Thoughts on this mill??

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JPE

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Saw a homemade mill on Craigslist but it had sold by the time I contacted the owner. He's getting ready to make another though so I'm planning to go check it out.

I know the photos don't show everything and I have no info other than just these pics, but what are your thoughts from what you can see? Anything I should look at more closely when I get to check it out?
 
I wouldn't invest much in a homemade mill. I like a "solid" company backing anything i put much money into. I like to have all the bugs worked out, not "me" working out the problems in the field for the homebuilder. I like a company that has a staff, comeing up with upgrades or new accessories for my mill that i can add later... AND most of all, when you buy the mill form a solid company, you get a product with "resale"!

There are lower priced mills available, Norwood has one right at 3K that cuts pretty well... If you decide you want a bigger mill later, it has "resale" allowing you to sell it and buy something bigger.

BTW, if you want to try building your own, i have two bandwheels on shafts with the pillow block berrings already on the shaft. Bolt in on and go from there...

Rob
 
Bandmill questions

It's hard to tell the dimensions from the photos. What is the length of the rails, diameter of cut, length of band blade,&c? Also important, the price tag ? I have a similar (shop built) rubber tire band mill, and love it. There are several differences in mine and the photos, mostly minor things. Questions I would have about the one you are looking at :

[1] Is the diameter of the shaft and pillow blocks large enough to handle the load of milling ?
[2] What is the method of adjusting the tires so the band will track true ?
[3] The roller movement of the carriage on the rails is pretty straightforward, but it looks like sawdust, from your discharge side, will quickly build up on the rail and interfere with accurate movement of the carriage, making it hard or impossible to keep your lumber dimensions true.

Find out how many of these mills the man has made and sold; talk to one of the owners and get their opinion of the mill. My builder has built 86 of my type, his brother has built over 100, so has worked most all of the bugs out of his design. Railomatic, AS member, built one from that basic design, and there's a thread on here somewhere about Rail's version. My cousin and his dad owned four of the mills, and were favorably impressed; they mill cedar for a living. My builder occasionally builds a smaller mill, 18" log diameter, 11 ft. bed, 6.5 hp that he sells for $ 2,500; mine is a 30", 24 ft., 13 hp that goes for $ 4,000.

Of course, I don't mill for a living, but I have used my mill a lot for structural lumber, siding & beams, and I wouldn't trade it for any of the commercial band mills. The tires run cool, and true. I have never broken a blade and my cousin tells me you never will; he hasn't in the 10+ years he's been using a rubber tire mill!
 
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Thanks. Those are some excellent thoughts/questions that I'll keep in mind when I check it out. As mentioned before, I really don't have any info other than the pics. Price is below $3000.

We looked at several mills at a show last weekend & each seemed to have their pros & cons. I saw this one online & thought it was at least worth checking out, comparing features, etc.
 
I have no problems buying home made. Ask for some phone numbers from people who bought a mill from him. If he can not supply it walk away. Ask if you can demo the mill. If he says no, walk away. From the pictures it is very hard to evaluate form, fit, and function of the machine. With that being said, here in my part of NY there are a lot of these tire mills with happy owners. Best of luck.
 
A little more info...
It apparently has an 11hp Honda engine, will handle logs up to 20' long and 28 inches in diameter. It also comes with a trailer kit that can be removed. All for $2600, brand new.

From what I've seen it would cost close to twice that to get into a mill with these features with any of the brand name mills. I do acknowledge the benefit of buying from a reputable company, but at half the cost this could be hard to pass up. I'm definitely interested in at least getting a closer look at this point.
 
Thoughts on shop-built band mill

I looked at the photos again, and have been thinking. You're right about the price, that's tempting. The rails seem to be a little light, 1/4"?, perhaps that's the reason for so many cross braces? A log 20" in diameter and 17-20 feet long is pretty heavy, and if the rails aren't robust enough, they will sag and you'll not get a true cut, end to end. Of course, you can always add supports under the rails, timbers, blocks, &c, to true it up. That's not a big problem if you set it up stationary, moreso if you intend to use it portable.

Of course, since it's shop built, you might get the builder to use heavier angle, say 3/8", on the rails for more rigidity. It shouldn't add that much to the price.
 
Are you sure all these pictures are of the same mill? It looks like the mill in the first picture has a different tracking system than the one in the third picture. Other than that, I don't see much metal in it.

Rodney
 
That's all the info I have for now. The angle does appear to be 1/4". Kinda hard to tell. The photos are from 2 different mills. One was sold as used and was able to handle slightly larger logs. The other is the new version that is being built.

Ours would likely spend most of it's time on a concrete floor/pad so the support from underneath doesn't concern me so much. But I do agree with the issue of flexibility/stability of the thinner steel in general.

I'm planning to go check it out in the next couple weeks.
 
Hell ya!! I would buy it. 28" for $2600. Hey man, you would probably find it easier to have him fix something if it breaks easier that some big company. Ya they'll give you a guarantee but come time to put out and it's all about fine print. If that mill cuts the first time and you treat it right it should last forever. The price is right.
 
Tire Bandsawmill plan's

Hi ereryone .........Matilasmate here , doe's anyone have good plan's of a Tire bandsawmill , that I can get a copy of , a pdf posted to this forum would be great . Thank's Cheers MM
 
Hi ereryone .........Matilasmate here , doe's anyone have good plan's of a Tire bandsawmill , that I can get a copy of , a pdf posted to this forum would be great . Thank's Cheers MM

I built this home made mill for myself using plans from a guy in Alaska, he worked with me over the net to get things done, you can see my design from his mills and help here,

http://www.chainsawmills.co.uk/4_stroke_powered_mills.htm

and his stuff here,

www.alaskabandsawmills.com

Both are very professionally made and work very well indeed, without any troubles, I might like to add, better than many top names around.
 
Thanks Railomatic. I stumbled upon a few of your old posts earlier today. That's an awesome looking home built mill. Do you have plans available?

During my search, I found a link to a site to buy plans for a rubber tire mill:
http://www.pennswoods.net/~zigbug/

Then I found a link to a guy who has made mills based on these plans:
http://kruppt.tripod.com/

The interesting thing is that the photos in the second link are the exact same photos that this guy emailed to me. The crazy part is that the name of the guy in this link doesn't match the name of the guy who emailed me. The email addresses don't match either. So I wonder if he borrowed the photos planning to make one to match. Or maybe it's the same guy with different email addresses? I've emailed him but haven't heard back yet.
 
The tires run cool, and true. I have never broken a blade and my cousin tells me you never will; he hasn't in the 10+ years he's been using a rubber tire mill!

I've been sawing for over 10 years too, and i've never broken a band either. I can stop my saw and touch my band anytime too, it doesn't run hot.

If you run the proper band for the size wheels your mill has, and do proper band "maintance", you will eliminate 99.9% of all band breaks.

It's not about whether you have "rubber tires" or not, if it was, i'd have broken a few bands myself by now..

Rob
 
Thank's guy's exelent info

I built this home made mill for myself using plans from a guy in Alaska, he worked with me over the net to get things done, you can see my design from his mills and help here,

http://www.chainsawmills.co.uk/4_stroke_powered_mills.htm

and his stuff here,

www.alaskabandsawmills.com

Both are very professionally made and work very well indeed, without any troubles, I might like to add, better than many top names around.

Hi guy's Railomatic and Jpe thank's for the info , I love the bandsaw's , but I was after good cheap , as in free plan's , but I may have to buy some , I was hoping , someone had plan's on this site , they mite like to share . Most appreciated thank's kind regards MM
 

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