How to load a big log on to a woodmizer...

[Slingshot]

 

[Slingshot]

   This one shows them cutting it;


 



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[beenthere]

How to load, or how not to load? That is the question.


Just was waiting for the guy to get crushed when that log rolled toward the tractor.

That WM mill is tough !!

[schmism]

Ive watched my share of mill vids on youtube....

why does that WM sound so weird.... like the theath of the band are constantly cutting on metal?

[woodzy88]

That looked a highly dangerous way of loading a log that size and I thought it looked a bit rough on the mill. When we do things like this we only get away with it for so long until one little thing goes wrong then someone get badly hurt or killed. Not for me , I say work safe an use the right equipment for the job and stay alive. 

[Meadows Miller]

First Time I have seen an LT80 Must be building them in Europe     

[T Welsh]

Pushin it to the limits is my call! WM are tough, but I don,t take mine that far or hard. if it wont lift it by itself,I will help it with the loader (gently) if it will hold it,I will load it. then comes the point will I be able to get through it. I wont push a machine past it limits, because when you do that it costs money or headaches. I have had the Woodmizer off its back supports trying to lift a log up of center, if the log lift will pick it by itself,it gets sawn if not, how much are you paying! cause I,m near the breaking point. Don,t abuse your equipment, all it does is cost you in the end! Tim

[Bibbyman]

 That’s just crazy!   I bet none of those guys own that mill.





 



Yea,  LT80.  Note the two axles and three loading arms and extra length.  I think they could saw up to 27’.

Yea, Europe.  They had two in the USA.  One they gave away to a mission in Africa and the other set behind WM in Indy for a long time until they finally (I’m told) cut it up for scrap.  They decided they didn’t want to market them in the US.

Pictures taken at the Wood-Mizer 20’th anniversary party in Indy.

[Slingshot]

        Bibbyman;
              I had never heard of the LT80 when I ran across this one on U-tube. I did a search
 on the forum and saw where you and  some others discussed them in 2007. And saw
 where Arkansawer was wanting one back in 2002. You also mentioned an LT60.
      I thought it was a monster of a saw and built to take what those guys dished out to it.



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[Peter Drouin]

I would never abusd my mill like that , they cost to much and no log is worth that much.

[WDH]

I thought that the whole process was scary, Halloween scary.

[Bibbyman]

       Bibbyman;
              I had never heard of the LT80 when I ran across this one on U-tube. I did a search
 on the forum and saw where you and  some others discussed them in 2007. And saw
 where Arkansawer was wanting one back in 2002. You also mentioned an LT60.

 

The LT80 is just a stretched LT70.  More of everything.  It even had cant hold-downs. 

The 16' length version of the LT70 was going to be an LT60 and maybe is so in Europe.   I think they've even dropped the LT30 (16' cut length) - if they build one today they'd probably call it an LT40.

I think WM USA wanted to standardize on the number of frame configurations.  That’s my guess. 

We can get YouTube on our TV through our Roko adapter.  I found the channel for these guys.  They have a bunch of uploads.  Many for loading this same log.  Looks like they tried a lot of things.  At one time it looked like they tried using a cable being pulled by the chain turner somehow.

Note too that it looks like the shield on the drive side is cut out.  Wonder why?

It would be plenty dangerous enough but add in the wet snow.  I know how that makes everything more slippery.

[Chuck White]

I thought I was reading "LT80" when I watched the video's at 5:30-6:00 this morning.

I think that when loading the log onto the mill in that manner, I'd have liked to have had that back-blade raised up to stop the log and take some of the force off of the back-stops.  I could just about visualize that log cleaning all of the backstops right off the mill. 

[pineywoods]

Heck, I load stuff that size on my old manual mizer rather frequently. BUT, it's usually pine, not quite that heavy and I don't have a hydraulic loader. . There's a set of metal ramps comes with the manual mills. Using them it's fairly easy to parbuckle big logs up onto the mill. I don't pull them with the tractor, I use a hydraulic winch that just happens to be mounted on the tractor.   If you watch the video of them sawing that big log, you can see one of the big advantages of the cantilever head. One small notch chainsawed out of the side of the log, versus having to slab off the whole side of the log to clear the head.

[MartyParsons]

The caption should say "why men live shorter lives". 

[redbeard]

Was there anymore videos of the log being turned by its own turner, or did they use the tractor again, I sure wouldn't want to put all that force on the mill frame it was coming off the ground. That log should have been quartered  with a chainsaw.

[Ianab]

We cut logs that size quite often.

My solution, leave the log where it is, and bring the mill to it.



Woodsy's solution - get a bigger tractor 



Either way, easier AND safer.

Ian

[Bibbyman]

Was there anymore videos of the log being turned by its own turner, or did they use the tractor again, I sure wouldn't want to put all that force on the mill frame it was coming off the ground. That log should have been quartered  with a chainsaw.

Here is the link to the YouTube channel that the videos are on.  I see some 9 of them.  Some are only a few seconds long and you can see what they were trying didn't work!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Sosenkatartak#p/u

[Brian Moore]

Can you say " Future Darwin Award winners".   Not if but When!

[logboy]

I'm with Ianab.  Leave the darn thing on the ground and saw it with a swing blade.  No one gets hurt and no equipment is destroyed. Or find someone to chunk it into 10" thick slabs with their slabber and saw those on your bandsaw.