- Joined
- Dec 30, 2012
- Messages
- 24
So I built a bandsaw mill because cedar boards are really expensive for one and they don't come in the lengths I needed for a fence I wanted to build. Building a bandsaw mill from scratch is a feat in its self, building it for under 1,200 bucks? Means scrounging for parts a pieces from the scrap yard next door. So long story short, my first attempt wasn't exactly a success, having a band fly off at full speed and chase a dog across a yard? Didn't exactly make me feel like I was getting any where, never seen that dog move so fast in my life, dogs okay, band mill got full rebuild.
I think starting over is harder than starting from new, cutting out parts and remanufacturing isn't exactly fun.
Anyhow, mill started cutting better, and yes now I have a gaurd on the blade. So boards still aren't coming out exactly the way I want them, well they look good enough for a fence, but planning them for other uses shows that they are a little wavey. Now from what I was reading, wavey boards can be a cause of a few things. So since the floor jack that I was using to tension the blade wasn't holding pressure long enough to satisfy that issue, it was time to come up with another plan for a tensioner. The best system seems to be a porta power ram, and a manufacturer actually sells a porta sorta power thingy that I like, only issue? 400 bucks? There has to be a cheaper way!
It isn't by no means rocket science, it was actually so simple, it took me by surprise when I thought about it. Now a porta power jack is basically another floor jack, same pumping system, what I was thinking was two rams hooked together, so if you compress one, the other extends. Pretty simple.
(Pictures aren't the best, cheap camera phone.)
I think starting over is harder than starting from new, cutting out parts and remanufacturing isn't exactly fun.
Anyhow, mill started cutting better, and yes now I have a gaurd on the blade. So boards still aren't coming out exactly the way I want them, well they look good enough for a fence, but planning them for other uses shows that they are a little wavey. Now from what I was reading, wavey boards can be a cause of a few things. So since the floor jack that I was using to tension the blade wasn't holding pressure long enough to satisfy that issue, it was time to come up with another plan for a tensioner. The best system seems to be a porta power ram, and a manufacturer actually sells a porta sorta power thingy that I like, only issue? 400 bucks? There has to be a cheaper way!
It isn't by no means rocket science, it was actually so simple, it took me by surprise when I thought about it. Now a porta power jack is basically another floor jack, same pumping system, what I was thinking was two rams hooked together, so if you compress one, the other extends. Pretty simple.
(Pictures aren't the best, cheap camera phone.)