Harbor Freight Sawmill - does it exist?

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I have one. It is not a bad machine.

It cuts ok and is made by hud-son. It motor sounds good, and starts every time. It depends more on torque than rpm so the blade only turns about 1800-2000 fpm. Would be easy to put bigger motor and widen frame.....when it warms up. It is a pretty good mill for 2000 dollars.
I like that I can roll it into the bed of the truck and haul it ANYWHERE!!!! Just lean a piece of track on tailgate and push it in if you are etrong or use a pulley/come-a-long. Yes the tracks need to be on solid ground. I have been thinking of building a subframe though....
 
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It cuts ok and is made by hud-son. It motor sounds good, and starts every time. It depends more on torque than rpm so the blade only turns about 1800-2000 fpm. Would be easy to put bigger motor and widen frame.....when it warms up. It is a pretty good mill for 2000 dollars.
I like that I can roll it into the bed of the truck and haul it ANYWHERE!!!! Just lean a piece of track on tailgate and push it in if you are etrong or use a pulley/come-a-long. Yes the tracks need to be on solid ground. I have been thinking of building a subframe though....
WOW an actual report by someone that sounds like they own one!
If you don't mind - some questions -
Could you provide some close up pics?
How easy is it to take the "cage" and motor off to transport separately?
How much flex in the rails?
Is it a Harbor Freight, ebay, Hud-Son direct?
Any regrets?

thanks!
 
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Sorry...I forgot about this thread.....
Yeah I can post some pics/vid. I can get the pics up today but not the vid. The rails are solid but you need to set them on a flat surface. I have another 32 feet of track that I am going to weld up so I can widen up the mill. It is kinda narrow for what I have access to. It is not a bad mill. It is very easy to work with. I bought the mill from HF but it is made by Hud-Son
 
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THANKS:clap::clap:

Looking forward to the documentation.

I realize it's got a small throat, but then also it's got a small price. It's not much more than an 880 w/ an Alaskan Mark III. Or a 660 with a bunch of accessories.

This post caused me to revisit the Hud-Son web site. They have apparently DISCONTINUED the Oscar 18 and renamed it the Oscar 121 (the pic even shows an 18) and the price is $2,795. About what the 18 was but it now has a 10hp engine.

http://www.hud-son.com/bandmills.htm


But they have INTRODUCED the Oscar 118 which at first glance seems to meet the specs of the HF sawmill for $2,195, vs the HF price of $2,299.

Of course there will probably be some people calling it cheap chinese crap anyways. I think it's thrifty Yankee ingenuity.

Now if they could only fix it so I could use my Stihl 660, a 7HP power head.

/edit - wonder what it would take to adapt it to electric.
 
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pics

I took the camera with when I fed the bunnies.....The mill was used right until the snow hit....in fact it got buried all winter! I was not able to dig it out or get the truck near it so it stayed under a tarp for as long as the tarp lasted. We adopted the cat from the trailer park. She was abandoned as a young'n because she was pregnant. We brought her home and a week later she had five beautiful kittens. Two died but we still have the other three. She weightd about 3 lbs when we brought her home and now she weighs 12. I have to bust open the new pack of blades for the mill tomorrow since the one thats on there has seen a LOT of use. Time to hang it up until I have enough to send in to sharpen.
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Thanks and NO thanks for the pics!
I feel a movement in the force of CAD/CSM and am entertaining strong urges for BSM.
Sounds dirty doesn't it ?:dizzy:
How difficult is it to swap blades?

How much do you pay your Pest Management Engineer?
Does she get health care?
She looks like she owns the area.
 
It is not hard to swap out blades. I will get a vid of that too. Phoebe gets all the attention she wants and also gets whole pigeons to eat when I see them on the barn....She is a class A mouser and does catch birds. WONDERFUL cat. We take very good care of her.

So the plan for tomorrow is to get the other two trees(the ones laying in the yard) cut up and then get vids of the mill. I will be milling up boards for rabbit hutches. I want to get them out in the fresh air soon. They have been in the barn all winter.
 
vid

Here is the vid of the blade change. I did not have wire taken off the new blade bundle so that is what I am doing off camera. I really need to make a tripod or monopod for the camera so I can get good angles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s7qXwFaiao
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Sawmill repair

The Harbor Freight Central Machinery sawmill in it's 2012 rendition is exactly the same as the Woodland Mills sawmill, without handle grips and a few other niceties. I ordered mine in early July 2012 and received it mid July 2012. I paid about $2200 including shipping. It arrived in cardboard and welded steel packaging. I cut up the steel and kept it for future projects. The mill took a couple hours to assemble and was pretty straight forward. The only problem was the cross bar for the clamping system. It was about 1/2" too long. Once I shortened it everything went together fine (though the clamping system kinda sucks). After about 50 cuts the elevation control failed. The hand crank is attached to a threaded rod, which drives a threaded brass "nut". The brass nut stripped, allowing the saw head to fall onto the log I was about to cut. The saw head is really heavy.

Following is detailed description of how I remedied this problem. This fix requires steel grinding equipment, steel cutting equipment, and welding equipment. A file, hack saw, and welder will do it, but an angle grinder and welder make it easy. Also required is about 15" of 3/4-10 all thread and a matching coupler (nut that is about 2.5 inches long). Both are readily available at hardware stores. I live in a town population 2900 and the local (very small) hardware store had both. The end result is your hand crank will be opposite of what it was (cranking direction) and it will be just under 1/4" elevation change per handle rotation. 5 cranks per inch. If this is unacceptable, get left handed all thread and a left handed coupler, expect to pay a lot more. It took me about 30 seconds to adjust to turning the crank the opposite direction. This repair took 63 minutes, and I was doddling. I have included photos, but I have no idea what order they'll be in.

Engage the saw head locks, then turn the hand crank to make slack in the cables. Remove the cables from the pulley wheels. The extending arm of the elevation control can be removed by turning the hand crank till the extending arm comes off the end of the threaded rod which controls it. All the way up. The brass "nut" in the extending arm, as well as the crank handle, are held in place by steel rivets. Grind or file off one side of the rivets then punch them through with a small steel rod, nail set, or drift pin. Have a rag handy as both should be covered in grease. Cut off the elevator rod in the area between the threads and the smooth section. Weld on a matching length of 3/4" all thread. The beauty or ugliness of your weld doesn't matter because nobody will ever see it. Make it strong, there's plenty of clearance. I clamped mine in a piece of angle iron to make sure the pieces lined up perfectly. Align the the 3/4" coupler in the end of the extending arm that the brass "nut" threaded block came out of. Weld it in place as straight as possible. I'm guessing it's not that critical cause mine worked the first try. You might wanna spot weld it then install it on the mill to make sure it works before filling in the welds. Clearance is a bit of an issue here. I grinded my welds flat. Once the coupler is welded in place, smear grease the length of the threaded rod, and put it all back together. If you've made it this far I probably don't have to describe the reassembly. I sprayed paint the grinded areas to prevent rust. I tapped in the rivets as a temporary attachment for the crank until I get some bolts and nuts to replace them. I made a couple cuts and everything is working better than before. Previously there were times when the hand crank would stick or become hard to turn. Now very smooth.

I have more photos, so if something doesn't make sense, email me.

Good luck. Email if any questions. [email protected] I'm also working on an improved clamping system and it's looking good so far.
 
The Harbor Freight Central Machinery sawmill in it's 2012 rendition is exactly the same as the Woodland Mills sawmill, without handle grips and a few other niceties. I ordered mine in early July 2012 and received it mid July 2012. I paid about $2200 including shipping. It arrived in cardboard and welded steel packaging. I cut up the steel and kept it for future projects. The mill took a couple hours to assemble and was pretty straight forward. The only problem was the cross bar for the clamping system. <snip>

Thank you sir, an admirable first post. Please keep us informed of using it. $2,200 is about what a new 880 w/ a big blade and an Alaskan costs.

Even my Woodmizer LT 10 had a messup where they forgot to drill 4 holes to mount the motor.

/edit PLEASE POST PICS of the whole setup.
 
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I've done my penance with chainsaw mills. This bandsaw mill is way faster and way more accurate. I don't need to mill on site. If I ever need to mill on site, I'll make it mobile.
 
I had the same problem with my HF saw. I had a shop cut me a steel nut. It has worked great for months now. The shop did say to use anti-seize grease. I did order another set of all moving parts to keep on had as getting parts can take awhile from HF. I got mine on sale for $1700 delivered to my door. I ordered blades from Cooks,much better than the blade it came with.
 
Although I have already repaired my mill, I am very disappointed with HF. They have not responded at all to requests for replacement parts for my mill that was under warranty at the time of the failure. It's disheartening to spend $2000 on a piece of equipment only to have the company ignore me when the equipment fails.
 
Although I have already repaired my mill, I am very disappointed with HF. They have not responded at all to requests for replacement parts for my mill that was under warranty at the time of the failure. It's disheartening to spend $2000 on a piece of equipment only to have the company ignore me when the equipment fails.

Not being mean, but when you buy something from HF you gotta to realize its junk, and you will probably have to fix it. Just the way it is. They only good thing is almost everything they sell is made by someone else and you can get the parts from them.
 
I just ordered of all the parts. They were not that much. Some were put on back order,but they finally came. I got one of most of the moving parts to have on hand. Still cheap for what I paid for it. I'm very happy with mine and have had no problem getting stuff from them except for the back order thing on most parts,but they do come eventually. I have more than paid for the saw in the first job I cut with it. I'm thinking about putting their bigger motor on it down the road,although it is doing fine on the pine I mostly saw.
 
I just ordered of all the parts. They were not that much. Some were put on back order,but they finally came. I got one of most of the moving parts to have on hand. Still cheap for what I paid for it. I'm very happy with mine and have had no problem getting stuff from them except for the back order thing on most parts,but they do come eventually. I have more than paid for the saw in the first job I cut with it. I'm thinking about putting their bigger motor on it down the road,although it is doing fine on the pine I mostly saw.

Have youany pictures of your set up? Alwyas enjoy seeing how others are set up and there layout, even get some new ideas at times.

Jeremy
 

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