Shake Shake, It Happened To Them!

Our Hud-Son Oscar 228 Sawmill was previously deemed as a mystery.  The shake we have was not seen before.  We had been informed that they test every milll before sending it out.  In their testing, they FINALLY had a unit act like ours.

I was excited to hear that they were finally exposed to the problem first hand.  I was anxious to hear what the solution would be.  Unfortunatly, it was something that I refer to as "tinkering".

In previous posts, I've referred to this mill as something that we've been able to cut with, as long as we've been willing to spend a considerable amount of time "tinkering".  There are a few different things that typically happen during "tinker time".

1. raise the mill head all the way up. loosen the bolts that hold the stabilizer tube. slide each tube down until they are snug on the bottom of the frame.  Tighten the bolts.

2. clean and lubricate the stabilizer tubes

3. use a wire brush to clean out the wheels on the eject side and remove wet sawdust from the eject side of the mill tracks.

4. recheck blade tension and blade guide alignment.

5, if the ground is wet or a parucularly heavy log has been dogged up, recheck track straightness.

Since installing the "shake fix" brackets at the bottom, we do not have to constantly adjust the tube and bring it back down to the bottom of the track.  The sandwitching plates hold it where it needs to be.  In fact, in cases where it starts to shake, backing the upper screw off the stabilizer tube seems to soften it up.

Still looking for a solution that allows us to start the mill in the morning and cut all day w/o using tools for anything other than changing blades.  If we could make Tinker Time a thing of the past, we'd be headed down the right path!

Another Cutting Project

This weekends cutting project was

 somewhat simple.  Mostly 3"x10" boards.  I needed about 25 of them 8' long and 10 of them 16' long.  All in all, 35 boards.  Should be a peice of cake.

an 8' long 3"x10" is about 20 board feet

a 16' long 3"x10" is about 40 board feet

25 of the 8' boards is 500 board feet

10 of the 16' boards is 400 board feet

Add this up, and it's basicly 900 board feet

From what i've been told, this could be accomplished on a sawmill such as the Oscar 228 in a single day with no problem.  I'd have to dig through my notes, but something says the number was supposed to be around 1200 board feet per day.

In any case, I began preparing the mill.  It's a little quirky so you have to give it a once over.  I assume this to be true about most mills.  The only thing that starts and runs prefectly is my RedMax chainsaw :-)

Once I started cutting, the real confusion began.  One cut would be perfect, no shake, rock solid, as if the mill were functioning as advertised.  However, lower the cut heigh 5/4 and there would be a couple places in the same unturned log that caused a violent shake.

I cut small logs (under 18" in diameter) and large logs (16ft x 28") with similarly inconsistant results.  To my suprise, the largest log cut with a higher consistancy than the smaller ones.  This log was too big to fit on the mill w/o trimming on three sides with a chainsaw.  This alone was 

considerable work.  On the initial dogging, the log only touched the tracks in 2 places.  I was afraid this would cause some sort of instability with the mill.  However, there were no problems.

  This log was obviously too large to turn with cant hooks, so we had to use the winch truck to assist in turning.  In the end, we found that we were unable to completely cut the log up w/o the shaking coming and going through the process.

At one point, I was faced with redicule from the people watching.  When the mill starts jumping around, I basicly have to climb on top of it, and try to stabilize it for that particular cut.  The description was: "looks like a monkey f**king a football".

My response: "It feels like a monkey f**king ME with a football".

Still wondering what if anything can be done to make this a usefull machine/tool instead of device that, with enough tinkering and wrestling, can be wrangled into making a couple of decent cuts...

Oscar 228 Upgrades

Here is my new line of upgrade add-ons for the Oscar 228:

1. Level 1 Stabilization package
- Ejection side lower bracket. This part will increase stability slightly and cut down some of the twist/shake effect

2. Level 2 Stabilization package
- Operator side lower brackets. These parts combined will increase your stability above Level 1. (requires Level 1 package)

3. ProAm Stabilization Package
- Frame Tensioner package. This cage bolt on will add diagonal support to the front and back of the mill with quick and easy installation.

4. TopWeight
- Bolt on sand/water holding device to add weight to the top of the mill and keep the blade on track.

5. BotWeight
- Bolt on attachments (4pcs) that allow sand/water to be added to the posts just above the wheels. adds stability in cases where TopWeight doesn't help or causes head oscillation due to twisting build up in the upper load.

6. ProFrame28 Package
- Replaces the entire mill frame. Provides a drop in replacement (put the 228 engine/bandwheel) which removes your 1.5" thin tube flexible frame and replaces it with 2"x3" box tubing. Flex is removed for 28" logs and you are ready for work.
- Includes space for 16hp engine upgrade, 12v battery pad for accessories such as electric start, electric drive, lights for night work.

7. ProFrame+Vanguard 16hp
- Everything you need to drop your 228 mill head into the ProFrame28, swap the motor, and cut like a pro.


Level 1: $19.99
Level 2: $19.99
ProAm: $19.99
TopWeight: $39.99
BotWeight: $49.99
ProFrame28: $749.99
ProFrame28+v16: $1,949.99

AllAm Plus Pkg: $125 (save $25)
- includes level 1, level 2, proam, topW, botW. Everything required to do non-frame upgrades

ProFrame upgrades DO NOT use or require any of the lower level items. Along with your factory mill frame, these items can be added to your scrap metal reserves.

Advice: Buy the Oscar228 and an extra millhead w/o the engine from the factory. Then purchase the ProFrame28_16v. Use the Proframe28 for sawing and the factory 228 for edging.

*All uprade items are made upon request by an unsatisfied Oscar228 owner that has a shop and fabrication skills.

Cutting Logs vs Edging Boards

So, the last couple of days has included mostly edging boards or sawing small logs. The interesting things is that this mill, the Hud-Son Oscar 228, edges just fine and cuts up small lumber just fine.

But, i'm still having issues with cutting "real" logs. What i've been noticing is that the wider the logs, the worse the cut. The mill starts a noticeable laboring process when the blade path is greater than 5 to 6 inches of cut. With edging this is not an issue as the cut is usually only 3 or 4 boards, which is 4 x 1.25" or 5".

However, throwing a 28" log on the mill, which it's "supposed" to handle, has yielded less than the best results. The wide cuts are wavy, which results in lost lumber. Getting down to 3x3 yields some usable lumber, but still not as straight as what you would expect. Certainly not as straight as from the mill that has a frame designed for work.
I'm really starting to think that i was a little mislead on what this mill can do. It just feels like a light weight hobby machine that is not capable of cutting good lumber, but more of a tinker toy for the hobbiest to play with, work on, and eventually get a board out of.

To be honest, being told this machine can cut 1000bdft a day "feels" like false advertisement. It would more honesty be 100bdft per day. :-(

What to do, what to do.

Another Day of Cutting

Well, here we are, Thursday already.

Saturday: Mill replaced and finished up the 21ft log that has been sitting on the tracks for a month.
Sunday: Took the day off, Was supposed to get started first thing monday morning.
Monday: Help fell through. Ended up getting a sitter so me and my wife could go out. We were able to get the 5 or 6 logs cut into trailer deck lumber.
Tuesday: Did some work around the shop and watched the TV Coverage of the President being sworn in.
Wednesday: Started edging a bunch of slabs that hadn't been processed. Made a decent stack of lumber out of wood that my dad wanted to throw into a pile and burn to get out of the way.Thursday: Went to work on some large quartered logs that had made their way to the pile over the past few months.

A few people saw the sign and headed up to the shop to check it out. We got an order for some trailer decking that were cutting tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll have enough 16ft White Oak to fill that order and handle a few more trailer decks that we've been asked about.

Not terribly excited about the mill today. Had one call with the dealer. For whatever reason, the new mill has been throwing blades off the front when cutting. Supposedly they are getting hot, as it happens an hour or so into heavy cutting. When they get hot, they stretch, get loose, and come off the wheels. Or so i'm told.
Trying a couple things and hopefully we'll be able to keep the blades on. I've got help scheduled to be out here at 8am tomorrow, so hopefully that will pan out.

This Weekends Verdict

So, the big question was "how did it go?". It seems that everybody knows the troubles we've had whit this sawmill. So it was no surprise that there was a high level of interest in the outcome of Saturdays mill exchange and subsequent test cutting.

As mentioned in the previous post, the new mill shook although not as bad as the first mill. My guess however, is that with a little use, it would have worked enough flex into the new frame and begun shaking as violently as the old one. One of the bonuses would be that the old mill never worked smoothly with regard to setting the cut height. It took a serious turn of the crank to get the head up, and often the head lodged and wouldn't come down when you cranked the opposite direction. The height adjustment was a definite bonus.

Oddly enough, this one vibrates SIGNIFICANTLY more than the last one did under no load. The other mill was smooth running and low vibration until you put the blade into the log. This one acts like it's trying to come apart when you have it running. The engine shakes kinda back and forth (back goes up and down as if out of balance.)
The band wheels "look" to not spin on their center, but the outer circle is fine, so it's probably just how they balance them.

However, with the addition of the sandwitch plates where the ejection side pillar touches the bottom frame has made it cut w/o shaking off of the tracks. You can kinda feel in the hard spots that it wants to shake, but it just can't with that attached. I need to verify with the manufacturer that this particular solution will solve the problem w/o creating other issues with the mill.

So, in summary, here are some pro/cons for the mill exchange.

Pro: The cut height adjustment works right on the new mill.
Con: The cutting head seems out of balance and vibrates significantly
Pro: The new motor includes an exhaust pipe that we can connect to our indoor exhaust vent hose.
Con: There is still some shake in the fram, although most of it diminishes when the pillar bottom is braced.
Pro: I was able to cut up the logs that had been sitting there waiting for me since november.

Con:Things still arn't right.  Cutting is inconsistant and requires significant tinkering to get a log cut.

Con: The dealer had to drive 20 hours to support a mill we drove 10 hours to get in the first place. Yeah, that's 30 hours of driving. That's 1800 miles of driving to get a partialy working mill...

The Dealer Makes His 2nd Trip

After the saddening failure of his december trip, the dealer received a replacement mill and was headed back out here to swap the units and start sawing.

He was here early, having started driving about 3am, so we had a little time to handle offloading the new mill and loading up the old one.

Soon, we were cutting. Sadly, the brand new mill was still shaking, although not quite as bad as the old one. However, it was a show stopper, the new mill wasn't performing effectively.

After a few calls with the manufacturer, we started trying to see what we could make it do. At one point, the dealer put his foot on the ejection side pillar, bracing it to the bottom of the frame and limiting it's motion. As soon as he did that, the saw stopped shaking and took off cutting like there was no tomorrow.

Did we have a glimmer of hope? At this point, we had made our first successful cut. Unfortunately, there were two problems with this method.

1. Requires an extra person to do nothing more than wedge his foot against the pillar.

2. The extra person is not only standing in the ejection port (getting covered with sawdust), but is also wedging his foot next to the bland blade. If somebody were to always do that, they would probably trip at some point and end up losing a set of toes or a foot, maybe even a leg.

I came up with a couple of ways to handle this particular shake. The obvious solutions required welding a couple of pieces of angle iron similar to the top mount and throwing a bolt in there. However, I was mostly interested in a solution that didn't require drilling or welding to the mill frame. I wanted a solution that solved the problem without permanently altering the sawmill.

For that days testing, I clamped the post with the mill travel stabilizer that i built for the trailer. This worked after shimming cardboard on the pillar but only allowed the mill head to drop to about 5 or 6 inches. It did however allow us to do enough testing so that we could take information back to the manufacturer.

After the dealer left, i still needed to make cuts that were loser than 5", so i pulled it apart and put some clamps i had pa bring out.

This allowed me to bring the mill all the way down to 1.25 inches, which was our lowest cut for that particular wood. We were able to get everything cut up that was on that particular job, load the mill back into trailer form, then get it back to the house.

The final modification, which is currently in use is the two steel plates that sandwitch the offending post into place.

Regarding the verdict, i'll leave those details for the next posting.