Do-it-yourself chainsaw sawmill, drawings and photos

A wood sawing machine (saw bench) is a rather complex special production equipment that requires strict adherence to safety measures during operation. In the conditions of the Russian Federation, your own sawmill can greatly reduce the cost of wooden construction and/or become a source of stable income. The purpose of this publication is to help the reader understand how to make a sawmill with your own hands, choose a suitable design for yourself and avoid insurmountable difficulties in its manufacture.

Introduction

The crisis forces us to look at old processes with new eyes. Somewhere sawmills are closing, and somewhere, on the contrary, they decide to open a sawmill. As a rule, private owners have recently opened sawmills; their costs are lower and efficiency is higher. Here you don’t need a business plan for a sawmill, but if it comes in handy, come here!

Sometimes the word “open” is too strong. They simply set up a sawmill for use at home, for example to build a house, or, in extreme cases, to cut a log for a neighbor. This is the case we are considering.

When opening your own sawmill, there are several options on how best to do this:

Buy inexpensive equipment;
Do it yourself.

Again, to build a house and get 3 - 5 cubic meters of boards, buying a sawmill for 50 - 150 thousand is just some kind of waste. After all, our boards will cost several times less: 18 - 30 thousand rubles.

There is a way out, make a sawmill from a chainsaw. This will not take you much time if you have hands that grow from the right place. In addition, it will serve you faithfully for a long time, because having your own sawmill is a fairly profitable business today.

Design Features

The main feature of the sawmill is that the cut in it is always longitudinal. It is well known how difficult it is to cut wood along the grain. Unlike a circular saw, a sawmill does not deal with measuring boards and beams, but with wild logs of generally irregular shape. Therefore, in sawmills, a saw carriage with a working element (the saw itself) moves along the log being cut; Otherwise, it is very difficult to ensure the accuracy and cleanliness of the cut. Large timber processing enterprises also have sawmills for sawing very long logs (up to 30, and in the tropics up to 60-70 m). In them, the carriage is stationary, and the log is moved by a hydraulic system; The centering of the line is ensured by a computer with sensors. But at home, such a solution is unrealistic.

Note: logs are always sawed in the direction in which the wood fibers converge, i.e. from the butt to the top. If you put the carriage in reverse, then any saw (see below) will certainly get stuck in the tree and/or break.

What to cut with?

How affordable, durable, convenient and safe to use a home-made sawmill will be is mainly determined by the design of its working part. Another essential condition is the requirements for the productivity of the machine and its operating mode (regularly, from time to time). The third is the resource of the working body and the possibility of replacing it. And finally, the energy supply at the place of work is important: what is more accessible there – electricity or motor fuel? There are also less significant additional conditions, see below.

In sawmills with small and medium productivity (up to 3-5 cubic meters of wood per 6-hour work shift), the following are used. types of working bodies:

Reciprocating saw bar (old).
Saw blade (item 1 in the figure below).
Saw band (item 2).
Saw chain (item 3).
Continuous chain saw bar (new, item 4).
Household chainsaw (item 5).

Types of designs for sawmills of small and medium productivity

How to drink?

The orientation of the cutting surface can be horizontal or vertical. Resp. and the cut will be horizontal or vertical, and the sawmill will be horizontal or vertical. Vertical cutting, firstly, reduces material waste, because It is enough to level the log under it only in the horizontal plane. When cutting horizontally, a log needs to be leveled both horizontally and vertically to minimize waste, otherwise too much wood will go into the slab (“hunch”). Secondly, when cutting vertically, the cut (the part of the log being sawed off) does not put pressure on the working part and clings to it much less. Therefore, to saw the same timber vertically, the drive power required is 2-3 times less than horizontally, see the video below:

Video: homemade vertical chain sawmill

But, firstly, the risk of injury with vertical sawmills is much higher than with horizontal ones. Secondly, the transverse feeding of logs under the saw of a vertical sawmill is structurally and technically very complex, and ensuring the maximum permissible sawing accuracy according to specifications of up to 6 mm per 6 m of log length on a homemade vertical sawmill is extremely difficult or even impossible. Therefore, it is better to build a sawmill with your own hands for a horizontal cut.

Structural composition of the sawmill

We’ll talk a little further about the features of a particular saw for a sawmill. First you need to understand the design of the sawing machine as a whole. It consists of:

working body - saw (see above and below);
drive to it from the motor;
saw carriage;
rail track (guide) for it;
carriage (cradle) for logs;
grip holders for him;
a frame that combines all this into a single device and ensures its overall strength and reliability.

Note: certain structural components of the sawmill can be made integral with the frame.

Drawings of the sawmill in full structural composition (layout diagram) are given in Fig.:

Structural composition (layout diagram) of the sawmill

Its features are, firstly, a frame made of wooden beams. Secondly, a minimum of welding work during assembly. This is an important point: metal structures conduct during welding; Because of this, it is very problematic to specify the cutting accuracy of a welded sawmill. Thirdly, the carriage rail (item 13 on the right) is made of angle steel, cheaper than a channel; the necessary stability of the track is ensured by rigid fastening of the rails to the frame. As a result, the support shoes of the carriage are pairs of ordinary rolling bearings, and the smoothness and accuracy of its movement are high; trembling of the carriage is the main cause of sawing defects. Another consequence is the carriage feed mechanism without a gear (chain, screw, etc.), which also increases the smoothness of its movement. Finally, in a carriage of this design it is possible to install a drive with any of the saws listed above for horizontal cutting; disc, with a continuous tire and a chainsaw also for a vertical one.

The disadvantage of this machine is the comb log holders. It is impossible to make them from a channel less than 60 mm, as they will not hold the wood. That is, the last unusable slab will be no thinner than 60 mm. Additionally, material waste will increase because it is impossible to align the log vertically in this machine. However, it is not so difficult to get rid of these shortcomings by using a separate carriage for logs of a simple design, see below.

The operation of the cutting thickness setting unit (in the inset) requires some explanation, which in this machine is quite simple, accurate and easy to use. The nuts 5 in the insert are welded to the support plate 4 and locked. After the first cut, the adjusting screws (item 1 in the inset and 11 on the right) rotate synchronously, because they are connected by a chain drive (item 20 on the right). There is no need to loosen the locknuts (item 2 in the inset): they will loosen on their own. When the saw is installed in a new position below the previous one, the locknuts are tightened by hand.

Saw like a saw – longitudinal

Drawing, tooth profile and routing diagram for a rip saw on wood

A reciprocating saw bar is nothing more than a carpenter's rip saw blade. Its drawing, tooth profiling and wiring diagram are given in Fig. on right. The drive in the sawmill is from a flywheel to a crank mechanism through a slider - a smooth steel rod sliding in a cage with bronze or Babbitt liners (this is exactly what is shown in the figure above with the layout diagram of the sawmill). In former times, craftsmen used carpenter's bow saw blades instead of a saw bar; They also saw along, and you could buy them in almost any tool store. In this case, the tension of the blade during the reverse stroke is ensured by a fairly strong return spring.

The advantage of a reciprocating saw bar is a smooth, clean cut with a width of no more than 3 mm, i.e. low material waste. The resource is very solid, no less than that of a saw blade, see below. But there are also a lot of disadvantages:

Low productivity: if the feed of the carriage during the reverse stroke of the saw exceeds 1/3 of the tooth height, i.e. 4 mm, the saw gets stuck.
It is impossible to saw a log with a diameter of more than 300-320 mm - the blade immediately gets stuck and wrinkles.
Damp, unseasoned wood does not take, it also immediately gets stuck and breaks.
Very often gets stuck on knots and strands.
If there is insufficient tension on the reverse stroke, the cut sharply worsens - it becomes wide and torn.
The same applies to an excessively strong return spring.

In professional forestry, reciprocating saw bars fell out of use by the end of the 19th century, and among amateurs, with the advent of chainsaws in everyday life.

Disk

A saw blade from a circular saw will not fit into a sawmill: it is made of steel of poorer quality than required in this case. When sawing raw logs, the disk material from the circular saw will soon release itself due to heating, the disk will quickly fail or be completely blown apart. Therefore, a saw blade for a sawmill is not a cheap pleasure. In some sources you can find advice: they say, cut out a round piece from galvanized (!) or duralumin (!!!), attach 2-4 teeth to it, and saw. Judging by the fact that the authors of publications of this kind seem to be alive and not mutilated, they themselves did not do this and have no idea what could come of it.

Disc sawing of wood is widespread in professional woodworking because... allows you to cut several pieces of measured lumber from timber in one pass; For this purpose, angle and multi-disc saw carriages are used (inset at the top left of the figure). However, an industrial circular sawmill is a complex structure, see Fig., which does not work on the “do-it-yourself” topic.

Construction of an industrial circular sawmill

If an amateur gets a sawmill blade (diameter from 600 mm, tooth profile the same as that of a rip saw, see above), he needs to keep in mind the following advantages and disadvantages:

Long resource – up to 5000 hours or more; up to 1500-2000 hours between teeth regrinding.
To sharpen, you definitely need a sharpening machine; you can’t do it by hand.
The cut is not very even, 3-5 mm wide, i.e. material waste up to 10-12% by volume. A “clean cut” disc, which produces a waste of 2-5%, costs 3-10 times more than a simple one.
You can cut without any technical breaks for 6 hours. shift; Maximum performance in this class of devices.
High energy consumption, because the disc rubs against the tree both vertically and horizontally in a cut with the side surface of a large area. To obtain the required drive power in kW, multiply the diameter of the log in dm by 1.7.
The quality and condition of the sawmill being processed have virtually no effect on the productivity of the sawmill.
A disk with a diameter of 800 mm can cut a log with a diameter of up to 350 mm.
Larger diameter discs in amateur designs are very dangerous, because... require a high-precision drive to avoid runout.
The drive is only electric, because The disk should rotate absolutely smoothly at idle. In the tree he’s already got more than enough tugs.

In general, a DIY circular sawmill is definitely not an option. Let's look at the drawings in Fig. below. The first thing that catches your eye on the left is the carriage on rollers in channel rails. This is not a rail track made of milled profiles: a 1-2 mm misalignment of the rollers when moving the carriage is inevitable. The consequence is a disk misalignment of 6 mm or more. Right there he gets stuck in a tree. Considering the mass of the disk, its rotation speed and moment of inertia, the occurrence of an emergency and extremely traumatic situation is inevitable.

Drawings of homemade disc sawmills

Next, the lower edge of the disk must fit into the groove of the log carriage, otherwise it will not finish cutting it to the end. And so, we sawed off the first top. What's next? In theory, you need several grooves in the carriage, depending on the thickness of the resulting boards. After each cut, either the carriage is raised, moved forward and lowered back to the working position, or the carriage with the log must be moved under it in the same way. Can you imagine such a design made at home? No need, your head will hurt a lot.

What if it’s simple? Just move the log on the carriage? No, it's not easy. It must be laid again so that the next cut runs exactly parallel to the previous one. And on the carriage there’s not a stick, there’s a huge, heavy block of wood.

Well, let’s say we have a strong family/staff, we don’t care about moving logs, and the loss of productivity due to this is acceptable. Then look at what is marked in red in the drawing on the right in Fig. Yes, this is a log holder. Without it, it will either roll off the carriage, or tip over when 2-3 blocks are sawed off (unedged boards of the entire timber for cutting into measuring boards). The holder is located in the very middle of the log. You can't cut on it. In total, the most valuable, wide, strong and most evenly drying core block will most likely go to waste, because Due to the repositioning of the log, the thickness will be unacceptably converging on a wedge.

Note: an amateur single-disc sawmill for horizontal sawing is no more convenient or more productive than a vertical one, but it is structurally much more complex and dangerous.

So, making a circular sawmill with your own hands is an option in one and only case: if you have come up with an improvement to it that is a commercially promising invention and you need to test the idea in hardware in order to apply for a patent. In all other cases, it’s not necessary.

Band saw

The band sawmill is one of the inventions that produce significant results with trivial technical solutions. The reciprocating rip saw has a lot of advantages, and its disadvantages are due most of all to the presence of reverse motion. This means that you need to get rid of it in order to get a continuous saw blade. As a result, the operational properties of the band sawmill differ significantly from those of the prototype and machines for similar purposes:

Productivity – up to average, 2-3 cubic meters. m of wood per shift.
Saws both seasoned and raw freshly chopped round timber.
The cleanliness of the cut is as high as that of a rip saw blade, and the material waste is just as low.
The cutting accuracy is as high as that of a circular sawmill, provided that the saw blade tension is uniform and optimal.
It is impossible to saw logs immediately into pieces of measured materials.
Energy consumption per 1 cubic meter m of wood is 1.2-1.5 times lower than that of a circular sawmill.
To avoid self-release of the tape material, technical breaks in work are necessary: after each wash for 5-10 minutes; after sawing 0.5 cu. m (2 logs with a diameter of 0.3 m and 6 m long) – 10-15 minutes; after 2 hours of work – half an hour to an hour; from 6 hour shift to next. the same - at least 2 hours.
The full resource of the working body (belt) is 100-500 hours; re-sharpening is not possible.
The cost of the tape per hour of work is much less than that of a simple saw blade.
The cost of the entire machine is several times less than a disk machine with an angular carriage per cut.
The drive is electric, because The idle speed of the belt needs to be as high as for a disk.

Due to these features, the band sawmill is most widely used in small sawmills. According to most advertisements: “We accept round logs/logs for sawing,” it is band sawmills that work. In Russia, band sawmills are produced in a fairly wide range (Taiga, etc.).

The simplest way to make a rip saw is to roll the blade into a ring and place it on pulleys, pos. 1 on next Fig.. To prevent injury from the non-working branch of the blade, a protective cover is put on the working part. Making a sawmill with a belt without it (item 2) is extremely dangerous!

Factory and homemade band sawmills

The second stumbling block for DIYers here is the belt pulleys. The branded ones have a special slightly convex profile of the side surface (working surface). The belt slides off the cylindrical pulley; flanges (edges) do not help. Some craftsmen tilt the entire sawing unit upward by 1-3 degrees. However, as soon as the tension of the tape weakens (which is possible during one cut), the tape will fly off from above; without a protective cover, this is even more dangerous than sliding down.

Smarter craftsmen have found a way out: they put the tape on the wheels of cars and motorcycles with tires, pos. 3 in Fig. and rice at first. Their profile almost exactly matches the required one, and the elasticity of the tightly inflated chambers ensures optimal belt tension, at least enough to cut a whole log. In addition, if thin, high-quality materials are being sawed, then you can get by with a simple friction drive, also pos. 3 fig. on right. The manufacture of the machine is also simplified, because auto-moto wheels are already quite balanced, see video:

Video: DIY band sawmill

Transfer to saw

When sawing raw, untreated logs and knotty/twisty and sticky fine-grained wood, the transmission from the drive to the belt (the main one) is also a stumbling block. The mechanical characteristics of the belt are too soft: the belt is elastic and can slip. Gear gear, on the contrary, is too rigid: for a moment before jamming, the gears give a sharp, strong jerk. In both cases, it is very likely that the tape will get stuck in the tree and become crushed, which immediately creates a dangerous situation.

The best final drive for a band sawmill is a chain drive. It provides idle speed of the belt almost as smooth as a belt one. And when sawing “bad” wood, the chain’s own inertia pulls the tape with small, frequent jerks, and the inhomogeneities of the wood are successfully overcome. The same property of chain transmission is used, for example. in screw wood splitters.

Chain instead of tape

The working body of a chain sawmill is a chain with saw teeth stretched on rollers. Its operational strength, service life and reliability (not prone to getting stuck on wood defects) are several times greater than tapes, and the cost per cut length before wear is lower. The saw chain can be re-sharpened (you need a sharpening machine!) and does not require any technical breaks during the shift. The drive can be energy-independent from a 1-2 cylinder 2-stroke internal combustion engine: the saw chain itself dampens its vibrations. In terms of safety, the chain sawmill is the best in this segment of production equipment.

Disadvantages: firstly, increased energy consumption compared to tape - the chain casing rubs against wood, although not as much as the disk. The second is a wide (4-6 mm or more) rather ragged cut: lumber from a chain sawmill needs sanding (that’s why a surface grinder is not often built into it) or will be sold as a second grade. Consequence: increased material waste, up to 15% by volume. Third, in continuous operation it is necessary to supply coolant (cutting fluid, emulsion) to the saw chain, see fig. The fourth is a long technical break between shifts for self-healing of the chain properties: at least 10 hours. And, finally, the high labor intensity of maintenance: re-sharpening and/or replacement of chain teeth is required every 10-50 hours of work, and fiddling with them - mom, don’t worry!

Appearance and design of an electric chain sawmill

Due to these circumstances, chain sawmills are used primarily. for primary sawing of timber at stock exchanges and harvesting sites. In the latter case, the energy independence of the machine with an internal combustion engine plays a decisive role: it is brought in by truck or tractor, the wood is unraveled onto the blocks and taken away. In remote regions of the Russian Federation and Canada, wood losses are often more than compensated by savings on round timber transportation by timber trucks. But this approach, of course, does not benefit the forest as a living community. Both from excessive cutting and from clogging with sawdust.

New tire

The continuous saw bar is a cantilever chain saw, i.e. does not require tension at the end farthest from the drive; it also does not require coolant supply. Do you recognize? This is the “blade” of the chainsaw. The use of modern materials and continuous improvement of design has made it possible to create chainsaws that are suitable in all respects for domestic use. A sawmill made from a chainsaw at home is also much easier to make than any other; drawings of a frame with rails and a log holder can be found at the link, and carriages for a household chainsaw can be found here. Its performance qualities and features (except for the resource) will be approx. the same as for a chain sawmill. Changeover from horizontal to vertical cutting is carried out simply by rearranging the carriage. But keep in mind:

The service life of the saw motor will be reduced by approx. doubled.
The full service life of the “canvas” of the best models will be no more than 20-30 hours, and of cheap ones – 10-12 hours.
Every 2-3 hours you will need to re-sharpen, and every 4-6 hours you will need to replace the teeth (if possible for this sample).
The total operating time during the day is 2-3 hours.
Maintenance break until next shift – from 12 hours.
The saw must be designed for both transverse and longitudinal cuts.

The last circumstance, as Comrade Sukhov would say, is a delicate matter. Models from leading manufacturers (Stihl, for example) have both cuts provided by default, but the resource for the longitudinal one is given for normal use: 15 minutes of work, half an hour of rest. It is impossible to withstand it in a sawmill, because... You cannot stop the carriage while cutting is in progress. In this case, the resource of the saw bar is reduced by half or three times. “Alternative” manufacturers often have the opposite: the default saw is only a cross-cut saw. If the user manual says “transverse and longitudinal”, “also longitudinal”, etc., then the resource for a longitudinal cut is not specified. Keep in mind.

Special continuous saw bars are produced for sawmills. Due to the refusal of a transverse cut, their offset (length) is greater, up to 1000-1200 mm, the cut is thinner (3-4 mm) and cleaner; virtually the same as a band saw. The resource and mode of use are the same as those of a saw chain. A sawmill with a tire can be of a conventional design (on the left in the figure), but in the context of homemade ones, the Logosol type tire sawmill, center-right in the figure, is of much greater interest. Spring edge supports keep the log from rolling away. The elevators are adjusted separately, which allows you to level the log horizontally.

Installation of different types of tire sawmills

The history of Logosol is interesting and inextricably linked with ours. In the USSR, since the 30s, the export of unprocessed wood was strictly regulated and produced in large quantities through established channels. After its collapse, the former Soviet republics, which had forest reserves, literally flooded Europe with cheap round timber, with standards equal to the size of a log. In the EU, the main domestic logging is carried out in Germany and Switzerland in the Alps. There are plenty of smart woodworkers here and there, and they are accustomed to working with an acute shortage of raw materials. Given the prices for timber there, calculating the income from the purchase of wild timber and sawing it into boards in one’s yard gave results that made one’s eyes pop. Plus - there is no headache with disposal of sawdust, but there is a significant additional benefit from selling it. It was then that the Swiss Bengt-Olof Byström came up with a sawmill, which he called Logosol. Its highlight is the replacement of a technologically complex rail track with a smooth guide along which the carriage is moved manually with a clamp. This requires more labor and some skill, but the design of the sawmill is greatly simplified, and its cost drops significantly. Hobbyists have developed many modifications of Byström's undoubtedly successful design. Their drawings of Logosols and components for them can be openly taken from here: https://www.logosol.su/files.htm. How to make a Logosol sawmill with your own hands, see the video:

Video: DIY mobile-stationary Logosol “Terya”

The appearance of Logosol is the direct reason for the development of saw bars for sawmills. There are models available for sale that are compatible with household chainsaws: remove the standard blade and install the bar. Thus, the issue with the cost and labor intensity of the drive was resolved: a chainsaw on the farm is already a necessary thing.

What do we need?

Welding machine, electrodes;
Lumber, posts, screws, nails;
Chainsaw, electric saw or just an electric motor;
Extended tires with chains, if you cut wood with large diameters, more on that below;
Material for making the case, preferably a corner, as it is quite resistant to vibrations;
Rollers and guides;
Cord, clothesline or cable for moving the saw while sawing;
Roller bearings.

What material should I choose to make the case? Metal is certainly considered generally accepted. It withstands the weight of logs well and is resistant to changes in humidity.

Another cheaper and more economical option for using wood can be considered as a material. With high-quality fastening with screws and self-tapping screws, the wood will easily withstand the load from thin wood.

Types and features of chainsaw sawmills

Construction markets offer a large selection of sawmills, which are based on a chainsaw. Fixed in a trolley with rollers, the unit can be manually moved along a pre-laid rail track. A powerful chainsaw or band saw can be used to harvest wood.

The chain unit is used for cutting round timber. Its design includes a saw chain, after operation of which a large amount of sawdust remains. This is the main disadvantage of this type of sawmill.
Band chainsaws are capable of sawing logs of fairly large diameters. When working on such a sawmill, you should keep in mind that sawdust scatters over a large area around it, so you need to be careful. A flexible air duct connected to the chip ejector will help cope with this problem.

For domestic conditions, large sawmills are most often not required, so the optimal solution would be to manufacture a functional homemade mini-machine. Such a unit will be small in size, and therefore can be easily moved if necessary.

Most often, the main element of such a device is a chainsaw , which can be purchased at a specialized store or use a Ural brand unit.

What needs to be provided?

Before making, you need to pay attention to the following things:

The diameter of the logs being cut, if there are large diameters, then you need a more powerful saw, a longer bar with chain;
Loading heavy logs for sawing, for this it is necessary to provide some kind of mechanism, or they can be rolled up either by additional jacks or, ideally, by a loader;
The log must be fixed so that it does not play during sawing and the boards are even;
The chainsaw guide and sled should not play, so they need to be strengthened;
The more powerful the saw, the easier production will be. Therefore, when purchasing a saw, you need to take the most powerful one;
Using electricity as an energy source allows you to save a lot;
Do not forget that the chain must be for longitudinal sawing, this will significantly increase the speed of the process. Experts recommend using a 3*8 chain.
It is advisable to buy a carbide chain. This is what he is doing today. Conventional circuits fail quite quickly;
The length of the logs to be cut must take into account the maximum and minimum. So that the longest ones fit in, and the shortest ones don’t fall between the guides;
Calculate in such a way that the saw does not vibrate or play on the guides during operation;
The power of the saw, in some cases you want it to be both more powerful and more economical. In this case, folk craftsmen do the following. Instead of a chainsaw, an electric motor is installed, and the tire is left for sawing, see photo below;
The height of the sawmill. It is necessary to provide in such a way that the back does not hurt to bend over and the logs do not need to be lifted high. If the wood is not heavy, it is better to make it higher. If the forest is heavy, you can go lower.
Sawing of wood can be carried out either by the upper part of the tire or by the lower part. When sawing with the lower part, sawdust flies towards the chainsaw and clogs it. The upper part throws out sawdust from the chainsaw, this allows you to increase both the service life of the saw and the downtime during sawing;
During the sawing process, the chain very often stretches on the saw and needs tensioning. Therefore, when installing the saw, it is necessary to provide access to the chain tension and secure the saw with access to the mechanism;
When sawing, it is better to fix the position of the chainsaw handle, this simplifies the process;
The cable, clothesline or lace should not drag, since the sawing process should be uniform over time.

How to make

Let's take a closer look at how to make your own sawmill from a regular chainsaw using the example of a stationary structure.

What you need

For work you will need the following materials:

Chainsaw.
Welding machine.
Square metal pipes.

Manufacturing process

To manufacture the device you will have to perform the following steps:

Assemble the base of the future sawmill from pipes and angles. There is no need to install the structure immediately. First you need to fold it and check how smoothly all the elements are connected. They do this using a level. Only after this the pipes are connected to each other by welding.
When the base rectangle is assembled, for greater structural strength it must be strengthened with at least two ties. They can be made from the same metal pipes. The ties are fastened transversely at an equal distance from each other. The best mounting option is bolted.
Then thinner pipes or metal profiles are welded on top of the pipes from which the base of the structure is assembled. They will serve as guides for the logs being cut and will not allow them to fall off the sawmill. Transverse guides are also welded. Ideally, they should rotate - this will ensure smoother movement of the log and minimize the effort that needs to be applied during operation of the device.

After the base is completely ready, it is installed on racks. Steel squares are best suited for their role. They are welded in the corners of the base. For greater structural strength, braces can be welded between the posts.
Afterwards, the trolley for the cutting part is assembled. It is a rectangle of metal pipes supported by two longitudinal steel strips. Between these strips and the walls of the rectangle, two slopes are installed so that the structure is stable. Rollers are placed under the strips, which will ensure the movement of the cutting part along the base. Then another pipe is welded to one of the strips, connecting it to the rectangle on top. This is the attachment point for the saw.
When the cart is ready, secure the saw. This can be done in a variety of ways. The most common method is to secure the saw body using clamps or metal ties. It is quite reliable and does not cause irreversible damage to the device. If necessary, additional transverse strips are welded to the trolley from the same pipes from which the remaining parts of the structure were made.

Drawings of the Logosol sawmill

Logosol sawmill drawing

A little background, the Swiss guy Bengt-Olof Byström developed a very simple and mobile sawmill “Logosol”. Its development quickly spread throughout the world, winning the hearts of millions of private owners. As you already understood, its main advantage is low cost and mobility. Video of sawing wood at the Logosol sawmill:

Drawings of Logosol analogues

DIY sawmill drawings

Based on the drawings, I’ll tell you right away that individual drawings are made for each case. After all, I don’t know what kind of chainsaw you will use. Secondly, I don’t know what material you have, I’ll write for example a corner, and you have a pipe that will do just fine. Therefore, we draw out the entire diagram, taking the drawings shown above as a basis.

Making a sawmill at home with your own hands

When it is necessary to process a large number of boards and wood, it is best to use a self-made sawmill. Many people believe that it is best to purchase a ready-made unit, but making it yourself will not be difficult. The main thing is to decide what the volume of work ahead will be, as well as the wood, after which you need to choose the type of sawmill to successfully complete the task.

When assembling the unit with your own hands, special attention should be paid to safety issues , because such a device is considered a high-risk object. The manufacture of various types of sawmills is presented further in the video.

Step-by-step manufacturing process

So, our process will go as follows:

We draw drawings based on the materials you have;
Making the frame. To do this, we weld a corner or pipe into a frame;
Making sleds. It can be made from a wooden board with the area of movement of the slide covered with a stainless sheet or galvanized. The second option is from the corner where the rollers will roll. The third option is from rails. Options are presented as the load on the sawmill increases;

The sled is made of 50 mm boards. The board is galvanized for less abrasion. A profile (square) pipe without a fourth wall rides on the slide.

The next step is the mechanism for adjusting the thickness of the board. There are two options here. The first is like in the Logosol sawmill, the log is raised, and the cutting part is motionless. This option is more suitable for sawing small logs, so as not to bend over and hurt your back, and to make sawing faster. To use this method, ordinary mechanical jacks are well suited; you need to ensure that their lifting height is as high as possible. The second option is when the log is motionless, and the saw lowers and rises along the ruler. Which option you will implement needs to be thought out at the stage of creating drawings;
Chainsaw mount. Checking the structure for strength. Elimination of backlashes;
Making a mechanism for uniform advancement of a saw from a cable, clothesline or lace:
Commissioning and modification.

Owner reviews

Owners of sawmills made from chainsaws note the high efficiency, low cost and ease of installation of the structure. Most reviews about this device are positive.

They talk about the advantages of such an improvised sawmill. Thus, the famous video blogger Maxim Egorov assembled a sawmill from a chainsaw right in the forest. To do this, he used several boards and two roughly processed pine logs. Using the device, he managed to obtain boards in the required quantity, which were intended for the construction of a forest house. Maxim noted the simplicity and efficiency of the design, as well as the ability to quickly transform it back into a chainsaw.

My services:

I offer a range of services for starting up equipment, sourcing and selling your equipment. I will help you calculate a business plan for sawmill production. More details about my services can be found in the “SERVICES” section.

I also have an excellent book on sawmilling. It is designed for large sawmills, but will also be useful for private owners in small sawmills. More details about it in the “MY BOOKS” section.

Good luck and see you again, Andrey Noak was with you!