Woodland HM126 - Mods started

John Bartley · Oct 3, 2022

Congratulations on the first usable lumber from your new mill !! And, congrats (sort of

) on joining the backstop club. I have yet to join, but I'm sure that day is coming.

In my favour, and if it interests you I can send a photo .... on my mill, mounted in line with the backstops is a stop-dog that is about 1/16" lower than the band and stops the mill if the backstop is set higher than the band. I am sure it would be an easy retro-fit. While I have yet to join the backstop club, my stop-dogs have made contact many times .....

Darren Wright · Oct 3, 2022

John Bartley said:
Congratulations on the first usable lumber from your new mill !! And, congrats (sort of ) on joining the backstop club. I have yet to join, but I'm sure that day is coming.

In my favour, and if it interests you I can send a photo .... on my mill, mounted in line with the backstops is a stop-dog that is about 1/16" lower than the band and stops the mill if the backstop is set higher than the band. I am sure it would be an easy retro-fit. While I have yet to join the backstop club, my stop-dogs have made contact many times .....

I’d love to see your setup. The mill has a blade stop, but I had moved it while assembling and didn't have it at the right angle to make contact with the log stop. Yours sounds like a solid setup though, so am interested in seeing it

Darren Wright · Oct 4, 2022

I chatted with Woodland Mills support this morning and as it happens there was an upgrade kit for the Blade stop that makes it easier to use/adjust. Just got my order confirmation (sending free of charge) and it's a thumb screw to replace the set screw (which needs an allen/hex key to adjust).

Safety items are more likely to get used if they are easier to use/adjust I guess.

John Bartley · Oct 5, 2022

Darren Wright said:
I’d love to see your setup. The mill has a blade stop, but I had moved it while assembling and didn't have it at the right angle to make contact with the log stop. Yours sounds like a solid setup though, so am interested in seeing it

I hope these are clear enough :

1) video of the moveable back-stop :

Cheers !!

Darren Wright · Oct 5, 2022

Thanks @John Bartley ! That does make perfect sense. The woodland has a similar stop, but they put a set screw in to hold it in. It has to be removed or rotated out of the way whenever the blade is changed, so either it gets taken off or not adjusted right (in my case) where it does no good. I may have to weld some tabs onto mine and do something similar to yours.

I like that movable log stop, was that your design? Or did the mill come with it? Nice setup on the toe board jacks too. I bought a motorcycle jack to mount on mine, but need to cut some angle for it yet to span between the tracks.

John Bartley · Oct 5, 2022

Darren Wright said:
I like that movable log stop, was that your design? Or did the mill come with it? Nice setup on the toe board jacks too.

All those components came from SMG Champion, so credit to them. I have done a couple of modifications, but mostly having to do with loading large logs. The movable log stop is great for taking a log down to a cant. I can quickly stand it up, roll logs against the rollers at the top of each post and then just as quickly push it down to just below band height and lock the log against it. Once I am at a cant I can drop it to the bottom and leave it there while the square back-stops do the work. If I know I am only cutting down to a specific thickness I can leave the square backstops set a tad below that thickness for the last cuts and use the movable stop for everything else.

cheers

Darren Wright · Oct 23, 2022

I thought I’d try a mod I’ve seen on the woodland mills fb page, adding a bucket for the saw dust.

I used an L bracket, bent to to keep the bucket handle on, and an old gallon jug cut and zip tied on as a deflector.

Worked really well. It caught about 95% of the dust.

Next up is a couple of line lasers, just waiting on a solar battery pack and the laser mounts.

John Bartley · Oct 23, 2022

Nice mod Darren. I may give that a try. I am currently just blowing my sawdust into the bush behind the mill.

Darren Wright · Oct 29, 2022

Today I got the “lasers” installed. They are 5v, so I bought some usb to barrel connectors to power them from a solar/rechargeable battery pack, which happens to fit nicely into a pocket on the back of the mill head.

I used some 4mm nut rivets to mount them