First go at making a beam/mini mill

**BobL** · 14th April 2009, 04:44 PM

It's still been too warm to mill so I thought I'd start a new project - something I've had in my plans book for some time. This is one half of a rail or beam mill that can be used immediately as a mini mill. My main aim here is to make something that I can use to break up slabs into boards or beams but I may also use it to make cants so that I do not need to roll the log. I also thought I should show you what it looks like when I weld it up - warts and all - instead of the glossy job done by my BIL. Don't worry - even though it looks dodgy, it's plenty strong enough for what I want to use it for. Except for the wheels which I turned on the metal lathe at work everything else has been done in my shed - nothing fancy $99 stick welder, budget $30 angle grinder, and heavy duty drill press.

The design is based on a whole lot of ideas snaffled from here and there although I think my bar tilt correction mechanism may be an original idea - I never can tell because I look at so many designs. The frame is basically 25 x 5 mm angle iron which I did pay money for. The chunky metal blocks come from a bent heavy duty tow bar I picked up from the kerbside pickup. The rests is from the scrap bin at work.

The base is designed to run on any flat board that is at least 25 mm thick and from 75 to 140mm wide. Here is a view from the top.

The two nuts sitting atop the long slots, and the bolt at the back can be undone so the back wheel section slides out to accommodate wider boards

The brass wheels turn on 1/4" bolts and have 90º Vees cut into the rolling face. This stops the mill moving sideways and up and down. I'm trying without bearings to start with as it runs free and smooth but let's wait and see what sawdust will do.

The angle of the bar away from the vertical can be change by loosening all the allen bolts and the bolt atop the rear metal block then moving the bar to the desired position - usually vertical - this can be checked with a digital angle finder. The movement os very smooth allowing for fine tuning of the bar tilt angle.

The extent of the movement/correction possible is shown here.

Currently I have a basic bar clamp to hold the CS but there are a lot more mods/extras to be added yet including a design that connects direct to the bar bolts like otehr mills already out there.

Here is a little mod I added to enable the mill to sit very squarely on the beam.

It's very easy to get 3 wheels to sit in the one plane and I was toying around with just using 3 but then I decided to use 4! This is much trickier and so I came up with a little adjuster that varies the height of the 4th wheel to become part of the same plane as the other 3 wheels and stops the mill from rocking.

The allen bolts that some in from the top are connected to the 1/4" bolt used as the wheel axle because the cam like brass piece has a threaded hole so the allen bolt can purchase on it. By turning the small nuts on the allen bolts (they look like locking nuts) the nuts moves the wheel up or down - This works really well.

Will keep updating this as I add things to it!

**dai sensei** · 14th April 2009, 08:13 PM

Well done Bob

This hobby of yours is heading almost full time

**BobL** · 14th April 2009, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Well done Bob

This hobby of yours is heading almost full time

Yeah - it's got a bit of a mind of it's own . . . . .

**echnidna** · 14th April 2009, 10:31 PM

Looking good Bob. You can buy v bearings if the brass wheels don't work out, though I reckon they will do a lot of work

**BobL** · 14th April 2009, 10:35 PM

Originally Posted by echnidna

Looking good Bob. You can buy v bearings if the brass wheels don't work out, though I reckon they will do a lot of work

Thanks Bob. That's very handy to know. I turned up some black polyethylene wheels last week and although they were very slippery but they just felt too soft. I was going to turn steel wheels and insert regular bearings but this bit of brass rod stared at me and . . . . said "you wheel want me" . . . .and , . . I just love turning brass so that was it

**BobL** · 14th April 2009, 10:44 PM

I drew this up for the other site so I might as well show it here. The eventual plan is to use 8 wheels and a double beam (like the Wombat mill) but in a different configuration (T beam profile) like this.

The reason for this is I want to be able to clamp the T-beam direct onto a log/slab.

**echnidna** · 14th April 2009, 11:51 PM

I considered a t beam configuration but felt that there was likely to be far less weld distortion with a square/rectangular shaped beam.

**BobL** · 15th April 2009, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by echnidna

I considered a t beam configuration but felt that there was likely to be far less weld distortion with a square/rectangular shaped beam.

I've discussed this with BIL and he said he will weld the beam up for me so it stays straight - he said if he tacks and welds it in a certain sequence he can keep it dead straight. He is like a magician with a MIG/TIG welder, an oxy, clamps, a couple of come-alongs, and a bucket of wet rags. He curves and stretches steel and ally plate in 3D like it is rubber sheet. In the opposite way I have seen him straighten stuff out that others would have long given up on. One day I turned up at his workshop and he was straightening a twisted and flattened metal cabinet using the hydraulic stability feet attached to the hiab on a 20 ton truck. By the time he had finished it was like new.

**hazard** · 15th April 2009, 09:02 AM

Simply BRILLIANT!!! Bob. How will the beam be fixed to the log? Hazard

**Arthur Dyason** · 15th April 2009, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by BobL

I drew this up for the other site so I might as well show it here. The eventual plan is to use 8 wheels and a double beam (like the Wombat mill) but in a different configuration (T beam profile) like this.

The reason for this is I want to be able to clamp the T-beam direct onto a log/slab.

BobL

have you thought of a jig so you can mount a ripsaw or skillsaw to the rail as an option to the chainsaw. If the slab is only a few inchs thick it would work well. If you made the jig for handtools you could also have a router attached or drill for keeping holes in line.

Just an extra product possibility.

**BobL** · 15th April 2009, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by hazard

Simply BRILLIANT!!! Bob. How will the beam be fixed to the log? Hazard

Thanks. I mainly want to use this to break up slabs (see below) so I haven't thought too much about this for logs.

Anyway - some ideas for connection to slabs and logs shown below.

**BobL** · 15th April 2009, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Arthur Dyason

BobL

have you thought of a jig so you can mount a ripsaw or skillsaw to the rail as an option to the chainsaw. If the slab is only a few inchs thick it would work well. If you made the jig for handtools you could also have a router attached or drill for keeping holes in line.

Just an extra product possibility.

Do you mean a hand held electric circular?

**Arthur Dyason** · 15th April 2009, 11:12 AM

BobL

electric hand tools.

if you mount a router you are then looking at a meansto dress your slab.

If you also have an accessory in the form of side moving end clamping you have an acurate way of dressing the whole slab far cheaper than the commercial units available.

Your single rail, clamping on the ends would give just as good a finish but at a fraction of the price but having the ability to use a chainsaw for the initial slab.

**BobL** · 15th April 2009, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Arthur Dyason

BobL

electric hand tools.

if you mount a router you are then looking at a meansto dress your slab.

If you also have an accessory in the form of side moving end clamping you have an acurate way of dressing the whole slab far cheaper than the commercial units available.

Your single rail, clamping on the ends would give just as good a finish but at a fraction of the price but having the ability to use a chainsaw for the initial slab.

I have thought of using an electric saw and have experimented with my big Makita electric hand held, using it to rip dry red gum slabs up to 2" thick and about 1.8 m long. After about 2 such cuts the saw gets very hot - I mean like it feels like it's going to melt! I don't think electric saws are designed to be used for extended ripping. I daren't try this in 3" slabs and it won't cut 4" anyway so I will have to use a CS for those.

In terms of dressing slabs, I have a router mill but it only does 900 x 1200 mm and I am in the process of doing up a 2.4 m x 1.2 m wide door sander (it uses a 6" belt) but for slabs longer than this I will have to use something else.

**Arthur Dyason** · 15th April 2009, 11:53 AM

BobL

did you use a crosscut or ripping saw blade. makes a big difference in how the saw will work including heating up. Might need to reduce the number of tips on the saw. Big advantage is the very low kerf.

For dressing your wide boards/slabs mount your beam on smaller beams at 90 degrees with runners you will be able to move the beam freely across the slab. Sander is good but if you need to take a lot of material out to get the flat finish it might be too much for the sander.

You could always mount the sander on your beam instead of the CS.

Just extra options. If you already have a beam system which works why have additional equipment when a mod or jig attachment changes what you can do with it?

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