I was using the mill with a Husqvarna 460 with a 24 inch bar. May have been too short for that type of chain. According to this link the point is to make less drag and keep the cutting speed higher than regular chains used for ripping. I may mess around with it now that I have a new oil pump on that saw. That may have been an issue as well.
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@Chris , what I think is good about my saw construction is the trapezoidal thread for the up and down of the saw, a little easier to get the same thickness of wood, I had wires first. but didnāt get it to work well.
The measuring ruler is also good, then you know (exactly) how much wood will be.
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Hi All
I am finally feeling better from my late summer ācoldā (covid 19 for the third time) to be able to watch then DONN DIYās swing blade build up videos.
I regret now ever posting it up.
The very best DIY videos in my opinion show FIRST the system working/producing.
This gives encouragement an average Joe could build up one too to meet a need.
Then showing the actual building steps. The design having then been modified from using expereinces. Then end the video/series with it working again. The blade singing sound. The flying chips made. The dimensional boards made. A gasifier making an engine run/work for a purpose!!
DONN DYIās build following the now eight time-compressed; and he is still not cutting wood.
Heās an impressive fabricator/machinist/welder-man. With a big lathe, a milling machine and even a precise metals cut off saw. And these are driving just how he is fabricating.
Watching other swing blade mill systems now been put up for them working. Then you can see at 20 minutes into his #8 video where he is going with this project
For the rest of the videoās series do not bother.
I know Iām seeming critical of him. His shown hand works are lessons in fabrication. And I like that he used a boat trailer winch as his mill-head drive lifter. My old late 1990ās Peterson Mill used a modified boat winch too.
As Iād said earlier look back at J.O.'s DIY build up instead post #229 on this topic for his pictures. He appeared to have used much wooden framing in his constructions.
He is able to cut and sell dimensional lumber with his.
Reducing down 80% of the metal fabrication a fellow could then afford to have any nesassary lathe and mill work done in a commercial machine shop.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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Iām not sure how you get paid from Youtube. Seems like you must get more if you show every hole you drill and every weld you make. I just need to see one hole and the end result and Iām betting I can fill in the inbetween ten minutes. Big fan of the guys who know how to fast forward through redundant actions.
I think that a band saw mill could be well made out of maybe 85 per cent wood as well SteveU. Iād like to test that theory out. Actually I rather someone else did. If I add any more projects to my queue Iām going to have to live to 100. I donāt think I can take that many more aches and pains.
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Hi All,
Back when in 2007 when I searched out and bought my 3rd hand used Peterson swing blade mill I was only aware of Petersons and Lucasās.
Ha! If Iād waited a bit until D & L regional to me came out with their new light weight portable . . .
D & Lā's swing both ways for a true 180 degrees; with angle set points in between.
Just how they do that?? Iāve been watching videos:
Lots of ideas from these to emulate for a one-off, DIY mill.
Watch carefully.
Watch for the years spread, time-lapsed changes.
S.U.
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That D&L 180 swingblade had a lot of nice features, it would be appreciated here on the farm but there is no justifying a new saw when there already is a saw here no matter the bells and whistles. Even the time that goes in to building one is not really justified but it doesnāt stop me from wanting one though.
Some features are easily copied from this to a homebuild for Chris or anyone else, nice videos 
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My two cents. A lot depends on the size of logs that you have/ can get. The Mobile Dimensional / Mighty Mite/ Mahoe Mill is similar to the various swingblade mills in that they shine with the bigger heavier logs that can not be moved easily. The bandsaw mills work best at 6 inch to 24 inch tops. Big enough to get reasonable production but small enough to handle with smaller equipment. Anything bigger than 32 inches I tend to rip with the chainsaw to handle easier. Chainsaw mills are the cheapest but usually best for cutting big planks and timbers. I usually cut with a skip tooth full chisel chain and had lots of ripple in boards and heard that the round over teeth ( canāt remember the proper term ) work better for ripping. A near new bar and a razor sharp chain and a light touch to keep the revs up and make sure the oiler is working well. Lots of gas and sawdust. I love my bandsaw mill but it was a learning curve to cut accurate lumber.
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How is your house coming along Darrell? Been a while since you mentioned it.
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True in my case. Still, my mill payed for itself within the first dussin of logs - not counting my own time of course.
What type of mill to choose? As always, it depends.
As I see it the swingblade mill has a couple advantages.
No1 - log handling. You just roll the log in once - no more wrestling until all thatās left is the bottom slab. Size and weight of the log is almost irrelivant.
No2 - easy and fast sharpening. Most swingblades have only 5 or 6 teeth.
No3 - Edging is done automaticly as you go.
No4 - Easy quarter sawing (if youāre into that).
Downsides.
No1 - Really wide boards are time consuming to make. With horisontal double-cutting you have to do more than twice the number of passes. Also, the board width is limited to the blade diameter minus the axle.
No2 - the fabrication gets more complicated if youāre unable to go electric. A non tiltable gas engine requires a 90 degree gearbox and the sawhead gets heavy and bulky.
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This is the back porch. I have not started on a gasifier yet because I am torn between Toneās wood and charcoal models and reading lots about Brians work on Char Updrafts and Downdrafts. I have a couple of barrels of char made and lots of mostly propane tanks. I have a bunch of small engines to run on. I is just a matter of jumping in.
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Looking good Darrell. Last time you showed it, it was bare framing. I am very interested in Toneās design and Bobmacās modifications. I have built several updraft charcoal simple fires, a downsized WK and a Don Mannes inspired unit that could run updraft or down draft, but the new Tone design is making a lot of sense to me for any future build.
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I have been milling since 1992 and figure I have cut over a million board feet on three different bandsawmills. This is our retirement home and all the wood in it other than the shingles on the end and some plywood for truss gussets was cut on the Lt 40. With a bunch of experience and light regulation this is achievable for a regular guy.
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Here is a D.I.Y. made dual-blade system. Watch his loving pre-sawing care (heād be an excellent woodgas system operator). His blades have insertable teeth. Wider kerf-cut. More sawn chips and strands made.
Watch that he produces a fully cut board with each forwards pass. Then can do another board cut coming backwards if he wishes, sometimes.
Four post saw carriage. Carriage up and down. Engine and saws platform moves left and right.
The fast of a two blade system sacrifices some of the able to do the speciality cuts possible of a single swing blade.
S.U.
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I just wanted to highlight a bit of Wayneās ingenuity and math skills here. If you watch his video showing the sawmill details, he goes over how he measures and raises/lowers the saw head, all in one operation.
He uses a large notched steering wheel. For each full rotation of the wheel the saw moves up or down 2 inches. Half a turn is one inch, etc. Translating that into exact measurements is the math part.
The steering wheel shaft has a 10 tooth sprocket. This drives a jackshaft on top of the mill, with a 28 tooth sprocket. From this we have a 10/28 ratio, which is a reduction in speed. On the end of the jackshaft, we find a 9 tooth sprocket. So each initial revolution becomes 10 / 28 x 9, sprocket teeth moved. The calculator says this is 3.214 teeth per revolution. Wayne is (apparently) using a #50 chain with a 0.625 pitch.
3.214 x 0.625 = 2.00892" per turn. Very nicely done Wayne!
To get exactly 2" you could use a 10 tooth driving a 25 tooth, on a shaft with an 8 tooth. 10/25 x 8 is 3.2, at 0.625" pitch that would be exactly 2" per revolution. However 8-tooth sprockets are harder to find.
If youāre using different pitch chain, you can do your own math. For example Iām thinking of going with #60 which is .750" pitch. Divide 2" by the pitch to get the number of teeth to move per revolution. Then you have to experiment with combinations of sprocket teeth to arrive at that number. Remember:
- Two sprockets on different shafts connected by chains = ratio ie division (like 10/28)
- Two sprockets on the same shaft = multiply (9 teeth x the previous ratio 10/28 = 3.214 teeth per rev)
So for my #60 chain example: 2" / .750" = 2.666667 teeth per rev
One workable combination would be 8 tooth chained to 30 tooth on a shaft with 10 tooth.
8/30 x 10 = 2.666667 exactly.
Each revolution is therefore exactly 2". However moving up to #60 chain does incur more expense with heavier chain and sprockets.
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They do it on popularity. The number of views, likes and subscribes.
It can be, but wood flexes and shifts more then metal so it loses accuracy. Then it can pinch the blade, or the wood comes out wavy or off. For some purposes it may not matter, or you can cut it oversize and plane it, but you are losing wood. When you are milling, you are going for accuracy, and the least amount of wasted wood.
It would work okay for some things. The alaskan chainsaw mill works okay for some wood as well, and may actually be better for small mills because it is fairly accurate and small storage.
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I sawed 4X12 14 foot long today and just about all an old man can handle
Tomorrow it will be 10 X 10s
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It is a good thing Wayne that you have a strong wife to help you.
I do not consider anyone a old man until they make it to 95 years old, because it takes a young at heart to make to that age. But I know what you mean by feeling like you are a old man, that I can relate to.
Good job Wayne.
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After some years with my mill Iāve come to the conclusion that there are many advantages to running the log through the saw on a trolley rather than running the saw through the log. For one thing I could easily mount a bigger engine and Wood gas it if it just sat in one place. I will probably try that idea out next spring if I can scrounge up the materials.
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I keep looking at my sawmill and wondering if I could hang a flexible gas hose to it that would travel with the motor. Having the log move instead of the saw would make running it on a gasifier a lot easier.
My engine is a 6.5 HP but it is either at idle or full speed because of the centrifugal clutch so Iām not sure the wood/charcoal gas would run it fast enough to engage the clutch especially when loaded down cutting.
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Just a typical day at the office
Sharpening the blade .
I will make a couple of passes rather than just one to make sure the tooth doesnāt get hot .
I will rub my finger over the tooth to feel if it is sharp. I canāt tell if the blade is sharp just by looking .
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