My CSM

You all might get a kick out of my setup. Based on the procut design but a lot cheaper. I use 2 26' BCI joists for rails, set on adjustable sawhorses (notched in). Buildt the carridge out of a bent lumber rack, 3/4" allthread for hight adjustment. A drill runs a wormdrive boat winch that pulls the saw (090) down the rails. I wire the throttle, hit the switch and watch it go. There is a reostat for speed adjustment.
Heres a 32" sugar pine off my place that I got about 600 bf out of. And a fir I did.
The BCIs cost $75, whole unit w/out saw was < $200, scored the 090 at a sawshop on the coast for $450.
I can break it down and put the whole thing on my pickup.
I load bigger logs on the horses with my little tractor one end at a time, then set the rails around it (trim if I have to), then roll on the carridge.
Russell

Well done, are those saw horses metal or wood? They sure gotta load on 'em! I've got an 066 on my mill, but haven't had the time to test it's limits yet....next month i'll run the :censored: outa it!
RD

Are you running .404 or 3/8 on the 090?

Spose the shadetree engineers (like me) might like some detail. The bottom of the carridge is 2" box tube slotted lenghtwise to slide on the BCI flange-castors help.
The sawhorses are 3 pieces of plywood sandwiched, with the middle section sliding, it raises and lowers with a jack (to center the log in the mill), I had problems with the logs rolling until I quartered some tablesaw blades and bolted them in for dogs.
3/4" allthread raises and lowers the saw blade clamps in unison by means of old bicycle parts.
The drill/boat winch is variable by both pulley gear reduction, and a reostat. The cable loops around the end on pullys and attaches on the other side of the carridge for even pull on both sides (another of many mods).
Russell

I have a 30" bar with 404. I have been using semi-skip chain and getting good boards, the BCIs are very true and I have no thickness problems, but unless I really stay on top of sharpening I get rough surfaces. Just picked up some of that GB milling chain, see how that does.
Russell

Pole,
Thanks for the detail, heck of a talent ya got there....bet it's hard to sleep with all those ideas bouncing around in the brain:hmm3grin2orange:
Reminds me of the guy that cut the logs for my first house...he built the entire circular mill from scratch, hydralics and all, and the thing was amazing!
RD

poleframer said:

A drill runs a wormdrive boat winch that pulls the saw (090) down the rails.

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Interesting setup, would you explain the drill running the worm drive a little more? I'm just curious. How heavy are those BCI rails? Can you handle them yourself? How do they attach to those horses, do you have a custom clamp system or do you bolt them, or use C-clamps or what. Like Motorseven says, sure looks like you got a load on them. Well... you said 600 ft. If it was oak (about 5lbs a bd ft wet) that would be over 3000 lbs easy, so I guess we are talking about well over 2000 lbs of log there right?

Hi Woodshop, 600 bf was the total of 4 logs from the tree. The weight of the log is only on the sawhorses, the BCIs just set in 2"x 3" notches in the sawhorses, not clamped or anything (they are tagged together on the ends). The BCIs are just rails that set next to the log and carry only the weight of the saw carridge (that I can pick up, saw and all). I suppose each BCI weighs 40-45 lbs, awkward to handle, but not to heavy to put on my lumber rack. I can easely dismantle the mill by myself.
BCIs are the standard for joists in construction these days, they're straighter and stronger than 2x8, and fairly cheap + you can order them in about any length you want at any building supply.
I dont think I could explain the winch better than the pic shows, anything in particular about it?
Russell
PS, Motor, I do spin at night with ideas, heres the tractor I buildt(actually remodeled), and the next one I'm starting on. Its a viscous cycle, tools to build a shop, to build tools, etc, etc.

Wow!! you are very talented and driven.Great imagination and a follow thru kind of guy.The dump looks cool.The mill you built is very similar to mine.A friend of mine built a mini dozer that looked and worked great.keep on workin!I'd post pics of my mill,but I can't figure out how,sorry.
Mark:blob5: :blob5:

That's incredible.:jawdrop:
I really like your mini excavator conversion.
What part of Southern Oregon are you in?

Hmmm....building my own mini dozer/excavator...now why didin't i think of that!

I'm a few miles out of Cave Junction. My land is pretty steep with a ridge in the middle. I was going to buy a quad to get wood up the hill (EVERYTHING goes uphill around here), and I saw a Yanmar C10R at a equipment place for $3000, talked him down to $2700. Cant get a decent 4x4 quad for that, and didnt want to tear the place up with heavier equipment.
Got to playing with the hydraulics and came up with what you see. I can put the bed back on in about an hour, but I want a dedicated hauler.
Heres a pic of what I started with (from the web, not mine).
There are some pretty slick small tracked machines out these days, but most are way out of my budget.

Nice post. I like the mill. Simple, yet effective. Thanks

Just a note of caution on the drill run winch part.
Even tho the speed is variable, since you dont have yer hands on the saw, which is nice I tell ya, it's easier to burn up the saw, I toasted a top end, and had faster wear on the bars. I always stayed close enough (a couple steps) to adjust the speed when it was bogging, but that lag time put a lot of stress on the saw.
I think I'd still do similar if I make a band mill, not pushing the saw manually takes a lot of the grunt out of the operation, while the mill is cutting I have free time to be putting in wedges, or prepping for the next run.
Heres my project for this winter, always wanted to get into forge work...

hammering1.mp4 video by LogDork - Photobucket

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww194/LogDork/12-18-4.jpg

poleframer said:

Spose the shadetree engineers (like me) might like some detail. The bottom of the carridge is 2" box tube slotted lenghtwise to slide on the BCI flange-castors help.
The sawhorses are 3 pieces of plywood sandwiched, with the middle section sliding, it raises and lowers with a jack (to center the log in the mill), I had problems with the logs rolling until I quartered some tablesaw blades and bolted them in for dogs.
3/4" allthread raises and lowers the saw blade clamps in unison by means of old bicycle parts.
The drill/boat winch is variable by both pulley gear reduction, and a reostat. The cable loops around the end on pullys and attaches on the other side of the carridge for even pull on both sides (another of many mods).
Russell

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Nice setup Russell, You can mill some pretty large logs with your mill setup. How long did it take you to build the mill?

jerry-

nice work.

Excellent work, great imagination and is that a VW microbus in the background?
I've seen cables for height adjustment on a band mill, I like this much better.

Hi Jerry, I built that back in 05 or 06, didnt take more than a week, few days. I've worked on the 090 a lot more than the mill, thats for sure. Still using the same BCIs.
No, Rick, thats my neighbors VW, we share the driveway.

poleframer said:

Hi Jerry, I built that back in 05 or 06, didn't take more than a week, few days.

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It's nice that it is portable enough that one person can do the setup and tear down.

I've worked on the 090 a lot more than the mill, that's for sure. Still using the same BCIs.

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I was fortunate to find a new never bin fired 820 PowerBee motor that I used on my mill. I've found that I can run a 8 x.404 rim drive to speed the chain speed and still keep the rpm down on the motor. At 134cc's it's not working hard and fuel consumption is not bad.

How are the 90's for fuel usage, pretty good?

jerry-

820wards said:

How are the 90's for fuel usage, pretty good?

jerry-

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Hey Jerry. I dont think so, seems I use most of a tank per rip, part of why I'd like to build a small bandmill with a one banger diesel I have (yanmar L100 10hp with electric starter), thats really easy on fuel, for its output. I think it takes less than a quart an hour running.
The other reason is the 090 is so frickin loud, I'm sure neighbors a mile away can hear it (at least I'm 10 miles out of town, not many neighbors)