Sawmill Design

[Larry C]

Thanks Dave, I'll check it out.

Jeff thank you so much for your kind comments and glad you like it.

[Larry C]

Now onto the framing:



As mentioned before all the framing is made from 8x8's grained and colored with clear alcohol and chalks. This is the basic framework which required a lot of careful measuring, fitting, sanding, glueing, and a few choice words shown in. All in all I was pretty happy with the results.



The idea was to have a small "shop area" which are the only walls in the Mill. Continued on with 8x8's for the framing to keep things consistent so they would fit well. Also added a couple of Grand Line windows painted black. The bench is scratch built using 6x6's for the frame and 2x10's for the top weathered. Added some details around and under the bench with are mostly from SW.



Also I wanted a "blade sharpening" area which was scratch built was well. Added a couple of belts, saw blades, and a poster on the wall. Now I just to need to find a company that makes files to add by the blade; any suggestions would be appreciated.

With all that done it was time to move onto the pulley and belts:



I did order a pulley set from Sierra West because I like the beefy look. Looking over his directions I soon realized following that was not possible so I came up with my own plan. There are 4 separate belt lines and I knew some would have to go over others to fit properly. Also the hangers provided wouldn't allow me to achieve what I was looking for. The solution was to use a longer hanger for part of the lines and use some provided to go over those.



Here's the other end of the Mill with the husk saw area.



This is looking down from the shop area. Lots of pulley's and belts which were made from Tyvek painted with Raw Sienna craft paint. Time to post; I'll pick this back up after.

[Larry C]

Back again:



This shows a set of beveled gears I used to switch lines from one to another; these were rather large.

We'll end this here and the next installment will be the steam engine and boiler. Thanks for stopping by and for your great comments and/or suggestions so stay tuned.

[deemery]

You'll want a vise on your workbench.  That's needed to do the belt splicer/coupling.  Here's a video on belt repair:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s70_4OEQCXk 

And a nit:  in the most recent "back again" photo, you can see the back belt is rubbing against a piece of wood.  Now that would quickly wear out and break the belt.  The prototype would add a roller there, if there was no other way to run the belt.  (And if you want to redo that, I can send you a roller that I'm not using from my wide assortment of machine shop parts.)    Now on my machine shop, I've done a lot of compromising to get this moving forward.  My philosophy is "I'm OK with not following the prototype/doing something wrong, as long as I know about it."  That's why I mention this. 

dave

[Larry C]

Dave great eye! I went and looked at what you mentioned and have a plan. I have a small roller, but thanks for the offer, and a set of small pillow blocks. I'll build it on a board then slide it in front of the belt since there's enough "play" in it to do so; then I can glue it place. That should resolve the problem and I'll check out your video.

[Rick]

Larry, it all looks good to me.
All those belts look impressive.
Nice job!

[Larry C]

Rick thank you so much.

[Larry C]

Moving on:



I wanted a simple steam engine so this one fit the bill; it's from Crow River. Fairly easy to assemble and was painted beforehand. The cement base was painted then weathered to show some use.



Here's the back side which shows off the nice large pulley which will power the first of 4 lines.



The horizontal boiler's from Wiseman and was a little tricky to assemble. Painted everything flat black then add some weathering before adding all the piping going to the engine. My only complaint with the kit was I didn't like the support rod for the front of the boiler; seemed too flimsy. To correct that I used wood blocks to support the front then painted the one directly under the boiler gun metal to look like metal. The belt going to the first line is rather wide giving it a nice beefy look.

Just a couple of bonus photos for your enjoyment:



I found a few details to go under the saw blade filers bench. Nothing fancy a few crates with junk, a broom, and added filings to the floor in front of the bench. Also made a stack of finish lumber on a pallet tied up and ready for shipment.



Here's an overall photo of the, at that time, the finished Saw Mill. In the next post I'll show the additions and/or corrections I've made to the Mill the last couple of weeks. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the finished product but I do have a few ideas rolling around in my head. Thanks for dropping by and leaving all those wonderful comments and/or suggestions. Stay tuned.

[nycjeff]

Hello Larry, the belts look really good and I like the steam engine and boiler along with the steam piping.

[Larry C]

Jeff thank you, much appreciated.

[Jerry]

Larry you did a very nice job on everything!!
It's really a great looking Sawmill.

Jerry

[friscomike]

Howdy Larry,  That's some outstanding work on the belts and details.  The saw filer's bench is exceptional.  Have fun, mike

[Larry C]

Jerry & Mike thank you both so much; it's appreciated.

[Larry C]

Update time:



In between posting the progress of the Saw Mill I was working on some improvements to it. This is a before shot and I wanted to "square up" the back of the structure.



Extended all the floor joists first off then I gave the floor boards my usual treatment and weathered them. Also I cut the boards so I would have joints to look more natural. Added a center post and corner posts before glueing in the crossbeam. Luckily I was able to make everything match color wise.



About the only things I did on the front side was to add a post in the middle for extra support. Also added a few extra beams across the top for added strength. I was thinking about making some sort of roof but I'm torn; I hate to cover up all those belts, gears, and pulleys since they are, in my opinion, one of the stars of the show.



Here's an overall view sitting with a background behind it.



And a closeup of the steam engine boiler area. There are still a couple things I want to do yet like adding about 6 LP's and also add a "log table" with track between the boiler and the carriage; I think there's just about enough room. The log table will be from SW which I'll be ordering soon but probably won't see it for a few months since Brett seems to  very busy filling the orders for the new kits. So I'll stop here for now and return to working on my layout until I can get things together.

Thanks for stopping by and I'd be interested on your thoughts of "roof or not to roof".

[Rick]

Larry, the additions look good.
Most sawmills would have a roof.
But I understand why you'd want to not do that.
I would leave it without a roof.