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Can't say much about mills but I do know alder makes poor building lumber. Cut up some fir instead, alder will be nothing but trouble.
I built my band saw mill last year. 20' track w/ a 18hp and trailer tires. I can stuff a 3' diameter x 18' log in it. It gets to be a lot of work to push through the log so I'm planning on automating it with a gate opener. I shopped the prices on everything and ended up getting most stuff offline and it ran me $1400 to build it. x2 on the equipment, moving those logs is no joke.
Ah a sawmill thread...I have owned a chainsaw mill and now I own the harbor freight band saw mill. The band saw outcuts the chainsaw mill 10-1. So far the harbor freight mill has exceeded my expectations. There is a big learning curve but once all the kinks are worked out this mill will cut superb lumber. Looking at comparable mills I think the HF mill is the best bang for the buck. The biggest weakness IMO is the two piece track and getting that perfect for straight lumber. I also built an extension so I can mill up to 15' but I'm now in the process for building a new one piece track out of 21' 4"x3" steel angle. Wish I would have just done this from the start instead of building and third piece extension.I think the woodland mills have a very similar model to the HF and are probably built by the same manufacturer but cost more. Below is a link to a thread dedicated to the HF mill and there is a ton of good advice. The people posting on this site have done some really neat things with their HF mills and this thread was what finalized my decision to buy the mill. There was a coupon offered that brought the mill down to $1,799 and it came to just over $2,000 with shipping and tax for me.http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f26/harbor-freight-tools-band-mill-7801/One other item is to get good blades for the mill. Cooks makes blades just for the HF mill and they are really reasonable at around $15 a blade.http://store.cookssaw.com/A piece of equipment is a must when moving logs around for milling.
Quote from: trapp01 on May 31, 2017, 01:18:52 PMI built my band saw mill last year. 20' track w/ a 18hp and trailer tires. I can stuff a 3' diameter x 18' log in it. It gets to be a lot of work to push through the log so I'm planning on automating it with a gate opener. I shopped the prices on everything and ended up getting most stuff offline and it ran me $1400 to build it. x2 on the equipment, moving those logs is no joke.Do you have any pictures of your mill? I will be building my own in a few years.
rig it up next to a spar pole and go old fashioned. Get a donkey and a few extra block and tackles.
I helped build a 8x8 square Oak timber/log cabin. We each had draft horse to skid the 20' oak logs big enough to cut 8x8x20' timbers. Pulled them on a bank along side the trailer and with a couple of peaveys rolled them on a couple timbers out on to the trailer. When we got to the mill we rolled them one at a time too the waiting deck and loaded them on to the saw carriage. When they came off the saw we slid them onto the empty trailer. Fun times the cabin owner provided horse-cock sandwiches cold beans and peaches for lunch. Pass the big can of beans and peaches around and one big spoon for all of us to eat with. When the cabin was up he killed a goat and we had a neighborhood goat roast with tortillas and beans. Fun times.
Mobile Dimension are great mills. More chip/wood waste and slower than bandsaw maybe but I feel a much more reliable machine. A rock or nail doenst cost you huge $ and ruin your day. Simply pop another tooth in or a quick sharpen and back to work. Still have one for sale if anyone needs it? Extended track and on trailer.
He told me he hoped close to 3k but 2500 would probably do it, he has funeral costs and taxes due. Its like this one but has extended track and not as nice.