Brmorgan
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Well guys, I'm finally getting around to working on the bandmill project. I don't know how long it'll take me as my work schedule is really up and down, but I'm pouring as much spare time as possible into it right now. This week I got the main frame of the carriage built and squared up really nice. Spent way too much time welding in a T-shirt once - had a bit of sunburn the next day. Anyway here are a few pics:
Just laid the bandwheels out on the floor to take some measurements and get a feel for the size and scope of what I wanted in a mill. The wheels are 26.5" diameter. I want at least 24" clearance between the wheels at the narrowest point, and this would still allow me to cut a ~3' diameter log after squaring cuts are made. Anything larger I'll haul out the CSMs again to split it down. I don't have equipment to move logs that size at the moment anyway. If I build it for 24" center clearance, that would put me almost exactly in the right spot to use the 15'4" WoodMizer blades. Just trying to build it so the blades are a fairly standard size to make them easier to get, rather than have to have custom-made.
Got the frame put together. It's all 2" squaretube that I've salvaged over the years. It's square front to back and top to bottom, and accurate to within about 1/16". Believe me it took a lot of cutting, twisting, and re-welding to get it to sit nice and flat and plumb. It measures 48" between the side posts, 60" tall between the top and bottom rails, and 26" deep front to back total.
Here I've attached the secondary upright post that I will run the powerhead up and down on. It's 2" square Telespar, more commonly seen used as sign posts. It's available in many sizes in 1/4" increments, such that each size slides nice and snug over the next smallest size. I wanted to guide the powerhead on separate posts from the main frame posts, since they are much more difficult to keep square and aligned than two central posts. I had originally thought of going with a two-post design like the WoodMizer LT15, or better yet a single-post like the larger WoodMizers, but ultimately for my first build I decided to keep it simple and reliable, and possibly over-engineer rather than build too skimpy and have something that isn't nice and solid or expandable in the future.
This is how the post is attached to the carriage at the bottom - it's a 6" section of 1-3/4" Telespar welded to the frame, and the actual post slips over this and is held by (ultimately three) bolts. They hold it rock-solid.
A view of how the post is held at the top end. Basically the same idea, but since I want the post to be removable in case I need to remove the powerhead from the carriage, I couldn't weld this end on. So I welded a 12" section of the same 1-3/4" Telespar to a 4" X 12" X 5/16" piece of plate steel. I got everything lined up and plumbed perfectly, clamped it in place, and drilled out two 1/2" holes through the plate and the top rail. A couple more bolts hold the post to the top mount. That post is just as solid as the ones that are welded in place, so I'm not worried about strength at all. The mill powerhead will ride up and down on the 2" tube using a piece of 2-1/4" tube running overtop. There is a small piece on the post in this photo, but I have a longer ~18" piece that I will use, or at least as much of it as I can before running into top/bottom clearance issues. It slides very smoothly and I'm hoping it will work well. An added bonus of this stuff is that the holes are exactly 1" apart, so one could use them as positive stops for a depth adjustment, or just to put a stopper pin to prevent the mill from being dropped too low and wrecking a band on structure steel. Ultimately, I think I may install a second post staggered a half-inch from this one, and have a set of solenoid pins so I could have switch-controlled positive depth stops every 1/2". Or even a third post for 1/4" stops.
Just laid the bandwheels out on the floor to take some measurements and get a feel for the size and scope of what I wanted in a mill. The wheels are 26.5" diameter. I want at least 24" clearance between the wheels at the narrowest point, and this would still allow me to cut a ~3' diameter log after squaring cuts are made. Anything larger I'll haul out the CSMs again to split it down. I don't have equipment to move logs that size at the moment anyway. If I build it for 24" center clearance, that would put me almost exactly in the right spot to use the 15'4" WoodMizer blades. Just trying to build it so the blades are a fairly standard size to make them easier to get, rather than have to have custom-made.
Got the frame put together. It's all 2" squaretube that I've salvaged over the years. It's square front to back and top to bottom, and accurate to within about 1/16". Believe me it took a lot of cutting, twisting, and re-welding to get it to sit nice and flat and plumb. It measures 48" between the side posts, 60" tall between the top and bottom rails, and 26" deep front to back total.
Here I've attached the secondary upright post that I will run the powerhead up and down on. It's 2" square Telespar, more commonly seen used as sign posts. It's available in many sizes in 1/4" increments, such that each size slides nice and snug over the next smallest size. I wanted to guide the powerhead on separate posts from the main frame posts, since they are much more difficult to keep square and aligned than two central posts. I had originally thought of going with a two-post design like the WoodMizer LT15, or better yet a single-post like the larger WoodMizers, but ultimately for my first build I decided to keep it simple and reliable, and possibly over-engineer rather than build too skimpy and have something that isn't nice and solid or expandable in the future.
This is how the post is attached to the carriage at the bottom - it's a 6" section of 1-3/4" Telespar welded to the frame, and the actual post slips over this and is held by (ultimately three) bolts. They hold it rock-solid.
A view of how the post is held at the top end. Basically the same idea, but since I want the post to be removable in case I need to remove the powerhead from the carriage, I couldn't weld this end on. So I welded a 12" section of the same 1-3/4" Telespar to a 4" X 12" X 5/16" piece of plate steel. I got everything lined up and plumbed perfectly, clamped it in place, and drilled out two 1/2" holes through the plate and the top rail. A couple more bolts hold the post to the top mount. That post is just as solid as the ones that are welded in place, so I'm not worried about strength at all. The mill powerhead will ride up and down on the 2" tube using a piece of 2-1/4" tube running overtop. There is a small piece on the post in this photo, but I have a longer ~18" piece that I will use, or at least as much of it as I can before running into top/bottom clearance issues. It slides very smoothly and I'm hoping it will work well. An added bonus of this stuff is that the holes are exactly 1" apart, so one could use them as positive stops for a depth adjustment, or just to put a stopper pin to prevent the mill from being dropped too low and wrecking a band on structure steel. Ultimately, I think I may install a second post staggered a half-inch from this one, and have a set of solenoid pins so I could have switch-controlled positive depth stops every 1/2". Or even a third post for 1/4" stops.
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