HO Saw Mill Complete

This is a set of models of the machinery used in the kind of medium sized sawmill that was common throughout the 20th century in communities all over the US and Canada. Such a mill would employ from 10 to 20 men and produce in the order of 10,000 to 20,000 board feet per day of lumber. This set includes the No 2 Special Double Cut Headsaw, the Medium Gang Edger, the Roller Tables With Transfer Beams (a set of six), the Wood Frame Swing Saw, the Log Haul-up winch and all the wheels and mandrels that should be needed to build an overhead belt drive system.
The model includes an information package with a plan view showing the arrangement all the equipment, renderings of each item showing how to install belts, information about the milling process and photos of McLean Mill,the steam powered sawmill in Port Alberni, BC, Canada, after which the arrangement of this mill is patterned. Get the information package by contacting me through Shapeways after you buy or even before if you need help making up your mind.

 

The Headsaw is patterned after the DeLoach No 2 Double Saw mill as shown in a DeLoach catalog dating back to about 1908. It has a 60" lower blade, a 40" upper blade and is capable of cutting logs of almost five feet in diameter. Of interest is the variable speed friction drive for the carriage which consists of a compressed paper drum that slides on its shaft and rides against a rotating steel disk. The operator moves the drum towards the outer edge of the disk to increase the speed of the carriage and back past center to reverse it.

The headsaw will need to be cut into the floor of your mill and you will need to install the cable to the carriage bed. It loops around the center drum and runs forward and back beneath the mill to the end sheaves and ties off to opposite ends of the carriage frame. Make this cable of sewing thread or woven fishing line. You will also need to make the drive belts for the main shaft and the top saw. Use dental tape or paper and secure with ACC.

A similar saw remains in use today at the steam powered McLean Mill historic site near Port Alberni, British Columbia.

 

The Edger is developed from the DeLoach medium gang edger illustrated in a the same DeLoach Company Catalog.

It is used to trim the edges of slabs coming off the headsaw. It has three blades, two of which are sideways adjustable with the long handles that extend back to the operator end of the machine. The model has a sprue across the end to protect these handles, it can be a removed with a sharp hobby knife. The belt that drives the feed rollers from the central saw arbor can be made of dental tape or paper and glued in place with ACC.

 

The Roller Tables were designed for a sawmill layout similar to that of the steam powered McLean Mill near Port Alberni, British Columbia. Each table is a scale 12 ft long and the set includes one dead roll table with curb for the outfeed from the headsaw and four live roll tables that stand in line with it. One of these has a belt wheel and another has a fence for the overhead swing saw. Also included is one dead roll table for the outfeed from the edger and two sets of three transfer beams to move material from the swingsaw line to the edger line and back again.

 

The Swingsaw is patterned after the wood frame swingsaw illustrated in the catalog of the American Sawmill Machinery Company of Hackettstown, N.J. It is used to cut to standard lengths lumber coming from the headsaw and the edger. It should be mounted to a substantial overhead beam and suspended over the roller table with fence (as mentioned above). You will need to install a belt which can be made of paper and secured with ACC.

 

The Log Haul-Up Winch is modeled from the DeLoach catalog.

This machine should be situated at the end of the log deck opposite the inclined ramp, or jackladder, up which logs are pulled from the pond and into the mill. The operator controls it with two levers, one that pulls on the brake beam and presses a brake shoe against the back side of the bull wheel and another that pushes a compressed paper friction drive against the front of the bull wheel. This machine has no haulback so the operator has to pull the cable back down the ramp the hard way.

 

These models are as close to scale as Shapeways technology allows and can only be printed in frosted detail plastic. Detail is finer than most cast metal or plastic models and you will need a jeweller's loupe to see it all. The models are non operating.