This project has taken over a year on and off as I was busy with other things. But its coming to an ending with a little luck, I'll be milling lumber for my house build before the year is out. In it past life this thing was a galvanized boat trailer and a old 6x6 ATV ...... As my grand father once said, there is no such thing as scrap. Just a lack of imagination. And he was right .. there was a band saw mill in those parts just waiting to come out. Tomorrow I'll build the slides for the blade guides and wire the thing up , plumb in fuel and water and put it on its track that is at the lower end of my little patch in the hills ready and waiting.

Great work! Can’t wait to see the end results!!

OSHA approved!!! Ha ha Looking good there.....jk

I wondered what was goin on with the saw mill. I figure it was done and you were waiting low wood to dry.

I called but she did not answer the phone



Work work kept getting in the way and I was doing one week in SC two weeks here ... but in that time there was always other stuff to do and so it dragged on longer than I thought it would. But I am not going back to work till the first of January so should get her done and milling

Nice job. I really get a kick out of seeing projects like this. Thanks.

… looks just like my great grandma’s sewing machine

Is there anything you can't build?

Nice innovation! Put up a video if you will when you get it up and running.

Amazing invention, Michael. Smart man.

Dunno, so things just take a little longer with my limited means here at home.


Couple of stats for those who are interested.
Engine is a V twin 670CC 22 HP
Track length for now is 20'
Maximum diameter log I can cut with this rig is 45"
Blade length 15'
The head lifts with a ATV winch and a couple of pulleys to slow it down.
At some point the advance will be done with another winch that I am building a frequency controller for to have the different speeds I want and directional control. and a long chain instead of rope to run it back and forth

Red necks would be proude.

Well before Paul made me the " colorblind Kraut " it said " Euro redneck " in that line ender my avatar ...... that was quite fitting

looking good, keep us posted, take Pic, when you start cutting lumber.

Yes
following

Lots of ingenuity and thinking went into this project. Way beyond me, that's for sure. Would love to see it working.

Your way over my simple head. lol

The whole thing is not rally that difficult in principle. I just had to do some work around as I wanted to use the "stuff " I had at hand. It gets a little more finicky to build the power advance that I want. I want a fast return on a preset button to bring the saw head back to the starting position. and a variable speed I can adjust with a knob for the cut.
Now there are several ways to kick that cat .... Both involve a frequency modulator that controls the speed of the 12V winch motor ...... I am still not sure what way I am going to build the end stops ... either physical end switches mounted to the track or with a sensor on the motor and running the whole thing fully programmable using an Arduino ..... I have the chains and sprockets from that old 6X6 I pulled the engine and bearings out of for the saw head ..... Till I figure out how I want to do the advance feature, I'll just push it back and forth. That trudging along the track is probably monotonous enough to get me thinking on how to solve that little issue, to feed my inherent laziness.

Many years ago in Eastern NC, I knew a man who had large loblolly pine cut for a home addition project. He lived out in the county. His plan fell through when he learned the lumber had to be dried and finished. Rough cut lumber for framing was not allowed.

You state and county may have this requirement, and you may be planning to finish and dry your lumber.

I like you mill.

It maybe easier to use hydraulics, but if you don’t have any of the components it can add up pretty quick.