Sawmills @ Ore Logging Conference

[D._Frederick]

We had a total of 10 mills: 4ea WM, 2 ea Baker, 2 ea swing mill, Hud-son, and Mob Dims. The eye catch was the LT 70 of WM, it has a lot of the new features of the 300. I think that Bibbyman shot himself in the foot by not waiting to get this mill. For an extra 7k, he could have gotten 50% more mill. They were sawing 10 to 12ft doug fir logs  that were 12 to 16 inch dia.. It took two guys to clear away boards and slaps.

[Tom]

Hmmmm    Maybe he knew what he was doing.  If Mary is sawing and He is off-bearing then I would guess that it was a matter of survival.  

[Bud Man]

"Tomorrow's model will always run faster and jump higher"==  I purposely ordered one without board return because with it I would probably over work my aging body and abilities and without it most probably won't.

[Tom]

I have a board dragback on my "not woodmizer" mill and it is a real labor saving device.  If the logs are cut square on the ends the dragbacks will pull the boards and cants straight back to me where I can handle them.

Of course, on my old woodmizer where I am walking beside the mill, I can leave the blade at the end of the log, take off the board, and then return to the front of the log for another cut.

Or, I can bring the blade back through the kerf and start another cut and remove the 1st board as the 2nd is being cut.   Man, That will work you to death if you let it, but it's quick.

On a stationary operating station I really like the dragback.
I like setworks too. but don't have them on my old woodmizer and the one on the other mill doesn't work.  You need to know about computers and have an education in elecronics etc. or have a good mill company behind you if you get such a sophisticated device or you may as well unhook it.

[Bud Man]

Tom --I ordered command center with Accuset and have been assured that W-M will train even my feeble computer mind to be able to operate it,  and that they also will be there to pick me up every once in a while (hopefully not to often)

[Tom]

Hey bud man,  I am confident that WM will take care of you.  I am in a situation where the fool setworks won't work and there is little help on the other end from "my sawmill" company.

You will find that operation of most any of them is pretty simple once you make the connection between how it moves the head relative to how you would have moved the head.

You'll like it !

[Bibbyman]

I knew about the new Wood-Mizer LT70 mill quite some time back.  Even seen some early pictures of it while under development and talked to some of the guys that were testing it.  My good friends at Wood-Mizer knew we wanted to upgrade and advised us to wait for the new model.  Well,  fall came and went and the announcement date was held up for some reason.  Then we had a chance to sale our two mills and the new mill wasn’t ready.  We talked about it when we placed our order in December and they said maybe March maybe June but for sure by August.  We just couldn’t go that long without a mill.  So…  We went with the LT40HDE25-RA Super Hydraulic.  It’s still a kickin’ mill.  

When it comes down to it,  the LT40HDE25 has far more production capacity than Mary and I can take advantage of with just one or both of us running it. (In fact, I asked WM to quote a standard HD with an the 25HP electric motor configured the same way but they wouldn’t do it.)  Pulling the blade through the wood fast is only one part of the production equation.  We still have to do everything else the same way we did when we had the older LT40s.  But we got the faster hydraulics, new clamping system,  Accuset with remote station, board dragback, and the debarker.  

I am eager to see the new mill run though.  

D. can you tell us more about it?  Max log length, engine choices, etc.   Got any pictures?  Did you order one?

[Frank_Pender]

I was there all day on Friday, myself. Sorry I did not get to meet you D. Fredrick.  I even sat under their tent and ate my luch with them guys.  I had taken a friend to the show with me and he has a WM mill and knew wome of the folks with the mills.   the new one you speak of was a nice looking unit with a single mast holding all of the goodie controls.   They had a trim saw unit set up also with a fella off loading the lumber after being sent through.  It was to many people to run the thing for me.  I like working better by myself and not having the OSHA  folks on my case.  Besides. my Mobile Dimension Mill puts both edges on at the same time and I do not need a second piece of equipment ot have to maintain or operate.  It was to bad that MD had only and board a block system there to demonstrate.  A trailer mounted unit would have been nice to show the folks.  But all in all I did enjoy watching them cut with the new unit.  The Woodmizer does have its place for sure in the sawing community. I have had my friend Loren saw special cuts that my mill cannot produce and vise versa.  We all have our nitches in making sawdust.

[D._Frederick]

WM LT 70,
This mill is on the same design as the LT 40 Series and was of the walk a long or better said run along configeration. The head has 24 inch solid metal wheels that are crowned. They have bearing in the wheel hubs. They used the same guides as the 300. The strain system has a air bellows with the hydralics to act as a shock asb. .The blade lube system lubs both side of the blade.  The mud saw is mounted different. Has heavy board drag back system. They  use same type hydralic system as the LT40. It has a chain log turner. The log posts are about two inch shafts that go up and down instead of the lay down type. They also had manual lay down posts. This mill had a 40 hp Kobota Diesel and was in the 37k range. It is heavyer and longer than the LT 40.  It has the 2 movement clap system.
No, I wont be buying one, I am just getting over blood clots in the lungs so my sawmilling is cut back.
They  took names of people who wanted lit. of mill.
Frank, I live about 60 miles NE of you.  

[Bibbyman]

Thanks for the info D. on the new LT70.  There will probably be a lot out on it now they have shown it in public.

Sure would have liked to be the first on the block with one but I'm proud as a billy goat with two peckers with our new LT40.

Get well soon!  

[D._Frederick]

Bibbyman,
You are right. When you get to a mill of your size, the handling is were most of the time goes instead of sawing. Some were it takes manual labor to get the log and to seperate slaps frome lumber. For a band mill the edger will greatly improve output. The edger will edge all the slaps sawn in a day in less than 1/2 hr.
The only advantage of the LT 70 over your mill would be the bigger band wheel, you would have better blade life if you leave mill running between cuts. What determines sawing speed is : Beam strength of  the blade, gullet size , guides , and HP. The blade they were using was 1 1/2   x  1 pitch. They were making the diesel smoke, so they were using the HP.