Thread: First go at making a beam/mini mill

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Geese Bob -you're a bit tricky aren't ya mate? All your stuff looks straight off the factory line!! Good onya

Thanks Sidgi, the "full carriage" (8 wheeler version) is just about ready to come of the production line , I'll be making the teflon bearings for it maybe tonight.

Onya Bob,
Us old pharts who like making things say HOORAY!!

(I'll include Weisy as an honorary old phart as he likes making things too)

Originally Posted by echnidna

Onya Bob,
Us old pharts who like making things say HOORAY!!

(I'll include Weisy as an honorary old phart as he likes making things too)

I have some concern about Carl in that he won't make it to being an old phart

you see im here for a good time not a long time.

but i wouldnt mind being here for a good time and a long time.

but i do like making things

Remember this?


Well here is the 3/4 made carriage


Top view


Side view, The whole carriage can expand to fit different side planks/beams.


Underneath view so that it can sit on top of another beam.


And one for luck.


Right now I'm finishing making the teflon bearings for the bottom 4 wheels of the carriage. Even without the bearings it runs fairly smoothly.

Cheers

In these you can see the perspex cover.
Also otice I modded the bar twist mechanism - using a steel block instead of just bolts to twist the bar (if needed).







The Perspex cover will eventually vibrate to bits but for the moment I can see what's going on underneath. Eventually I'll replace with an ally or galv steel cover.

Cheers

Hi Bob,
The coupling nuts you have used to mount the saw with, did you make them or buy them?

They look a bit longer than what I have been able to buy.

Originally Posted by echnidna

Hi Bob,
The coupling nuts you have used to mount the saw with, did you make them or buy them?

They look a bit longer than what I have been able to buy.

Yes I made them from hex bar - they're 30 mm long. I'd like them shorter but there needs to be a certain amount of "thread purchase" on both sides for them to work.

Well I had a short period of time this afternoon where I could nip down to the milling yard (12 miles away) to try the mini-mill out.

The main purpose of the mini-mill is to break up dry slabs so I can resaw the lumber on my bandsaw. I had a small slightly twisted slab of 3" thick red gum that I was going to cut up for firewood that I thought I would try it out with.

Here you can also see the grey T-shaped rail I made for it. The rail is made from two pieces of 3m long, 75 x 38 mm RHS (1.5 mm thick) welded together into a T.



Back view


The basic idea is like any mini mill, clamp the rail onto the slab and then slide the mill and saw in one piece and onto the rail and . ., start saw and . . cut.

Because the mill and saw are firmly held down the saw can cut either way - ie using top OR bottom part of the bar.

The disadvantage of cutting with the bottom of the bar is because the chain is going up during that cut, the majority of the saw dust ends up spraying into the air over the rail, and if there is a breeze, the operator.

The advantage of cutting with the top of the bar has the chain going down during the cut so the majority of the saw dust ends up on the ground and not on the rail or the operator. However, the chain still throws enough chips back onto the operator to be a nuisance but a small guard should fix this. I thought there might be more vibration cutting with the top of the bar as the saw would tend to lift the mill and rail off the log but that did not happened - maybe it will with a longer slab. I was also using standard chain so a rip chain will help as well.

This was a normal cut, you can see not much sawdust ended up on the rail, but of course it was a very narrow cut.


I lost one bolt and one nut - they just weren't tight enough, and I need to get myself some ball ended hex keys so I can make adjustments without having to take the perspex cover off.
Anyway, they hook very happy with each other


Just to finish of a pic of my van with my minimal milling kit I carry between the yard and home. When I go bush I carry a lot more stuff including my log rails on the roofrack.

where do u get teh long bar bolts from?

Originally Posted by weisyboy

where do u get teh long bar bolts from?

I make mine from some scrap hex bar I found in the scraps bin at work.

I have seen them for sale at specialized fastener stores but the longest I have seen are 25mm - mine are 30 mm.

We have a little gem of a fastener store about 4 km from work - They have a small ware house full of almost everything (stainless, tensile, extra big, small, long etc). You ask - they find, and they just seem to make up the prices as they go along. Sometimes you get a whole ziplock bag of stuff for $2 , other times you pay $5 for a couple of bolts. I never argue with them, their stuff is always quality and you get real advice. I get all my tensile stuff there.

Originally Posted by BobL

We have a little gem of a fastener store about 4 km from work - They have a small ware house full of almost everything (stainless, tensile, extra big, small, long etc). You ask - they find, and they just seem to make up the prices as they go along. Sometimes you get a whole ziplock bag of stuff for $2 , other times you pay $5 for a couple of bolts. I never argue with them, their stuff is always quality and you get real advice. I get all my tensile stuff there.

Bob if we weren't on opposite sides of the country I'd almost swear that you were talking about the nuts and bolts shop just around the corner from me !

Almost 3 years ago I made this mini-rail-mill to break up my slabs.



This method of cutting up the slabs works OK while the slabs are maneuverable and short enough to clamp down to my portable work table but what happens when the slabs are longer than the table ? I can of course just clamp the rail the slab but then the clamp will interfere with the mill and I won't be able to complete the cut.

What I want to be able to do is cut the slab with the CS mill and then perch the slab just off the side of the log and slice off timber without tek screwing a guide board onto the slab.

So here is what I came up with.

I didn't have a slab at home to demonstrate this so I just demonstrate it with a piece of 4 x 2"

At one end the rail can sit flush with the end of the slab and use a conventional clamp like this. The rail overhang is just enough for the mill to perch on so the saw can be started.


At the other end is a custom clamp that can be easily repositioned to cope with different length slabs.


My next problem is what happens when the slab is longer than the rail ?
So I am in the process of making a longer rail or maybe another that joins to this one.

Hi Bob, dunno if it's just me but those last pics aren't there


Pete