Setting Up Your New Bandsaw Mill: 4 Things to Expect

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Each year, landowners, hobbyist woodworkers, and others decide to invest in a quality bandsaw mill to get more out of their acreage or ensure the quality of their products from start to finish. 

Portable Bandsaw Sawmills

If you just received your new bandsaw mill, you have a lot to be excited about. You’ll enjoy using this durable, efficient piece of equipment for years to come. But before you can get to milling slabs or sawing cants, you need to open the crate and start assembling components.

Is this your very first bandsaw sawmill? If so, you’ve come to the right place. This guide will walk you through four essential considerations as you assemble your new mill.

Unpack and Verify Components

Use tools—often just a socket wrench—to open the crate. You’ll put a pair of tall support blocks in front of the crate, then lower the front panel and carefully rotate the saw head down onto the panel. Slide the saw head out and remove the two long track boxes before discarding the crate.

Locate the owner’s manual or find a copy online and go through the components list to confirm you received all the necessary parts and verify that your hardware is the correct size. It’s also a good idea to go through the list of tools required for setup before you begin assembly.

 Have Timbers or Blocks for Track Assembly

When you’re ready to put together your new sawmill bandsaw, you’ll start with the track. Place timbers or blocks 4”-6” tall on even ground and lay your track rails across them. From there, you’ll follow the instructions to add bunks, square the track, and set the width.

It’s important that you snug your nuts and bolts without overtightening them. Just like assembling furniture, you’ll want to leave some play so you can achieve the correct width and squareness before tightening.

After you tighten your hardware, go back and double-check your width and squareness. It’s vital that you make any necessary adjustments at this stage before further assembling your new bandsaw mill.

Recruit Another Person to Help

Fortunately, you can get through most of the assembly process on your own. However, once you've put it together, you will need another pair of hands to stand the saw head upright. You’ll also want their help getting your saw head onto the track.

Since finding help and aligning schedules can be a challenge, it’s best to contact your helper in advance to understand their availability. That way, you can continue assembling your new bandsaw mill unimpeded rather than tapping your foot and waiting for help to show up.

Tension the Drive Belt and Track the Blade

Before you know it, you’ll have your new bandsaw mill set up and looking like it’s ready to run. However, there are a few more crucial steps; you must be thorough and accurate as you work through them. Properly tensioning the drive belt, then tensioning and tracking the blade, as well as adjusting the blade guides are vital tasks to ensure correct operation.

Once you complete the initial setup, you may have to adjust your belt tension or blade tension and tracking down the line. This is common, but you must approach this task with safety top of mind. With all portable bandsaw sawmills, you must turn the engine off and remove the ignition key before performing any maintenance tasks, including belt and blade adjustments.

About Woodland Mills

 Sawyers worldwide turn to Woodland Mills for the best-valued forestry products available. From stump grinders and wood chippers to the flagship HM126 portable bandsaw sawmill and the versatile Multilander trailer, Woodland Mills uses innovative designs and cost-effective manufacturing to deliver the equipment you need at a price that hobbyists can justify. When you join the Woodland Mills community, you aren’t just purchasing versatile products that are built to last—you also receive unparalleled customer service that keeps people coming back to Woodland Mills. By providing quality products and exceptional performance with direct-to-customer sales and flat-rate shipping, Woodland Mills delivers “value through design” to help you make your mark.

 Explore the best-valued bandsaw mills from Woodland Mills at https://woodlandmills.com/

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