My simple homemade bandsaw mill

[mrector]

This is a few pictures of my bandmill I made for grand total of $960. Uses 7hp h.f. motor
For power. I have a 10hp briggs that will replace it over the winter. Uses 18.75" pulley sheaves for wheels and 5/8" v belts for tires. 1-1/4 " 304 stainless band wheel drive shafts.
It is totally portable with removable 2000lb axle, 4 bolts-10minutes. Centrifugal clutch for drive and a repurposed honda civic idler pulley for belt tension. Setworks(haha) is a machined inch increment aluminum bar I machined and a movable bracket with copper wire as a pointer. Head lifting is a series of 5 ball bearing pulleys I made with a 40-1 worm gear winch, lifting/lowering is done with my dewalt cordless impact. Frame/track is 4x4x3/8" angle iron. Pretty heavy duty.. I also angled my cut angle (like the boardwalks are)
. Gaurds are in process of being made by me. Blade tension is done by a simple threaded rod pushing against the movable side to "where it stops fluttering under load".
Enjoy, Mikey

[mrector]

Here is a YouTube video. Also check out my other videos, some interesting/funny stuff especially the splitting the red oak...
Mikey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKP2fJOpBas&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[thecfarm]

By the looks of the fourth picture,it does a mighty fine job.

[justallan1]

I'd say pretty much the same thing as my Hudson, but larger and a third of the price. Great job.

Allan

[drobertson]

Looks good! nice finish on the boards, any guards in the future?  david

[barbender]

  Looks great, get your guards finished ;)

[jueston]

its always interesting when you get used to seeing this big expensive machines to see a simple one, it reminds you how simple a bandmill really can be.

it looks like it gets the job done... great work 8)

[Hilltop366]

Well done!

Thanks for sharing.

[fishpharmer]

Mikey, good job on the mill and lumber.  Keep on tinkering with the mill until you get it exactly how you want it.

[mad murdock]

Great job on the mill. Let the chips fly 8)

[francismilker]

Good looking mill!  Welcome to the FF.  Try to get some safety guards on pretty quick if you can.  A broken band can fling further than any rock you've ever seen when it comes flying off.  Better to have it wrapped up in a guard than around your neck!

[Happycamper]

Great job on the mill and lots of satisfaction doing it I'm sure.
Necessity being the mother of invention has saved you several thousands of dollars. Congratulations.
                                       Jim

[Hilltop366]

Seems like you have the power vs blade speed figured out well, some home built mills on youtube that have quite a bit more power than yours don't seem to cut any faster.

(I do know that there can be a lot of variables)

[Chuck White]

You've got a very functional mill there Mikey!

Great job!

[WmFritz]

Nice mill Mikey      Any plans on adding blade guides?

[mrector]

Nice mill Mikey      Any plans on adding blade guides?

Thanks! There is already blade guides installed. I made them from 2 ball bearings each
one on top of blade and one behind. Cant beleieve i forgot to take a pic of those...haha.

[lowpolyjoe]

Sweet!

[The Herbman]

I am down at the bottom of the hill from you at Lowgap.  Am in the process of building me a mill and maybe I should come look at your's.

[mrector]

I am down at the bottom of the hill from you at Lowgap.  Am in the process of building me a mill and maybe I should come look at your's.

Come on up anytime. I can at least show you what NOT to do. Haha

[customsawyer]

Great looking mill. Do you have plans to add any kind of a blade lube system?

[mrector]

Great looking mill. Do you have plans to add any kind of a blade lube system?

I have that as well. Its the oil jug hanging from up top, has a inline valve for adjusting flow
... kinda crude hut it was cheap and effective. I just run water, but thinking bout adding cascade like magic man suggests in other posts.

[bandmiller2]

Good job Mikey.When you build your guards I'd make the pieces in front of the wheels out of plywood.Its just a matter of time before you catch the back of the band giging back and pull it off the wheels.The wood will stop the band quick unharmed. Frank C.

[thecfarm]

I have a gravity lube with 2 shut offs. One to adjust the flow and one to turn off and on. This way when i get the flow just right,I don't have to touch it again.

[Magicman]

Hello mrector, and Welcome to the Forestry Forum.   

It looks like you are well on the way to making a very usable sawmill for producing personal lumber.   

[valley ranch]

Nice job, looked at your video, runs real smooth.

[mlieb]

Just Ran across your Mill.Very nice! can you explain how you did your tracking and blade tension ?

[Komatsu_Mech1]

I too also just came across this thread, I am in the beginning stages of designing a home made mill and was thinking of using the same set up for the band wheels and was wondering how well the belts floating on the pulley worked and if the single groove pulley was ample enough to hold the blade on?? nice looking rig.

Thanks

[kelLOGg]

I just saw this, too.  Nice job,  Mikey. I like the pillow block support - no overhung load. How do you adjust tracking? How wide does it cut?
Bob

[mrector]

I have sold this mill about a year and half ago. But I will answer any questions you guys have. I adjusted tension with a threaded rod on the opposed side of the engine. The pillow blocks I mounted on a plate with two 1" round rods that acted as sliding guides for adjustment. The drive side is hinged with a bolt as the locking device to keep track. I used a simple go kart clutch and 7hp chinese honda knock off engine. Worked fairly well. The belts in the pulley grooves are just exactly like the way my Norwood and woodmizer are. I had 36" in between guides. Had no where near the stability or power to cut that wide tho haha.
Mikey

[mrector]

Just looked at the view count on this thread I made and WOW, 14000+ views! I really hope this thread has helped some guys along thier way. Kind of somewhat a success story in the making.. as I now own a full hydraulic woodmizer and have many sustained customers.  I saw roughly about 2-3k feet of walnut, cherry and erc per month and sell most of it before blade hits the log! I could bot have done all this without the help and knowledge of great guys here at the FF!
Thanks
Mikey
And ps, I am getting larger as I now have a 60x60 shed and drying shed and a forklift now. Wow 2.5 years and this is all coming together!

[steveh2112]

hi, sorry this is an old thread but i'm interested in this design and also wonder about the V belts used as tires which seem to be barely hanging on. is this OK? looks like it is working but wouldn't it be better to find a V belt that fits snuggly into the 18.75" pulley sheaves? thx

[Rybot]

If you look at the commercial units that us v belts as tires you will see the same thing. the belt is held tightly in place by the blade on one side of the wheel and is a little loose on the inside because I can't imagine trying to stretch a perfect fit belt over a pulley.

Also, I am glad you revived this thread. I am in the process of designing my own bandmill and it is always helpful to see other peoples designs. 

Just looked at the view count on this thread I made and WOW, 14000+ views! I really hope this thread has helped some guys along thier way. Kind of somewhat a success story in the making.. as I now own a full hydraulic woodmizer and have many sustained customers.  I saw roughly about 2-3k feet of walnut, cherry and erc per month and sell most of it before blade hits the log! I could bot have done all this without the help and knowledge of great guys here at the FF!
Thanks
Mikey
And ps, I am getting larger as I now have a 60x60 shed and drying shed and a forklift now. Wow 2.5 years and this is all coming together!

Congrats on the success. That is amazing.

[steveh2112]

ok, thanks, so a 18.75" OD pulley wheel like this https://www.surpluscenter.com/Power-Transmission/Pulleys/Finished-Bore-Pulleys/18-75-OD-1-1-4-Bore-1-Groove-Pulley-1-BK190-H.axd would have a 58.9" circumference. I'd be inclined to go with a sung fitting belt like this
58" B V-Belt Type B55 5L580 Classic Bestorq | Bestorq | Brands | Surplus Center

would you go bigger?

also, i read that blade speed should be between 5000 and 5500 ft/min, with a 18.75" wheel (18.4" datum diameter) that's 57.8" or 4.82 ft per revolution. so i calculate i'd need 1037rpm on the main wheel.

i have a kohler 6.5HP motor from my wood chipper RH265 | RH Series | KOHLER i plan to repurpose to save $$$$, its rated at 3600rpm, so that makes a 3.47:1 reduction ratio on the pulley. anyone care to double check my math please?

i was thinking 132" blade like this Wood-Mizer Online Store - Blades
that would give about 3' between the wheels

not sure about blade guides, i did see this Standard roller guide retrofit system by Cooks Saw
price is a bit high but i guess its pro level where you need it.

what you all think?

FYI, i found this very interesting about the wheels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMWVqczpbBA

i wonder if the V belts flopping around like the OPs machine causes vibration in the blade?

[Jem08080]

Looks great! Do you have the plans/specs available for purchase?

Thank you.

John

[fluidpowerpro]

There are a number of people selling sawmill plans on ebay. 

[Iwawoodwork]

The 58" V  belt you will probably not be able to stretch it over the 18,75 pulley, I ended up with 60 inch 5/8 fully cloth wrapped v belts. 

[welderskelter]

I just have car tires on mine but was wondering about using a v belt pulley then cut the v belt so as to be able to just lay it in the groove. Then buy a set of tires they call them to fit over the pulley and belt. The tires I am talking about are like rubberbands that fit on these upright bandsaws for your shop. Maybe I think to much.

[Iwawoodwork]

If your saw blade is staying on the tires as they are and you are not having a problem with tires taking the set out of the teeth then my suggestion is leave it like it is, "if it isn't broke why fix it".