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Solar Sawmill

 
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Woodworking is fascinating!  The ability to alter a beautiful tree trunk to build stable structures that serve a useful purpose is ingenious.  I had seen old photographs of lumber mills with giant equipment but didn't begin to comprehend how they worked.  Paul's portable sawmill, especially after their modifications, makes milling lumber look simple and easy.  Powering it with solar pushes its value over the top!





My woodworking skills are non-existent mainly because of the heavy machinery.  It's either really loud and smelly or really loud and bumps up my electric bill.  Powering equipment by solar mitigates the fumes and energy cost.  Have you had a chance to work with much solar powered equipment?
 
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Good use of solar for a small hobby mill, I wish the video had talked about the electrical aspect. Im assuming the mill runs off batteries, not the panels directly, to avoid power fluctuations damaging the motor? That’s a nice source of power for other uses too, when the mill isn’t being used.
Start small and work your way up Tina! All sawmills do the same thing, it’s just a difference in size. And you’re right about the fascination of turning logs into lumber and lumber into finished products. It never gets old or boring!
 
Tina Wolf
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This other post lists the solar bank link for when it's given away as a freebie from Ben.  Lol...I'll be watching for that!

solar electric sawmill has link for solar bank freebie
 
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Julie Reed wrote:Good use of solar for a small hobby mill, I wish the video had talked about the electrical aspect. Im assuming the mill runs off batteries, not the panels directly, to avoid power fluctuations damaging the motor? That’s a nice source of power for other uses too, when the mill isn’t being used.


Sorry we omitted that portion of important info from the video we posted. We wanted to make a brief instructional video for newcomers, so we focused primarily on the operation and maintenance of it.

Meanwhile... Yes, there is a battery bank. It's charged by the solar panels in a mobile station we call Leviathan. A large inverter (I recall Paul mentioning 6500 watts...?) allows for "plug and play" use of the sawmill, which is AC power 220volts. When in operation, a Battery Management System (BMS) prevents damage to the battery bank when we hit a twisted or knotty section of a log and the saw slows down or binds.

I don't know much at all about solar systems, and it's been quite an adventure learning as I go. One of these days, I'll have more information to share about it. This'll have to do for now.
 
Julie Reed
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Thanks for the additional info Stephen! I wonder how possible/feasible it would be to swap out the motor for a DC unit? You'd gain efficiency and be able to mill longer on a charge.
 
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