Started building parts for a bandsaw mill.

[trilect]

A friend recently gave me a fair amount of used 4”x6”x1/4” steel angle. After unloading this I got a bit of a bug up the bum and decided to start building a track for a band saw mill.

I ended up with 2 tracks as seen in the pictures 8’ 6” long x 56” wide and stringers on 36” centers, all I have left to finish this is to level it up, weld the two tracks together, add a tandem axle and hitch.

I have a design in my head for the band saw head itself but I think I’ll purchase a set of plans off the internet and merge my ideas with those readily available.

I’ll post updated pictures as I go along but its going to be a slow project due to expenses, but I’m finding a good amount of free items from torn down mobile homes and the like.

If for some reason I don’t complete the mill I’ll have one heck of a trailer. This beast is heavy!

Wish me Luck
Sam Gordon
KY

Heres the front section of my mill track



Heres the second section on the trailer, I can't move these by hand and I'm still sore from flipping this manually onto the trailer.



P.S. I found out the hard way that arc welding goggles don't stop the face from being baddly burned by the welding arc, I should probably regrow the skin on my face and front of my scalp in a few weeks.

[jimbo]

Nice start. This is one of my future projects as well. what plans are you going to use?

you've probably seen these pics...
http://www.smnet.net/pmwinston/Mill/1stmill.html
http://www.smnet.net/pmwinston/Mill2/2ndsaw.htm

[trilect]

Originally Posted by jimbo Nice start. This is one of my future projects as well. what plans are you going to use? you've probably seen these pics... http://www.smnet.net/pmwinston/Mill/1stmill.html http://www.smnet.net/pmwinston/Mill2/2ndsaw.htm

Bill Rake's, I didn't know there where plans out there until I started drawing my own up, then I looked and saw the easy mill plans and figured his work and my ideas are unproven.

[trilect]

tracks welded together, tongue and coupler connected and single axle attached. I'll have to add another axle to this heavy beast. I also think I need to drop the tires below the level of my tracks to make it easier loading logs.



Here's my engine! It runs good, doesn't leak oil but rusty as hades. I'm going to rebuild this around the end of December.



this will be my future drive wheel axle nice old well built materials.

total cost so far

79 bucks plus gas.

[a1dqdd56]

hello
i was about to take on this project myself and happen to see this post. I was woundering how far allong you were?

[aspenelm]

you may want to check out this site, http://diybandmill.com/ , I think I have seen his bandmill on there too.

[diarmaid]

Cool.

[trilect]

Yep thats me on DIY as well.







http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...id=19811&stc=1





I hope these attachments work alright.

Basically I'm almost ready to install my blade and set up the tracking. I'm also fabricating some blade guides at night. This build is taking much longer than I thought but the build cost hasn't been all that much. I have spent approx 1200 - 1500 on the build so far and will spend another 300 or 400 to finish it. Most of the materials have been salvaged by me or given to me by others.

Sorry for the late update.

[trilect]

This is one of my guides I made last night. Not finished yet, I still have to install a hardened bottom plate the rides against the bottom of the bandsaw blade.

[trilect]

mounted my blade, adjusted tires to be coplaner, tracked blade, made a drive belt tensioner, made a high teck gas tank from an empty quart oil container and fired it up. blade tracked perfectly. I can't cut anything yet until I get my guides finished.

P.S. I didn't use plans when I made this, I pretty much pulled everything out of my tail during fabrication. I did look at a bunch of photo's of different mills and I'm trying to incorporate items that I liked from each one (assuming I have the materials). I have to mount my guides and start on the safety covers before I chop myself in half.

[aspenelm]

very nice trilect, when do you think you will be able to make a test cut? what is the engine from?

[trilect]

Originally Posted by aspenelm very nice trilect, when do you think you will be able to make a test cut? what is the engine from?

I won't be able to cut anything until I get my guides mounted, I had a bit of a problem locating some 1-1/4 id box tubing that would allow a 1-1/4 square to telescope into it. So instead of looking around anymore I bought some 1-1/2 x 3/16 angle. I'll weld couple pieces of angle together into my own box tubing for my guide mounts.

The engine came off an old hay bailer. The weather almost ruined the engine but I managed to find all the parts for an overhaul that I did last winter.

My next project will be blade guards and a lift system. For the lift I'm going to use a 130VDC baldor gear motor 8.5 rpm at 1/4 hp. With a chain with a 2 to 1 chain drive and 3.5 inch lift spockets I calculate that I should be able to lift a max of 768 pounds. My saw head weighs approx 500 pounds +/-. The chain driven lift should lift both sides more accurately than a single cable can. (I hope)

I'm on vacation next week and hope to work on it a bit more but my wife might have other plans. I would have worked on it today but I dang near got heat stroke yesterday and still have the headache and cold chills today.

Funny thing about the whole project is how it got started. While wood working 2 years ago I bought some really crappy wood from a supply house and spent 200.00 on 8 boards, the quality and price peeved me off and I decided to build my own little mill to cut some boards for wood working and build a kiln. Well as you can see from my photos, the little mill grew alot. I actually have plans to try to add a CNC capability to the beast by adding spendals on both ends and a cutter on the saw head. Perhaps I'll try CNC cutting some totem poles.