Upright BS sled to mill small logs

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BobL

No longer addicted to AS
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I have access to a lot of small and short logs suitable for craft work but they are too small to handle with the big CS and BS mill. I do have a small CS rig that holds short logs while they are being milled but it still turns a lot of the log into sawdust. This is why I decided to make a sled for my upright 19" WW BS.

BSS2.jpg

BSS5.jpg
The sled is made out of 1/4" Al plate and can hold logs up to 2'6" and 12" in diameter

BSS4.jpg
Aliminium tends to bind easily on cast iron tables so the sliding surface is lined with 1/4" thick HDPE.
The 3'3" long T-slide is a steel and hardwood strip sandwiched together makes for a firm slide through the table T-Track.

BSSFF.jpg
The log end face plates have enough slop to accommodate non square end log ends and the the steel grippers take over and hold the log firmly to stop it rotating.

The T-Track I used is high way road sign I have posted about before.
 
First product off the sled.

The sled is only used to cut a pair of right angled cuts and after that I use these faces up against the regular TS fence.

5 x 20 x 1" thick boards, cut a from a 100+ year old olive three branch.
Pretty hard but not as hard as I thought it would be maybe cause it is self lubricating - read on.
A few splits but I should be able to work around or fill them.

This colour differences in the photo are due to using a flash for the second one - the true colours are somewhere between the two shots.

IMG_6181.jpg
IMG_6183.jpg

It sure is nice to cut up and handle.. This branch was cut more than 3 years ago and when I started cutting it it was still wet inside, At least that is what I thought it was but sit also leaves a slight oily feel on the hands and it also smells like fresh olive oil.
 
Nice work as always. I may have to give this a try out of some unistrut. The pictures of thew olive aren't working for me.
 
So I've been thinking about your BS sled. I'm assuming your having to re position the log quite often. I'm wonder if there might be a way to mount the log once then you only have to move it over to the blade.
 
So I've been thinking about your BS sled. I'm assuming your having to re position the log quite often. I'm wonder if there might be a way to mount the log once then you only have to move it over to the blade.
I only use the sled to hold the log steady while I make the first two cuts on a log.
These 2 cuts are at 90º to each other - then the sled is removed.
One of the cuts ride up against the fence and the other rides against the table that way the boards that are cut are all parallel.
 
I see. That makes more sense. If i'd make one I'd try to figure a way to cut the entire log into slabs. I'd probably use screws from the side.
 
I see. That makes more sense. If i'd make one I'd try to figure a way to cut the entire log into slabs. I'd probably use screws from the side.

This picture might also help.
BSSled.jpg
"A" in the picture above shows the problem with cutting a log lengthways with a BS.
The BS blade constantly wants to tip the log over in the cut.
I know folks who can perform such a cut accurately without a sled but I can't do it which is why I built a sled.

B, C, show the sequence of cutting - first B then C and finally the squared off log can be quite safely run up against a fence as shown in D

If you want natural edges on both sides then the log can be split in half as shown in E and the used up against a fence as shown in F - these cuts still require some care because there is still a tendency for the blade to want to tip the log away from the fence.
 
Waaaaaaay back when I first started out wood working, I took pallets apart for wood to work with... I also took nice chunks of wood from my firewood pile too! lol

What I did, was to run the round, over my jointer several times until I had a good "flat". Then I took the flat sided round over to my band saw and after snapping a chalk like where I wanted my next cut to be, I would make it, cutting on the line with the band saw. (flat side down) Then continued to make cuts, to get the boards I wanted.....it's fast and no sled needed!

SR
 
Waaaaaaay back when I first started out wood working, I took pallets apart for wood to work with... I also took nice chunks of wood from my firewood pile too! lol
What I did, was to run the round, over my jointer several times until I had a good "flat". Then I took the flat sided round over to my band saw and after snapping a chalk like where I wanted my next cut to be, I would make it, cutting on the line with the band saw. (flat side down) Then continued to make cuts, to get the boards I wanted.....it's fast and no sled needed!

I cut up a lot of odd shaped pieces of what I called "craft wood" for myself and others, and have used a jointer a number of times to generate the first flat.
I found it worked well with regular round pieces of softer wood.
When then the wood is a piece of knobbly aussie hardwood with a bit of a bow (that's normal for interesting pieces of Aussie hardwood) I found it far from easy or quick .
On more difficult pieces I sometimes used a draw knife and an electric or hand planer to remove, bark, lumps and bumps and partially establish the flat before placing it onto the jointer.
All this is far from a quick operation (and not that safe) which is why I started using BS sleds.

I have made and used many BS sleds usually made out of 1/2 or 3/4" MDF or ply
The diagrams show regular round and straight pieces of wood, but this is rarely the case
BSSleds.jpg
Design A (simply Tek screwing the piece to a piece of MDF, the edge of which is run up against the fence) works well on small pieces, but for larger pieces may not be rigid enough to prevent the blade from tipping the wood over.
I used design B (Tek screws through MDF into the ends of the wood) for many years to cut up hundreds of pieces and eventually adapted it to design C which is even more stable.
Additional Tek screws can be inserted from the side for extra support
For designs B and C, some means of adjusting for width and/or length of piece are needed.
Eventually the MDF/ply gets ratty (especially pieces where Tek screws are used to hold the wood) which is why I decided to make a more robust, adjustable sled.

The above designs restrict the length of wood that can be cut because they do not hold the wood onto the BS table, so unless some sort of outfeed table is added or the wood and sled will just fall onto the floor at the end of the cut. ( I have no room for an BS outfeed table in my shop - if I hd room I would probably still be using Method C).
This is why I moved the sled to the outside of the band because this is where my BS has e T-track in the table and this holds hold the sled and wood onto the BS table even when it has finished the cut.
I have since found the wood and sled are also a bit easier and safer to manage in this position.

What it comes down to is how many pieces of wood need this sort of treatment. If you only need to do this occasionally then the jointer method is more than adequate, but when if you have many pieces the sled is quicker and safer and it will not take long to recover the time needed to make even a simple sled.
 
F would be the simplest option. I usually free hand a flat bottom and then cut slices. The slices are all but perfect. Wasting some of the material. I'm always trying to figure a way to recover more material for the same time. I'll see about making a hybrid of your's. I do have a ton of unistrut still.
 
I have a 12" x 80" Mimosa log that's going to get sliced up. I thought about infeed and outfeed tables then a 2 x 12 screwed to the log flat on the table as in D but the full round is against the fence/2 x 12. The bottom of the log and bottom edge of the 2×12 ride on the tables preventing any roll. I can do this only 1/2 way. Then flip the cant and attach the flat to the 2×12 and finish.
 
Nice sled, great looking boards too! I made a up a similar system myself a while back. I got the idea from a youtube video I saw that just blew me away. I don't have a real band mill; so mine was supposed to be a 'poor man's' version. I built a set of roller tables and an 8' sled with a 10' runner. I've found it a little difficult to control for full 8' cut; having a log just a little shorter than the sled works much better.
 

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