About a month ago, I posted about my project to restore an old Mobile Dimension saw mill. I’ve been continuing to (slowly) make progress toward getting the trailer and mill in working order.
The first step was to get the trailer cleaned up and painted. You can see that starting above. I put primer on the particularly rusty parts to try to help the paint adhere better.
Progress continued over several weeks as weather and time permitted. The final result isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it should keep the trailer from rusting out underneath me.
Next up was wiring. My uncle, a retired electrician, was a very helpful resource. He mapped out the wiring diagram and ran conduit and wires down the center of the trailer. All I had to do was attach the various lights to the frame and wire them up.
We grabbed a car battery and tested the wiring. Amazingly, everything seemed to work. Considering that we’d used random lights off other trailers (and a motorcycle), this was kind of surprising.
After we finished testing the wiring, we taped and zip tied everything up (which I apparently forgot to take any pictures of). Several of the old tires wouldn’t hold air, so we swapped in some new wheels that my uncle had laying around.
With the trailer work completed (minus some reflective tape), I started assembling the saw mill again, to help position the 4×6 beams that will support everything.
After getting an idea of how the mill will be laid out on the trailer, we started working at loosening up all the moving parts. Again, I forgot to take any more pictures at this stage, so I’ll have to capture more next time I’m out at the barn.
Most of the parts have been sitting out in the weather for about 30 years, but amazingly most of them started moving quite easily with some generous application of “Knock’er Loose” penetrating oil. There are a few pieces that will need a few more applications of oil, and perhaps some forceful persuasion, but it’s exciting to see the saw mill starting to come back together again.