Commercial sawing with a swingmill

[log master]

After more than a year of searching for a new sawmill I am now convinced That the Peterson WPF is the mill for my needs. I want to know if anyone out there is using a swingmill in a commercial setting? What options have you found invaluable and which options are still in the crate? What type of blades do you use and how many do you keep in stock? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[tlbsg]

go with wpf frame and electric winch for rise and fall makes it a lot quicker:

 

[log master]

What do have for a mill? What options do you have?

 

[tlbsg]

i have a 10" peterson wpf with 12 volt elect winch for rise and fall only use for part time commercial work however very capable mill setup

 

[Rob D]

I have an 8" wpf and have been running it for a year and a half. Other than a few niggles it is a superb mobile milling platform. Super fast and accurate. Also can do huge logs with it.

I looked at the electric rise and fall but I don't see how it makes things quicker - manually to raise and lower takes seconds and is accurate and works well so adding the electric version seems unnecessary IMO.

I have the high/low addaption but usually always set up on the low. This is more from laziness - this year I mean to fully get into using the high setting to see advantages/disadvantages.

I have 8 blades in total. After 4 have dulled these are sent off. It means I always have fresh blades to use. Recently any re tipping has been done with stellite tips. You can't sharpen these with the 12 volt tool provided as they are too hard. But I never got on with the 12 volt sharpener supplied anyway - it has not been specifically designed to sharpen these blades and I never made a good job of doing it. It doesn't cost much to send them away and then the tips are sharpened perfectly.

 

[tlbsg]

rob d with the electric rise and fall you will be a lot quicker for every adjustment you dont have to walk to the side winch to adjust, the up down button is right there with you at the controls and the movement is very precise the dial with increments is running next to you on the left chain i find it even more accurate than using winch

 

[tlbsg]

logmaster i have 10 blades usually send them away to be retipped, sharpened tensioned 3-4 at a time i also have a weather board taper board cutter as well which works well you will be happy with a wpf peterson

 

[Rob D]

rob d with the electric rise and fall you will be a lot quicker for every adjustment you dont have to walk to the side winch to adjust, the up down button is right there with you at the controls and the movement is very precise the dial with increments is running next to you on the left chain i find it even more accurate than using winch

I see what you mean there but how much more time does the electric rise and fall take to set up on the mill if you're setting up from scratch?

Actually I've just thought of another advantage the electric up/down must have and that is that you can look at where the blade is on the log as you're going (i.e. if you're looking to cut around a knot or similar).

But I must admit it doesn't worry me going to the side of the mill to adjust using the winch but I may have another look at the electric up/down in the future when I've some spare cash

 

[tlbsg]

electric winch makes no difference in time to set up as it is all mounted on winch frame i have set mine up with 3 switchs one where you saw from, one near winch and one behind motor setup is very handy and very fast and accurate. mine is home made, winch is cheap one designed for boat trailer $130 aus bit of lathe work and tinkering and she works a treat