Thread: new mobile sawmill, advice and thoughts please

Carl there is a bloke up your way there (might be a bit further north) called Alan - sometimes he is on the forum - maybe he could point you in the right direction.

Cheers

these are the machines i have considered/considering

lucas
peterson
mahoe
turbosaw
rimu

ALL HAVE GOOD AND BAD POINTS

with the petersen you can get power feed . or you could try a bandsaw .

Ecosaw :')

Originally Posted by itsposs

Ecosaw :')

not gunna happen.

worth a giggle What sorta dollars are you going to spend ?

im not made of money but i will spend what it takes to get a decent machine that dose what i want.

Originally Posted by Calm

Carl there is a bloke up your way there (might be a bit further north) called Alan - sometimes he is on the forum - maybe he could point you in the right direction.

Cheers

You a funny man!!!

Carl I reckon you also need to tell folkes you are looking to stay in a fairly fixed location too.

• Me being young, I have no trouble with your first and last points...
• Cutting hardwood - I'd be staying away from a bandsaw because the time spent to learn how to cut properly with one will be down time in production for you. The bandsaw boys on here probably have little prob with our Aussie hardwoods now, but they weren't out cutting in a matter of weeks like you can be on a circular
• All your size requirements would be met with any of the commercial mills on the market
• quality - is totally dependent upon you, not so much machine
• production - an automated mill one would expect better production, but it may not be worth the extra dollars spent on the initial cost

So for me, my vote is with a Lucas, we know the production can be increased greatly by thinking about your setup and making it specific to a stationary set up - just having logs on rails makes a huge handling difference. Depending on what kind of a deal you can make, maybe a turbosaw might be worthwhile looking at? as you'll still keep the Lucas for mobile things.

Personally, I'd be totally happy using Bo for a fixed or mobile operation - just gotta get me a bigger ute

take alook at the farm hub web in the sawmill section but also look at factory hub there s a big bad bandsaw like the one in the blackbut post DOALL BAND SAW - Band Saw - FactoryHub Australia

i wont be buying second hand unless i can get a machine with very few hours (under 100) for a good price.

yer i will be set up probably for a week at a time.

I might be a bandsaw bandit Carl but all the mills you have mentioned have their pros n cons i suppose. You wont find a bandsaw big enough to do 1500 round logs in a hurry. The main reason why i chose what i did was not just because it had full hydraulics, a board return and a computer so that i just stand there and tell it what to do, it was because if i need service and parts in a hurry, my aussie woodmizer agent is only a 40 minute drive up the road. Something that is important to consider when buying any machine. So be sure to ask sales people how efficient he believes parts service and warranty backup is in the product hes trying to sell. Make him put his money where his mouth is

Nifty, in your opinion/experience how long does it take to learn how to cut well on a bandsaw to give regular dependable results nothing like PJT's pine, you know to reduce big operator error issues which would stuff up contracts. I understand operator error happens to some degree all the time, but as we get better at milling the errors become smaller and we can fix 'em without much trouble and so the error isn't "bad"

Does that make sense?

This may well open up a big can of worms Alan but to my reckoning ive owned my woodmizer now for three years now and believe ive only just learnt in the last six months how to bring it all together to be able to run the machine to its full capcity. To get yourself going on a bandsaw its best to learn how to cut a log properly(read the log as i like to put it) to get the most out of it, avoiding shakes, levelling the heart etc. Learn how to cut good timber, thats about 12 months worth of brain teasing. And then comes the next gradual step of learning the relationship between blade and log. How to set up blades for what you are cutting. To eventually get a grasp on that and then start tweeking it to get the most from your machine and maximum volume out in a day. I remember when i first got the machine, Woodmizer give you a full hands on day of instruction. From mill setup to maintenance and cutting logs. I remember at the end of that day saying to myself now what did he say again? But over the last few years bits and pieces come back to you and help you to explore the challenges that come up with being a sawyer. Anyone else out there told their bank manager that they are a sawyer and got the lost puppy look from them? Geez ican talk too much sometimes

Carl,
I thought you were on the right track when you put up plans for a more stationary setup. If most of your work is cutting stock and orders I would concentrate on a good fixed mill.
It sounds like you are looking for a more comfortable operation so set yourself up on site and bring the logs to the mill like everyone else eventually ends up doing. Put up a shed and a shingle. Keep stock for customers etc.
There's no money in running around all over the countryside doing a few logs here and a few logs there.
If you do decide you need to move the mill around don't get a bandsaw as they don't travel well and some days you won't come home with a cheque.

cheers
Stopper