This is how it starts..

[mmartone]

Just a little rust removal here and there, I couldnt stop Jack from pecking at places that needed his attention. We primed everything with Rustoleum rusty metal primer, pretty good stuff, mix it up well. Got eveything lined up and squared up, tried to cut a little cedar log and the dang Kawi kept falling on its face in the cut. Guess its mad at me for letting it sit around so long!



 



 

Also added a blade stopper, safety last...



 

I dont think theres room in there for another lift chain   :'(



 

[Magicman]

I understand your reasoning, but that blade stopper would not work for me.  It would clog with sawdust and bark too easily.   :-\

[ladylake]

I think he'll find that out on the first log.  Good idea but needs way farther spacing.   Steve

[Peter Drouin]

I understand your reasoning, but that blade stopper would not work for me.  It would clog with sawdust and bark too easily.   :-\

[mmartone]

We shall find out, its just held in with 3 bolts.

[Chuck White]

A better blade stopper might be like what I did on my mill!

Just drill 2 holes up through from the bottom of the blade housing, out near the sawdust exit, clear of the blade and blade wheel, and put a couple of bolts down through the holes and install a nut on top and bottom of the blade wheel housing, letting the bolts stick up a couple of inches!


Text edited:  Thanks Lynn  :-[

[Stephen1]

I was wondering what the 3 fingers were at my sawdust exit. broken blade stopper. It clogs up on the odd occasion and I gave thought to cutting them off :-\. Guess I will leave them in there.

[Dave Shepard]

I had to use a torch to get mine out of the chute. Kinda messed up the paint. :D I have this big red button on my remote control. If anybody walks anywhere near the mill head, I push the button and everything stops. Then I start the educational process. :D It's the sawyers responsibility to make sure that nobody goes near the sawdust chute. Nobody near the chute means nobody gets hurt. Besides, I've had bands come out through the fingers anyway.

[Peter Drouin]

I cut mine out too :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

To remove them, does it take a torch or will a Sawzall with a metal blade work?

[pineywoods]

I had to take the blade stoppers out of the chute on my mill. They also stop cedar and cypress bark, plugs up the chute and bogs down the sawdust blower. There is a sheet metal chute there that goes to the blower. I have had broken blade punch a hole through the sheet metal..

[Dave Shepard]

That ducting I used for the sawdust was pretty thick. Blade punched right through it.



I suppose I should have added a disclaimer when I said I removed the fingers in my chute. I don't recommend that anyone does it. I think there is enough potential for something to come flying out of the mill all the way around the mill head that I won't allow anyone anywhere near it when it's running or I'm turning logs etc.

[Stephen1]

The things we see on this site...

[Peter Drouin]

I'm going so fast through the log the blades bends up in the log when they break. I have never had a blade come out in all the years of cutting.  ;D

[Chuck White]

I'm going so fast through the log the blades bends up in the log when they break. I have never had a blade come out in all the years of cutting.  ;D 

I've never had one exit the sawdust chute while actually sawing a log, but one day I was running it up for a while without sawing, and the blade broke and completely exited the mill and layed right out straight about 6 feet from the mill!

Of course then, the next thing I did was to install the blade stopper bolts!  I had problems with pieces of bark catching on the 2 bolts and clogging the chute so I removed one of them and left the one that was actually lined up with the center of the blade and I've had a couple of blades break since then, and the one bolt still catches the blade just fine!