Lugweld's sawmill

[59halfstep]

Lugweld - I was wondering what the outcome of your sawmill project from a while back.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=25051

It was a very nice looking unit and I was curious if what the outcome of the project was. Any updates? The work on that unit was very nice.

Charlie

[ponch37300]

Thanks for bringing that back up. That is a very cool machine build. I do a fair amount of wood working also and have always thought it would be nice to have a sawmill and cut my own wood. But think I would have a problem with drying it right. There are always adds on craigslist for trees to be cut down and keep the wood.

Awesome build!!!

[specter]

Wow!! Nice Mill. 1st time I have noticed Lugweld posted that. I have been using a companythe road from my farm http://www.dansvilledimension.com/ to do all my millwork. I have a forest full of black walnut, elm ,maple, and apple. They are making the black walnut flooring for my 1795 farm house restoration. But I have to admit such a portable mill like Lug's would be handy for cutting the planks I need for my barn and garage restoration.

[lugweld]

I have been using it. Business is slow here, so I mostly have been making custom sawmill accessories on the side. I had taken some video a few weeks ago, and had it sitting in the computer...But you inspired me to put it together and got it loaded to the Tube.


Now taking orders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef_QIg6WSyE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef_QIg6WSyE

[GiantTechGuy]

"with nails" not good on that band blade! Nice build though !

Who's the guy with the belly like mine ?

[59halfstep]

Thanks Lug - it is good to see it running. Very nice build.

[lugweld]

Sorry,

I removed the video and reposted it...The quality for some reason ended up terrible..Go figure, I used a AVCHD camera, but apparently something went wrong in the codec transfer. The sudden pitch increase you can hear from the blade is a nail or two. But generally an occasional nail won't do too mcuh damge, only make the cut a little more rough, but this log had several. But the customer was glad to get the wood, it was high value, so he did not mind paying for the damaged blades. And unfortunately that gut is attached to my head.:Here is the higher quality video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLSXukt8WLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLSXukt8WLE

[Jeep07]

Like butter! Nice...

[Oldtimer]

No trees here so no saw mills and that alone made the video interesting. It made me curious though. What part does the pump up sprayer play?

[lugweld]

It contains a cocktail of blade lube...Some people use dish detergent and water. Others use water only. I have even heard of veg oil. My fav is Pinesol with water or diesel for the high pitch content of the pine species we have here. If you watch the video close, you can see a white foam on the log from time to time at the point of blade contact. That's me injecting a little of the fluid to the blade.

[Oldtimer]

Thanks for the explanation. I kind of thought it might be something like that. On the other hand I thought the chiggers and ticks might be so bad you had to use bug killer where you walked. That is something else we don't have here but I have got into them down in Texas.

[ponch37300]

I love seeing others projects of homemade machines. Great job.

[ben2go]

I know,I know,beating up an old thread.Nice machine.Does it have a scale on it for setting cut thickness?I like yours better than the units I been looking at.The last one I looked at the bed was made of five or six inch I beam.Beefy,but I couldn't pull it behind my little toy pick up,you know,a Ford Ranger.

[lugweld]

Yes,
It has an inch scale. I have a quater scale somewhere, now if I just could find it, I'd put it on...Its a real time saver, as you don't have to constantly keep track of the kerf...

[jreynoldswelding]

Originally Posted by lugweld

Yes,
It has an inch scale. I have a quater scale somewhere, now if I just could find it, I'd put it on...Its a real time saver, as you don't have to constantly keep track of the kerf...

Man that thing is frickin sweet! I wish I had a good buddy with one. I could use some good lumber every now and then.

[lugweld]

Why not get one yourself? I made a couple of hundred extra dollars on Saturday and sunday afternoon.. I make as much money with it by the hour as I do on a welding repair job.

[7A749]

I don't know squat about cutting wood, but that thing is SWEET!

Looks factory Lug.

You did a real good job on it.

Good stuff!

[jreynoldswelding]

My grandfather has an old belt drive one with a huge blade. I know it use to hook up to the tractor and the log would run back and forth, It has not been in use for 5+ years. I really dont know enough about them to get one and maintain it, but they sure do look like a money maker considering what they sell bd. ft. for around here.

[lugweld]

I have run circular mills....I'd rather work all day on a band mill, than spend one hour on a circular. The noise and the danger factor are much greater on a circular mill, even though on some one man circulars, the production is higher per day.

[nikodell]

Lugweld'd nice saw, this is light years more safe than the Alaskan Mill I have used before. But than again they both have their place for the logger/mill owner. We were doing 4'+ Hawaiian hardwood slabs. So where did you get the band wheels from, they look like heavy cast units.

[lugweld]

I used standard band wheels...aka pulleys. The industry uses standard off the shelf B belt, single grooved pulleys, with a belt inserted into the groove. The sizes vary betwen 14-20" pulleys so that the 1 1/4 blades will run on them. The pulleys are narrower than the blade of course, so the set will not be removed from the blade. They must be balanced though and of good quality to run with out shaking the machine to pieces and fatiguing the blades.