DIY Swingblade Sawmill

The term "swingblade" refers to more than one saw design and includes a simple chop-saw which pivots or swings on one axis. Modern swingblade saws likely refer to semi-portable mills with a milling blade that can pivot or swing 90 degrees and sometimes 180 degrees. The saw rides on rails along a gantry. It can cut a log horizontally and swing 90 degrees to cut vertically, removing one square post at a time in just two passes. It is similar in concept to an Alaska Mill.

Square tube steel
MIG Welder
Metal chopsaw
Beam saw
Heavy-duty drill and metal bits
Nuts and bolts

Instructions

- 1
  Fabricate two rectangular tube rails from steel or aluminum to sit on foundational cross-members the way railroad track sits on railroad ties. Install the rails perpendicular to one another.
- 2
  Modify a beam saw, which is simply an oversized circular saw, so its deck and both the sliding and permanent portions of its guard are removed.
- 3
  Fabricate a scaled-dow swing-set with four legs and a cross bar. The ends of the legs should mount to the saw so the plane of the blade is parallel to the cross-bar. You may be able to use the mounts from the saw table you removed the saw from.
- 4
  Fabricate a square steel cage the width of your rails to be used as your gantry-cage. Make it as long as it is wide.
- 5
  Fabricate a device that will slide up and down the four corners of your gantry-cage. This will be the saw carriage.
- 6
  Slide an axle through the cross-bar of your swing-aparatus and weld either end to the gantry-cage such that the blade-plane is parallel with the rails.
- 7
  Using drill holes and use through-bolts to adjust and secure the height of the gantry-cage and the rotation of the swing-aparatus.

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