Thinking of building a band mill, any suggestions as to design...

[jimdad07]

My milling saw just went up for the second time, that saw has been cursed from day one out of the box. Thank God it is still under warranty, that's a different topic altogether. I am seriously considering building a band mill and I need suggestions as to design and materials. If you can't tell from my previous mills from the mini to the carriage mill I like to use strut. I don't think that is an option here, if any of you guys have used strut please pipe up. Searched through some old threads and have a couple of ideas. I will be timber framing a new shop in the spring and production will be needed. I am planning on using the same base as I have and would like to make a fairly light weight sled but still using a gasoline engine. Thanks guys.

 

[hamish]

Suggestion.....get you carridge csm sorted out, or bite the bullet and buy a small bsm (LT-10,ML26, Oscar 18 etc...). Making your own bsm and the time involved in fabrication and refabrication will cost more than a design that has been proven and in use by many. I love building my own stuff, but cost wise alot of times it turn out to be cheaper to buy off the shelf unless I have most of the material already on hand.

 

[820wards]

My milling saw just went up for the second time, that saw has been cursed from day one out of the box. Thank God it is still under warranty, that's a different topic altogether. I am seriously considering building a band mill and I need suggestions as to design and materials. If you can't tell from my previous mills from the mini to the carriage mill I like to use strut. I don't think that is an option here, if any of you guys have used strut please pipe up. Searched through some old threads and have a couple of ideas. I will be timber framing a new shop in the spring and production will be needed. I am planning on using the same base as I have and would like to make a fairly light weight sled but still using a gasoline engine. Thanks guys.

Jim,

I like that you want to build a bandsaw mill. But the time you would need to spend building the frame just out weights the cost if you just bought a band mill. I'm the first guy to praise someone for building something with their own hands, but you would need someone to help you with the welding of this frame. If you lived out here on the left coast, I'd love to help weld that dude together. Give it a go!

jerry-

 

[jimdad07]

Jim,

I like that you want to build a bandsaw mill. But the time you would need to spend building the frame just out weights the cost if you just bought a band mill. I'm the first guy to praise someone for building something with their own hands, but you would need someone to help you with the welding of this frame. If you lived out here on the left coast, I'd love to help weld that dude together. Give it a go!

jerry-

I know it would take some time but I have most of what I need kicking around to do most of it, plus I have a base already made. I can weld pretty well when it's not galvinized, the welder I have just doesn't have enough heat to do it and I don't like doing it for safety reasons. As far as regular steel, it does well, I welded the entire base of the carriage mill with it and even got the proper swirl in my welds. I am waiting on Dolmar right now to decide what they are going to do to take care of the 9010 that has now gone through two piston and cylinders after a combined three gallons of fuel. I am not happy at all about it and the experience has me wishing I had bought the ms660 or put the money into building a band mill. Live and learn I guess. I will let you guys know what I do, I am doing a lot of research right now and all I know is that I have a pile of logs on the ground waiting for me to get to it. I could put the old 045 back on the mill but after milling with that 90cc saw it just isn't the same.

 

[hamish]

Jim,

Claytons near Ft Drum/Watertown area correct? If you plan on building a bsm, line up with absm owner and spend a day or two at there mill, picking there brain and asking questions, you'll gain alot of valuable insight that you can incorperate into your mill, and have an initial taste of what works and what doesn't. My past experiences with mills began as a teenager working at the local mill (biggest white pine mill around at the time) working in the planning mill or on the river, then finally getting to run a resaw to cut 1x3 strapping..........little did I know in later years i would be getting my very own bsm! In the past decade before getting my bsm, we have had some timbers milled out at the farm or at the hunt camp, and it was not the most impressive snapshot of a bsm. Bands breaking constantly, wavy lumber..........all by people that have been milling for years, less than a year I can outcut them and produce better boards. My best advice is when something happens that you dont want to happen, stop, analyse what happened, figure out why it happened, and what you need to correct it............go with the 80 percent solution and fine tune from there. Read all you can, and put it to use and never shy away from asking others for advice!

Jeremy

 

[jimdad07]

Jim,

Claytons near Ft Drum/Watertown area correct? If you plan on building a bsm, line up with absm owner and spend a day or two at there mill, picking there brain and asking questions, you'll gain alot of valuable insight that you can incorperate into your mill, and have an initial taste of what works and what doesn't. My past experiences with mills began as a teenager working at the local mill (biggest white pine mill around at the time) working in the planning mill or on the river, then finally getting to run a resaw to cut 1x3 strapping..........little did I know in later years i would be getting my very own bsm! In the past decade before getting my bsm, we have had some timbers milled out at the farm or at the hunt camp, and it was not the most impressive snapshot of a bsm. Bands breaking constantly, wavy lumber..........all by people that have been milling for years, less than a year I can outcut them and produce better boards. My best advice is when something happens that you dont want to happen, stop, analyse what happened, figure out why it happened, and what you need to correct it............go with the 80 percent solution and fine tune from there. Read all you can, and put it to use and never shy away from asking others for advice!

Jeremy

Thanks for the advice and it will be taken. You are correct in where I am located, sounds like you can't be too far across the river. If I could afford to buy one I certainly would to save time and a step, but the way things are I can't justify it at this time. Hopefully I can build one good enough to do some cash cutting here and there, not a lot but maybe enough to pay the upkeep. Right now I have a new shop to build and need to be working on something to keep the steam up, it could take awhile to get my saw back so I have this to think about in the meantime. I'm one of those people whose mind has to be busy all the time.

 

[hamish]

Well to help keep your mind busy.........

You have the frame, the carridge, bar and chain...........
4-stroke verticle, powered csm.

Inspiration for the build, Logosol electric M7 Mill (download the manual for the ??3000? I will remember the proper name for the electric powered one), mainly for the coupling of the bar and chain to the motor.....

Add electric clutch from a lawn mower..............


Spent some time working down in Drum, live now about 3 hours from the river, dont recall the name but was a beautiful town named ?? Calcium near there, that I got turned around in once during a july 4th parade in a 5ton spewing smoke!
Clayton.........on the river off hwy 2?? ha the one if you turn too early heading to Drum from Prescott CAN you get the troopers and border service following you, till you just give up pull over and ask them how to get onto 81!

 

[jimdad07]

Well to help keep your mind busy.........

You have the frame, the carridge, bar and chain...........
4-stroke verticle, powered csm.

Inspiration for the build, Logosol electric M7 Mill (download the manual for the ??3000? I will remember the proper name for the electric powered one), mainly for the coupling of the bar and chain to the motor.....

Add electric clutch from a lawn mower..............


Spent some time working down in Drum, live now about 3 hours from the river, dont recall the name but was a beautiful town named ?? Calcium near there, that I got turned around in once during a july 4th parade in a 5ton spewing smoke!
Clayton.........on the river off hwy 2?? ha the one if you turn too early heading to Drum from Prescott CAN you get the troopers and border service following you, till you just give up pull over and ask them how to get onto 81!

You got it right partner!

 

[mikeb1079]

i like your idea of building a bsm jim. as you said you can use the same frame that you already have. i know that when i built mine the steel for the track was easily the most expensive part. yes i know that it takes a lot of time, more time than you think unless you are at 820 wards' level of fab skill, but trust me if i can do it you can. one thing i really like about metalworking is that you can always (usually ) cut your welds and redo stuff. and to answer some comments above: yes if you count your time you can buy one cheaper than you can build but i don't count my time when it's something you enjoy doing and you are learning at the same time. for instance, it took me many many hours to build my mill but the total money spent was only around $1300, and my mill is comparable to and in some ways beefier than an lt10 or a lumberlite both of which are around $3500 i think. so anyways i say go for it!

that being said here are some observations from when i built my mill: if i had a time machine i would buy 19" bandwheels from linn lumber. the wheels on mine are old woodmizer wheels and they're 25 1/2" and huge. the size required me to build the mill wider than i would've liked. i would also probably just purchase the drive shaft kit as well as i spent alot of time trying to retrofit my 2nd hand wheels to a drive shaft to pillowblocks to a drive pulley. so i feel like i would've been better off just to buy some of the critical components rather than scrounge. here's my mill:

i used gene's design (small bandsaw mill thread) and built a four poster with a cross member which supports the saw head assembly and raises up and down with a simple hand winch. works great. a friend built the guide roller assemblies and those work great as well but i have to find higher quality bearing for them or store the mill indoors. i can post tons more pics of details if you'd like, but it'll have to be tomorrow i'm getting tired!

 

[StevenBiars]

I've been slowly building a bandmill myself, and my advice to you is to be VERY resourceful. I've been picking through a scrapyard every week or so for about 2 months. The price of steel is still up quite a bit from where it was a few years ago when I last bought steel. So much so that I was flabbergasted. However, I've *currently* got the log bed (but no tracks), grooved casters, a twin-tank from an air compressor (to be modified for fuel and coolant), FMC Linkbelt pillow block bearings, and a 8.5 hp sideshaft for $70 total. I basically just need bandwheels and some minor things for the carriage itself, and I'll be ready to mill. My goal was to keep the total cost under $200, but I think $250 will be a better bet. I haven't yet decided what approach I'm going to take on the bandwheels, but I've got plenty of time to tinker with it this winter.

 

[jimdad07]

Thanks for the info guys. Mike I would love to see more pics of your mill, as well as yours if you can Steve. I didn't think I would be getting into this so quickly but I have a lot of lumber to saw to build my new shop and I don't think I can bear the thought of another high dollar saw going up on me, even though it's not because of milling. I think this will be faster and better in the long run.

 

[jimdad07]

I was just checking out that Linn Limber and it is steep. I think I will be scrounging a lot of stuff for this project, thankfully I have a section on the property that has a lot of old farm equipment on it that doesn't work any more and I bet I can get a lot of stuff right there for what I need.