One-Man Sawmill Built From Old Hay Conditioner

One-Man Sawmill Built From Old Hay Conditioner HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Miscellaneous 19-6-11 Using parts from a junked-out hay conditioner and grain elevator as well as an old "arbor saw" originally designed to be belt-driven off a tractor, Jerome A. Wallenfang, Fremont, Wis., built a low-cost, one-man sawmill. "It works fast and makes it easy to saw logs up to 8 ft. long into firewood," says Wallenfang. The rig is equipped with a pto-powered saw blade and a hydraulic-driven elevator that drops the cut-off logs into a pile. A moveable carriage mounted on rollers at the back of the rig is used to push the log into the saw blade. The carriage is secured to the back of the rig with bunge straps so that it automatically returns once the operator lets go. The cut-off log then falls onto the elevator. He used sq. steel tubing and parts of an old Fox Brady soybean extruder to build the frame. The gearbox, wheels, and tires are off a Fox Brady hay crimper. The ptodriven gearbox belt-drives the "arbor". An orbit motor chain-drives the elevator while a flow control valve regulates elevator speed. "I put it together by the seat of my pants without any drawings, but it works good," says Wallenfang. "The cut-off logs fall onto a 4 by 8-ft. sheet of plywood that I mounted inside a loader bucket and that I position under the end of the elevator. Once the sheet of plywood is full I dump the firewood into a wagon. I use a chain saw on logs more than 6 to 8 in. in diameter because they're too heavy to lift onto the carriage. My neighbor John Coenen fabricated the guards for the belts and orbit motor." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jerome A. Wallenfang, N919 Pine Grove Road, Fremont, Wis. 54940 (ph 414 735-9112).

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