cutting head thats good alot of work cranking that weight up and down all day.To gauge your cuts the simplest is a aluminum yard stick and pointer I don't know the reduction ratio on the lift gearbox but you need to make fine adjustments for board thickness.You could install a small hyd. pump belted to the engine,with a hyd. motor for up and down.Anouther hyd. motor with a drum could be installed for power feed with a cable.With a Piney woods clamp/turner you'd be crusin the interstate[see past posts].Frank C.

[mikejp]

Thanks so much Frank for that reply about the clamp/turner. Thanks also to piney woods for your detailed plans for a great addition to my mill. I try and search alot in the past forums but you have to get your search words just right and there is more than one name for some things. If anybody else knows any good links to some mods that will help my mill I would be greatfull.

I read in one post fish was asking about using a trolling motor for power feed. Will this work ? I have one and was wondering if anybody has ever tried it.
Oh I bought me a metal yard stick as suggested for my scale and I have a pointer. My gear reduction should be close. It moves pretty slow and steady. It will have to work fow now. I want to get it up and cutting asap and then try and fix/modify one thing at a time till I get it just right. Then we will slap a coat of paint on it and call it done.
Thanks for the help everybody. Mike

oh I will post updated pics this weekend.

[paul case]

the romance in the case house got a lot better when i built the missus a new house with the lumber that came off that mill of mine! pc Quapaw,OK

[mikejp]

Hey Paul if I did that it would help a whole, whole lot. But for now maybe a little cedar sawn and a cedar chest might help. To her its just a pile of ugly scrap steel and a money pit that never quits.

[edwardj_]

Out of curiosity..  am I going about it wrong to try and get a mill up and running before I find myself a miss to complain about it?   

[paul case]

aint it funny how different people see things so differently! when i see your mill pics it makes me believe that you will probably have spent considerable time and sweat equity in a machine that you are intimately familiar with each part of. when you get it to sawing , maintenence will be a snap to you because you built it.not only that you will have a machine that will do the same work as the one you could have purchased but it didnt cost anywhere near as much. you can be proud of that too.
ed,
im already on the other side of that bridge and cant remember what that was like. although i cant hear it as loud anymore . something of a plus to working long hours around loud equipment.  pc

[fishpharmer]

Out of curiosity..  am I going about it wrong to try and get a mill up and running before I find myself a miss to complain about it?   

Yessir, you got it all wrong.  It's in the homebuilt sawmill rule book somewhere, I am sure, no mill building by single people.  That's just too easy.  Might as well go buy one

Really, how is your mill coming along edwardj?

[edwardj_]

Well so far I am still in the planning stage.  Ordered a set of plans on a cd off ebay and waiting for it to show up...  not sure how good of plans they are.  Will have to wait and see.  Kinda broke at the moment and trying to scrounge usefull metal for the build...  it has also been -20*c here this week so not really good building weather...   oy

[mikejp]

Hey Edwardj I try and scrounge every part I can.Nothing wrong with saving money. Try to make some friends who might have some of what you need. Mine have helped me alot. Might have to saw them alot wood when I get it done.

Sorry I did not get any pics up this last weekend but after a hundred failures I was to depressed to do it. The guards are kicking my but and the engine is leaking oil everywhere.  There is so little space behind my band wheels and my drive belt goes around one of them everything is in my way. I have already cut up angle iron, welded them into frames and then threw them back into the scrap pile because I decided they would not work. I'll get it someday. The guard is all I like I have plenty of oil so the leak is not going to stop me.

[edwardj_]

Scrounging is part of my lifestyle...   I am working at a motorcycle/atv shop so I get crate metal to work with, got a 9Hp honda engine with gear reduction from a friend at a local college, has a broken mount tab on it so might swap the case for one I saved from an engine at work that blew up.  Ruined the cyl head and piston but thats it.  Have all the spare parts with it too.  I have a few axles from an argo to use as spindles, a pair of little spare tires from my car (20" across the outside)  I have an old Econoline van sitting at my parents place storing my junk right now...  Thinking I can set the body up on blocks and use it as a shed and then use the frame as a starting point for my track.  Would like to have it as semi-portable and a rear axle and a set of steering tires on the front make that easy.  There will be a lot of bits I have to buy but for the most part it will be looking through as many scrap piles as I can to find parts...  also want to build a hoe and front bucket for my old lawnmower so gotta find someone with hydraulic cylinders...  if anyone is in my area and has anything they would like to part with let me know...   

[mikejp]

Shoot you have it made Edwardj. With parts like that and a enigne to it will not take to long and you will be building the mill. I am also on the look out for some hydraulics. Might find some at a farm auction. Used is about as good as new. We rebuilt two for my tractor they are cheap. The local hydraulic shop had all the parts in stock. For now I am going to push my mill if I can. Not sure how hard it will be to push through a log. It is getting heavier every day as I add more stuff. Good luck on your mill. Mike

[bandmiller2]

I'am not saying having money is a bad thing but their must be something missing when you can just go out and buy a new mill,like a pack of smokes, have someone set it up, and adjust everything.To rebuild an old mill or build from scratch,scrounging,lusting,planning in the middle of the night, haunting junk piles,thats a flavor unknown to mr. big bucks.Take heart guys build the best you can and learn from mistakes you'll be the better sawyers for it. Frank C.