DIY Bandsawmill build.

[Dan Dubeau]

This is a project I started back in the fall/winter of 2021, but have recently got going on it again, so I figured I'd start a build thread here.

Cliff notes... I built the base frame fall 2021, and was waiting to figure out the carriage until I had a powerplant sorted. Last year was crazy busy and expensive, so not much progress until I bought a d722 kubota from a friend in the fall. Didn't get a chance to pull the engine until this morning. Now that I have the powerplant sorted, and a bunch of other "barrier" projects done in the shop, I can finally get back to building this.

This is the "design" (rough guide) I've put together based on my accumulated scrap/parts over the years. The rest of it I will figure out as I go, with what I have.

Here's a few build pics to bring you up to speed. It's been a while so I'll see if I remember the details. My back started hurting again digging through these pics though lol.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I bought these 1/4" wall 3"x6"x24' tubes from a guy a few years ago. He'd bought them to build a sawmill too, and they sat in his yard for years until he broke down and bought a woodmizer. Then they sat there for about 10 more until he decided to get rid of them. I'm not milling lumber with them yet, but I carried the torch a bit farther....

Dragged the 2 nicest ones into position behind the house so I can reach them with my leads. Set them down on some small beams and leveled them side to side. the far end is higher, but they are level side to side all the way down.

Here you can see the end to end slant better. There isn't any flat level ground on this entire property.

Then I chopped the other one up with the plasma into the crossmembers with a speed square as a guide. Rolling it for each side.

https://imgur.com/bLqbnvY

It got much easier to cut as it got shorter lol.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Welding the crossmembers in went pretty good. I clamped them to some beams so they were flush on the top, then tacked them all in. I measured the diagonals, and used a ratchet strap to pull it into square before I burned in the ends.

Had some trouble in the middle and needed the porta power. I purposely ran the slight bend inward because I thought it would be easier to control by spreading vs clamping with what I had to work with. Came out great, and both rails now run parallel.

Some obligatory weld shots. 1/8" 7018

Ran a few vertical welds, but wasn't really happy with them and decided this wasn't the project I wanted to practice getting better on......so I just ran a few good stitches on the verts, and rolled it, so I could complete all the welds in the flat position.

Signed my work, and left myself a reminder which way was "up"

Then hacked together a quick and dirty axle from an old cart so I can move it around.

I sprayed all the joints with some cold galv primer, and finished it just in time for the first snowfall of the year. This was the very next day.

That was fall/winter 2021 and it's sat in the same spot since. Life got in the way.....

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Didn't really make much headway with this project all last year until I figured out what kind of engine I was going to power it with. Talking with a baseball buddy of mine he mentioned he has a parts Kubota that he bought for the deck and a few other things.....Well we struck a deal, and I brought it home to strip the engine out, and return the carcass. That was just before the snow flew, and I never got to it until this morning. An hours worth of work, had a nice running D722 16hp Kubota hanging in the air, and the carcass rolled out and ready to go back to his place. Might be a bit underpowered, but the price was right and I think it'll be more than plenty for 90% of wood I mill here off the property.

With my winter projects in the shop getting checked off and cleaned up, it's time to start making some progress again on this guy, so I should have a few more regular updates in the coming months. I hope anyway. I picked up a big CRS round to turn the carriage wheels from a few weeks ago, so that should be a fun turning project.

We have a bunch of new chickens that will need a new chicken coop and run by the winter, so I'm really hoping to get this done, and mill that wood by then. Might be a stretch, but I love a deadline lol.

View attachment 34060

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Waiting out the rain all day to go load the carcass for it's journey home in the morning, but I was running out of daylight and it only seemed to rain harder, so.....I got wet.

Walking back to the house to shut to coop door, and I saw this.

It's just dark enough in the trees that I though something got in and decapitated one of the hens already. Was pretty happy when I got closer and discovered it was just a cabbage that the wife threw in there earlier lol. I might need to get my eyes checked again .

 

[DavidR8]

Our hens are happy your hens are ok.

 

[140mower]

Our new birds are settling into their new digs....

 

[Bandit]

Happy chickens, happy eggs.
Your mill looks good, a strong, straight base is always a good start. Looks like you are useing an angle iron on top of each rail for the saw/engine carriage to run on. I don't recall seeing that before, easier to line every thing up with an angle iron on only one rail, the off side floats side to side. NOT saying I am rite or wrong, just less frustrating to set up. A horizontal band mill a big bit easier to work with then a vertical rotating blade, they still both will remove "pieces" real easy.
Are you going to use auto style tires for the blade wheels? Thinking about a way to turn log cant on bed rails? A quarter turn helps turn a big log into lumber.
Looks bit wetish there abouts. Had 1/2 in. snow Thurs, farmers givener now thou.

 

[Bandit]

Welding the crossmembers in went pretty good. I clamped them to some beams so they were flush on the top, then tacked them all in. I measured the diagonals, and used a ratchet strap to pull it into square before I burned in the ends.

Had some trouble in the middle and needed the porta power. I purposely ran the slight bend inward because I thought it would be easier to control by spreading vs clamping with what I had to work with. Came out great, and both rails now run parallel.

Some obligatory weld shots. 1/8" 7018

Ran a few vertical welds, but wasn't really happy with them and decided this wasn't the project I wanted to practice getting better on......so I just ran a few good stitches on the verts, and rolled it, so I could complete all the welds in the flat position.

Signed my work, and left myself a reminder which way was "up"

Then hacked together a quick and dirty axle from an old cart so I can move it around.

I sprayed all the joints with some cold galv primer, and finished it just in time for the first snowfall of the year. This was the very next day.

That was fall/winter 2021 and it's sat in the same spot since. Life got in the way.....

 

[6.5 Fan]

Hmmm, i learned to hate chickens early in my life on the farm. My mother insisted on letting the chickens run free in the yard, oh joy, we get to crawl around in crap changing cultivator shovels or rod weeder boots. IMO the only good chicken is one in a roaster pan.

 

[Bandit]

Was always telling the younger ones I worked with, protect eyes,ears, lungs," parts"that get "removed" don't grow back. Much easier to go through life with all the needed parts. This is to go with picture of youn'in useing the saw.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Was always telling the younger ones I worked with, protect eyes,ears, lungs," parts"that get "removed" don't grow back. Much easier to go through life with all the needed parts. This is to go with picture of youn'in useing the saw.

Yes, it's easier to preach that as we get older, but young ears sometimes don't listen to that advice. It's always easy to put safety glass on, but the lungs and ears are harder to remember. I'm pretty good about it now, as I've bought a lot of good safety gear that's comfortable (even the kids all have good, size appropriate gear like glasses, ear muffs, and masks for dusty stuff). I just bought them some good leather work gloves, and an apron that needs some cutting down for blacksmithing, so they're all set now. It's tough to find stuff for tiny people.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Hmmm, i learned to hate chickens early in my life on the farm. My mother insisted on letting the chickens run free in the yard, oh joy, we get to crawl around in crap changing cultivator shovels or rod weeder boots. IMO the only good chicken is one in a roaster pan.

This is our first "official" go with them. There were a few hens here when we bought the place, but we think the previous owner came back and stole them after a couple months. It's a long story, but a lot of stuff disappeared mysteriously around that time.

I'm sure the shine will wear off eventually, but for now they're a welcome addition. I'm looking forward to building them a new coop. The new one will be tall enough to walk around in. This old coop/run is already driving me nuts.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Happy chickens, happy eggs.
Your mill looks good, a strong, straight base is always a good start. Looks like you are useing an angle iron on top of each rail for the saw/engine carriage to run on. I don't recall seeing that before, easier to line every thing up with an angle iron on only one rail, the off side floats side to side. NOT saying I am rite or wrong, just less frustrating to set up. A horizontal band mill a big bit easier to work with then a vertical rotating blade, they still both will remove "pieces" real easy.
Are you going to use auto style tires for the blade wheels? Thinking about a way to turn log cant on bed rails? A quarter turn helps turn a big log into lumber.
Looks bit wetish there abouts. Had 1/2 in. snow Thurs, farmers givener now thou.

I'm on the fence about the double sided angle track. Yes it would be over constrained, but with the carriage only tied together at the top, I think there would be enough flex in the frame that 2 angle tracks would add a lot of rigidity. Still thinking that one through. I'm going to start modeling the carriage and saw head shortly, so I'll have a better picture in the coming weeks. Still rolling it around in neuro cad right now. Lining them up should be easy as I'd tack one down, and use the carriage itself to guide the other one into place while tacking down the length.

I have two 17.5" dia cast iron flywheels for band wheels. A bit smaller in Dia than I was hoping for, but everything on this build has been scrounged for very cheaply. I think I'm still under $1500 so far, and don't foresee the need to buy much anything else to complete it. Maybe a bit of steel here and there, and the bearings for the guide wheels and carriage wheels, but I've got all the major components now.

 

[140mower]

We got chickens for the first time last summer when a former coworker was moving out of the country and needed a new home for his birds. This year we got some new chicks and I screened off the piece under the hen house so we could keep them seperated until they're big enough to fend for themselves.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

We have 1 big coop, and 3 other smaller ones plus small runs here built by the previous owner for ducks/meat birds. They had a nice homestead here, but all the structures are pretty well past their useful lifespans. They were pretty run down when we bought the place in 2010, and have just got worse from lack of use since. We've always wanted to get some chickens, but just never wanted to use the old pen. We spent a couple days fixing it up and cleaning it up last weekend but this forced my hand to get going building a new one.

 

[140mower]

I did a little bit of experimenting this spring with trying to heat the greenhouse with the composting chicken manure. I think that with a little more time on my hands and a full years worth of manure with twice as many chickens I should be able to make it work for the early spring when we need the extra heat.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Cool. A greenhouse is something we'd like to build as well. We have the topography to build it into the bank for some geothermal benefits. Just need to get around to it.......

 

[Bandit]

Yes we have some flavered,skin less, bone less chickens in the fridge. Pickled eggs!

 

[Bandit]

140mower, the heating can be done with compost. Need a large pile, mixed rite, then it will take care of its self (kinda). Was doing composting for nearly 20 years, last 10 or so years in 20ft. Containers, insulated with air control. Could get up 80 degrees +- cereal for 30 plus days many times. Not quite what you want, but, some of the some same ideas.Take a look at the Do it with Solor Site, in composting. And many other ideas (to many?).