Finally!!! no more pushing! B20 here i come.

strunk57 · May 22, 2015, 03:49:17 PM

Hello All, been a long time since I have been on but I have been sawing wide open on my little LL24. But tomorrow I will be pulling levers and pushing buttons. Going in the morning to pickup a slightly used (450 hrs) timberking B20. Cant tell you how excited I am. I will post some pics when I gtet home tomorrow.

justallan1 · May 22, 2015, 04:31:18 PM

Congrats on the new toy. Heck, I'd be happy to be using my manual mill, right now we're branding every day that we can.

Tom the Sawyer · May 22, 2015, 05:20:44 PM

Congrats on getting a B-20. What year is it? The guys at TK will treat you like family (depèndin' on how your family treats you, I guess).
Did you get a manual with it? If you need help after hours there are several B-20 owners on here thst would be happy to help.

Tom

strunk57 · May 22, 2015, 05:29:34 PM

Thanks Tom, Its a 99 model but havnt been used much.

Peter Drouin · May 22, 2015, 06:15:08 PM

Good luck with the new mill 8) 8) 8) 8)

drobertson · May 22, 2015, 06:29:24 PM

you bet! happy for you! waiting on the pics ya know.

Bruno of NH · May 22, 2015, 06:52:49 PM

Good for you
Sawem up !!
Jim/Bruno

Nomad · May 22, 2015, 07:58:59 PM

congrats! TK is a great company, and the b20 is a real workhorse.

redbeard · May 22, 2015, 09:10:22 PM

Congrats Strunk ! B20s are tough don't be afraid to push it. Simple to keep it plumb. When you need new guide rollers spend the extra and get the greasable ones TK retro ones for B-20s they last along time.

thecfarm · May 22, 2015, 09:17:06 PM

Sounds like a plan.

strunk57 · May 23, 2015, 04:39:38 PM

Got her home safe, wore out from the 400 mile round trip I'll get some pics later.

bkaimwood · May 23, 2015, 06:50:11 PM

Be sure to let us known how you like it, I'm sure you will!!! I really like timberking's design, heavy duty built, and so on...think its a great mill, although I haven't been lucky enough to run or own one.

sandsawmill14 · May 23, 2015, 08:25:52 PM

i have a 2000 model b20 its a great mill i got it last oct or nov dont remember. sawed 10078bdft this week in 4 days and about 220mbdft since we got it. i was sawing with a hudson 228 so if you were sawing with a manual mill you will love it and i cant say enough good about tk. you would have thought i had just bought a new mill by the customer service they gave the first 2 weeks after i got the mill. THANKS again Will!!!

woodman58 · May 23, 2015, 08:31:33 PM

Congrats on the new TK. I am looking forward to the day I get a fully hydraulic mill. Enjoy sawing.

strunk57 · May 23, 2015, 08:47:12 PM

Quote from: woodman58 on May 23, 2015, 08:31:33 PM
Congrats on the new TK. I am looking forward to the day I get a fully hydraulic mill. Enjoy sawing.

Took me almost 3 years, had my heart set on one frOm the get go.

I know two problems will have to be addressed before any major sawing is done, the clamp isn't sting enough to push the log against both stops. And the backstops won't lower if there is any pressure on them. I plan on calling TK Monday morning but any early tips would be great.

Tom the Sawyer · May 23, 2015, 10:30:24 PM

strunk57,

The two items you mentioned are probably working as designed. The dog is supposed to hold the cant firmly against the stops, but it does not appear to have been designed for moving cants. At least on my 2007 mill, it is strong enough to move smaller cants, maybe 1500 pounds or so but if you use it for moving large cants you'll find that you will break the nylon guides and then it won't clamp without raising the cant slightly. I know they made a design change somewhere before that so your dog may be different. Either version, if you raise the turning arm slightly and use the turner chain you can move large cants to the stops.

The stops are adjustable up and down and should not be used to try to lift the cant/log, and they won't lower with clamping pressure against them (the hydraulic force is set lower). They are activated by chain drive and positioned by a fixed, tight chain. They have two functions that relate directly to the mill's precision. They are supposed to be at 90° to the bed and all at the same height. If you use them for other purposes, or bang them with large logs, you are likely to knock them out of adjustment and you'll find that your cants may not be square. If you jump a link, or even just stretch the height chains, the blade may clear one or two stops and then the sparks will fly.

There are a lot of little tricks that can help you out of a jamb with ornery logs but you have to remember that when you go outside the design intentions, or exceed rated capacities, you might damage something or change the accuracy of the mill. There are reasons why I know these things... :-[

sandsawmill14 · May 23, 2015, 11:25:32 PM

Tom the sawyer just described exactly the way my dog and backstops work too.

thechknhwk · May 23, 2015, 11:40:54 PM

Congrats. 8)

strunk57 · May 24, 2015, 06:16:47 PM

Thanks everybody, I've sawn a couple hundred bdft today, absolutely love the mill. Everything besides the clamp, I will be building a bi plane clamp, my neighbor built one for his timber harvester. It works well so I will copy it.

Tom the Sawyer · May 24, 2015, 07:58:10 PM

Could you post a photo of the clamp so we know which you need help with. Getting it working properly would be much easier than designing and fabricating something different.

redbeard · May 24, 2015, 10:00:04 PM

Strunk dose the clamp flip up n down, it should. If its not you need to grease it a lot with sticky grease. I got tired of mine and attached a boat push pull cable. Got tired of walking back n forth fiddling with clamp height.

strunk57 · May 24, 2015, 10:33:31 PM

Tom, i think it needs a little grease and The threads are stripped out to hold the clamp up, no big deal. But I am in love with the Bi plane clamp, it will also help me turn the smaller erc logs and I saw ALOT of those. My dad can salvage a couple small cylinders from his work and my buddy will help put it together, I'm thinking I can have it on there for less than a couple hundred bucks. But Ben if I'm wrong I don't mind spending extra to have what I need/want. I will post a few pics tomorrow.

ND rancher · May 25, 2015, 10:35:14 AM

Say Jeff ,did you mount a seat in back?

JB Griffin · May 25, 2015, 10:39:24 AM

Congrats on the new mill, may it cut straight, flat, fast and true for many years to come.

Tom the Sawyer · May 25, 2015, 07:14:45 PM

strunk57,

As I suspected, my clamping system is different. Steve, @ladylake has that style on his B-20. Hopefully, he'll check in. He knows that system inside and out.

Tom

highway · May 25, 2015, 08:27:20 PM

Congrats on thE new mill, would have bought one used if it were available around here, good luck with it.

Ed

Dave Shepard · May 25, 2015, 08:43:07 PM

Congrats on the new mill!

Two plane clamps are really nice. Go for it if you can.

redbeard · May 25, 2015, 09:15:33 PM

A friend of mine pulled the trigger on a TK 2400 I visited him on Sunday but he wasn't around so I did get too look mill over and really liked the Two plane clamp set up. It was heavy duty that chain was 1". Hopefully one day I will get to see it run.

It would be nice to be able to pull can't down tight with the hydraulics, my system it tips it up a bit when I clamp. Keith I did get the seat from TK when I bought mill. I think it was 250 you could fab one cheaper maybe, I will be removing mine and probably make a bench so I can slide to exit side to side. The receiver bar is a trip hazard when your off bearing running mill by yourself.