This is a work in progress and I update this page every week or two, so check back often

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 8-15-10

It has been too hot this summer to work on the mill, but now it's time to get started on it again.  I had been thinking of buying a small bandsaw mill and mounting it on a trailer, but decided I want to go on with this project instead.  I am starting on the new carriage this coming week, it will be a lot like the ProCut carriage I built for the first mill. The dimensions will be 42" high X 36" wide and it will be 24 inchs from front to back, I'm using one and a half inch wide 1/8 inch wall tubing for the frame.

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As most of my return visitors here know, my friend Chuck and I built a portable chainsaw sawmill for me to mill lumber for the woodwork I do. Well we had a lot of fun tinkering around with it and figuring out one problem after another and then finally getting it all together and sawing some beautiful lumber with it.  In fact we had so much fun building it, I decided to build another portable mill that will cut bigger logs a lot faster than the first mill.  

Here's some information
 about the new project. 

The log bed will be 20 ft long , the carriage will have a 14 HP John Deere engine connected to a 36 inch Carlton .063 gauge chainsaw bar running .404" pitch ripping chain for the saw head.  It has a electric start and electric clutch and I will be wiring a 12 volt pump into the clutch to pump oil to the bar and chain whenever the clutch is engaged.  I am also building a place on the log bed to attach a electric winch to help load the logs on the mill.  When I get this one built, it will be able to mill a 16 ft long, 30 inch diameter log.

 I received a lot of emails while building the first mill from people wanting to know where I found some of the parts and some asking the specific measurements of the parts.  So this time while I'm gathering the parts and building it, I'm going to list all the sizes and measurements and where you can get the parts as I go.  That way if you want to try and build one of these mills or if you can use some of these parts on some other project, the information will be at your fingertips and you won't have to go searching all over the internet looking for them like I have done for the last three years

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36 inch Carlton .404 X .063 sprocket tip bar, I will be using Woodland Pro ripping chain

 

The bar and chain comes from Baileys
  

 

These are the eight 3/4 inch bore pillow block bearings that we will use to hold the all thread that lifts the mills sawhead, these bearings have two set screws and came from eBay 36inch long, 3/4 inch zinc coated all thread and the matching long nuts from Shamrock Bolt and Screw Company3731 Wheeler AvenueFort Smith, AR 72901479-648-9401

62 inch, 3500lb axle kit from

Arkansas Trailer Mfg. Co.

3616 Wheeler Avenue

Fort Smith, AR 72901

800-747-0009

I may narrow this axle 10-12 inchs because it's a little wider than I wanted

Picked up the 1/8 inch wall tubing from

Davis Structural Steel

610 South Y St.

Fort Smith, AR

479-783-0888

for the carriage today, 30 ft of 1-1/2 inch and 10 ft of 1 inch

  The new carriage will be similar to the one below that I used on the first mill, but instead of having two pieces of all thread to lift the saw head it will have one on each corner 

The reason I want to build a four post design is so I can level the saw bar front to back and side to side. On the the two post design above I could raise either side of the bar, but I had to adjust the front wheels to level it front to back.

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This time instead of doing the welding myself I decided to get some pros to do it. I dropped the tubing off at ABSCO metal fabricators here in Fort Smith to have them build the carriage that I designed. You should see some of the things these people have built. You can click on the photo below to go to their website

I'm using four #40 sixteen tooth sprockets with a 3/4 inch bore and one 40 tooth sprocket with a one inch bore. I didn't want a one inch bore on the forty tooth sprocket but it was the only one I found that matched the other four sprockets. I ordered the sprockets and roller chain from

The Big Bearing Store

http://www.thebigbearingstore.com/  

The sprockets, 1 inch pillow block bearings and roller chain came in today but one of the 16 tooth sprockets was missing. I have ordered from this company quite a few times and this is the first time something was left out. It's no big deal, just have to call them and get the other sprocket sent

 Stopped by fabricators shop yesterday, they have the new carriage built and will be starting on the log bed/trailer in the next week or two. Once they have the bed started I will pick up the carriage and start assembling the drive system and saw head. I will post some photos of it soon.