# Three wheel sawmill



## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Has anyone built or seen a three wheel sawmill? I have been thinking of building one for the last few years that I could use to half big logs. The joy has all but disappeared from splitting big logs in half with a chainsaw.


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## jeffreythree (Jan 9, 2008)

What would the 3rd wheel be for? I would think a swing mill with a slabber attachment or building something similar would work best for big logs.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*You need this book*

The http://www.falbergsawz.com has just written a book on 3 wheeled bandsaws. 
I have one of the first copies. Bill is a member here and a great guy.
1 800 567 8919 :thumbsup: the other bill


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

In December of 2005 my wife and I went to Washington State and took a log home building course. They showed a video of a home made one that cut all four sides of a log in ONE PASS. The guy had already died, and my repeated requests from the log home course peoples for a copy of that video have gone unanswered. 




.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

The third wheel would enable the mill to cut great big logs. With a typical bandmill you are limited by the size of the two wheels that the blade rides on.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

.[/QUOTE]


TexasTimbers said:


> In December of 2005 my wife and I went to Washington State and took a log home building course. They showed a video of a home made one that cut all four sides of a log in ONE PASS. The guy had already died, and my repeated requests from the log home course peoples for a copy of that video have gone unanswered.
> I would like to have seen that.


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

Hi Mizer, That's the spirit!! Build to your own specs. Only you know what specs are going to be critical to your operation and only you can build it for the cost of some aluminum (or steel, if you weld) and some time. I think you'll find some helpful tips on designing the head of your saw in my book. Feed systems are all over the place. I hope you go for it and wish you well. I think you'll find a lot of help here and elsewhere. Be sure to get lots of pics so this event doesn't slip through the cracks and get lost in an archive somewhere; making the next guy start from scratch. I have lots of spare parts here some component drawings that might help. Keep in touch, Bill Falberg


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I wasn't aware of your book Bill. I just tried to access your site and it won't' come up. I'll try again later.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Thanks Bill, You have a very nice saw and web site. I have a very big sycamore log that I am going to have to saw at some point. I think that I plan on building the saw to be able to saw it in half. Thankfully the mill that I work for has an abundance of stuff that I can fabricate it out of. I will have to come up with an engine, three blade wheels and some pillow block bearings.
I am taking suggestions on how much horse power it would take to saw a 60" log in half.


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Thanks Bill, You have a very nice saw and web site. I have a very big sycamore log that I am going to have to saw at some point. My plan is to build a saw that is able to saw a log of this size in half. Thankfully the mill that I work for has an abundance of stuff that I can fabricate it out of. I will have to come up with an engine, three blade wheels and some pillow block bearings.
I am taking suggestions on how much horse power it would take to saw this log in half.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Think outside the wheels?*

You may want to solve this problem (getting more throat depth) in a different way than the 3rd wheel. I don't have an immediate answer, but it seems to me that you just want to add dimension above the straight cutting portion of the blade. How you do that may take different forms, other than a wheel. Maybe a track, several bushings, ceramic guides, floating shoe, water pressure ..who knows? It may be that the wheel is the best, least costly answer, I donno? According to Bill Falberg, blade tension and set are key factors in the design of a bandsaw. Tracking the 3rd wheel is his expertise also. 
Another consideration is whether you move the log or move the saw along the log as is typical in today's mobile bandsaws. Is the blade horizontal or vertical? 
My friend has a 3" wide carbide tipped self feeding resaw bandsaw. 
Very impressive saw. Good Luck, :thumbsup: bill


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Any update on the 3 wheeler?*



Mizer said:


> Thanks Bill, You have a very nice saw and web site. I have a very big sycamore log that I am going to have to saw at some point. My plan is to build a saw that is able to saw a log of this size in half. Thankfully the mill that I work for has an abundance of stuff that I can fabricate it out of. I will have to come up with an engine, three blade wheels and some pillow block bearings.
> I am taking suggestions on how much horse power it would take to saw this log in half.
> View attachment 13997


Did you start on this project Mizer? We haven't heard from Bill Falberg in a long time....have you?  bill


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

Who, me? I'm still looking for Waldo.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*well, that was refreshing...*

At least you're still lurking here. :blink: Stop by again, and let us know WRT Waldo.  bill


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

woodnthings said:


> Did you start on this project Mizer? We haven't heard from Bill Falberg in a long time....have you?  bill


No I haven't sorry to say, although the recent thread about splitting logs with gun powder has me thinking about it again. I am still sawing them in half with a big chainsaw and then putting the log end up to a pile of logs and pushing a fork of a wheel loader into it to finish the job.


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## falbergsawco (Nov 25, 2009)

Ok ! I finally found the "reply" window down here at the bottom of the page. I don't know who/what to answer first, but my thoughts on building big, honking saw mills are still just that. I'd need to build one with three 14" wheels on a asymmetric I-beam frame first and try out a C-faced direct-drive 2 HP motor to get some feel how much power you need to transport a blade that wide under moderate tension. What is that Scale like? I'd be prepared to build a couple prototypes before you get the proportions right. I'm working on a smaller high tension saw for foundry work right now but I could shoot you some preliminary shop drawings of a frame that might work for your application. You'd have to scale it up to timber proportions of course. Mine is being designed to go on a robotic arm from the sky. The high-tension frames are turning out to be a real fabrication challenge (aren't they always) but when cost is no object it's amazing what you can do.


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## [email protected] (Mar 26, 2014)

*2HP micro-mill veneer resaw*

Remember the stationary vertical all-purpose bandsaw I started back in 2010? 5 years (and a stroke) later I'm finally starting to test it. The project now is to turn an apple orchard (225 trees) into turning blanks and applewood veneer. As usual, blade choice is the first problem, and it's expensive to try them all, but you gotta do it. I have more aggressive blades on order. With two yellow tension springs on a frictionless levered assembly it does OK with a narrow kerf Timberwolf but wears dull immediately from the surface grit and wants to wander. I re-set the teeth to cure that but the finish got rough again. There's no substitute for consistent tooth set. The feed rail is fairly accurate but it still uses the modular fence for precision veneer resawing. I'll post more video as I progress. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ0xqds1sCY&feature=youtu.be


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*weird background music Bill*

Hey, good to see that you are back. Still makin' stuff from aluminum I see. :yes: Interesting concept on the saw mill also.


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## [email protected] (Mar 26, 2014)

So people normally have only one belly button?


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Yup*



falbergsaw said:


> So people normally have only one belly button?



All the people I've seen naked .... just sayin'


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## Echo (Sep 9, 2015)

woodnthings said:


> All the people I've seen naked .... just sayin'


I knew a gal without a belly button. It was not until about a decade later, she told us why.

It was  by the   

True story.


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## difalkner (Nov 27, 2011)

ArthurPells said:


> 3 Wheels will increase blade breakage.


...and tracking issues.


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## [email protected] (Mar 26, 2014)

Who is Arthur Pells? Who are you? Why should I care what you think?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

falbergsaw said:


> Who is Arthur Pells? Who are you? Why should I care what you think?


Arthur Pells was just someone here using the site to sell. He is now banned from the forum.


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## [email protected] (Mar 26, 2014)

The only difference between a two-wheeled bandsaw and a three-wheeled bandsaw is one wheel and a larger throat. The solutions to blade breakage and faulty tracking are straightforward, constant and apply equally to both styles. Repeating the "problematic-three-wheeler" myth doesn't make it any truer; it just makes you sound naïve and uninformed. Three-wheelers are in fact lighter, steadier, quieter, and far more efficient than the primitive two-wheeled design they used in the 19th century. Repeat that and you'll start to sound enlightened. If you can't adjust the tracking of your drive wheel, you have a serious problem(s). If your tensioner doesn't "give" when you deflect the blade, you have another serious problem. If your wheels' crowns radii don't equal the wheels' radii, you have a problem. If your wheels aren't balanced, you have a problem. Bandsaws have all kinds of real problems and the number of wheels is irrelevant.:thumbsup:


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## [email protected] (Mar 26, 2014)

SliceMiester II is finished and living up to everything I had hoped for. Having passed all the tests for fast, smooth, veneer ripping at any thickness with any blade I'm happy to say that there is now a saw with none of the problems you have with other bandsaws. The bandsaw is inherently faster, safer, and more accurate than any other blade running platform. I use mine for everything now, including aluminum, because it's easier to set up and operate than the alternatives. I have sleds and rails for everything and set-up is never a problem because it's all so simple. I can run the 1" Woodmaster carbide with more than enough smoothly transferred (frictionless) tension (two Iturra yellow springs) I had to back off tension quite a bit because it flattened the urethane so bad it affected tracking. Two HP (220V) is way too much , but I got it. I can run blades from 1/4" to 1" I can slice the plies out of plywood without exposing any glue on 14" x 24" backboards. Miter cutting aluminum was never easier; nor ripping. The tabletop is 36" x 48" ; 32" H I can, and do, drag it around the shop. Two guys could throw it up on a pickup bed. Proving , once and for all, you don't need 1000 lbs of cast iron to reduce vibration when the wheels are perfectly machined and geometrically balanced. My portables these days have zero vibration (and zero cast iron) because the wheels are CAD machined out of solid aircraft aluminum (at $235 apiece). I'm getting too old to make videos and keep up the website but if anyone here ever gets out to Delta, Colorado, you should stop by my shop , I think you'll be amazed at what a bandsaw can do!


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