# Well, I'm building a chainsaw mill.



## sawn_penn (May 14, 2006)

Well, I've decided to build a chainsaw mill. I've got a heap of unistrut, and I've half got my head around how a mig welder works (things work much better when the anode & cathode are around the right way!) so I guess the work can start now.

My design isn't the best as it wastes quite a bit of bar length. I'll take some photos as I go and post them.


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## CaseyForrest (May 14, 2006)

Cool, I think any mill wastes alot of bar. I get just 22" on my 28", imagine how much better the saw would run if it wasnt pulling chain it didnt need to!


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## carvinmark (May 14, 2006)

Good point Casey,on my setup I loose about 8".


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## sawn_penn (May 14, 2006)

I'm kinda half way between a no-weld and a welded design. I was aiming for a no-weld design before I got the welder working properly.

Here's the frame bolted together out of unistrut:







Here's the uprights, two lengths of unistrut. No, that's not the bar I'll be using, it's just an old one for trying things out! You can see the extra bar length wastage from the clamp-only attachment to the unistrut. (the unistrut already had a little tag welded on the end.)






Roughly how it should all sit together. I'm thinking about moving the bar clamps in under the uprights now that I have the welder working. That'd gain me another 3" of bar.


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## aggiewoodbutchr (May 20, 2006)

CaseyForrest said:


> Cool, I think any mill wastes alot of bar. I get just 22" on my 28", imagine how much better the saw would run if it wasnt pulling chain it didnt need to!



I finally got around to mounting the GB mill on my 72" bar. I was disappointed in this respect as I get no more usable bar length than my homemade rig that bolts directly to the bar. I had to set the power head mount as far from the PH as it would allow so that the chain break would function. I guess I could modify the break lever but size hasn't been an issue on this bar yet. Maybe for the 41" sometime. Other that this, the GB seems to be a great rig. It worked great with the 41".


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## sawn_penn (May 20, 2006)

I redid the uprights to gain a little more space:






Gotta find the time to get this finished!


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## smithie55 (May 20, 2006)

Ha there Sawn Penn,
That looks really good.
I'm curious, how is the weight using the unistrut material?
happy milling


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## smithie55 (May 20, 2006)

I made my own guide rails 2 of them 10' long each using 1/8" 1X2 square tubing and unistrut for supports between the rails. they weight about 10 lbs
and can be connected together.
View attachment 34169


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## sawn_penn (May 24, 2006)

OK... finally got it assembled.














The cut is 22" 5/16ths. Quite a loss on a 32" bar length. I didn't want to crush the sprocket tip, nor take the dogs off.


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## sawn_penn (May 24, 2006)

smithie55 said:


> Ha there Sawn Penn,
> That looks really good.
> I'm curious, how is the weight using the unistrut material?
> happy milling



Think of it as theft-resistant.


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## sawn_penn (May 24, 2006)

*Handles on mills.*

What's best for a handle on a mill?

A pipe running parallel with the chainsaw bar, or something else mounted in the middle of the frame?


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## sawn_penn (May 24, 2006)

Diagram of where I'd be now if I'd done what I should. Ah, the benefit of hindsight.... 

This attachment is a tiny 5232 bytes to make sap happy...  It also needs to be spun 90 degrees.

View attachment 34324


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## woodshop (May 24, 2006)

sawn_penn said:


> What's best for a handle on a mill? A pipe running parallel with the chainsaw bar, or something else mounted in the middle of the frame?


I find myself using both the cross bar and the handle pointing up from the bar on my Granberg, depending on the width of what I'm cutting. I'd say most of the time I'm using that handle rather than that bar. 

Nice little rig... got any candidates laying in your back yard waiting for it?


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## bookerdog (May 24, 2006)

*sawn penn*

Nice job


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## sawn_penn (May 24, 2006)

woodshop said:


> Nice little rig... got any candidates laying in your back yard waiting for it?



I arranged for some trunks to be dropped off in 12' lengths yesterday.

They are sitting behind my place now, in 12" lengths. 

I'm a bit pissed about that. I even explained that I was going to mill them and showed the guy the mill.

Now I've got about a cord of unsplit green wood to dump (no, I don't have a fire)


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## aggiewoodbutchr (May 25, 2006)

sawn_penn said:


> I arranged for some trunks to be dropped off in 12' lengths yesterday.
> 
> They are sitting behind my place now, in 12" lengths.
> 
> ...


 
Sorry about your misfortune. Sounds like something that would happen to me. 

You can't fix stupid.


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## sawn_penn (Jun 4, 2006)

I cut some wood and worked out what that middle bar on mills did!

I've since added one to my mill:


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## sawn_penn (Jun 6, 2006)

... and a PDF of how it should have been ...

View attachment 34876


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## aggiewoodbutchr (Jun 6, 2006)

Sawn-

When you ran that mill, did the depth stay put or did you have trouble with it moving? Yours is similar to the one I built in regards to how the rails attach to the posts. No matter how much I tightened the bolts, my rails would work their way up the posts from the vibration. I eventually drilled in some set screws to solve the problem.


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## sawn_penn (Jun 6, 2006)

aggiewoodbutchr said:


> Sawn-
> 
> When you ran that mill, did the depth stay put or did you have trouble with it moving? Yours is similar to the one I built in regards to how the rails attach to the posts. No matter how much I tightened the bolts, my rails would work their way up the posts from the vibration. I eventually drilled in some set screws to solve the problem.



Hasn't seemed to vibrate off yet... Inside the posts is a "unistrut nut" with grooves and teeth - one of the ones with a spring, except I've ripped the spring off and welded an extra little plate on the back to stop it rotating.


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