Lordjw Posted February 8 Posted February 8 Hi all! I will be documenting my Lego sawmill project here. Comments welcome. What is Lego sawmill? Picture this: You are in your office sipping coffee and doing your computer stuff when CEO of your company rushes in and shouts "We need something for the next trade fair!". "We have to come up with some center piece to attract people !" The fair being a very big Ligna messe in Hannover Germany. Ligna is the trade fair for woodworking/processing industry. CEO´s first idea was to build a scale model of a sawmill but I (stupidly?)suggested to build the sawmill out of legos. And here we are. This project has to be completed by 1st of May and I will have to build a sawmill in minifig scale. Sawmill will have some functionality and will be presenting companys products. Size will be 1.6 meters x 1.6 meters, that is 4x4 big lego base plates. Scetch: First quick update I have not build lego for a long time and it takes time to get used to new pieces. As first item I made a wheel loader. These are huge machines that move big logs around the logyard. You can see Lego excavator becide the wheel loader. I will use any ready sets that seems to fit the theme. Logs are plastic toy logs. Quote
Lordjw Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 (edited) Lego sawmill has to have a forklift. Sawmill forklifts are used to move boards in various stages in sawmilling process, and of course to load the ready made and finished products into the trucks. I have been to sawmills many times since 1994 and here at north Kalmar forklifts are very popular. This is quite nice representation of a Kalmar forklift. You can see behind the forklift that I have already started building log sorting line. Edited February 9 by Lordjw Quote
Lordjw Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 (edited) At the picture below one of our products is shown. This grey box with white doors is a boardscanner device which sorts boards according to dimension and quality. I bought a cheap blue crane truck from AliExpress and my little workers are preparing the lift. Horror! The blue crane makes horrible noises, my little worker are running for their lives! Phew! Back on earth! Crane is swapped to a genuine Lego City 60409 crane truck. Much better! In my final lego sawmill this big crane will be in the process of lifting the scanner frame to its place of installation. Notice! There will be break to this story now. I will have to visit a sawmill and I have one week holiday. I will be back week 9/2025. Cheers! Julius Edited February 9 by Lordjw Quote
Murdoch17 Posted February 9 Posted February 9 (edited) Looks nice so far! However, I have but one question - why is a naked man (I guess he's not technically naked as he's wearing a tank top and hard hat, but I digress...) working at saw mill? To me, it sounds like a good way to get sawdust and splinters in places that are better left unmentioned ! Or is this an 'the Emperor's New Clothes'-type situation, and I'm just not smart enough to see the garments in question? Anyway, it looks great, and keep up the good work! Edited February 9 by Murdoch17 Quote
Lordjw Posted February 9 Author Posted February 9 4 minutes ago, Murdoch17 said: Looks nice so far! However, I have but one question - why is a naked man (I guess he's not technically naked as he's wearing a tank top and hard hat, but I digress...) working at saw mill? To me, it sounds like a good way to get sawdust and splinters in places that are better left unmentioned ( )! Other than that, it looks great, and keep up the good work! Hi! And thanks! Yellow is usually the color of work clothes in the sawmill industry for obvious reasons. At least in nordic countries it is. That is why he is yellow. Cheers! Julius Quote
Murdoch17 Posted February 9 Posted February 9 9 minutes ago, Lordjw said: Hi! And thanks! Yellow is usually the color of work clothes in the sawmill industry for obvious reasons. At least in nordic countries it is. That is why he is yellow. Cheers! Julius I didn't know that, and it makes sense. Thanks for the quick reply! Quote
Lordjw Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 Quick update. At the picture below you can see a log scanner. This is a device that scans the log with both X-ray and visible imaging. Scanned logs are then sorted by size and quality. Lego men are happy to scan the first log! Quote
Lordjw Posted March 4 Author Posted March 4 (edited) Hi all! Log sorting is quite ready now. Logs are fed into a long conveyor, scanned and sorted by dimension. This is in reality of course. My Lego log sorting just feeds the logs to conveyor and logs are dropped to the last bin. I still need a control tower and small crane for log lifting. One of the bins shown at the picture below. Also shown at the picture below is a white van, a tool of trade for subcontractors. Log sorting on all its length shown below. Maybe I will add bins to the left side too. Notice little electrician connecting cables. Log line is driven by four Lego motors. Control tower structures are being li´fted and my little fitters are doing the job. Edited March 4 by Lordjw Quote
P6tu Posted March 5 Posted March 5 Nice thing you have going there =). I really like the custom log handler/grabber on the first image in this topic. Much better than the Lego original from set 60181! I'd build the grabber a bit closer to the front wheels/cabin, but that would be me =). Keep it up (Y) ! Quote
Lordjw Posted March 6 Author Posted March 6 Hi! Agree with you on grabber position. There is lots to do and if I have time in the end I may fine tune some details. Cheers! Julius Quote
Lordjw Posted March 10 Author Posted March 10 Today my workers started installing saw infeed and debarker. Debarker is a machine which removes bark from logs. After debarking the log will be measured again with a scanner. I am very happy with my workers ! At the picture below you can see also part of the log sorting line. Building materials are scattered around the work site Debarking machine up close. Notice how a first log has already been debarked. Quote
Lordjw Posted March 23 Author Posted March 23 (edited) Update! Sawmills log cranes arrived from China. Quality seems to be ok. Usually there is some kind of remote controlled crane at log feed. Logs are strange pieces, they like to jump in different places and you have to have a crane to save the day. Sawmill has one crane at log sorting and one at sawline infeed. At the picture below you can see also a yellow step feeder. This is widely used to separate the logs and feed them one by one to the conveyor. Below a new ramp for the wheel loader and log sorting lines crane. Sawline log infeed has a control room where my little workers are controlling the operation. Edited March 23 by Lordjw Quote
P6tu Posted March 27 Posted March 27 I still like the wheel loader :D. But why is the rear right tire not fitted properly :S ? Quote
Lordjw Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 Oh, have to check that tyre ! Thanks ! BIG update this time ! Sawline is finished. Lets go through piece by piece how this sawline works. First we have log feed with step feeder and then blue debarker which remover bark from logs. These were already presented at last post. I had to reverse the control room to different side. Next we have a log scanner which inspects which way round knots are moving inside the log. Here we also get more accurate volume measurement since at this stage debarked log is scanned. Sawmills usually have a big control room at the beginning of the sawline. Left to control room is log turning device and number 1 saw. For most value the log has to be rotated for optimal value output. Side boards are separated from the pre-sawn log and transferred to centering table. Operator has a small control room. Pre-sawn log is rotated 90 degrees for saw number 2 and saw2 outputs sawn center planks. Side boards are run through a longitudal scanner and edging blades cut off wane edges. This is the end of the sawline, boards and center planks will continue to green sorting line which is yet to be constructed. Saw doctor is the man in the sawmill who is responsible for sharpening all the saw blades. Some action So far I am confident that I will complete this project within the deadline. I have this month to finish green sorting and construction site. Cheers! Julius Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.