From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Richard Smith"  wrote in message news:m1plcg3k3p.fsf@void.com...   
      
   The engineer friend who helped me build the "Mark 1/2" rod-mill and   
   wants to help me with the "Mark 1" built a magnificent sawmill at a   
   place near where I was then living.   
   Saw it before I got to know him.   
   Commercial setup - place logs on an get planks out.   
   So in that regard I am fortunate.   
      
   -------------------   
   You are fortunate, my knowledge of Statics is slim, and of Dynamics   
   negligible.   
      
   My sawmill was meant to get the best quality oak boards or beams obtainable   
   from less than perfect trees, so it's very slow to operate since I may have   
   to hoist, rotate and inspect the squared "cant" between cuts, then   
   reposition and level or tilt it on the supports.   
      
   The overhead gantry crossing the saw bed at its center has been a good way   
   to move logs on and cut lumber off the bed, and to hoist and rotate with a   
   rope sling suspended by a snatch block pulley. A peavey or long pipe clamp   
   will rotate smaller logs, a second chainfall hoist pulling a rope wound   
   around the cant will turn the heaviest.   
      
   I think the gantry is an acceptable alternative to a forklift or bucket   
   loader if you don't have one or the large maneuvering space they require   
   with logs. I can lift over four times as much weight with my tripods and   
   gantry as the neighbor's bucket loader, but he moves logs within its limit   
   much faster.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)