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Mill Floor design

Started by Glen Stutz, February 15, 2016, 05:43:10 PM

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Glen Stutz

We have a LT25 hydraulic mill and need to change the way we handle wood.  (getting older)  Does anyone have an arrangement that simplifies handling slabs and resawing or getting to storage?  We currently push slabs back onto the log lift and then move it back to the bed.  After that we move wood to the other side working around the carriage.  Finished wood can slid out the control end if a trailer is available to load and the waste out the other end.  Getting to storage in the rest of the shed is laborious.  Maybe once on the bed the wood goes no lower until moved out for a job.

dean herring

Welcome to the forum Glen Stutz.Give us your location might help answer some questions you will have
Failure is not an option  3D Lumber

Seavee

Welcome, I'm sure you will get the info you need here.
Wood mizer lt50 47hp yanmar Diesel  Sthil MS311, Ms661 MS200T, 029 farm boss  and a New Holland T4  75hp.

Magicman

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Glen Stutz.  Adding your location and sawmill to your profile helps with questions.

You may be in need of an Edger.  LINK This Edger is listed in the For Sale board toward the bottom of the Index Page.  This would eliminate you having do the edging on the sawmill.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Andries

Its been said on this forum many a time . . .
"Making lumber is 20% milling and 80% material handling."
We're all getting a year or two older, and loads of talented people have giving freely of their lessons learned.
Run a search on words such as 'conveyor', 'drying pallets', 'Bibby's Lumber Sawhorses' (or are they Mary's design?), 'sawmill shed layout' and 'tractor forks'.
Remember, hydraulics are your best friends. . . on your mill and on your tractor/loader/skidsteer/whatever.
Plan your work, layout and operation to use that machine as much as you can.
"If you have to get out of the operators seat to do sumpthin' , you might just be doing it wrong."  ;D
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

4x4American

Igneroid (handle on youtube) has a nice layout.  He's here on the forum too but I can't remember his handle, I always get it confused with another member because of that flag avatar they both have :D  (either Brucer or Percy)   I think it was him that just put his 70 up high and made a nice wood floor to catch falling sawdust.  Also has a nice dragback desgin and all that.  Someone just gave me the idea to put a treadmill behind my mill to sling boards off, and I am most definitely going to give that a shot.
Boy, back in my day..

Andries

Jim Rogers is also a veteran timber framer and miller.
Try this Forum posting:
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,48895.msg706076.html#msg706076
A bit of reading, but it'll save your back many times over!
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

4x4American

Boy, back in my day..

Andries

Thanks 4x4. Maybe we should both give Jim a . . . 
smiley_applause       smiley_applause
LT40G25
Ford 545D loader
Stihl chainsaws

4x4American

Right you are!  Jim: smiley_clapping smiley_clapping
Boy, back in my day..

drobertson

adding an edger, some rollers, and getting younger help no matter where you are will make things easier, as mentioned, material handling is or can be the time consuming factor as well as wearing at the end of the day.
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

Brucer

Quote from: 4x4American on February 15, 2016, 09:36:35 PM
... I can't remember his handle, I always get it confused with another member because of that flag avatar they both have :D  (either Brucer or Percy) ...

It wasn't me!

One of these days I'll change that flag and then you'll really be confused ;D. Mind you, I'll be confused, too. Probably won't be able to find my own posts :D :D.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Brucer

This is a look at my layout. On the front of the mill (hitch end) I have a set of home-made roller tables that let me roll slabs, flitches, and boards off the mill. Slabs go into slab racks on the left, flitches go into a pile on the right (in front of the edger), edged boards go straight down to the end of the roller table where they are piled next to the trim saw.

The roller tables were built from 1x6, inexpensive shop rollers, and galvanized sheet metal covering 3/8" plywood. They each sit on a pair of heavy duty home-made horse, so the whole thing can be dismantled if necessary.



I added a dragback to my mill to simplify offload the slabs, flitches, etc. Convenient, but not strictly necessary.

There are 3 slab racks spaced along the roller tables, with passages between the tables to get to the racks. One rack each for 8', 10' and 12' lengths. When the rack is full, we strap the slabs with polyester strapping and then roll the rack on it's side to empty it. There's room to dump 3 slab bundles beside each rack before we have to fetch the loader to move them.



Timbers get offloaded from the back of the mill. I lift the timber with the roller toeboards, then set a couple of portable rollers on the mill frame. On this side of the mill is a homemade roller table; when the timber is clear of the mill, the 3 rollers swing down and the timber drops onto a pair of roller rails. The roller rails lead to a copy of steel ramps that I can slide the timbers down. For a big order of larger timbers, I can lay out a row of timbers, then set the ends of the ramps on top of the first row and slide timbers down to make a second row.

In this photo I've got a big order of 3x8x12' planks sitting just this side of the outfeed table. They're small enough to just roll off the end. That leaves room for bigger timbers to slide down the ramps.



Another view of the back end of the mill, showing a temporary infeed deck, plus the outfeed roller table. I built this deck when I had a really big order of 30' material. There are no fasteners so it is easy to dismantle.


Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Peter Drouin

What do you with the bundle of slabs?
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Banjo picker

Welcome Glen.  Does the 25 have board drag back?  Banjo
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

Brucer

Peter, I sell the slab bundles for firewood. They're a mix of slabs and edgings. The edgings are good for starting fires and the slabs are just right for small fires at either end of the heating season.

The bundles are 24" diameter so if the customers strap them with a few ratchet straps they can easily saw an entire bundle into firewood lengths.

With the polyester straps I can pile the bundles 4 or 5 levels high at one end of my yard and store them until firewood season comes around. The poly straps will stand up to any amount of handling, even getting stabbed with a fork (unlike the steel strapping I used to use).

Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Peter Drouin

Thanks for the info. Here in NH we have to have a measure of wood to sell it. What I don't chip I make into ½cord bundles, sell for $45.00 all soft wood. I keep or give the hardwood to friends.



  

 



 

I use the poly too. It won't stain the hardwood lumber like steel.
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

4x4American

Love the work flow, Brucer, looks like a great setup. 



Boy, back in my day..

Glen Stutz

Quote from: Banjo picker on February 17, 2016, 10:02:39 AM
Welcome Glen.  Does the 25 have board drag back?  Banjo

No drag back on the mill head.  Would have to turn the mill 90deg in the shed to use that effectively.  Doing so would complicate the infeed, trying to get past the shed posts.  We might be expanding the shed roof with wings, especially if we decide we can rationalize an edger.

DDW_OR

Here is my planned layout.


  

 
I will install 2 removable posts in the 24 ft gap. the TK-2000 bed is 21 ft, most of what i cut is 8 to 10 ft
the ridged sawdust collection tubes will be attached to the lean-to rafters with flex hoses coming down to the machines. the sawdust will then be collected in a 4x4x4 plywood box that i can pickup with the tractor forks.
to dump the box from the backside, the back will be hinged on the top, with a quick release on the bottom
"let the machines do the work"

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