I joined this site several years ago when I got into chainsaw milling. The plan has always been to upgrade to a Bandsaw mill at some point. I was ready to pull the trigger on a restored Woodmizer earlier this year, but that plan was torpedoed when I found the frame was rusted out on my mom's SUV. So after buying her a car, my budget for anything was pretty much shot. Fast forward a couple months, and some crazy coincidences (and some side hustle money) aligned and I was able to to pick up a well used Hud-Son "Little Oscar" with a 14HP BS engine. It required a 12 hour round trip to Missouri from Wisconsin to pick it up. But it was a fun road trip with my daughter.
The gentleman who I bought the mill from was incredibly kind. His son helped us load the monster 20 foot track onto the truck. Yes...the 6 hour drive through Illinois back to South Central Wisconsin was a little tense
. My original plan was to cut the track down and mount it to a 14 foot trailer I already had. But the previous owner talked me into keeping the track in one piece (and I'm glad he did). A 24 foot trailer also popped up on market place for a price I couldn't say no to the day after we got it home. And the seller even delivered it from the Chicago area.
The trailer is a little narrow for mill. But the plan is to mate the mill track to the trailer, and then widen the axle with a sleeve. But first I needed some help from my dad and brother unloading the mill.
The trailer had about 1" of bow to it over the span of 24 feet. I was able to reduce this to 1/2" through heat straightening (10 spots on either side of the trailer heated up with torch). The remainder will be addressed with 1/2" grade 8 "jacking" bolts to keep the track straight. Also with the amount of welding I had to do, I figured the additional heat into the top side would likely pull the bow out some more too.
To address the width I cut a dozen 5/16 thick tabs and welded them to the 1/4" stake pockets along each side of the trailer. That flushed the mounting points to the main frame. And gave me enough room to weld in the grade 8 bolts to support the track.
I'm adding four 2000lb jacks to the ends of the trailer, and a pair of 2000lbs stabilizers in the middle (to ensure clearance for the the hydraulic log loader). I've gotten as far as getting a root welded to the frame for 1/3" tube. But have 1/4" angle gussets cut to attach and reinforce these joints to the frame as well.
Once the original track is straightened and leveled, I'm going to extend it 4 feet forward. That should give me over all about 24 feet of track (up to 22ish foot of cut.
I ran out of shield gas yesterday so turned my attention to a couple other items. I'm planning to add hydraulics to this mill to save my back (after 2 back fusions surgeries...it's a necessity, not a "nice to have"). Originally I thought that'd require buying a gas powered hydraulic power unit ($$$) and have to wait unitl fall. But I ran across a 16GPM log splitter kit, and found a cheap 7HP snow blower on marketplace this weekend. Picked it up and took it down to my dad to liberate the motor fro the snow blower.
Turns out it's a dual shaft. Not sure if I'll trying using the smaller shaft for anything (as I understand it it runs 1/2 RPM of the main shaft). But we're kicking the idea around of maybe putting an alternator on it. Regardless the main shaft should work fine with the pump kit I'm looking at. The next step will be to start collecting materials and cylinders for the log lifter, hydraulic clamp, and log turner. But for right now I still have plenty of work to finish on the main mill. As I was kind of at a stand still for welding, I turned my attention to getting a couple coats of paint on the mill head. Several more coats to follow.
So that's where we're at so far. Once I get my cylinder refilled, back to welding. I've got log dogs to fabricate, a few more jacks to attach and a bunch of gussets to weld on before starting on the hydraulics (which will be a couple months yet). But I'm feeling pretty positive about the progress I've made so far (just about 20 hours of labor not counting the time picking it up and unloading).
I should also point out that Hud-Son has been amazing to work with. Despite being an old second hand mill, they were great over the phone getting me info on the machine. It's still a work in progress, but I'll keep updating this thread as things progress.
The gentleman who I bought the mill from was incredibly kind. His son helped us load the monster 20 foot track onto the truck. Yes...the 6 hour drive through Illinois back to South Central Wisconsin was a little tense
. My original plan was to cut the track down and mount it to a 14 foot trailer I already had. But the previous owner talked me into keeping the track in one piece (and I'm glad he did). A 24 foot trailer also popped up on market place for a price I couldn't say no to the day after we got it home. And the seller even delivered it from the Chicago area.The trailer is a little narrow for mill. But the plan is to mate the mill track to the trailer, and then widen the axle with a sleeve. But first I needed some help from my dad and brother unloading the mill.
The trailer had about 1" of bow to it over the span of 24 feet. I was able to reduce this to 1/2" through heat straightening (10 spots on either side of the trailer heated up with torch). The remainder will be addressed with 1/2" grade 8 "jacking" bolts to keep the track straight. Also with the amount of welding I had to do, I figured the additional heat into the top side would likely pull the bow out some more too.
To address the width I cut a dozen 5/16 thick tabs and welded them to the 1/4" stake pockets along each side of the trailer. That flushed the mounting points to the main frame. And gave me enough room to weld in the grade 8 bolts to support the track.
I'm adding four 2000lb jacks to the ends of the trailer, and a pair of 2000lbs stabilizers in the middle (to ensure clearance for the the hydraulic log loader). I've gotten as far as getting a root welded to the frame for 1/3" tube. But have 1/4" angle gussets cut to attach and reinforce these joints to the frame as well.
Once the original track is straightened and leveled, I'm going to extend it 4 feet forward. That should give me over all about 24 feet of track (up to 22ish foot of cut.
I ran out of shield gas yesterday so turned my attention to a couple other items. I'm planning to add hydraulics to this mill to save my back (after 2 back fusions surgeries...it's a necessity, not a "nice to have"). Originally I thought that'd require buying a gas powered hydraulic power unit ($$$) and have to wait unitl fall. But I ran across a 16GPM log splitter kit, and found a cheap 7HP snow blower on marketplace this weekend. Picked it up and took it down to my dad to liberate the motor fro the snow blower.
Turns out it's a dual shaft. Not sure if I'll trying using the smaller shaft for anything (as I understand it it runs 1/2 RPM of the main shaft). But we're kicking the idea around of maybe putting an alternator on it. Regardless the main shaft should work fine with the pump kit I'm looking at. The next step will be to start collecting materials and cylinders for the log lifter, hydraulic clamp, and log turner. But for right now I still have plenty of work to finish on the main mill. As I was kind of at a stand still for welding, I turned my attention to getting a couple coats of paint on the mill head. Several more coats to follow.
So that's where we're at so far. Once I get my cylinder refilled, back to welding. I've got log dogs to fabricate, a few more jacks to attach and a bunch of gussets to weld on before starting on the hydraulics (which will be a couple months yet). But I'm feeling pretty positive about the progress I've made so far (just about 20 hours of labor not counting the time picking it up and unloading).
I should also point out that Hud-Son has been amazing to work with. Despite being an old second hand mill, they were great over the phone getting me info on the machine. It's still a work in progress, but I'll keep updating this thread as things progress.
