# My first attempt at a home made chainsaw mill



## strtspdlx (Sep 13, 2015)

I had a bunch of scrap steel laying around. And I've been wanting a mill and I don't currently have the funds the buy one. Please be easy. All the welding was done with an oxy acetylene torch with either 6010 rod or I brazed some also. I haven't been able to use it yet. I ha e to find logs. Maximum cut width is 9-1/2" and max height is roughly 14". I have a 28" bar and chain so right now I don't have anymore room for a wider cut. Please critique away.


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## redfin (Sep 13, 2015)

I'd like to see some pics Carlo.


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## strtspdlx (Sep 13, 2015)

Pics of what?


Regards-Carlo


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## redfin (Sep 13, 2015)

Sorry man, the first time I opened your thread the pics didn't load.


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## kimosawboy (Sep 13, 2015)

Honestly.... for a home built mill with what you had/have, nothing to critique from me....
File some of those sharp ass edges down, then go and enjoy...... Mill some then start modding it...

G Vavra


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## BobL (Sep 14, 2015)

kimosawboy said:


> Honestly.... for a home built mill with what you had/have, nothing to critique from me....
> File some of those sharp ass edges down, then go and enjoy...... Mill some then start modding it...



Yep, try it out and you will see where the probs are pretty quickly.

However in stead of modding I would recommend building a new one.
For a start with a 28" bar you could at least built it to make a 22" wide cut.


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## strtspdlx (Sep 14, 2015)

BobL said:


> Yep, try it out and you will see where the probs are pretty quickly.
> 
> However in stead of modding I would recommend building a new one.
> For a start with a 28" bar you could at least built it to make a 22" wide cut.


I'm not 100% positive it can't be don't but when I laid it out I could only have about 20" of usable bar. I don't want to be too close to the nose of the bar. And I have a felling dog in the chassis of the saw that's in the way of the bar clamp. Then the bar clamps are about an inch wide. So even if I could use all 28" of the bar I'm already down to 26" with both bar clamps. Then another inch for the falling dog and 2-3" for the sprocket. I could get very close. To 22". But the. Again when will I ever need lumber that's 22" wide. Aside from a slab for a tabletop or something of that nature. And then you get to the point where my ms460 will struggle milling something of that size. I had wanted to make it adjustable but the work involved to get another inch or two didn't seem worth it to me. Unless I'm missing something which is very possible as I've never milled before. 


Regards-Carlo


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## strtspdlx (Sep 14, 2015)

Okay I noticed some things when I mounted the mill. First it was bowing the bar a good 1/4". One leg was way out of wack so after some gentle persuasion with a 10lb sledge I got it down to about 1/16" of bow across 20-1/4". Which is not my cut width. Now I'm into trying to get the mill square. I'm thinking if I could get the adjustable uprights standing square it should square up the rest. Right now I'm 3/16" out of square going corner to corner from the center of the mounts to the inboard side of the bottom rail. Is this worth trying to work out? I'd love to be able to cut as square as humanly possible. But we all know being human. There is always some error. What MAY be acceptable? 


Regards-Carlo


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## Adamant (Sep 14, 2015)

I think Bob is onto it. It's prob easier to make another one. The flats of the mill need to sit flat on a flat surface or at least the front and rear rails' bottoms need to be parallel. The uprights need to be stiff enough and mounted well (perpendicular to the front/rear rails in both directions) to resist the CS bar bowing from the weight of the power head and so the CS bar is parallel to the rails - so maybe switch to SHS instead of the round bar. A brace across the top of the uprights might help too. Also consider a rail between the front and rear rails whose bottom is level with the bottom of the front/rear rails and maybe 5-8 inches from the inboard end of the mill - this will ride on the log when you're not using guide rails as you enter and exit the cut - without it you would pretty much have to use guide rails with every cut. Last thing I can think of is to weld some bent/curved pieces of flat bar to the front end of your bar mounts (just the inboard ones) so that they don't dig into the log or catch on curves knobs on the side of the log. Hope it helps.


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## BobL (Sep 15, 2015)

My main concern is the single point U bolt mount on round bar uprights will allow the mill frame to twist relative to the bar - that's going to create all sorts of headache.
I'd be looking to use either SHS for the vertical and weld in a piece of Angle to make a V so the SHS sits sung in the V at all times.
Something like this.
The same could be done with a half piece of round pipe welded onto the frame that the bar could snug into.





strtspdlx said:


> I'm not 100% positive it can't be don't but when I laid it out I could only have about 20" of usable bar. I don't want to be too close to the nose of the bar.


If it worries you a cover could always be welded for it.



> And I have a felling dog in the chassis of the saw that's in the way of the bar clamp


Standard CS Alaskan style mills are unbalanced enough as it is so leaving the dogs on just unbalances the setup even further. 



> Then the bar clamps are about an inch wide. So even if I could use all 28" of the bar I'm already down to 26" with both bar clamps. Then another inch for the falling dog and 2-3" for the sprocket. I could get very close. To 22". But the. Again when will I ever need lumber that's 22" wide. Aside from a slab for a tabletop or something of that nature. And then you get to the point where my ms460 will struggle milling something of that size. I had wanted to make it adjustable but the work involved to get another inch or two didn't seem worth it to me. Unless I'm missing something which is very possible as I've never milled before.



You will always run across wood that is just a touch bigger than your bar width. 
The 460 should have no trouble in 20-22" wood. Wide boards are easily ripped in half or 1/3rd etc with a hand held circular. 
An even better design is to not use bar clamps at all and drill the bar through the nose and mount the mill on bar holes - the clamps are after all a bit of a kludge, they get in the way and reduce the cut width and if they are not tightened then the chain is toast.


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## strtspdlx (Sep 15, 2015)

My main concern with the nose of the bar wasn't safety it was that I don't want to punch the sprocket. Also I had thought about drilling holes for uprights but I'm a bit hesitant because I have a Tsumura bar and I'm not sure how much I could mess with it before it becomes detrimental to the bar. I had thought about using square uprights or solid round stock. The fact that I have neither in my metal pile and weight are why I chose the smaller round stock. I do have a bunch of aluminum squarish stock. It has a flange on one side for mounting beams too for railing. I may rebuild the main chassis using that. Also I'd Prefer keeping the felling dog on because this is my only saw. And for the extra 3/4" (I finally measured it) it wouldn't be worth it to me. Then I would have to rebuild the frame as my existing won't allow another 3/4" outward on the uprights. I'm goi g to run it and see how it works. I'm sure at some point I'll want something larger. But that's if I can get ahold of a 80cc+ saw also. 


Regards-Carlo


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## BobL (Sep 15, 2015)

strtspdlx said:


> My main concern with the nose of the bar wasn't safety it was that I don't want to punch the sprocket. Also I had thought about drilling holes for uprights but I'm a bit hesitant because I have a Tsumura bar and I'm not sure how much I could mess with it before it becomes detrimental to the bar. I had thought about using square uprights or solid round stock. The fact that I have neither in my metal pile and weight are why I chose the smaller round stock. I do have a bunch of aluminum squarish stock. It has a flange on one side for mounting beams too for railing. I may rebuild the main chassis using that. Also I'd Prefer keeping the felling dog on because this is my only saw. And for the extra 3/4" (I finally measured it) it wouldn't be worth it to me. Then I would have to rebuild the frame as my existing won't allow another 3/4" outward on the uprights. I'm goi g to run it and see how it works. I'm sure at some point I'll want something larger. But that's if I can get ahold of a 80cc+ saw also.
> Regards-Carlo



Sure I can understand your concerns and as a first mill and provided you can fix the mount it should still be able to generate lots of wood.


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## strtspdlx (Sep 20, 2015)

I'm going to see what I can scrounge up. And see if I can't fix these uprights. I had originally drilled the holes the upright go through to be "guides" to aid in alignment and suprisingly with everything clamped down its nearly impossible to flex it. My main concern is getting the bow out of the bar when I clamp down. I don't really want the boards to have high spots in the center. 


Regards-Carlo


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## skinnyd (Sep 20, 2015)

I'm all for do it yourself projects, but I don't understand why people spend time making their homemade chainsaw mills when a granberg mill is like $200. They are well worth the money.


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## strtspdlx (Sep 20, 2015)

Because $200 is a month of over time for me. Or I have bills to pay that the $200 could be spent on. And I have all this material saved for stuff like this. 


Regards-Carlo


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## Timberframed (Sep 20, 2015)

If I had a welder I would have made my own as well. Would have been fun but at the time I needed to do something right now. The rest is history.


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## BobL (Sep 20, 2015)

skinnyd said:


> I'm all for do it yourself projects, but I don't understand why people spend time making their homemade chainsaw mills when a granberg mill is like $200. They are well worth the money.



Depends where you are - in Oz they are double that.
Besides, some folks enjoy the "voyage" - others enjoy the "destination".


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## jeff taswelder (Nov 13, 2015)

I made 2 mills for a total of between $80. - $100.
I kept 1 and gave the other to the owner of the land i was cutting on


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## skindaddy (Nov 13, 2015)

Jeff do you have any closer pics , looks good , seriously looking to build one of these now .
I'm going to have to do some serious surfn now I'm a see or touch guy to make something like this.

is that square tube 1"?
I have some 1 1/2 around but that might be little big


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## jeff taswelder (Nov 14, 2015)

30x30 square , but u could use 1in square


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## andrethegiant70 (Apr 22, 2017)

Great job! I really like the reel.


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## SeMoTony (Apr 23, 2017)

strtspdlx said:


> I'm not 100% positive it can't be don't but when I laid it out I could only have about 20" of usable bar. I don't want to be too close to the nose of the bar. And I have a felling dog in the chassis of the saw that's in the way of the bar clamp. Then the bar clamps are about an inch wide. So even if I could use all 28" of the bar I'm already down to 26" with both bar clamps. Then another inch for the falling dog and 2-3" for the sprocket. I could get very close. To 22". But the. Again when will I ever need lumber that's 22" wide. Aside from a slab for a tabletop or something of that nature. And then you get to the point where my ms460 will struggle milling something of that size. I had wanted to make it adjustable but the work involved to get another inch or two didn't seem worth it to me. Unless I'm missing something which is very possible as I've never milled before.
> 
> 
> Regards-Carlo


Don't underestimate the power of the 460 saw. With the right chain for the job my ms-460 pulled skip chisel around the five foot bar in my avatar to cross cut the table top under my arm.
If you have trouble with the bar staying parallel with the guide above rocking the cut,it may help to use 2 rods each end outboard,in line thru the clamp. I don't know if that will do the deed or not. Start with less important logs for learning, come back and let us know how it goes. Mill safe


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