American-Made sawmills vs Chinese-Made

[Michael Barker]

FYI, account was not created for this post . IMHO it was not a weird post . You are right about the Chinese build info being revealed on their site. My mistake !! You are wrong about the bearing being supported on both sides of the wheels.Tech support says is is a square shaft that is turned at the end and is inserted in the bearing in the wheel hubs. There are two bearings in the wheel hubs. Shaft is supported on 1 side only. Maybe you misunderstood what I was saying. Said it hasn't been a problem but recommends you closely inspect the band wheels bearings regularly at a MAX of 6-month intervals to check for seal leakage etc. Easily replaced he said . Support was prompt and a very nice guy so that's good. Not trying to get something stirred up. Glad you're happy with your mill.

[John TenEyck]

Yes, I misunderstood about the bearings. The shaft is supported only on one side. A thru shaft with big pillow blocks on both sides would have greater durability for sure. For the market WM's is targeting their design seems appropriate. I sawed about 8 - 9000 BF this past year, probably about 10K since I've owned the mill. The bearings are still fine. Changing them looks like an easy endeavor. And that's one of the great things about their mills. They are dirt simple and easy to maintain.

John

[Tom Hogard]

Just curious, supporting the shaft/axle on both sides would certainly be much stronger, but how would you put the blade on?

[Michael Barker]

Tom, you can watch videos on Cook's saw site I think and see the process. Others too maybe.

[John TenEyck]

If you look at Hud-Son you can see how the outer pillow blocks sit on a frame that stops short of the end of the wheels and is connected back to the main frame of the sawhead. That allows the blade to fit over the outside bearings. As robust as that is, their blade tracking and tensioning technology is poor to put it mildly.

https://www.hud-son.com/product/hfe-...eader-sawmill/

John

[Michael Barker]

Talked to a Hudson dealer and it seems they don't really have a blade tensioning system as such but rely on the belt around the band wheels to compensate for any shock to the blade. Apparently others use this belt arrangement also. I would think that some type of spring system etc. would be preferred. The belts have a limited life and aren't cheap.

[John TenEyck]

Talked to a Hudson dealer and it seems they don't really have a blade tensioning system as such but rely on the belt around the band wheels to compensate for any shock to the blade. Apparently others use this belt arrangement also. I would think that some type of spring system etc. would be preferred. The belts have a limited life and aren't cheap.

That should prove to you that point of manufacture is less important than the engineering that went into the design. Go look at Cook's design for comparison. Uber robust spring. Uber robust everything, actually.

John

[Michael Barker]

That should prove to you that point of manufacture is less important than the engineering that went into the design. Go look at Cook's design for comparison. Uber robust spring. Uber robust everything, actually.

John

Any one had any experience with the Turner Mills with tires for band wheels ? They seem to have a lot of happy owners ??

[Michael Barker]

Any one had any experience with the Turner Mills with tires for bandwheels ? They seem to have a lot of happy owners ??

[Michael Barker]

John, I'm trying to support American workers and manufacturing. I agree on Cook's mills. IMHO they are the best-built mills out there. However , you can't get them to return a phone call in a reasonable time. Waited almost a month recently and called back before I could talk to their salesman. Said he hadn't gotten to me on the list. They are 8-10 months out on mills.

[John TenEyck]

Any one had any experience with the Turner Mills with tires for band wheels ? They seem to have a lot of happy owners ??

No experience but using tires for band wheels leaves me a little cold because you can't get much tension on the blade with them. They show in their specs. the blade runs at 13K psi. That's woefully too little to cut consistently well, especially in a wide cut where the guides can't help much. My mill runs at 24K psi band tension at the factory torque setting. I have to say the pricing of Turner's mills is very competitive compared to most other domestic manufacturers and I imagine their mills work just fine unless you want to cut wide slabs.

John

[Michael Barker]

Thanks John ! I agree. Interesting that they seem to have many happy owners. You'll be interested to know that I have surrendered and ordered a Woodland HM130 MAX !!! Got tired of waiting on Cooks to return phone calls. Almost a month ! Not gonna beg anyone to buy from them. Really wanted to buy American-made but Woodland seemed to be decent build quality and good engineering as you stated. Really nice people at Woodland with great customer service !

[John TenEyck]

I'm sure you will be pleased with the mill, Michael. I am very sure you will be pleased with WM's Customer Service and Tech. Support should you need them. Let us know how you like the mill once you have it set up and make some sawdust.

The HM-130Max came out a year after I bought my HM-130 and I sure wish mine had that cut width.

John

[Michael Barker]

Will do. I'm sure it will be fine. Thanks !

[Michael Barker]

Good point John. They seem like genuinely nice people for sure ! He said bearings are available locally usually and they even give you the bearing numbers with your mill so you can cross them. Don't see ,much of that nowadays. Most manufacturers won't you to come back to them and pay inflated parts prices.