Swingblade SAWMILL Build Ep.7 - Height Adjustment, Upright Supports

I'm building a circular sawmill from scratch. The function of the mill is in its name "Swingblade" - the blade swings 90 degrees making it possible to cut both ways while moving the carriage up and down the log resulting in dimensional lumber in one pass. I built a chainsaw mill ten years ago and milled lumber that I used for my cabin / sauna house project. Then I built a bandsaw mill five years ago and used the cut lumber to build a partition in my barn I currently call my workshop. Both of them worked great, bandsaw mill was faster than chainsaw mill for sure. But I think I can make an even faster mill and swingblade sawmill in my opinion is just what I'm looking for. There are different types of swingblade sawmills, one type utilizes a railway system where the saw carriage rides on rails so both rails are in the way when loading the logs. I want to build a beam-type mill where the saw carriage is suspended on a beam over the log that sits on a couple of wedges so it doesn't roll off while cutting. There will be no need to clamp the log down. Cut depth and width adjustments are all going to be made on the sawmill beam end frames. And to top it off - it will basically be a portable sawmill due to its build properties but I think it's only going to sit in my yard regardless of the portability.

In this video I'm fabricating the height adjustment system. This consists of a generic 1T/2000lbs hand winch with steel cable. I'm modifying the drum so it can crank a roller chain. Using a chain is more accurate than using just the steel cable. I'm also making a mount for the bottom sprocket mounts for the height adjustment chain. The beam gets another upright to slide on. Uprights get diagonal supports. The log taper adjustment winch gets a mount. This will not be modified and will have the steel cable on it since it will only be marginally cranked whilst the log is heavily tapered. I also received the beam material today so hopefully we can soon build the actual 6+m beam and the sawmill will take it's actual shape.

I'm gonna try and use basic tools like angle grinder as much as possible (except lathe) so I'm gonna enjoy this project even more. I hope you will too!

This sawmill build is based on www.turbosawmill.com "Manual Mill" design and it is patent pending.

Swingblade sawmill build series:    • Swingblade Sawmill Build  
My other videos: https://www.youtube.com/DonnDIY/videos
Support me on:   / donndiy   Follow me on:   / donndiy  

#donndiy #homemade #sawmill

Welding equipment borrowed from Spetselektroodi AS, Estonia:
Fronius TransSteel 2700 welder
Optrel Crystal 2.0 Welding Helmet
Hypertherm Powermax 45 XP plasma cutter