Sawmill Design

[Larry C]

Probably about a year and a half ago, on the RRL Forum, I designed and built a Sawmill. Knowing how expensive the kit was from Sierra West I opted to design and build my own using SW machinery; although I never did finish the project.

Fast forward, a few weeks ago I was looking at it sitting on the shelf and decided it was high time to finish the project. That being said, I thought I would start a thread showing photos from the inception to present along with the a few changes I'll be making along the way.

I'll be showing a condensed version of the build so as not to bore you. Enough chattering let's get started, shall we?



The first thing I did was to order lumber from Northeastern before getting started; this was the largest order I had ever ordered and happily I ended up using about 90% on the build.



The actual length of the Mill is 25 inches and the width is 7 inches at the widest point. Also I decided to make it to sit at ground level as opposed to building it on piers. Using 3 sheets of graph paper I set to making the design to glue the lumber to; this is the largest structure I have ever built.



Since most of the wood shown would be covered by flooring I opted just to color it with chalks and clear alcohol then added a coat of A&I. The floor joists are 4x10's and the supporting pieces underneath are 3x12's.



This is the base covered in flooring which was grained with a wire brush, colored with chalks & clear alcohol then given a coat of A&I. I also did some basic weathering while the floor was empty. The hole in the floor, on the righthand side, was made purposely for a pulley on one of the machines.

We'll end here for now. The next installment I'll show the machines used and explain a little about them. So follow along on my progress as I review the previous parts of the build and finish the project altogether. Stay tuned.

[deemery]

I know from experience taking a shelf orphan large project and striving to complete it....  So I'll be following along and watching how you identify and solve problems.

But with that floor, you're up to a good start.

dave

[Larry C]

Thanks Dave and happy to have you following along. Yes there are a few minor changes I want to make but nothing too drastic. Looking at it sitting on the shelf the past couple of weeks I thought I would get
 at it and try and finish it both as a break from my On18 layout and also while I wait for my new Tie Mill kit to arrive from Sierra West.

[ACL1504]

Larry,

Great idea to scratch build a kit that is expensive. Great start and I'll be on the front row. I already have my Diet Pepsi.

Tom

[Larry C]

Tom thanks and glad to have you coming along. After looking at Brett's price for the Mill it was way more then I wanted to spend and since he sold the 3D printed parts for the machines, and I supply the wood, it seemed like a great alternative.

[Mark Dalrymple]

I'll be following along with great interest, Larry.

There are not many threads on the twin mills kit with a blow by blow look.  I'll also be interested to see the changes you make.  I've just started thinking about my own mill as I have been laying track into the mountain town where it is situated.  I managed to pick up an O-scale kit for a very cheap price a while back which came with 150 lengths of 1x10".  I've been ripping these in half to make 2x10's in HO scale.  It should be enough for all the cladding and decking. 

Cheers, Mark.

[Rick]

Larry, I remember this project on the RR-Line.
I'll be here to watch you finish it.

[friscomike]

 Howdy Larry,

That's an exciting build.  Congrats on having the courage to build a shelf queen that is nothing more than a 2X4 and a razor blade.    I'll be following along.  Fun!

Have fun,
mike

[Pennman]

Larry,

This undertaking is a gigantic project for sure.
I'm glad you can muster up the courage to tackle such a large build.
I wanted to make a model similar, so I assume since this is O scale,
that my HO scale model would be about half the size as yours?
I will be following along.

Rich

[Larry C]

Mark nice to have you follow along so pull up a seat. It's great you were able to pickup a cheap kit and I would think 300 2x10's would be enough for HO scale.

Rick thanks for following along. I figured if I was going to finish the Mill I may as well start from the beginning; nothing worse than walking into a movie when it's half over.

Mike thanks for coming along; it's time to "geeter done".

Rich welcome and thanks for joining in. Yes mine is O scale and I would think HO would be about half the size; give to take.

[Philip]

Following Larry! Isn't that floor techique called a mud sill?

[Larry C]

Philip thanks for following along and your support. To answer your question; could be but I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of mills being on piers; to me it looks weird.

[Philip]

Long ago mud sills were place directly on the dirt or on rock, hence the name after the structure settled.

[Jerry]

Larry I remember this to back on RR line.  At least you have a good start.  I'll be following along on your adventure!!

Jerry

[nycjeff]

Hello Larry, that's a lot of strip wood for sure. I'm looking forward to this build. Sawmills are great.