Anyone here have a swing mill?

I recently bought a 10" Peterson Swing Mill and been milling some aspen logs.
I have a few questions for anyone that has operated one, mainly about re-tipping the blades.
If you have please reply.
Thanks

 

Have never run one - but as far as "re-tipping" are you talking sharpening or replacing carbide tips?
a local machine shop can sharpen carbide blades

 

Thanks, but I was talking about replacing the tips and tensioning the blade.

 

I'm a band man (since I own a band mill and sharpen/set) , I'll try to give a helpful thought.
You finding a good saw worker for your blades is valuable (valuable as in : like the people you send a Fruit Basket to each yr.)
Also if you are young and wish to stay in the sawmilling path consider the math of learning the blade trade and invest in the knowledge and equipment to do you own. In-house sharpening means you always have a prime blade .

And it all depends on what your plans for dissecting trees will be used for.

 

Sounds like sound advise from someone that has been there/done that.
I have a sharpener but I think my blade needs to be re-tensioned and new tips added. I have a list of folks that do this since it is something that is critical. Just thought someone on here might tell me about their experience.
I'm wanting to retire in a few years but am pretty high mileage for my age. I want to use it as more of a hobby if and when that day comes. Lots of dead standing beetle kill in that area.

 

Howdy
No experience here with circle blade just bands. But my point is blade sharpening and maintenance can be a money maker if it fits the business model. It doesn't sound like it would fit your business model since you are not planning on running the swing mill for production sawmilling (if you were using a band blade then it may pay off,, but circle blade maintenance is way more complicated than band).
Something that may be worth your consideration is to purchase a bandsaw re-saw. They aren't expensive. What it allows you to do is cut thick with the circle and resaw the cant. And that kind of depends if you will mill alone or with someone else. If you are working with someone else then resawing pays off because you basically have 2 machines going at once.

 

What is a swing mill? A mill where the fixed blade runs through material that runs on a track back and forth?

 

Yes and it can be changed from vertical cut to horizontal cut.

 

TY

 

Retensioning a blade mostly runs about $1.50-$2.00/inch plus shipping. Retipping a blade around $1.75-$3.00/ tip plus regrinding the whole blade ( cost of a new blade has to considered vs rebuild). It is not always necessary to retip the whole blade. This would be for carbide tipped blades where the tips are brazed on. Another option is the inserted tooth blades. Some styles of inserts are able to be sharpened on the blades with what is called a Jockey grinder. One body several sets of inserts. That dosen't mean that it will not need periodic tensioning though in order to keep the blade body running true. You can check your blade body while on the arbor with a dial indicator and a mounting fixture such as a magnetic base assembly spinning the blade by hand slowly while watching indicator should not be more than .005 runout on the body providing that the arbor it's self is running true. Course you check the arbor the same way. Mag base and dial indicator can be had for less than $75.00 for a decent indicator for your purpose. I do not tension blades myself anymore ( well ok in a very rare instance I might) because there are machines for this that can do it better and faster than I can with my set of hammers. They are still teaching the hammer tensioning course up MN (or was MI) way. By the way this what I do to keep roof over my head, no use to the op as shipping would be a killer, but I can answer most questions. I do not sharpen bands either , although I have some equipment for it due those that specialize in this area.

 

Really good information Chris.
I might PM you as I get more into this deal. I have a couple of Aspen logs left to "play" with and a few in the mountains that I can't get to until spring (Doug Fir).
Some folks might think I might have lost my mind by having a sawmill in western Kansas, but I got it to use in CO.
Thanks for the informative reply.

 

around 8 years back made a bunch of parts for a double cant mill for a customer ( arbors & shaft assemble) I don't know if he ever finished it. IIRC it was going to use 36" blades, Drive system from a diesel semi tractor, engine and transmission, can't remember if he was going to use the primary pumpkin as well though.