# How to turn a lawnmower into a saw mill (bandmill) Build Thread.



## Chad A Nicholls (Sep 18, 2015)

I thought I would share my latest project that my son and I built. I have followed other homemade bandmill projects and I have yet to find one that used a vertical shaft lawnmower engine.











This all started with the emerald ash boar that has effectively killed all ash trees here in Ohio and the Midwest. I have 5 acres of woodlands that have over 50 standing dead ash tree’s to deal with. We cut up a few ash trees along with some other softwood trees this spring and I had more wood than I could burn, along with such a sick feeling from cutting up such nice usable hardwood. 
A few years ago a major tornado came thru a few miles from our home, a good friend and his family perished in the storm, I have a bobcat and a dump truck so I volunteered and cleaned up 14 properties around the devastated area. I ended up getting a trashed out riding lawnmower that the tornado picked up and tossed ½ mile. The homeowner was happy to give it to me along with several large Oak and Walnut timbers. 

So we decided that it was time to turn that lawnmower into and bandsaw, and cut up the timber left behind by both the tornado and the ash boar.





I started by picking up an old homemade band saw on Craigslist for $50 it was in very tough shape but it had 2 18” cast iron band wheels.







All of the steel used in the project was scrap metal that I had been saving for this project. So please ignore the rust/quality of the materials used. I have around $150 in the entire project.






I used the 13.5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine and the original MTD frame. I cut down the frame to use as the motor plate. The part you may be most interested in is how do you get a vertical shaft engine to couple to the bandsaw wheels. I recalled an old mower I had seen that had a “mule drive” system set up to power the lawn mower deck and other attachments. You can see the details here: 

First Try.... Laying out the mule drive. Had to change...









Bottom Looking Up:
























Let me know if you have any questions/thoughts


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## Philbert (Sep 18, 2015)

WOW!

Philbert


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## rarefish383 (Sep 19, 2015)

Nice work. Ready for pics of boards, Joe.


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## square1 (Sep 19, 2015)

Almost makes me change my opinion of Ohio! 
Great ingenuity!


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## Homelite410 (Sep 19, 2015)

Looks great!!!


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## Mike Van (Sep 19, 2015)

Nice work Chad - Good to see you made guards for the blade - Some out there think they don't need them, these are 
the ones that never had a 15' blade break.


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## Rookie1 (Sep 19, 2015)

Nice job on design and fab and also on picture taking. Cant wait to see action photos.


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## jr27236 (Sep 19, 2015)

That's exactly what makes this country great! It's a lost art to think out of the box and make something like that out of scrap. Excellent job!! Looking forward to seeing a video of it banging out some boards!!!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## Mandres (Sep 21, 2015)

Very interesting, great work! I had some doubts at first about that 90-degree belt system but if it's durable enough for a commercial product from Cub Cadet I guess it's fairly well proven. What kind of belts does it use? How did you size the pulleys? 
The mounts for the idler pulleys do look a little flimsy. I'd be curious to see how well they hold up.


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## bbain32 (Sep 29, 2015)

Ok, you just blew my mind. I have been on the fence over starting a mill project because I didn't want to spend full pop for a horiz. engine. So few come up for sale used here in Nova Scotia that are a reasonable price, but there are likely 5 or 6 lawn tractors for sale within 10KM of my house that have vertical shaft engines. Let the steel scrounging begin!


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## Chad A Nicholls (Sep 29, 2015)

Mandres, the idle pulleys are supported from the top down leaving the supports in tension, the rigidity seems quite solid. The two photos are a bit outdated and we're more the setup stage. I am using a Kevlar belt and have had no signs of wear (although not too much use yet)
I am currently finishing up the log bunks and clamping system. I also added retractable wheels and a hitch for moving it around the property.


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## Mandres (Sep 30, 2015)

Sweet! Are you using the mower's PTO clutch to turn the blade on/off?


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## Chad A Nicholls (Sep 30, 2015)

I did originally use the electric power clutch however I found that as soon as it would engage the motor would stall. There is a lot of mass to start spinning instantly. I went to a belt clutch so some slipping could be absorbed by the clutch instead. This works quite well. The only issue is, do I want to install some kind of breaking system to stop the free spinning that occurs from cutting to idle. For example if I'm operating this alone, when taking the sawn board off the log it would be safer if I could lockout the blade. I also have a question do other bandmills have a way to lock the casters in place? My saw rolls very easily, if I place my saw on ground not perfectly level I am afraid of it rolling has this been addressed?


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## Mandres (Sep 30, 2015)

Thx for the info!

It might make sense to rig up some kind of spring-loaded gate at the beginning and end of the track to keep the carriage from rolling, especially if it takes a while for the blade to idle down. Maybe a foot-lever to disengage it?


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## jerrycmorrow (Sep 30, 2015)

Chad A Nicholls said:


> ... I also have a question do other bandmills have a way to lock the casters in place? My saw rolls very easily, if I place my saw on ground not perfectly level I am afraid of it rolling has this been addressed?


I put 10" pneumatic tires on my old, belt driven, cast iron table saw to more easily put it where I want it, inside or outside. to keep it from rolling off while on unlevel ground I cut a 2x4 with bevels on the ends to fit closely between the tires. seems to work; even when I forget to move the chocks when i'm done.
I know mine has a much shorter wheel base than yours but might be worth a try.


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## BIG JAKE (Oct 4, 2015)

Chad-I like the vertical shaft idea an mule drive-opens up a lot more possibilities for engines too! I used a horizontal on mine, but had I seen this I would have been looking for verticals as well. Nice work!


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## Woodwacker53 (Nov 29, 2017)

Anymore pictures of the drive of this mill? What a beauty


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## rarefish383 (Nov 30, 2017)

I just checked and Chad hasn't been on the site in two years, and only had the three posts in this thread. I guess he moved on, Joe.


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## Woodwacker53 (Nov 30, 2017)

I've got a vertical shaft twin kicking around I'm going to try on a homemade BSM soon. Not sure if I want to run long run 1/4 twist or mule drive with jack shaft. I'll start a thread on here bum-bye with some pictures to show how my failure goes. Ha! This is really the only one I've seen like this. I think it can be done easily.


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## jerrycmorrow (Dec 7, 2017)

Would love to see drawings or pix of the vertical/horizontal transition


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