DIY portable sawmill. DIY band sawmill

Not everyone can afford the purchase of a ready-made sawmill, especially since it will only pay off with constant use (read commercial use). Is it possible to make a sawmill with your own hands? What difficulties will a do-it-yourselfer face if he decides to cut raw logs into industrial wood on his own?

Homemade band sawmill

Let’s make a reservation right away – making a band sawmill yourself is very difficult. It’s not so much about the components, extensive turning and welding work, the need to sharpen and route the saw in a special way, but about the well-functioning performance of the entire complex.

It is necessary to ensure loading and stability of movement of up to 300 kg of one log, adjustment of cutting thickness, and most importantly, safety precautions. But if the availability of free wood wins, we make a band sawmill with our own hands.

Let us explain the principle of tape cutting with an example: take two spools of thread, stretch a threaded thin tape between them. By forcibly rotating the tape, we cut the log, the distance between the tapes is the maximum size of the beam. Band saws are convenient for cutting boards.

We start with choosing a production area or premises - at least 3x6 m, verified. Second in importance are the metal wheels of the cart and band saw, you need to find it or buy it. Order the frame of the belt mechanism with wheels, or it is better to buy a ready-made one. Self-production requires skills and a lot of high-precision tooling.

View 1: 1 - stand; 2 - roller; 3 - plate; 4 - screw; 5 - chain; 6 — guide lug; 7 — movable comb; 8 - screw; 9 - fixed comb; 10 - remote control.
View 2: 1 - pulley for starting the engine (if a three-phase motor is connected to a single-phase network); 2 - engine; 3 - pulley; 4 - shaft; 5 — housing with bearing; 6 - base; 7 - flywheel; 8 - finger; 9 — connecting rod; 10 - saw; 11 — M14x2 screw; 12 — roller; 13 — guide angle; 14 - stand; 15 — steering wheel; 16 — bushing; 17 — asterisk; 18 — nut M14x2; 19 — lock nut; 20 is an asterisk.

We install guides - any strong, flat metal: I-beam, channel, corner, under them, after 0.5 m, supports or anchors for stability. The distance between the guides is the diameter of the largest log with a margin of about 0.7 m. Maintaining the geometry, we weld everything together. We attach wheels, a belt mechanism frame, and an electric motor through a pulley to the cart.

Consider a mechanism for changing the horizontal movement of the saw relative to the log. Moving the cart relative to the fixed log, we cut off a horizontal layer of wood - we make boards.

Disc sawmills have received the greatest handicraft use due to their versatility and ease of manufacture. We will make a circular sawmill with our own hands. The most important thing is that we will need a circular saw - a disc larger than 500 mm (the larger the better). The propulsion device is usually an electric motor through a pulley that increases the speed.

1 — main sleeper (steel pipe 80x80x3, 5 pcs); 2 — lining (steel sheet, 40x10x1.22 pcs.); 3 — guide blade (steel channel No. 8, L1750, 4 pcs.); 4 - trolley (telpher carriage); 5 — bottom bracket (steel channel No. 18, 2 pcs); 6 - plate - base (stylish sheet s5); 7 — M20 bolt) (4 pcs.); 8 — Grover washer (4 pcs.); 9 — nut M20 (4 pcs.); 10 — three-phase asynchronous electric motor (220 V, 5 kW, 930 rpm); 11 — upper bracket (steel angle 45×45); 12 — circular saw blade; 13 — protective casing (steel sheet s2); 14 — steel pin (8 pcs.); 15 — circular saw hub (St5); 16 — thrust handle ( water and gas pipe 3/4″); 17 — cut-off slab; 18 — thrust gusset (steel sheet s5); 19 — comb (steel angle 45×45, L400); 20 - log; 21 — M30 bolt; 22- split washer; 23 — retaining washer (steel sheet sЗ); 24 — thrust crossbar (steel angle 45×45); 25 — shortened sleeper (steel pipe 80x40x3, 6 pcs.); 26 — overlay for lengthening the blade (steel sheet 250x180x10, 2 pcs.).

A welded frame is prepared, a metal (less often wooden) plate with a slot for the disk is placed on the frame. The gaps between the disk and the plate are minimal. The saw shaft is attached to the plate from below on bearings and a pulley. The electric motor pulley and the saw are connected by belts (reinsurance when the saw jams) - a homemade circular sawmill can work!

one of the homemade options disk sawmill

To tension the belt, use the weight of the engine with the addition of weights. Make the supporting platform of the electric motor movable coaxially with the saw shaft, deflecting under weight in the opposite direction. The wheel of a working tractor with a drive to a saw pulley without belts is often used as a propulsion device.

The principles of cutting are the same as in strip cutting - we feed the log to cutting disc. After a disc cut, the surface of the lumber is of higher quality due to the speed of processing. Disc sawmills come in vertical and horizontal types - they are easier to use in mobile installations.


Tire sawmill

We need to start by understanding what and how much we will cut. If you need to cut 100 - 200 rafters for a house being built from free logs, then 400 boards, it is better to use a hand-held professional chainsaw. Let's make a homemade sawmill from a chainsaw, an inexpensive, simple and effective method.

drawing of a simple sawmill using a chainsaw (download full drawing)

You will need any smooth metallic profile, welding and grinder. We start with the maximum length of the log - practically about 4 m. For this length you need to find a channel or I-beam, you can weld it from pieces with reinforcement - the main thing is that the resulting profile is even. We are starting to make our autonomous sawmill based on a chainsaw.

The design is a powerful profile at a working height - above the waist, along which a fixed chainsaw moves in a cart.

The height is determined by ergonomics; a prolonged knee-elbow position is not useful. A log is placed parallel to the main profile on a support frame, a running chainsaw moves along the log and makes the necessary trimming.

A few more details about the features. The main element is the main profile, which ensures the geometrically correct dimensions of the lumber, must be sufficiently strong and rigid, if the channel is at least 200. The profile rests on 3 or more supports connected to the support frame on which the log rests.

If you decide to make a chain sawmill with your own hands, be sure to look at the LOGOSOL sawmills. Drawings and documentation can be downloaded from the website and used as the basis for your homemade product.

The main errors during sawing are formed when the trolley with the chainsaw oscillates, so the trolley moves along the profile using at least four rigidly pressed metal wheels; it is necessary to provide a manual drive. The simplest is a well crank with a drive wheel along the main profile.

To install a heavy log, slopes are usually installed along which it is convenient to push the log successively from side to side onto the support frame, wedging it on the frame.


The most difficult thing is the adjustment mechanism for the thickness of the product. The simplest method is to install screw or any rigidly fixed jacks along the edges of a support frame movable in a vertical plane. We adjust the jacks - we adjust the thickness of the product. An example of the construction of a mobile tire sawmill based on a chainsaw can be seen in the photo.

Cutting wood can be done by one person: holding the chainsaw handle and adjusting the gas, we feed with the other hand.

Conclusion

A few thoughts on the feasibility of making a sawmill. Tested by time and practice - self-production makes sense with free materials. If you calculate the labor costs and materials, and the possible benefits, you will understand for yourself. The worst thing about making it yourself is that few people pay attention to safety precautions. This moment definitely needs to be thought through! Trouble-free operation and high-quality wood.

When there is a need to process a large volume of boards and wood, the best option is to use a sawmill created by yourself. Many are sure that it is worth buying a ready-made device, but making it yourself is not at all difficult. in this article we will talk about how to make a homemade sawmill. Photos of drawings are available in large quantities on the Internet.

How to make a homemade sawmill

Before you begin this process, you need to decide on the amount of work to be done, as well as the wood. After this you need to look for drawings homemade sawmill on the Internet and decide on the type of device to successfully achieve your goal. When assembling a device with your own hands, the main attention should be paid to safety issues, since such a device is subject to increased risk.

A homemade sawmill resembles the rotation of two reels with a thread stretched between them. This thread is the saw, and the distance from one spool to the other is the optimal size of the log. A homemade sawmill, the creation video of which is presented below, makes it possible to:

  • adjust logs to one shape and size
  • carry out cutting of the workpiece according to a specific pattern after precise adjustments of the equipment.

However, cutting often results in minor flaws that cannot be eliminated. For this reason, the wood must be additionally processed manually.

A homemade sawmill works like this:

  • the workpiece is firmly fixed to the platform and does not move
  • the movement of the mobile cart ensures cutting of wood
  • the saw is positioned horizontally
  • to obtain a specific size of boards, you must initially set the appropriate parameters
  • The saw blade is a saw, so it must be properly tensioned.

Homemade sawmill, video

Place for a homemade sawmill

Since a homemade sawmill is a large-sized and quite dangerous device, before making homemade sawmills with your own hands (you can watch a video of their creation on our website), you need to think carefully and decide in which place you will use such a device.

A barn or garage, as well as any utility room with a concrete base, are best suited for this purpose. The sawmill room must have good system ventilation. It should not be cramped and well lit.

It is fashionable to place the sawmill on the street, but it is necessary to build a canopy for it. If you are planning to create a sawmill with an electric motor, then you need to pay special attention to the installation of wiring and all switches and machines.

When assembling the unit with your own hands, pay special attention to its cutting and moving parts. They are the most dangerous parts.

When working with four roller sawmill frames, it is necessary to cut logs no shorter than 3 meters. If there is a need to process shorter workpieces, the sawmill must be equipped with additional mechanisms. To work with workpieces less than 1.5 m, you need to use special eight-roller frames. Additional safety is guaranteed by the brake of the sawmill, which allows it to be braked without recoil.

Upon completion of assembly and before use, you must carefully check all fasteners and components, as well as the stability of the entire structure. Only after this can you start the device.

How to make the right choice

During the selection process ideal option woodworking machine, you need to pay attention to the most basic advantage of band saws in comparison with multi-rip saws disk machines, this advantage lies in the low cutting height.

The cut size of a circular sawmill often ranges from 5-6.2 mm. The tire sawmill makes an even larger cut. For example, you can look at the cutting map of a thin log with a cross-section of 180 mm and a material with a cross-section of 124x35, it turns out that the total cutting area will be 4377 mm2. But if the log is 90x90, then 17.2% of the wood will become sawdust. If you process 900 m3 or more every month, then such wood loss will not be noticeable, because the volumes processed compensate for the loss. But if production volumes are not large, then it is necessary to use technologies that are characterized by low productivity, but make it possible to saw workpieces with minimal losses. Therefore, for small production volumes it is better to use band sawmills, but not tire sawmills.

When using a band saw, the cut size will be from 2.2 to 2.5 mm. When harvesting with a cross-section of 180 mm for the production of lumber with a cross-section of 124x35, the cutting area is 1765 mm2. In this case, only 6.9% of the wood will turn into sawdust.

Tire devices that produce a wide cut are used, most often, by private owners or small farms to process minimal volumes of raw materials, for which the yield of lumber is not important.

Wood remains the favorite material in construction, in the manufacture of utensils for the home and household, as well as a wide variety of decorative items, furniture, etc., just as hundreds of years ago. And the owner, who has the skills to work with equipment and skilled hands, can make a sawmill with his own hands.

This will make it possible to prepare boards and other lumber on site according to your own needs, the right size and type, and it will cost much less than buying finished products. This is especially true when it is necessary to process a large number of boards and other lumber.

Although it is generally accepted that the best option would be to purchase a ready-made sawmill, making one yourself is also possible and affordable if you have the desire and minimal working skills. Based on this, it is worth understanding the question of how to make a sawmill on your own so that it is reliable, convenient, safe and meets the requirements for these specific purposes.

When setting yourself the task of making a sawmill with your own hands, you should first of all decide on the volume of work for which this unit is planned to be used, as well as the type and geometry of wood (raw materials). Based on these parameters, you can already choose the type of sawmill that is best suited for solving the tasks.

When designing and manufacturing a mini-sawmill with your own hands, maximum attention should be paid to safety - any equipment of this class is high-risk equipment and requires a very careful attitude.

The presence of a sawmill is invaluable in the household of a craftsman who often works with wood, because it will help solve such non-trivial problems self made questions like:

  • manufacture significant number products of the same size and shape;
  • cut logs according to a predetermined pattern.

In industrial sawmills, logs are processed according to two standard schemes:

  1. Sawing a stationary log with a cutting element mounted on a mobile trolley;
  2. The log is pushed (or pulled) along rollers or rollers through a stationary cutting block.

When making your own sawmill, both of these schemes are used, and its specific type is selected depending on the structure planned for assembly.

If we talk about the types of sawmills, the main ones are corner, strip, and chain. Additionally, when it comes to homemade units, it is worth highlighting devices using a chainsaw as a basis. Each of these types has a number of characteristics and design differences from others, and therefore requires separate consideration.

Important! To produce a high-quality, reliable, safe and efficient unit on our own It is imperative not only to carefully select the type, design, material and parts, but also to work out and prepare drawings that must be strictly followed.

Band sawmill

The general principle of operation of a band sawmill is that a trolley with a band saw blade moves along a log rigidly fixed on a stationary platform, cutting it. The location of the sawing part of the tape is horizontal, and the tape itself is well tensioned. By adjusting the height of the band saw, the size (thickness) of the sawn part of the log (board, beam, etc.) is calibrated. Such a device can usually work with logs weighing up to 300 kg.

Assembling a sawmill of this type on your own is quite difficult, since achieving coherence in the operation of all elements of the unit is a difficult task to achieve. In addition, to install the structure, it is necessary to select special components, tools and devices, and draw up fairly complex drawings, taking into account all structural elements.

Assembling the complex must begin by preparing a flat area of ​​suitable size and compacting its surface (if it does not have a hard surface). The next stage of work will be the assembly of the frame of the unit, which should begin with the manufacture and installation of rails for the trolley. You can use a corner with the shelf facing up as a rail.

Sleepers made of a pipe, channel or angle are welded between two rails to securely fasten them to each other. A movable log fastener is attached to the sleepers, which should securely secure wood of any diameter (within the limits planned for processing).

Now it is necessary, according to the prepared drawing, to assemble and install the mobile cart on the rails and check its progress along the entire length of the working area. The circuit will also require wheels (you can use assembled automobile wheels, along with tubes and tires), which are used to tension the band saw. Their installation on the frame is the next stage of installation.

All that remains is to mount the electric motor, connect it via a pulley to the mechanism of the unit and check the operation through a test run.

After checking the operation of the mechanisms and parts, you can install the tension band of the saw, make adjustments and test run the sawmill.

Chain type installation

The operating principle of a do-it-yourself bus sawmill is very similar to a band saw, but it uses a chain saw rather than a band saw as the cutting element.

However, it should be noted that its design is much simpler, the installation itself is smaller in size, and a smaller number of parts that require significant adjustment are used - this together makes the bus mini-sawmill easier to manufacture and use independently than a band sawmill.

The beginning of the manufacturing process also begins with the preparation of the working site, on which the metal frame of the future sawmill is installed in such a way as to ensure easy access to it from any side. A frame is assembled from profiled metal, in which technological holes are drilled (the number will depend on the required step). Now you need to mount the frame with stiffeners. As a result, the base of the machine is assembled.

A movable cart is assembled on the frame by installing stops, gaskets, clamps and an electric motor. After checking the functionality of all parts and structural elements, you can install and tension the saw chain and make a test cut, make adjustments and get to work.

Mini corner disc sawmill

A do-it-yourself corner disc sawing unit will be very useful in a home workshop for processing wood into different type lumber. Perhaps this is the most versatile and powerful mini-sawmill - you won’t be able to make a more complex structure with your own hands.

Important! The design of the corner circular sawmill is most optimal specifically for self-production - units of this class have a very high price and are not readily available. In addition, it is multifunctional and can process very large volumes of raw materials.

After preparing the drawings and purchasing all the necessary components and structural elements, you need to prepare, as in previous cases, the installation site. A frame base is assembled on it, the material for which is metal pipes and high-strength guides (the design involves heavy loads, and the material must correspond to them).

Guides for a mobile platform should ideally be made from rails, again due to increased loads. The next stage of assembling the carriage should be characterized by increased attention to maximum compliance with the dimensions according to the drawing.

It is best to use a chain transmission for torque transmission, although if the design is not well thought out, this can lead to increased heating of the transmission mechanism. For safety reasons, all moving parts of the drive must be enclosed or protected by a casing.

Chainsaw as a basis for a sawmill

Most craftsmen who constantly work with wood have a chainsaw. Due to its availability, low cost and simplicity, it is quite easy to make a sawmill from a chainsaw with your own hands. Options for a mini-sawmill, the main element of which is gasoline saw, quite a lot, but they are all distinguished by their simplicity, small size, and mobility (it can be easily moved from place to place).

Important! In the overwhelming majority of cases, individual craftsmen do not need heavy-duty installations and huge volumes of raw material processing. Therefore, from the point of view of ease of assembly, cost, and ease of maintenance, a do-it-yourself sawmill made from a chainsaw is the optimal solution for your own household.

To make a mini sawmill from a chainsaw, you will need the following components:

  • channels;
  • metal corners;
  • rails;
  • chainsaw as the main element.

In a place prepared for work, which needs to be leveled if necessary, a frame is assembled with holes for fasteners and ties made of metal pipes. Fastening is done using bolts. Must be constantly monitored angular dimensions so that exact perpendiculars (right angles) are maintained. Additional stiffening ribs should be provided in the design, which will strengthen the structure.

The basis for the mobile platform is a metal plate with two corners welded on the bottom side. This base is mounted on rollers (preferably bearings). On the top of the plate there should be corners welded to which the chainsaw will be attached.

The last stage is the installation of the structure to securely fasten the log when cutting it.

As practice shows, even if you do not have very good skills in construction and mechanics, making a sawmill with your own hands is not particularly difficult. The main thing is attentiveness, strict adherence to the data indicated in the drawing and “straight hands”. During operation, it is also necessary to observe safety precautions, since the equipment of this type is classified as high risk.

Wood sawing machine (saw bench) – quite complex special production equipment, requiring strict adherence to safety measures during operation. In the conditions of the Russian Federation, your own sawmill can significantly reduce the cost of wood construction and/or become a source of stable income. The purpose of this publication is to help the reader understand how to make a sawmill with your own hands, choose a suitable design for yourself and avoid insurmountable difficulties in its manufacture.

When is it needed?

Interest in the “do-it-yourself sawmill” actually came to RuNet from the EU. There, at a certain period of time (which has not yet completely ended), independent sawing of round timber into measured lumber turned out to be profitable no matter what. In the Russian Federation the situation is significantly different. First, the “scissors” of prices for wild logs and timber in Russia have already been “divorced” a lot. Second, primary wood processing is a particularly dangerous job, just like logging. It is not realistic for a small individual entrepreneur to open a sawmill legally - Russian legislation on labor protection in this regard is draconian.

The third point is sawdust. There will be a lot of them from the primary processing of wood. You cannot store sawdust (for example, as fuel for a long-burning stove) - it begins to ferment, releasing highly toxic methanol ( methyl alcohol, wood alcohol). Sawmills are required to hand over sawdust for recycling. It’s easier with them “over the hill” - local MDF and fiberboard manufacturers will willingly buy the raw materials they need, maybe even with pick-up. The Russian Federation is not poor in wood and Russian manufacturers of slabs/sheets wood materials“left” parties do not take sawdust. Based on these conditions, it is possible to preliminarily determine cases when making a sawmill yourself in the Russian Federation may make sense:

  • An indispensable condition is if round timber is easily accessible in your area, and the nearest sawmill is far away. Renting a timber truck for Russian distances (meaning idle mileage from the garage) for Russian roads in the outback, per ton-kilometer of cargo is significantly more expensive than in Europe.
  • If the indispensable condition is met, then the first case is independent wooden construction in the event of a chronic shortage Money. Then, independent sawing of round timber into timber will reduce the construction estimate by 2-3 times and up to 5 times, taking into account the costs of manufacturing a sawmill. Resp. The construction period will also lengthen, but when there is no money, there is nothing to choose. With sawdust - do what you want, they will turn out once.
  • The next option is cutting wild logs to order at home, i.e. a foreman on call to the owner's yard. In the Russian Federation, this is probably best option: you can bring a mobile mini-sawmill (see below) to the place of work in a passenger car, so the cost of sawing is acceptable for both parties. Sawdust is the owner’s problem, and a small one, because... They are also thrown out to him on the site once. They don’t give the master a headache, i.e. you can register, for example. Individual entrepreneur as a carpenter and work “in white”.

Design Features

The main feature of the sawmill is that the cut in it is always longitudinal. It is well known how difficult it is to cut wood along the grain. Unlike a circular saw, a sawmill does not deal with measuring boards and beams, but with wild logs in general irregular shape. Therefore, in sawmills, a saw carriage with a working element (the saw itself) moves along the log being cut; Otherwise, it is very difficult to ensure the accuracy and cleanliness of the cut. Large timber processing enterprises also have sawmills for sawing very long logs (up to 30, and in the tropics up to 60-70 m). In them, the carriage is stationary, and the log is moved by a hydraulic system; The centering of the line is ensured by a computer with sensors. But at home, such a solution is unrealistic.

Note: The sawing of logs is always carried out in the direction of convergence of the wood fibers, i.e. from the butt to the top. If you put the carriage in reverse, then any saw (see below) will certainly get stuck in the tree and/or break.

What to cut with?

How affordable, durable, convenient and safe to use a home-made sawmill will be is mainly determined by the design of its working part. Other essential condition– requirements for the productivity of the machine and its operating mode (regularly, occasionally). The third is the resource of the working body and the possibility of replacing it. And finally, the energy supply at the place of work is important: what is more accessible there – electricity or motor fuel? There are also less significant additional conditions, see below.

In sawmills with small and medium productivity (up to 3-5 cubic meters of wood in 6 hours. work shift) the following are applied. types of working bodies:

  • Reciprocating saw bar (old).
  • Saw blade (item 1 in the figure below).
  • Saw band (item 2).
  • Saw chain (item 3).
  • Chain saw bar continuous action(new, item 4).
  • Household chainsaw (item 5).

How to drink?

The orientation of the cutting surface can be horizontal or vertical. Resp. and the cut will be horizontal or vertical, and the sawmill will be horizontal or vertical. Vertical cutting, firstly, reduces material waste, because It is enough to level the log under it only in the horizontal plane. When cutting horizontally, a log needs to be leveled both horizontally and vertically to minimize waste, otherwise too much wood will go into the slab (“hunch”). Secondly, when cutting vertically, the cut (the part of the log being sawed off) does not put pressure on the working part and clings to it much less. Therefore, to saw the same timber vertically, the drive power required is 2-3 times less than horizontally, see the video below:

Video: homemade vertical chain sawmill

But, firstly, the risk of injury with vertical sawmills is much higher than with horizontal ones. Secondly, the transverse feeding of logs under the saw of a vertical sawmill is structurally and technically very complex, and ensuring the maximum permissible sawing accuracy according to specifications of up to 6 mm per 6 m of log length on a homemade vertical sawmill is extremely difficult or even impossible. Therefore, it is better to build a sawmill with your own hands for a horizontal cut.

Structural composition of the sawmill

We’ll talk a little further about the features of a particular saw for a sawmill. First you need to understand the design of the sawing machine as a whole. It consists of:

  1. working body - saw (see above and below);
  2. drive to it from the motor;
  3. saw carriage;
  4. rail track (guide) for it;
  5. carriage (cradle) for logs;
  6. grip holders for him;
  7. a frame that combines all this into a single device and ensures its overall strength and reliability.

Note: one or another structural units sawmills can be made integral with the frame.

Drawings of the sawmill in full structural composition (layout diagram) are given in Fig.:

Its features are, firstly, a frame made of wooden beams. Secondly, a minimum of welding work during assembly. This important point: conducts metal structures during welding; Because of this, it is very problematic to specify the cutting accuracy of a welded sawmill. Thirdly, the carriage rail (item 13 on the right) is made of angle steel, cheaper than a channel; the necessary stability of the track is ensured by rigid fastening of the rails to the frame. As a result, the support shoes of the carriage are pairs of ordinary rolling bearings, and the smoothness and accuracy of its movement are high; trembling of the carriage is the main cause of sawing defects. Another consequence is the carriage feed mechanism without a gear (chain, screw, etc.), which also increases the smoothness of its movement. Finally, in a carriage of this design it is possible to install a drive with any of the saws listed above for horizontal cutting; disc, with a continuous tire and a chainsaw also for a vertical one.

The disadvantage of this machine is the comb log holders. It is impossible to make them from a channel less than 60 mm, as they will not hold the timber. That is, the last unusable slab will be no thinner than 60 mm. Additionally, material waste will increase because it is impossible to align the log vertically in this machine. However, it is not so difficult to get rid of these shortcomings by using a separate carriage for logs of a simple design, see below.

The operation of the cutting thickness setting unit (in the inset) requires some explanation, which in this machine is quite simple, accurate and easy to use. The nuts 5 in the insert are welded to the support plate 4 and locked. After the first cut, the adjusting screws (item 1 in the inset and 11 on the right) rotate synchronously, because they are connected by a chain drive (item 20 on the right). There is no need to loosen the locknuts (item 2 in the inset): they will loosen on their own. When the saw is installed in a new position below the previous one, the locknuts are tightened by hand.

Saw like a saw – longitudinal

A reciprocating saw bar is nothing more than a carpenter's rip saw blade. Its drawing, tooth profiling and wiring diagram are given in Fig. on right. The drive in the sawmill is from a flywheel to a crank mechanism through a slider - a smooth steel rod sliding in a cage with bronze or Babbitt liners (this is exactly what is shown in the figure above with the layout diagram of the sawmill). In former times, craftsmen used carpenter's bow saw blades instead of a saw bar; They also saw along, and you could buy them in almost any tool store. In this case, the tension of the blade during the reverse stroke is ensured by a fairly strong return spring.

The advantage of a reciprocating saw bar is a smooth, clean cut with a width of no more than 3 mm, i.e. low material waste. The resource is very solid, no less than that of a saw blade, see below. But there are also a lot of disadvantages:

  • Low productivity: if the feed of the carriage during the reverse stroke of the saw exceeds 1/3 of the tooth height, i.e. 4 mm, the saw gets stuck.
  • It is impossible to saw a log with a diameter of more than 300-320 mm - the blade immediately gets stuck and wrinkles.
  • Damp, unseasoned wood does not take, it also immediately gets stuck and breaks.
  • Very often gets stuck on knots and strands.
  • If there is insufficient tension on the reverse stroke, the cut sharply worsens - it becomes wide and torn.
  • The same applies to an excessively strong return spring.

In professional forestry, reciprocating saw bars fell out of use by the end of the 19th century, and among amateurs, with the advent of chainsaws in everyday life.

Disk

A saw blade from a circular saw will not fit into a sawmill: it is made of steel of poorer quality than required in this case. When sawing raw logs, the disk material from the circular saw will soon release itself due to heating, the disk will quickly fail or be completely blown apart. That's why saw blade For a sawmill, the pleasure is not cheap. In some sources you can find advice: they say, cut out a round piece from galvanized (!) or duralumin (!!!), attach 2-4 teeth to it, and saw. Judging by the fact that the authors of publications of this kind seem to be alive and not mutilated, they themselves did not do this and have no idea what could come of it.

Disc sawing of wood is widespread in professional woodworking because... allows you to cut several pieces of measured lumber from timber in one pass; For this purpose, angle and multi-disc saw carriages are used (inset at the top left of the figure). However, an industrial circular sawmill is a complex structure, see Fig., which does not work on the “do-it-yourself” topic.

If an amateur gets a sawmill blade (diameter from 600 mm, tooth profile the same as that of a rip saw, see above), he needs to keep in mind the following advantages and disadvantages:

  • Long resource – up to 5000 hours or more; up to 1500-2000 hours between teeth regrinding.
  • Required for sharpening sharpening machine, there is no way to do it manually.
  • The cut is not very even, 3-5 mm wide, i.e. material waste up to 10-12% by volume. A “clean cut” disc, which produces a waste of 2-5%, costs 3-10 times more than a simple one.
  • You can cut without any technical breaks for 6 hours. shift; Maximum performance in this class of devices.
  • High energy consumption, because the disc rubs against the tree both vertically and horizontally in a cut with the side surface of a large area. To obtain the required drive power in kW, multiply the diameter of the log in dm by 1.7.
  • The quality and condition of the sawmill being processed have virtually no effect on the productivity of the sawmill.
  • A disk with a diameter of 800 mm can cut a log with a diameter of up to 350 mm.
  • Discs larger diameter in amateur designs they are very dangerous, because require a high-precision drive to avoid runout.
  • The drive is only electric, because The disk should rotate absolutely smoothly at idle. In the tree he’s already got more than enough tugs.

In general, a DIY circular sawmill is definitely not an option. Let's look at the drawings in Fig. below. The first thing that catches your eye on the left is the carriage on rollers in channel rails. This is not a rail track made of milled profiles: a 1-2 mm misalignment of the rollers when moving the carriage is inevitable. The consequence is a disk misalignment of 6 mm or more. Right there he gets stuck in a tree. Considering the mass of the disk, its rotation speed and moment of inertia, the occurrence of an emergency and extremely traumatic situation is inevitable.

Next, the lower edge of the disk must fit into the groove of the log carriage, otherwise it will not finish cutting it to the end. And so, we sawed off the first top. What's next? In theory, you need several grooves in the carriage, depending on the thickness of the resulting boards. After each cut, either the carriage rises, moves forward and lowers again working position, or the carriage with the log needs to be moved under it in the same way. Can you imagine such a design made at home? No need, your head will hurt a lot.

What if it’s simple? Just move the log on the carriage? No, it's not easy. It must be laid again so that the next cut runs exactly parallel to the previous one. And on the carriage there’s not a stick, there’s a huge, heavy block of wood.

Well, let’s say we have a strong family/staff, we don’t care about moving logs, and the loss of productivity due to this is acceptable. Then look at what is marked in red in the drawing on the right in Fig. Yes, this is a log holder. Without it, it will either roll off the carriage, or tip over when 2-3 blocks are sawed off ( unedged boards in the entire forest for dissolving onto measuring boards). The holder is located in the very middle of the log. You can't cut on it. In total, the most valuable, wide, strong and most evenly drying core block will most likely go to waste, because Due to the repositioning of the log, the thickness will be unacceptably converging on a wedge.

Note: an amateur single-disc sawmill for horizontal sawing is no more convenient or more productive than a vertical one, but its design is much more complex and dangerous.

So, making a circular sawmill with your own hands is an option in one and only case: if you have come up with an improvement to it that is a commercially promising invention and you need to test the idea in hardware in order to apply for a patent. In all other cases, it’s not necessary.

Band saw

The band sawmill is one of the inventions that produce significant results with trivial technical solutions. The reciprocating rip saw has a lot of advantages, and its disadvantages are due most of all to the presence of reverse motion. This means that you need to get rid of it in order to get a continuous saw blade. As a result operational properties band sawmill differ significantly from those of the prototype and machines for similar purposes:

  1. Productivity – up to average, 2-3 cubic meters. m of wood per shift.
  2. Saws both seasoned and raw freshly chopped round timber.
  3. The cleanliness of the cut is as high as that of a rip saw blade, and the material waste is just as low.
  4. The cutting accuracy is as high as that of a circular sawmill, provided that the saw blade tension is uniform and optimal.
  5. It is impossible to saw logs immediately into pieces of measured materials.
  6. Energy consumption per 1 cubic meter m of wood is 1.2-1.5 times lower than that of a circular sawmill.
  7. To avoid self-release of the tape material, technical breaks in work are necessary: ​​after each wash for 5-10 minutes; after sawing 0.5 cu. m (2 logs with a diameter of 0.3 m and 6 m long) – 10-15 minutes; after 2 hours of work – half an hour to an hour; from 6 hour shift to next. the same - at least 2 hours.
  8. The full resource of the working body (belt) is 100-500 hours; re-sharpening is not possible.
  9. The cost of the tape per hour of work is much less than that of a simple saw blade.
  10. The cost of the entire machine is several times less than a disk machine with an angular carriage per cut.
  11. The drive is electric, because The idle speed of the belt needs to be as high as for a disk.

Due to these features, the band sawmill is most widely used in small sawmills. According to most advertisements: “We accept round logs/logs for sawing,” it is band sawmills that work. In Russia, band sawmills are produced in a fairly wide range (Taiga, etc.).

The simplest way to make a rip saw is to roll the blade into a ring and place it on pulleys, pos. 1 on next Fig.. To prevent injury from the non-working branch of the blade, a protective cover is put on the working part. Making a sawmill with a belt without it (item 2) is extremely dangerous!

The second stumbling block for DIYers here is the belt pulleys. The branded ones have a special slightly convex profile of the side surface (working surface). The belt slides off the cylindrical pulley; flanges (edges) do not help. Some craftsmen tilt the entire sawing unit upward by 1-3 degrees. However, as soon as the tension of the tape weakens (which is possible during one cut), the tape will fly off from above; without a protective cover, this is even more dangerous than sliding down.

Smarter craftsmen have found a way out: they put the tape on the wheels of cars and motorcycles with tires, pos. 3 in Fig. and rice at first. Their profile almost exactly matches the required one, and the elasticity of the tightly inflated chambers ensures optimal belt tension, at least enough to cut a whole log. In addition, if thin, high-quality materials are being sawed, then you can get by with a simple friction drive, also pos. 3 fig. on right. The manufacture of the machine is also simplified, because auto-moto wheels are already quite balanced, see video:

Video: DIY band sawmill

Transfer to saw

When sawing raw, untreated logs and knotty/twisty and sticky fine-grained wood, the transmission from the drive to the belt (the main one) is also a stumbling block. The mechanical characteristics of the belt are too soft: the belt is elastic and can slip. Gear gear, on the contrary, is too rigid: for a moment before jamming, the gears give a sharp, strong jerk. In both cases, it is very likely that the tape will get stuck in the tree and become crushed, which immediately creates a dangerous situation.

The best final drive for a band sawmill is a chain drive. It provides idle speed of the belt almost as smooth as a belt one. And when sawing “bad” wood, the chain’s own inertia pulls the tape with small, frequent jerks, and the inhomogeneities of the wood are successfully overcome. The same property of chain transmission is used, for example. in screw wood splitters.

Chain instead of tape

The working body of a chain sawmill is a chain with saw teeth stretched on rollers. Its operational strength, service life and reliability (not prone to getting stuck on wood defects) are several times greater than tapes, and the cost per cut length before wear is lower. The saw chain can be re-sharpened (you need a sharpening machine!) and does not require any technical breaks during the shift. The drive can be energy-independent from a 1-2 cylinder 2-stroke internal combustion engine: the saw chain itself dampens its vibrations. In terms of safety, the chain sawmill is the best in this segment of production equipment.

Disadvantages: firstly, increased energy consumption compared to tape - the chain casing rubs against wood, although not as much as the disk. The second is a wide (4-6 mm or more) rather ragged cut: lumber from a chain sawmill needs sanding (that’s why a surface grinder is not often built into it) or will be sold as a second grade. Consequence: increased material waste, up to 15% by volume. Third, in continuous operation it is necessary to supply coolant (cutting fluid, emulsion) to the saw chain, see fig. The fourth is a long technical break between shifts for self-healing of the chain properties: at least 10 hours. And, finally, the high labor intensity of maintenance: re-sharpening and/or replacement of chain teeth is required every 10-50 hours of work, and fiddling with them - mom, don’t worry!

Due to these circumstances, chain sawmills are used primarily. for primary sawing of timber at stock exchanges and harvesting sites. In the latter case, the energy independence of the machine with an internal combustion engine plays a decisive role: it is brought in by truck or tractor, the wood is unraveled onto the blocks and taken away. In remote regions of the Russian Federation and Canada, wood losses are often more than compensated by savings on round timber transportation by timber trucks. But this approach, of course, does not benefit the forest as a living community. Both from excessive cutting and from clogging with sawdust.

New tire

The continuous saw bar is a cantilever chain saw, i.e. does not require tension at the end farthest from the drive; it also does not require coolant supply. Do you recognize? This is the “blade” of the chainsaw. The use of modern materials and continuous improvement of design has made it possible to create chainsaws that are suitable in all respects for domestic use. A sawmill made from a chainsaw at home is also much easier to make than any other; drawings of a frame with rails and a log holder can be taken, and carriages for a household chainsaw. Its performance qualities and features (except for the resource) will be approx. the same as for a chain sawmill. Changeover from horizontal to vertical cutting is carried out simply by rearranging the carriage. But please note:

  • The service life of the saw motor will be reduced by approx. doubled.
  • The full service life of the “canvas” of the best models will be no more than 20-30 hours, and of cheap ones – 10-12 hours.
  • Every 2-3 hours you will need to re-sharpen, and every 4-6 hours you will need to replace the teeth (if possible for this sample).
  • The total operating time during the day is 2-3 hours.
  • Maintenance break until next shift – from 12 hours.
  • The saw must be designed for both transverse and longitudinal cuts.

The last circumstance, as Comrade Sukhov would say, is a delicate matter. Models from leading manufacturers (Stihl, for example) have both cuts provided by default, but the resource for the longitudinal one is given for normal use: 15 minutes of work, half an hour of rest. It is impossible to withstand it in a sawmill, because... You cannot stop the carriage while cutting is in progress. In this case, the resource of the saw bar is reduced by half or three times. “Alternative” manufacturers often have the opposite: the default saw is only a cross-cut saw. If the user manual says “transverse and longitudinal”, “also longitudinal”, etc., then the resource for a longitudinal cut is not specified. Keep in mind.

Special continuous saw bars are produced for sawmills. Due to the refusal of a transverse cut, their offset (length) is greater, up to 1000-1200 mm, the cut is thinner (3-4 mm) and cleaner; virtually the same as a band saw. Resource and mode of use - same as saw chain. A sawmill with a tire can be conventional design(on the left in the figure), but in the context of homemade ones, the Logosol-type tire sawmill, center-right in the figure, is of much greater interest. Spring edge supports keep the log from rolling away. The elevators are adjusted separately, which allows you to level the log horizontally.

The history of Logosol is interesting and inextricably linked with ours. In the USSR, since the 30s, the export of unprocessed wood was strictly regulated and produced in large quantities through established channels. After its collapse, the former Soviet republics, which had forest reserves, literally flooded Europe with cheap round timber, with standards equal to the size of a log. In the EU, the main domestic logging is carried out in Germany and Switzerland in the Alps. There are plenty of smart woodworkers here and there, and they are accustomed to working with an acute shortage of raw materials. Given the prices for timber there, calculating the income from the purchase of wild timber and sawing it into boards in one’s yard gave results that made one’s eyes pop. Plus - there is no headache with disposal of sawdust, but there is a significant additional benefit from selling it. It was then that the Swiss Bengt-Olof Byström came up with a sawmill, which he called Logosol. Its highlight is the replacement of a technologically complex rail track with a smooth guide along which the carriage is moved manually with a clamp. This requires more labor and some skill, but the design of the sawmill is greatly simplified, and its cost drops significantly. Hobbyists have developed many modifications of Byström's undoubtedly successful design. Their drawings of Logosols and components for them can be openly taken from here: //www.logosol.su/files.htm. How to make a Logosol sawmill with your own hands, see the video:

Video: DIY mobile-stationary Logosol “Terya”


The emergence of Logosol is the direct reason for the development and saw bars for sawmills. There are models available for sale that are compatible with household chainsaws: remove the standard blade and install the bar. Thus, the issue with the cost and labor intensity of the drive was resolved: a chainsaw on the farm is already a necessary thing.

Mini

A further development of Logosol’s idea is a mini sawmill without a frame, guide and rails, see fig. on right. Instead of a guide, an existing saw cut is used; With careful manual sawing, its accuracy within the log is maintained. In this case, in addition to the tire and drive, only the support platform and handles for holding and moving remain on the carriage.

The pioneer cut is made according to a template (a flat board, top right in the figure), a channel, a frame from an angle, etc., longer than a log. Subsequent horizontal ones are the same as the previous one, in the center on the right. If a vertical cut is necessary, place a channel (bottom right), because in this case, a flat lateral supporting surface is needed. However, all this does not eliminate the last problems: installing the log on the carriage, leveling it and holding it.

Carriage, grips, clamps

There remains such a problem as a frame with additional components. The one on pos. 1 pic. the left is far from optimal. For one-time sawing for self-construction, it is too complex and expensive. It is also not suitable for long-term regular use: even if the supporting frame is made of a 200 mm channel, it will not sag after the first or second dozen logs, which means the machine is completely unsuitable. A stationary sawmill should be made with separate concrete rail tracks and a carriage for logs (item 2; in this case we will not focus on safety precautions - the topic of this article is different).

The next tasks are leveling and holding the log. In industrial woodworking they use hydraulic jacks in hooks. The log is hung on the hoist, lowered onto the carriage without touching it, the jacks turn on and grab it tightly. In automated carriages, a log is placed on it and hydraulics, based on sensor signals, immediately levels the timber.

IN amateur conditions the first is not feasible; the second is in no way feasible. In many homemade sawmills, log grippers are made as shown in Fig. below. The log is hung on automatic jacks (see below), hooks are brought to it, sliding along a guide (pipe, thick rod). The hooks are tapped with a hammer according to the principle of “lightly tapping with a sledgehammer”, they are wedged on the guides and hold the log.

Firstly, such fastening is simply dangerous: vibrations during sawing can cause the grips to become wedged, and this is an accident most likely with serious consequences. Secondly, it is impossible to grab the wood by the very “bottom” in this way. This means that you will have to turn the log over before finishing it halfway. As a result, the cutting quality and material waste will be the same as on a vertical single-disc sawmill, see above.

Carriage

Let's try to develop technical requirements for a log carriage suitable, incl. for use with a portable mini sawmill when working on the road:

  1. materials – ordinary rolled metal without preliminary screening for evenness;
  2. for strength, reliability and durability - welded;
  3. the influence of the quality of welding and warping of the metal from it on the quality of sawing is absent;
  4. prepared base (support) surface – not required;
  5. weight and dimensions - suitable for transportation in a mini-truck, pickup truck and on the top trunk of a car;
  6. the maximum length of the processed log is 6 m;
  7. its maximum diameter is up to 1 m;
  8. leveling and hanging the log - in any way independent of the carriage, see below;
  9. the influence of the flatness of the carriage along the horizon on the quality of sawing - no;
  10. the reliability of holding the most clumsy, unrooted forest is absolute;
  11. the ability to dismantle the sawn blocks into edged measuring boards/beams without readjusting the sawmill - a must;
  12. security – sufficient for non-production conditions, when access to the site of untrained outsiders is easily controlled.

Drawings of a log carriage for a sawmill, incl. minis that satisfy the specified conditions are shown in Fig. (left/center – top view). Material – channel 120x60, rod 14 and 16 mm.

Exactly under the M14 holes in the upper flange of the channel, D15 holes are drilled in the lower flange for the passage of the shanks of the hook holders (on the right in the figure). The M16 holes in the bottom shelf (marked in green) are for threaded feet. The plan configuration and location of the grip holders make it possible to reliably hold both full-length logs and short logs. Use this carriage like this:

  • the log is hung and leveled on a pair of auto jacks. An option is to use one jack at a time: put something suitable under the raised end, rearrange the jack and lift the other one;
  • the carriage is slipped under the middle of the log with the widened part towards the butt and aligned along the axis of the timber. If the log was hung on a hoist, then the middle pair of legs should fall under its center of gravity;
  • the holder hooks are turned out until they touch the log so that their points look inward exactly at each other. A slip by one turn (by M14 thread pitch) does not affect the cutting accuracy;
  • the log is lowered onto the hooks. If the timber was hung on one jack and a support, then first release the jack, and then knock out the support with one sharp blow;
  • to securely hold a thin light log, you can sit on it and jump;
  • saw the log using any sawmill using horizontal cuts. The thickness of the last slab in the vast majority will not exceed 40 mm.

Clamps

Full functionality of this carriage will be ensured by 2-5 clamps (3 are almost always enough) for sawing blocks into dimensional lumber. The design of the clamp to the log carriage is clear from Fig. below. The clamps are bolted into the standard holes of the M14 carriage, so their bases and the distances between the axes of the mounting holes are different: unlike the hook holders, the clamps are not interchangeable! Before dissolving into boards/beams, the logs are first sawn into blocks. Then the blocks are sorted and collected into packages of blocks of a similar configuration to each other. The next package is clamped with clamps on a gun carriage and cut into boards/beams using horizontal cuts.

Bottom line

Let’s take a look, as they say, at a grandma: what kind of sawmill to make with your own hands and in what cases does it make sense.

If you see a range of clients for sawing and/or see a stable income from the sale of lumber - a band on motor-wheels. It will last at least until you have enough money to buy a “new, good” factory one. Then it will be possible to open a sawmill in its entirety and calmly work legally. If sawing wood is a side hustle for you, the Logosol sawmill will perform better - it is less productive, but structurally simpler and cheaper, and a chainsaw will come in handy on the farm anyway.

Wooden products and blanks from different breeds Wood is considered the most popular product for repair and construction. And if you calculate the cost of lumber, as well as the price of processing and transportation services to the destination, you can guess where and what you can save on.

And based on the fact that processing wood is quite simple, many people prefer home sawmills, which allow you to give the material any shape and appearance directly on the site. Guided by ready-made diagrams and drawings, you can create a truly productive device that will expand your capabilities and allow you to carry out various operations without going to professional workshops.

The feasibility of wanting to make a band sawmill with your own hands becomes obvious after viewing the prices for factory equipment. Of course, such models are available in a wide variety, but their cost exceeds hundreds of thousands of rubles. And this is if we talk about representatives of the budget segment. More advanced and powerful ones are very expensive.

General characteristics

It's no secret that wood is one of the most popular materials in private construction. Despite the rapid expansion of the range of such products and the emergence of cheap alternatives, wood is still in demand and has no analogues. And although purchasing good material in a hypermarket is not considered difficult, because solutions in the form of boards, timber or slats are available in every mall building materials, the opportunity to make similar products at home looks much more attractive.

This is not strange, because in this case you deprive yourself of many costs, and the only thing you need to buy is commercial timber. But cut lumber is very expensive. Naturally, it is unwise to buy your own sawmill to touch up a renovation or repair a roof. If you intend to build some kind of structure on a clean site, then here sawmill it could get very useful solution. And if you also try to make it yourself, this will reduce the costs to a minimum.

Today, several key modifications of such equipment are used. However, if you intend to make a homemade sawmill, then most likely you will need to choose between two main types:

  1. option with fixed saw placement,
  2. option with a trolley where the workpiece is fixed.

It is she who moves along the rails during operation. Any other varieties are modernized versions that significantly simplify the task and ensure maximum quality of work. For example, you can take a mobile saw.

Design dimensions depend on the location. It’s no secret that all areas (adjoining houses, country houses, etc.) have their own characteristic layout, so to choose optimal sizes the machine must be approached with special care. Any drawings available on the network (relevant literature, Internet resources and other sources of information) serve as “guidelines” - in terms of individual components, parameters and other properties. A homemade sawmill is made in such a way that it will convenient to work in a specific place under specific conditions. In most cases, such solutions are used for dismantling logs and cutting boards.

Important Features

A homemade band sawmill has many advantages. Among them is the possibility of constant improvement and modifications, which makes it possible to more accurately “adjust” its characteristics to the growing requirements of the owner. For example, if you initially planned to cut logs into planks, you may soon need to start own production timber.

This design is assembled using a block-modular method. If you do not have practical experience and skills in constructing complex mechanisms and assemblies, start working with simple drawings. The mechanical drive version can easily be equipped with additional automation parts. Among them:

  1. Cut thickness regulator.
  2. Saw feed regulator.
  3. Programmer and many others.

Therefore, you need to understand the basic drawing and assembly instructions.

As mentioned above, today it is used a large number of modifications to sawmills. When choosing a suitable solution, you must ask yourself in what plane you plan to make the cut. It is this aspect that indicates the placement of the working structure. The next question is to choose a single type or universal type of sawmill. For example, if you have to trim logs into separate segments, and not just the basic cutting of timber into boards, then it makes sense to choose universal equipment. It is very good if the working frame supports reinstallation.

It is no secret that logs processed by a band sawmill are characterized by large dimensions and impressive weight. In addition, when processing, the frame is subject to intense loads, so you must pay special attention to the stability of the band saw equipment. In this case, you don’t have to worry about the quality of the cut and the safety of workers.

Making a sawmill at home with your own hands is not as difficult as it initially seems. Many difficulties arise for people already next stage - preparation for operation. The biggest problem is setting up and sharpening the saw.

Selecting a location

If you have a special workshop or room where all processing activities are carried out, it is advisable provide at least 18 square meters working area. In such an area it will be possible to unravel even the largest logs.

In private workshops, an empty building, or at least one compartment of it, is often allocated for the installation of a sawmill. Sometimes woodworking activities are carried out in the open air, but it is unlikely that you live with neighbors who will react normally to a lot of sawdust and small shavings flying with the wind. And not everyone will be happy to see how the area near their home quickly becomes clogged with various garbage.

In order to avoid becoming a victim of such a nuisance, it is enough to take the construction of a continuous type of fence responsibly. Perhaps an option made from polycarbonate sheets or durable multi-layer plywood is suitable for you.

In addition, you need to prepare in advance storage area for finished lumber. As a result, you should choose suitable site land for storing final products.

These issues should be resolved before the design of the structure begins.

Selection of materials and components

If you are seriously thinking about making a homemade band sawmill, be prepared to pay due attention to the selection of all parts and materials.

  1. The first thing to do is choose an engine. In most cases, gasoline or electric units with appropriate power ratings are used. If you look at the situation from a practical point of view, then asynchronous (electric) models are the most optimal. This is due to the fact that they have no problems connecting to the home electrical network, and besides, their service life is quite long. And the stability of the speed ensures maximum quality of cutting logs at the sawmill.
  2. Materials. It is no secret that when processing huge wood, you should use high-quality products made of durable metal. For example, on the moving part of the “trolley” it is customary to install a workpiece from a profiled (thick-walled) square or rectangular section. But the supporting frame is made of channel bars, which is associated with cumulative loads. Based on this, the rails are mounted from a dimensional angle (at least 45), although a channel is also effective here, but with less linear characteristics.

Equipment for work and assembly algorithm

It’s no secret that when building a homemade sawmill you can’t do without good welding equipment. Bolted connections are useless in this case. It is better not to take risks, because after some time such a fastening will lose its former strength, become loose and make the structure dangerous for use. But tightening bolts and monitoring their condition every day is not the best prospect.

As for the equipment assembly algorithm, it remains very simple and understandable. The main difficulties lie in adjusting the size of the components.

First of all, you must install a support platform on which the cart with lumber will move. In addition, you need to attach a frame to the rails where the working tool will be installed. Key requirements include reliability and horizontal alignment. Where and how to attach it is up to you. It is possible to use a specially equipped foundation, for example, a columnar one, or an option with racks that are dug into the ground.

The purpose of the mobile unit (trolley) has already been mentioned several times. To ensure reliable fixation of the log during sawing, the mobile element is equipped with "clamp", which securely clamps the wood to the frame and prevents any risk of displacement. The cart should also have wheels that will provide mobility.

As for the saw frame, it should be equipped with a good adjustment mechanism. Otherwise, it will be difficult to ensure the ability to change the position of the cutting units.

Currently a number of engineering solutions, so which one to choose is up to you. Drive specific examples Without first studying existing modifications there is no point.

Conclusion

Not everyone can afford to buy a ready-made sawmill, and even it payback quite small, and only if we are talking about commercial use and regular orders. Therefore, it is inappropriate to purchase such expensive equipment without knowing whether it makes sense. Is it possible to make the design yourself? What difficulties may arise during the assembly process, and what should a novice DIYer who decides to cut raw logs at home expect from the upcoming work?

As mentioned above, the process of making a homemade sawmill can be quite simple and understandable, provided that you responsibly study the instructions and drawings. The main difficulties may lie in choosing suitable components, a wide range of turning and welding work, as well as the need to set and sharpen the saw in a special way. True, if you follow all the subtleties of care and maintenance of the sawmill, it will be able to conscientiously work for its owner for a long time. for long years, ensuring maximum quality of work.

The general features and procedure for making a homemade sawmill are discussed. Experts recommend determining in advance the type of tasks that will be solved using the equipment. Only after this can you proceed to installation and assembly of the structure. To simplify the work ahead, you can download and study ready-made drawings that are freely available on the Internet. In this case, you can quickly and efficiently assemble the installation with different sizes, taking into account scaling. You can also use the ready-made guide, but apply your own changes to change the configuration or expand the set functionality sawmills.

In any case, if you stick to basic principles, take into account the advice of professionals and avoid making irreparable mistakes by deviating from the instructions, you can create a highly effective device that will allow you to solve many wood processing problems at home.