The Sawmill

[engineman56]

With the log splitter done now its time for me to do something for me. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I just had to gather up all the pieces to do this one and now I have them. The hardest pieces to get were the beams for the frame. They are 3x6 I beams. I started on this today and heres what I got done. Tyler came over and helped get the beams in the shop. They were in the yard and its raining today and I had to get the Big Case out to move them to the driveway then use the Towmoter to move them into the shop. This took us about 2 Hours. Now the yard looks like a 4x4 course Cool. I don't care this happens every year. The beams are used and had alot of crap welded all over them. So a good cleaning was in order. After I got all the sawing done they looked pretty good. So Tyler and his Dad Lil Jimmy helped me out and we cut all them to size and laid them all out. They still need fit to the rails. But the heavy lifting and cutting is done. Heres some pics from today. Kevin

[engineman56]

Heres some more Pics

[tnmike]

What is your bed length? Is this the first of two sections? That is going to be pretty hard to move but maybe you dont care. Youve made good progress on several projects in the last week. Keep it up.

[Charlie C]

Kevin when you say sawmill and the way the beams are laid out I assume that this is going to be a bandsaw(woodmizer type).
A friend(neighbor) has one that he just sold, the guy is 75 years old and has Parkinson disease and just wants out of the sawmill business.

[engineman56]

Mike, The bed is going to be 18' long. Thats all the material I have for length.

Charlie, Yes its going to be a band mill. Kevin

[tnmike]

Is the bed you show in the picture 18 feet long as it is shown or are you making two sections and bolting them together? I made two ten foot sections on the one I have under way. Just curious. It looks great and will surely be stud hoss stout.

Im sure you know this but pay close attention when you start welding it all up. The floor isnt level and the welding will pull things out of alignment. Check and recheck it as you go. It makes a big difference in the lumber dimensionally. Dont ask me how I know this.

[engineman56]

Mike the bed in the pics is 18' long. Yes I'm going to level the whole thing and weld on this a little at a time to keep from pulling.I used to build this type of frames when I worked at Rondys. We made frames for rubber working mills, smooth mills and cracker mills. When I worked there maintenance built all the machines for all the other Rondy factories. We made guilitine cutters for cutting big #4000 bales of rubber. Alot of conveyors too. There was maintenance for repairing machines and maintenance for building the machines. Everyone had to know how to repair the machines but I mostly was in with the building group. The reason I made good progress is that I don't have to work on the car or trucks or other peoples equipment. I cleared out the schedule to work on these things. This kind of stuff is the fun things to do. I havn't taken any new jobs in 3 years. Just been completeing the old ones and we're moving right along. I like these projects best. Kevin

[tnmike]

Thanks I couldnt tell from the picture how long it was. It should be a really heavy duty base for the mill head. This is of great interest to me. I had to stop on my mill because of my eye problems. Im hoping after the operation next month I will be at it again when the snow melts.

PS.....The more pictures the better.

[engineman56]

Heres some pics of the alignment of the long rails. Right now everythings level and straight. I was going to put the crossmembers in it but I don't know how low the saw blade will go. So I'm going to have to start building the carriage and mount the blade to get a measurement. I'll probably mount the engine this week too. The blue square tubing is welded on the bottom of the carriage purely for alignment and will be taken off when everythings welded. The 4" channel is welded on the top of the long rails for alignment also and will be removed when all the crossmembers are installed. I also lost a shoulder bolt and had to simulate a wheel on the right side so the right side is tack welded to the long rails. I think it was a good idea to tack it anyhow because I'm not chasing it around. I need to make some gussets for the top of the carriage tomorrow. There will also be taper roller bearings in the tops of the unistrut to aid in movement up and down. I still have to drill some holes and bolt some things on and machine the bearing holders from something. I need to find a good piece of steel to use for that. Theres something laying somewhere I just haven't found it yet. Kevin

[engineman56]

Heres what I got so far today. This is the carriage front and rear. The saw will raise and lower with tha yellow square tubing on the unistrut. Theres a 8" channel that welds to that to mount the band wheels and engine on. Kevin