another homemade mill nightmare

jay_d · August 17, 2015, 10:24:48 PM

first of all im a logger, not a sawyer. 98% of the logs i cut end up at GP, or West Fraiser, so talk slow im new to sawing.

picked up a homemade 12 foot bandsaw mill for 500 bucks. had a cheesy little 5 hp honda clone on it. swapped it over to a 11 hp gx340. the mill has made straight lumber before (its evident from the rough sawn 1x4s used to make the roof.) ive addressed the drive belt slipping, so i dont think thats the reason she is diving 4 inches in the cut. its a new cooks blade, idk the specs. it gives fits with the band jumping out of the guides and trying to ride on top or down below.
Its tight enough to make a low sounding thong when you pluck it. the guides are kind of ghetto sporting one woodmizer style toward the drive pulley, and a sand which style guide on the other side. as far as i can tell they are not adjustable.
the tracks seem level and square. the carriage has a tendancy to shimmy while in a cut kind of like one side is leading the other. I know you guys like pictures and i intend to get a few as soon as this rain stops. one more thing, when you loosen the pillar bearings on the non drive side to tighten the blade the angle on the bandwheel gets out of whack and it trys to throw the blade, idk how to keep the pulley lined up and tighten the band. I sort of think i might have changed the set in the blade while monkeying with the pulley trying to line the blade up. I think this rig is a pile of junk, but id at least like to saw enough decent wood to pay for it.

Magicman · August 17, 2015, 10:32:25 PM

Hello jay_d, and Welcome to the Forestry Forum. How about adding your location to your profile.

pineywoods · August 17, 2015, 10:35:54 PM

Jay, where are you located ? Welcome. Frazer West and GP sounds like south arkansas. If plucking the blade goes thunk, it's not tight enough, needs to go tink.. Diving in the cut is almost always blade or guides or both. What kind of bandwheels ? We need pics, help doing that is available if you need it.

sandsawmill14 · August 17, 2015, 10:38:29 PM

welcome to the forum

pics of how you adjust the band tension would help but it sounds like its out of alignment and probably rolled the set out of the blade. this is at least one thing that could cause your problems

jay_d · August 17, 2015, 11:03:59 PM

im actually located in north east ga, but i work in the western upstate of sc. The pillar bearings move to adjust the blade tightness, my problem is they move independently of each other. has around a half inch to three quarters of adjustment. its all really crude the way they made it, torch cut slots, etc.

customsawyer · August 18, 2015, 03:30:04 AM

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you took the set out of the blade or the blade isn't flat.

Kbeitz · August 18, 2015, 07:17:02 AM

When you changed the engine did you change the pulley?
You got to keep the speed up....

Chuck White · August 18, 2015, 07:54:23 AM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, jay_d.

It just seems like there should be another way to tension the blade without moving the pillow-block! :-\

Magicman · August 18, 2015, 08:28:01 AM

You may be dealing with an unworkable design. Share some pictures.

MSSawmill · August 18, 2015, 12:41:55 PM

Sounds similar to the kind of issues we had when we bought ours. I hate to tell you this, but we ended up tearing it down and building it anew! :D But, we built the new one based on a ton of knowledge gained from the forum, so post some pics and get us some details.

FWIW, our diving/climbing issues came down to bad, non-adjustable blade guides and not enough tension on the blade.

21incher · August 18, 2015, 02:16:06 PM

Welcome to the Forestry Forum jay_d. On my little mill if the blade is not tensioned properly it will cause wavy cuts. With a new blade I usually have to retension it after about 20 minutes of cutting. The pillow blocks should be tied together so it is easy to replace a blade or release the blade tension at the end of a day cutting. Post some pics of your mill.

jay_d · August 18, 2015, 08:02:01 PM

ran late at work today. (skidder blew a line in the belly pan) didnt have a chance to take pictures of the mill. how would you guys think the best way to tension the blade indepentley of the pillar bearing? Ive been working of some adjustable guides, and ive almost got them finished. How much adjustment up and down should guides have?

what degree do you guys set your band wheels at to maintain good blade tracking?

Ga Mtn Man · August 18, 2015, 08:12:54 PM

You need enough vertical adjustment to give at least ¼" downward deflection of the blade and also be able to lift the guides off of the blade to make tracking adjustments. ½" total adjustment range would be enough but ¾" would be even better.