Kristijan's woodgas sawmill

Yes l will most likely go with angle iron.

Where is this back roller positioned?

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I will have to go out later and get some more photos for you

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Thank you.

A nother question for you guys. How does wood type effect the blade? I will mainly saw oak. Shuld l expect more wear on the blade, oak being hard wood?

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You buy the blades based on the wood. I haven’t sawed enough to answer blade life issues but I can tell you don’t drag the logs dirt kills blades in a single pass.

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This is an after market blade guide for a woodmizer bandsaw mill. I believe you want to set the blade tracking so the blade only contacts the back rollers on a hard push.

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Hopefully that gives you some ideas on how my mill was built.

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I see now. Thank you both for input!

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I like this video, and this YT channel is excellent. Small farm and beekeeper stuff too!

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Ha! Been summer weeds whacking and still fencing building busy so I am behind on this topic.

My made-in-New Zealand 90degree swing-blade Peterson Mill was designed to be man-packable portable. So mostly SS and aluminum. The factory tracks were boxed aluminum fabrication with just a stand up aluminum edge guiding the 4" diameter hard plastic guide wheels with inserted/replaceable common sealed ball-bearings. These guide wheels are grooved.
The original mill owners was a pine tree mill in Idaho state.
Of course they loader equipment destroyed those original aluminum track rails. Mill-wright made up their own tracks out of rolled steel u-channel bolted down to wooden 6"x6" bases.
Ha! Heavy as sin. Not portable at all.
I bought and use two 20 foot sections from a 40 foot aluminum extension ladder.
Construction aluminum work decking sections would have been better as available longer; not as width/stand-up/high; and stiffer. But 3-4X the price.

Only mill head&engine weight keeps this onto the tracks!! Same as with the Lucas system.
You want weight and a aware-operator to keep-safe with this type of system!
Ha! Circular blade system you need to have multiple uses for all of the kerf-cut sawdust and curly cut strands. Makes excellent animal bedding.

Hope this helps.
S.U.

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Only missing the pto now. Shuld be test sawing tomorow :slight_smile:

This one was wifes fault :smile:

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Hi Kristijan, don’t forget to make the idler side bearings adjustable for blade tracking. Looks good.

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The bearings are adjustible in all dimensions via slots on the housing but for tracking l will try useing shims under the bearings. Its simplest, hope it works.

How to tell when the blade is tight enough?

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I can see you use both thinking chair and couch :smile:

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I think mine calls for 1/8’’ play up and down. Here is a good explanation: The rule of thumb used by the old-time sawyers is “tighten it until it smokes, then back it off a half-turn.” This is a good reason to not let certain people run a bandsaw mill! Band mills use finesse instead of brute force to cut through logs…and blade tension is a good example. While adding blade tension may help a dull blade cut straighter, it also puts more stress on the blade and on the mill. Once you get a feel for the mill, you will usually use the same blade tension for all cuts. The best way to use the T-handle tensioner is to tighten the blade until you feel it just start to pull, then always tighten it the same number of turns past that. If you have a sharp blade and it dips or rises in the cut, you might try increasing the tension a half-turn at a time, but it is far more likely a fresh blade will solve the problem.

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You can see the idler side bearing on my mill is a square tube in a tube with a set of jam nuts. That works really well because you can adjust it in closer to the logs to help keep the boards more square. Also check out my track photo there is a head of a nut that you slide the squared up log against that allows you to lower the log stops on both sides of the log once you square it up. My head is designed so it bottoms out before it hits the track a very imp design feature having cut really close and having left that adjustable bearing assembly too far in and hit the track with it I can tell you the idea of hitting the blade on the track will scare you into needing a change of shorts.
But it sure is looking good you are making amazing progress.

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Can’t tell by the picture, do you have bearings under the blade? It should, my uses adjustable hardened steel blocks top and bottom with a back bearing.

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I have extensive experience on a Woodmizer mill. They use a hydraulic tensioner with a glycerine filled hydraulic gauge. One thing which is very important to note is the thermal expansion of the blade.

It is effectively impossible to maintain appropriate blade tension without some sort of readout. Depending on what kind of wood is being cut, (dry oak for example), and the ambient temperature (winter), very soon after initiating a cut, tension can fall off 20%. It will take a very experienced sawyer to adjust appropriately by feel.

Also, bandsaw blades need to be untensioned when not in use, and are very susceptible to dullness, as mentioned, dirt in the bark, or general wear. It is never worth it to push a blade past the keen cutting stage.

Also, tooth setting is critical to proper performance. If not set perfectly, and symmetrically, (and sharp), the blade can tend to veer up, or down, or cut funny around knots. Blades must be set after grinding to within thousands of an inch offset both sides in order to work optimally.

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