# Homemade "alaska" mill for a poor welder



## jrhannum (Sep 24, 2012)

I'm one of those chicken-poop welders; wanted a saw-suspender to cut slabs from a fallen oak using my Huski 575; used some diamond-plate and plumber's parts plus spare nuts-n-bolts; no bar-drill and poop-welds are OK to keep things from vibrating loose.


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## Metals406 (Sep 24, 2012)

It doesn't have to be pretty to do what it needs to do.


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## mad murdock (Oct 1, 2012)

Nice job on the mill attachment!


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## mikeb1079 (Oct 1, 2012)

looks good to me man.  plus, the more you mill the more you'll think of improvements/changes/new mills/gizmos/gadgets etc. just look at what happened to bob l.


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## glennschumann (Oct 1, 2012)

*Welcome and awesome job!*

Welcome!

And thanks for the elegant presentation of an even more impressive home engineered mill! Very cool ideas, brilliantly simple, and just about as cheap as it gets. I wish I had seen this before I bought my mill...

Far be it from me to suggest any improvements, but for safety, I would recommend putting some sort of guard around the nose of the bar. Even though one's hands do not spend much time down there, this end of the mill tends to get ignored, and the bar tip finds rocks, other logs, dirt, tools etc and this can cause things (or the mill) to be thrown, or at least a very dull chain. I had to fix my guard after the mill jumped, and the guard was pushed into another log... could have been worse if it wasn't there. Dulled a couple of teeth that hooked into the guard, but that was minor compared to the other options.

Again, very nice work, keep sharing, and welcome!!!

Schumann


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## k5alive (Oct 2, 2012)

i've gotta say its pretty BA, never have i seen a mill with diamond plate. plus it was made simply with on hand materials


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## Treewound (Oct 2, 2012)

Thanks for including the plans/photos ! I have been thinking of buying an Alaska mill for a long time, just to fool around with, but could not justify spending the cash. This is the answer.


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## jrhannum (Oct 2, 2012)

*More details*

As to safety: I now raise my logs onto blocks or horses to allow near-standup posture and avoid the rattlesnake that was living under far end of my first log. The tip-end remains unguarded and that is a caution -- I'll figure out something -- maybe a piece of PVC pipe set onto the ends of the tee-clamp?

Fabrication of this rig required that the 3/4" nipps be reamed (I used a 1/2" drill) to allow insertion of the 1/2-inchers; it was hard to find a "redhead"-like expansion nut to slide into the 1/2" nipples -- once it was found and set up, I did poop-welds for strength and to not vibrate off.

Thanks for the kind words.


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## Jim Timber (Oct 2, 2012)

Something you might not be aware of - you don't want to be breathing fumes off welding galvanized or even plated metal. Period! That sh%t is toxic!

I avoid it when possible, and when I have to weld it, I have a big azz exhaust fan in the ceiling of my shop that pulls air away from me and fresh air in so I'm not marinating my lungs in that crap.

Look up "metal fume fever" for more info.


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## jrhannum (Oct 15, 2012)

*Made this from first slabs*

I let the slabs air-dry for a year (ends paint-sealed) then dressed them down with electric hand-planer and belt sander, finished with pour-on resin and lagged them onto Polly Products bench-ends. Installed the bench beside a play-yard, everybody loves it.


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## Jim Timber (Oct 15, 2012)

Especially the guy who loves Molly (I can't make out the name).

That's too pretty to be left in public.


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## WoodChuck'r (Oct 15, 2012)

Metals406 said:


> It doesn't have to be pretty to do what it needs to do.





That what ya say when yer out drinkin'.....?? :smile2:


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## jrhannum (Oct 16, 2012)

*Here's Molly*

A sharp eye saw that this is Molly's Bench, and so ....


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## jerrycmorrow (Oct 16, 2012)

nice mill. been thinking of something like that. have a rep


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## jrhannum (Oct 23, 2012)

*PVC guard for tip of saw*

Follow-up to safety-ize my CSM; quick, simple and effective; see pics


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## Old Blue (Oct 24, 2012)

*You've got a knack*

for simplifiying things and making effective illustrations. Hats off to you bud!

I wish you would have posted this a couple of years ago. 

Any chance we could talk you into cleaning up Sacramento and straightening this joint out?

Old Blue
Where the tax meets the surf, where else but
Kali-bone-ya


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## rodeobob (Nov 7, 2012)

Not sure what the nipps and the redheads are.

Would one be a thread sert. A threaded nut that you insert in a hole and do up and when you tighten it it crushes in on the back of the hole.

Nipple meaning threaded short bit of pipe.




I was thinking you could get away with zero welding if you drilled the bar. Or even if you dont.

If you screw a half inch cap on the upright pipe. You might have to use a brass one or look around. Most of the galvanised ones I have seen have a dome end.
You could drill the centre of the cap and bolt the bar, or the bar clamp to the cap. 

I have a few taps and dies here and a chart, so I tend to drill and tap, thats what I would do in the end of the pipe cap. Then put a lock nut on the inside. Then screw the pipe on.




If the diamond plate is not sturdy enough you could put some angle either through the centre or along the front and back. Rivet screw or bolt it.

So perhaps a flat plate of aluminium would work better over a longer distance.


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## jrhannum (Nov 7, 2012)

*Staying square*

yer right about nipps (nipples) being pre-threaded pipe-sections (come in various lengths and are usually right-square at both ends, but ya needa verify that; and "redhead" is our USA vernacular term for threaded inserts that jam into a bore (usually drilled into concrete) and then receive a capscrew and expand to hold it dearly. The two I found for this rig were not of the into-concrete kind and fit the i.d. of the 1/2" nipples just fine. I declined to drill the very-hard steel of my bar and didn't wanna futz the roller tip, thus the tee-clamps. I was worried about any off-square or flexing angles -- to avoid porpoising of the cutters as they proceed thru the log. My last slab-cutting project was an aged Bigleaf Maple, squared-up as 20"-wide cants before slabbing, which will make in to counter-tops and baker's/pizza-oven peels; the rig served me well.


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## jrhannum (Dec 29, 2012)

*New 36" bar*

Well, a newish 36” bar-n-rip-chain for my Huski 575 fell into my lap (that took a C-note); so …. Why not build a new slider to hold my existing suspenders to hang the new bar-n-chain and thus enable cutting big diameters? I went to a nearby metal shop’s drop rack and found some ¼” aluminum diamond plate sized at 8x48”, bought that for $27; then to the hardware guys for the rest of the bits for $17; no cost to use-again the tee-clamps I had made for the 21” mill; thus $45 for the CSM to use the 36” bar. Will allow me to go into anything up to 30”. All told $145 and a few pleasant hours of mechanic-ing and some minor poop-welding; grandson helped with the drilling and countersinking for the 1/4 x 20 screws; worst job was reaming the 3/4" nipples to pass the 1/2" suspenders


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## rarefish383 (Jan 5, 2013)

Way to go, I like what you've done. What exactly is the poor on resin? Brand name? I have some slab furniture that I would like a finish like that on, Joe.


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## jrhannum (Jan 7, 2013)

*It's "POUR-ON" resin*

Try Amazon for : "Environmental Technology 32-Ounce Kit Lite Pour-On, High Gloss Finish" or try TAP Plastics and ask for "Pour-on resin". It's a two-part deal, pretty spendy, stir it up well and pour it on and spread it level, de-bubble per the directions and keep dust away while it's tacky. One drawback: it's not UV-resistant, thus is best for indoors -- outdoors it lasts a year before getting "alligator" texture and calls for re-sand and do-over. Be sure yer wood is dry to avoid ugly bubbles. Lots of good tips on www.


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