iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Infeed bunks for logs

Started by jim blodgett, December 01, 2007, 10:43:37 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jim blodgett

I seldom post here but have been lurking for a couple years and have a question about setting up the mill I recently purchased.

Specifically, I'd like to hear/see photos of the way people roll logs by hand onto their mill.  I am thinking of a pair of bunks (maybe 3), perpendicular to and maybe slightly higher than the bed of my mill.  I would load logs onto the bunks with a tractor, then roll one at a time onto the mill with a peavy (and a little help from gravity).

So, I'm confident I can set something like this up, but would really appreciate any thoughts, ideas, experiences, warnings or opinions anyone cares to share.

Thanks. 

Nate Surveyor

I have 2 pcs of rr track for an infeed deck. Slightly inclined towards the mill. I wish I had some pipe welded on the sides, right by the mill, that I could insert some smaller pipe into, to act as a backstop, for unloading high speed logs. For now, I need to be careful, and I lay some firewood logs there to stop the logs. But ya know, there is no limit to what a sawyer wants!

N :D
I know less than I used to.

beenthere

I'd need to search, but a year or so ago, there was a thread or two on log decks. One feature that seemed important, was to have a section that was liftable, between the mill (or carriage if circular) and the log deck.  This is for walking back and forth, as climbing over or going around the log deck could get old in a hurry.

Will try to find that.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Bibbyman

 

Years back we had a manual Wood-Mizer LT40.  I set up a "dead deck" made from a couple of heavy box beams.  They attached loosly to the frame of the Wood-Mizer and set on a flattened log on the other end.  This worked well bacuse we could move them in for short logs or out for long logs.  It also made a great place to set a bundle of lumber and sort and/or stick it.

When we got our LT40 Super HD mill in 2005 we used the loading arms for a couple of years.  Worked ok for normal logs but was not handy for short or odd shaped logs.  So we went back to the dead deck.  A bit latter we were so happy with the dead deck we removed the loading arms as they were just something for debres to build up around.



Then this summer we installed a Baker live deck.  It's been working out well for us.  It'll hold and feed twice as many logs as the dead deck.  And takes most of the work out of getting logs onto the mill.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

beenthere

Here is another thread started by Bibby, and might have some good information...like Pigman's setup.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=9430.0;all
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

jim blodgett

Thanks, everyone.  Lot's of good info.  I'm not surprised.

Don_Papenburg

Hey Jim , How you been ?   What kind of mill did you get?  I am hoping to get mine opperating this winter .  I have a mile or so of pipeline  sections  setting  at various places on the farm .So I thought that I would build a dead deck  for my mill .  My plans are to have two sets of spring loaded dogs before the logs get to the carrage . My thinking is that it will stop the avalanche of logs as you try to get one loaded . Then the next log up would not be weighted down by the deck load. And then there is the saftey factor of not looking like wylie coyote at the end of the day.
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

thecfarm

I have 2 hardwood logs spaced about 7 feet apart and about 8 feet long.This allows me to drive my tractor front wheels between them.I only put one layer of logs on.Would be very unsafe to roll a log off if they were stacked 2 high with peavey.I always put a 2X4 on each log to keep it from rolling when I don't want it too.Just a short one,2 feet long,on one side.I have 2 pieces of iron 4"X¼X 4 feet to go from the bunks to the mill.When I roll the log on I just remove the 2 pieces of metal.I hauled in some gravel to make everything on the level I wanted.I put 2 logs that run the same way as the mill and than I put the 2 hard wood logs on top of that.I throw in some sawdust to cover up the gravel under the log bed.When I do want to cut something short I just throw in a log to keep the short ones on the same level.All this I want to replace with a trailer next year.My logs are getting farther from the mill.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Furby

When I had a dead deck, the section closest to the mill was gal. I beam guard rail posts.
I laid them on their side and could simply slide a scrap piece of 2x4 from the I beams to the mill.
Just laid the 2x4's right on the track of the mill, and rolled the log on, and pushed the 2x out of the way.

bandmiller2

Jim the guys have pretty much covered it.Couple of comments,I use old phone poles[get em free] set level at the same hight as the carrage.Whats real important is to have pieces you can remove between the brow and the mill so your not climbing over things to dog the logs. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

jim blodgett

Hey Don.  Man, am I ever having trouble figuring out this software.

Anyways, we've all been great, enjoyed T-Day (all three kids and two spouses were here and Aunt Tilly behaved) and are now looking forward to Christmas.

After a lot of shopping and a few test drives I bought a 10hp electric bandsaw from Linn Lumber.  Electric head raise and lower (the shoulders aren't what they were) manual feed with chain and crank or push by hand, hydraulic blade tensioning...I guess that's about it.  Entry level, no frills machine.  I don't have any illusions about making money with it, just a hobby thing and a chance to mill finish lumber from DFir we have on our property.

Truth is, I had a harder time finding a tractor I could justify buying that would still do the job.  Got lucky and bought a 33hp John Deere 4wd from a contractor buddy who upgraded to a mini excavator. 

Just Friday Joe and I started removing posts in the pole building and installing glulams so we'd have 20' clear opening on each side of the mill - roll logs in from one side, take lumber out the other...you know, real simple set up.  Considering putting pex in the slab to keep feet warm, but we'll see. 

Great project.  Glad I didn't buy a mill when I was younger and couldn't have afforded to do it this way.  Now I think I'll be able to set it up so that I can mill even after the arthritis runs amok.

Catch you later.

Hey.  You show these guys photos of your tile and stone work yet?  Awesome.  Inspring.

Don_Papenburg

Jim , Glad aunt Tilly behaved  ;D things get rough when she gits a little more than her share of the keg. I think that she is coming here for Christmas.
You might want to get some kind of power drive for the feed on that saw. Exersize is fine but that is pushing it to the extreme.   
  Did you get any of the pictures of the plaster crown mold?
    My computer will not let me post pictures for some reason  >:(,so I have not mentioned tile and stone work . these guys will beat me if I don't post a picture after mentioning stuff like that .
Put the pex in no matter what !! put a 2" 25psi foam board down before the pex . Warm feet make a big differance in your whole outlook .  In my opinion the pex is better if it is no more than six inches of space between them.  I put mine on the foam and poured right over the top  . 
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

gates

I have a LT15. My log deck is made of RR ties. I double stacked and pinned them together to match my mill height. Drove stakes on each side to keep them from moving. They very slightly pitch down hill to the mill. I have 3 sets placed about 6' apart. The deck is about 24" from the mill. I used some 3" heavy channel Iron about 30" long for bridges to roll the logs from the deck to the mill. I took a chainsaw and made two grooves in the top center of the ends of the ties for the channel ribs to lay in. I then milled out one end of the channel ribs to fit over the side rails of the mill. This keeps the bridges from moving. I also drilled some 1" holes about 6" from the end of the deck ties, I place some 3/4" rebar in the holes to keep logs from rolling off the bed when loading the deck with the tractor. This works very well for me. I hope this made sense.

James

AusLJW

Excuse me Bibbyman,
What made you choose the Baker live deck over the woodmizer version. 
Can you use the live deck to accumulate heavy slabs for re-sawing?
It would seem a dead deck is a good low cost mill improvement.

Ron Wenrich

Our first log deck was just a couple of straight hickory poles.  We peeled the bark off so those logs that can't be rolled could be pushed.  A little diesel on the poles would help the logs to slide. 

For support, we used log ends.  Most of them were butts that were cut off to make veneer.  We just nailed a piece of wood on the side so the poles didn't move.  Low cost and strong.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

ohsoloco

This is a pic of my old deck, which was two spruce 12x12's....I always have big knarly spruce logs I don't want to mill into lumber lying around  ;)  The only thing I changed was the length of the timbers, I went from the 8' to some 12' so I could load more logs at once.  They're set far enough apart that I can get the wheels of the skid loader in between them.  Use a couple pieces of metal fence post set from the timbers to the mill rails to roll logs onto.  I'd be careful of setting the deck too high....big logs and gravity can do some damage.




Bibbyman

Quote from: AusLJW on December 06, 2007, 03:20:11 AM
Excuse me Bibbyman,
What made you choose the Baker live deck over the woodmizer version. 
Can you use the live deck to accumulate heavy slabs for re-sawing?
It would seem a dead deck is a good low cost mill improvement.

I just knew someone would someday ask this question. 

We looked long and hard at the WM deck.  It's a good deck for most any Wood-Mizer owner as it runs right off the mill's hydraulic system and is controled with a valve right on the mill.  In short, it's a "plug and play" with a Wood-Mizer LT40 Super, LT70 or LT300 mill.

We chose the Baker because it had three strands at about 48" apart for a total width of about 8' and it had four loading arms.  The Wood-Mizer deck has two strands about 60" apart and two loading arms.  We were sawing a lot of short logs and already experianced problems aligning short logs on the loading arm of the mill.  Or we'd get a short log on the loading arms and half way up they would fall off one arm or the other.  So we were concerned with a deck with two strands at 60" apart.

The standard Baker deck is not a "plug and play" for a Wood-Mizer mill.  It's too tall for one thing.  And it's not set up to work with a single valve on the Wood-Mizer hydraulics.  But Tom Stout and Bryan Martin of Baker worked with us to make a non-standard deck for us.  They built it shorter to match the height of our Wood-Mizer and added the electric valve switches needed to run the deck with one valve on the Wood-Mizer.



Here are a couple of flow control valves that let us run the chain or lower the loading arms with only one valve on the Wood-Mizer.  That valve once opperated the loading arms.

So now when we have short logs we can load them on the two strands of the three strand deck.

I'm not sure about your heavy slab/resaw question.  But we often make 3x4 blocking out of big and ugly logs.  We slice off 3" or 4" slabs and push them onto the loading arms.  Then when we get the cant down to size we can saw down,  we raise the loading arms that have these first slabs stacked on them.  This gets them out of the way so we can saw down the middle section of the log.  Once it's out of the way,  we lower the loading arms and slide the heavy slabs over onto the mill.  It only takes about 6-12" as the two-plain clamp can be used to pull them on over and set them up against the back supports.  Then we split them down to make the 3x4s.

Boards or slabs won't slid down the loading arms by themselves.  I did see one deck designed to resaw cants that they had added rollers down the loading arms so the cants would "come on down".
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

AusLJW

Thanks Bibbyman
3 stands instead of 2 makes sense.  You are using the loader arms of the livedeck like you would the mill loader arms had you not got the live deck (if you see what I mean).
No worries.

Thank You Sponsors!