New Home made band mill (6.5hp)

[Black Dragon]

Just starting the second season with my home made sawmill, and thought I would post about its construction. It is still a work in progress, but it can turn logs into lumber, and currently is running with only 6.5Hp any questions feel free to ask. https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=180297#top_display_media https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=180299#top_display_media

[Joe Hillmann]

It looks like a nice machine.  I looks like you had some novel ideas when building it, mostly the way the wheels ride on the track, the two post head and the design of the track.

Do you have issues with sawdust setting on the track?

[21incher]

Welcome to the forum Black Dragon. Nice looking mill. You may need some wipers on the track to keep the sawdust from getting under the wheels. My mill only runs 7 HP and cuts up to about 18 inches with no problem.

[Hilltop366]

Hmm sawmill (nicely done!) sports car (Vette?), old truck, boat, man your living the dream!

[Hilltop366]

Where are my manners?

Welcome.

[gww]

I love it when people post their projects.  I have no imagination and if I can't steal an ideal here and there, I could never do nothing.  I really like your mill and it reinforces the fact that I need to beef mine up a bit.  I believe I am having track leveling issues right now and you seem to have found one way of addressing that.  I did notice that your welding skill seems to be plenty better then mine.
Good job
gww

[Black Dragon]

Thanks for the replies everyone, and to answer your question Hilltop366 it is a 77 corvette I got as a long term restoration project. I see a lot of comments to my use of wheels, This method I would not suggest for anyone to try. A combination of the two post head that has a fair amount of flex to it, and the wheels that can move side to side a little cause a lot of binding. I have to walk in the middle pushing on both sides of the mill to get it to cut. I am planing on adding two more posts, and switching to a steel wheel and angle iron track to solve some problems with wandering, and sawdust buildup. I will post more pics here as I go along for those who are interested. Also what are you guys using for log clamping methods? What I am using works, but is slow.

[gww]

BD
I have only cut two logs since I made my mill, so keep that in mind if I give advice cause I am not qualified.

For dogs I used round pipe over round pipe.  I made the length about 12" and put flat iron on the top that I cut into a dimond shape.  I slide the point of the dimond shape flat iron to the log at a low enough point that my blade will clear it when cutting.  I give the point a hmmer to bed it in the wood and then give the bottom a hammer to put the whole thing in a bind.  To release I hit the bottom in the direction away from the log to take it out of the bind that it is in.  It works fairly well except I can't cut below 2 inches due to the dimond shape flat plate side being higher then the point that is in the wood.  I believe if I revisit it and cut the plate down to a spike or change to just a spike, it would work pretty good.

I also had enough of them with points on both sides, that if I get a notty log and can't use the squaring post to put the log to the side of the cutting deck, I can put it in the middle of the cutting deck and dog from both sides for the first cut.

I also have walking issues with my two post, tire mill.  I haven't thought that that was what was making my cuts bad.  Mine I believe is more due to track instability/straitness.  When I fix that and if I still have an issue I guess I will have to look at a four post set up.  I am not sure the walking and binding is really causing wavy cuts but would not stake my life on it.

I am going to do one thing at a time and then cut something and then do one more thing and then cut something till I do well.

Good luck and please keep us informed of the cause and affect of what you do cause I also am trying to fine tune my new mill.
gww

[Verticaltrx]

Looks good, I like the sturdy bed design. One thing I noticed is your pulley size on the driven wheel looks awfully small. I have a little Hud-son bandmill with a 6.5hp engine and it is using 16" band wheels, a 16" driven pulley and a 2.5-3" pulley (centrifugal clutch) on the engine. In other words, I think you have your band speed way to high. If you 'gear it down' a little with a bigger pulley I think you would find it actually cuts better and faster with less bogging  of the motor. Somewhere on the Cooks Saw website is an article about optimum blade speed vs hp, it had some good info on the subject.