Re: Emerson Horizontal bandsaw?

"James Waldby"  wrote in message news:varogu$cq74$1@dont-email.me...
Bob La Londe <none@none.com99> wrote:

On 8/27/2024 3:02 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Bob La Londe"  wrote in message news:val753$33ff9$1@dont-email.me...

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My first attempt at a sawmill was a 10" Sears vertical bandsaw with a coarse tooth 3/4" wide blade. I removed it from its stand and added wooden feet that ran on narrow strips of conveyer track mounted on the sides of my utility trailer. The trailer tongue jack tilted the trailer and track for gravity feed.
Though it cut a wall's worth of knot-free 5/4" x 9" wide oak boards for bookshelves the feed rate with the 1/2 HP electric motor was very slow, up to half an hour per board. The blade cracked in the gullets from bending around the 10" wheels and cupping up or down became a problem as the blade dulled.
The idea might be more practical for narrower rip cuts in soft wood, it was a fairly simple modification without any welding. When a neighbor parted out a damaged motorcycle I took the wheels to build my current larger bandsaw mill, which nears its limit with a 20" wide cut in oak. The wheels' only real disadvantage is that their load rating is well below the recommended blade tension. I split the difference since they won't hit potholes. The advantages over trailer wheels are the included drive sprocket and double ended axles. The simple square tube 'ladder' frame runs straight between the axles, a sawmill that cuts in from the outside doesn't need the throat depth of a C frame. The throat depth is still over 12" which allows me to cut two maximum 12" x 20" beams from one log. I don't think the 6.5HP engine would allow a longer cut with my 3/4" tooth pitch blades.
I didn't expect the larger trees to ever come down, but a squall blew one against and dropped another and the neighbor's clearing exposed a third to the full force of wind so I had it taken down, as it could have fallen on the house. I slab them narrow enough to fit the saw with the chainsaw ripping guide that holds the bar at a right angle to a 2x6 plank.