Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

A picture of the rollers would be cool. Or a video!

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Very cool. Lots of ingenuity.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Great job on the sawmill. I'm impressed. Opening a log is like digging for treasure. What are you going to make with the lumber?

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Just building mine. Love yours.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

I like building small end tables or small projects for family, im learning a lot and having fun too. thanks for the comments. The mill was fun to build, we used to have a small portable mill we bought, it was to small for what we wanted and we could not afford a commercial unit so we built one because we really wanted to saw some logs we had gotten.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

A lot of good engineering went into it.

It looks cool and it work!

Great job.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Very cool, I keep wanting to build one of these and the wife keeps giving me dirty looks over it. Maybe one day if we buy a couple acres of forest and need a house.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Amazing ! This reminds me of a show I watched recently. Hillbillies Gypsies where those guys from the mountains of North Carolina eek out a living in cold mountain. They had an episode where they go get their lumber milled at a neighbor's mill. The mill was homemade in the 1930's and it was using an old truck engine..

I am intrigued at the fact that your blade does not slip off the tires. On a bandsaw, there is a crown on the tires to force the blade to stay centered once it has the right tension. On car tires there is no crown. How does that work ?

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

My kind of rig.
I love it and the down to earth original thought that went into it.
You and your Dad must get a lot of satisfaction from this.
You have my admiration.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

The tires are towed to keep the presure against the back bearings at all times even when it is not in a cutting action. The bearings are holdiong up great and havent hat any problems pulling out of cut either, it feels safe and I wouldn't operate it if I didn't feel that way, I do have only 9 and 3/4 fingers though. ha

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

slick

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

I am always astounded when people do things like this…gives me hope for the world. Human ingenuity is an incredible thing when pointed in the right direction.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Hee Hee! I had to share that one on Face book!

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Great looking mill. Do you use the air pressure in the tires to tension the blade? I did not see any adjustments
in the wheel mounts. The only thing I would add, would be a blade guard over the top section of the blade,
but then, I have been described as an accident looking for a place to happen. Thank you for sharing.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

I really like the way you completed this mill. What a great idea and well executed. Keep us posted on how it works out.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

very cool!

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

That is just way too cool. You guys did a super job on the design and construction as evidenced by the uniform cuts in that nice walnut. I too am curious how you adjust the tension on the blade?

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

its diffucult to see, but the green frame adjusts on one side moving the entire wheel mount tensioning the blade, an aditional way to tweak the tension is by adjusting the tire preasure.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

nice mill Bryan. I been researching designs for months and was checking out commercial units back in the fall. Can afford to buy one so I am definitely building. Wife gave her approval. I live in the York area also and would love to come and check your mill out in person. Is there a way we can meet?

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

very nice setup.

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

A friend and I just acquired a mill similar to yours and we are having a porblem keeping the blade centered on the drive tires. the tires are p145-30-r12 do you have any idea what air pressure we should be using?

Thanks

Jim

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

It's very ingenious. Nice work.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Hi Bryan, nice work! Does the blade find the high spot of the tires and track steady on it? If you increase the federate does the blade have a tendency to move somewhere else on the tire? Do you tension the blade by changing the air pressure in the tires?

Thanks again for sharing!

Roger

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

I'm thinking about building this neat sawmill for the purpose of sawing out the materials for 1200 square feet of redwood hardwood flooring. I have the other tools and the timber, and plenty of time. I also have the some of the necessary parts for the mill.
I've been admiring this mill for some months and will probably begin to gather the parts for construction. One thing I've got to do is buy a welder and maybe a cutting torch and do some learning on that,
Awshoot

 

Homemade Bandsaw Mill

Hi All, Just though I would post some pics of a bandsaw mill my dad and I built out of scrap parts from the junkyard and a few yardsale tires. There was a lot of trial and error and disigning ideas until we settled on this one and it is always a work in progress, but I think we are close as we are getting great results. The motor is a HF 12 or 13 horse (the biggest expendature) and we also use their trailer winch for raising and lowering as well as pullies. The mill is very heavy (prob around 500) but rolls efortlessly on 3 inch angle iron track. There are three heavy duty v wheels on each side so that makes any small dip in the track negligble. Overall it works great, we are using a lenox 1.5inch blade that is 201" long. They run about 42 bucks and we get a lot of sawing out of them. I am anxious to try a timberwolf on it as that is what I use in my shop with great sucess. The guide bearings are bulk lawn mower ones (i think) and are holding up great. The drip kit is just water in a gas tank that gravity feeds with a shutoff valve. We can cut up to about 38-40'' wide. We have a couple logs that we will put that to the test. The motor has plenty of power, we are working on making the drive belt a better setup. The wheel pulley is a welded car rotor that the pulley run in. Some of the pics were taken before we painted it.
in the pic there are some walnut slabs.

Hope you enjoy…thanks

Do you have any photos on how the twin cables on the cutter head tie into the winch? Im building a small bandmill and am still working out the saw lift and cart assembly