BIL Mill maxed (Pt1)

Grey rainy day here in Sou West Oz.
Today's menu was a largish Camphor Laurel.


Got to try out my new rails. Last lot were too flimsy and got bent from over use.


First cut.


Some time later - getting close to it's max cutting width (39.5" from a 42" blade)


Shot from the other side - not much room to twist the mill.


Sorry Photos not so good - only had my phone camera.

BIL Mill maxed (Pt2)

A few grain shots:









STarted raining after 4 slabs so will have to finish it next week.

Cheers

looks good there BobL. always impressed with your inventiveness. great looking lumber. envy you guys with your wide array of exotic [to us in the states] species.

Very nice. I'm surprised that the limb never broke off with that much included bark. That is a perfect example of why tight crotches should be eliminated early in the trees life. I am always dealing with large branches that rip out of the tree after a good windy storm, probably 90% are from included bark. We keep stuff like that around the office to show people why we do the things we do. Half the reason I like to mill is for the wood the other is just to see what is inside.

Nice work!

Now I got to get back outside and get to millin' myself!

Awesome pictures Bob!!

Outstanding pix Bob!

Is that a hard nose 42" your milling with? Doesn't seem to effect the power much if it is. Massive wood.

guitarborist said:

Very nice. I'm surprised that the limb never broke off with that much included bark. That is a perfect example of why tight crotches should be eliminated early in the trees life. I am always dealing with large branches that rip out of the tree after a good windy storm, probably 90% are from included bark. We keep stuff like that around the office to show people why we do the things we do. Half the reason I like to mill is for the wood the other is just to see what is inside.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what the arborist who got me this log said when he saw the slabs.

RE: Is that a hard nose 42" your milling with?
Yeah the 076 seems to drive the ripping chain around the hardnose without much bother. The most critical factor in milling speed seems to be chain sharpness and settings.

Nice pics, I like the simplicity and portability of those rails, and thanks for tips on the inclusion, I'll attend to some of my trees directly.

man nice wood tom trees

BobL said:

That is exactly what the arborist who got me this log said when he saw the slabs.

RE: Is that a hard nose 42" your milling with?
Yeah the 076 seems to drive the ripping chain around the hardnose without much bother. The most critical factor in milling speed seems to be chain sharpness and settings.

Click to expand...

Yep Guitarborist told me the same about the hardnosed bars. It would certainly allow the mounting (drilled) too be done without as much loss as a sprocket nosed bar. Almost always less expense for the hardnosed too.

I got my 42" Carlton hard nose for $19.99 or $29.99 from Baileys clearance. I could not pass on a price like that. I think they still have them and other sizes too. The nice thing is the abliity to change to a smaller pitch as long as it is .063g.

As usual with you guys down there, VERY interesting wood. Can you drop off a few boards on your way home from work tomorrow? ...thanks

Terrific looking wood!

Say, is that your milling sawdust heaped up there in the first pic?!?!:jawdrop:

I'm about to expose my ignorance but isn't that what the forums for?

Bob why do you use the rails for every slab rather than running on the freshly milled surface? Is there an advantage or a specific function to your design that requires this?

Randy

Cheers Guys,

RE: Say, is that your milling sawdust heaped up there in the first pic?!?!
That is the woodchip stash from the arborists chipper (I mill in an arborist's yard). His chipper will chip everything up to 18" in diameter - above that he brings the good/interesting logs back to the yard for me to mill and we share the proceeds. The rubbish logs are cut up, left to dry and then and sold as firewood.

It's s great place to work, access to a forklift to lift logs/slabs, drying shed, a workshop, plenty of spare chainsaws to trim up logs, plus a beer fridge and they are great blokes to talk to about timber!

RE: why do you use the rails for every slab rather than running on the freshly milled surface?
I think it makes it easier to start and finish cutting slabs. When starting the slab the mill does not have to be physically held parallel to the surface, just place it on the rails and away she goes. Also I usually start the mill on the rails. When finishing I exit the end of the log and leave the mill idling on the rails for 30 seconds to a minute to cool off. Also if there are imperfections on a cut surface surface the rails avoid that being magnified in the following cut.

4 wheeled BIL

Headed for the milling yard this morning but as soon as I arrived it started bucketing down so I spent a fair bit of the day looking at this scene!


In between the two big thunderstorms I managed to cut a couple of slabs and tried out the pair of additional wheels I added to BIL during the week.


The new wheels ones are made out of black nylon and black irrigation poly fittings. They stop the base of the mill rubbing on the log. On a regular alaskan it would be equivalent to the inboard skids which is where I have place a rollerblade wheel on my small mill - this works an absolute treat. Since BIL does not have an inboard bar clamp, the base between and the twin inboard verticals can end up rubbing on the log which slows milling down.

Here's a (not very good) shot showing how the the wheels contact onto the log. I have pulled the closest wheels away from the log so you can see the back wheels - You need to look into the shadow area of the pic.


And here is a schematic showing the rationale.

Cut A - when milling the top half of the log, the base of the mill or bottom of the inboard clamp rubs on the log - black wheel make contact with log and restricting forward motion.
Cut B - when milling slabs near the middle of the log, both the black and white wheel make contact with log reducing milling resistance.
Cut C - when milling the bottom half of the log, the white wheel is raised to be up near the horizontal rail - the white wheel then makes contact with log and reducing milling resistance.

Anyway it seems to work very well.

BobL said:

...Cut A - when milling the top half of the log, the base of the mill or bottom of the inboard clamp rubs on the log - black wheel make contact with log and restricting forward motion.
Cut B - when milling slabs near the middle of the log, both the black and white wheel make contact with log reducing milling resistance.
Cut C - when milling the bottom half of the log, the white wheel is raised to be up near the horizontal rail - the white wheel then makes contact with log and reducing milling resistance....

Click to expand...

Excellent Bob... if I had the time I'd retrofit something like this on my Granberg. Great idea and great explanation. btw, every time I see a pic of your mill with that throttle handle I think the thing is going to take off like a motorcycle :greenchainsaw:

I always enjoy watching your your progress Bob. Thanks for sharing