My new mill rig - cant squarer (pic heavy)

I've been working on this guy for the last two weeks in my spare time. It will allow me to square a cant or even make a box-heart beam with only using one guide board and I won't have to turn the log at all, ideally.


There it is alongside the little one I loosely based the design on. That little one is far too short and is only 3/4" deep so it doesn't hug a guide board very tightly. Doesn't cut square at all.


A closer view of the bar attachment setup. It's a 3/4" X 6" bolt passed through a brass pillow block bearing and tied into a big coupling nut at the tail end. This lets it pivot but remain sturdy, and I can thread it in or out of the coupling nut to make finer width adjustments. I built the bar clamp pretty much identical to the Alaskan mill.


Here you can see how the guide rails are clamped down to the Superstrut. They're just bolted into spring nuts (with the springs removed) designed for the Superstrut rails.


395XP all mounted up and ready to eat wood!


Halfway done the first cut.

More pics in next post, dang 5 pic limit!

I have the log on a bit of a slope and didn't feel much like pushing the mill uphill to complete the side cut on the other side. No problem - unmount the saw, flip the mill around, and mount the saw the other way.


MS660 mounted on the Alaskan and ready to go to make the first top cut!


Here we have a nice 3-sided, squared cant ready to cut boards from. And I never had to turn the log once! To make a beam, just drop the Alaskan down and cut the bottom off.


Top view of the cant. Yeah, it's rough, but I just used the skip chain I normally use for bucking to save time (cut fast though!). I have to be to work in 1 hr and wanted to get this posted. Also why I was so wasteful with the log & never bothered measuring anything.


3 5/4" boards I took off of it. This whole process only took MAYBE 20 mins for that 6' log.

So what do you think of that little mill? Keep in mind that I still have to clean up the welds and strip and paint it. I'd also like to figure out some sort of handle to make it a bit more manageable too. It's not super light but once it's on the log that's a bit of a plus to me. I doubt it will be much use in big logs because a long bar will want to wander if it's not secured at the far end, but it should work great for anything under 20" or so.

nice pics... thanks for sharing

Nice design, Could be my next project !

The only thing that worries me slightly about those direct bar clamping mechanisms is the CS twisting in the clamp and then what happens to the chain? I know it's no different to a lot of mills but it still worries me.

Anyway - great pics and thanks for posting

Great pics, keep up the good work.

Nice job! Do you have to install a longer pivot rod to expand the width if you were to want wider boards?

Great job, nice design, good clear pics showing everybody what you're talkin' about. I agree with Bob, with clamps like this if it slips your chain is toast REAL quick. But many csm's including the popular Granberg are like this. Nature of the beast. That has never happened to me, but I've seen it not tight and the bar had moved a bit and thus I caught it in time before disaster. This has happened more than once.

Thanks for posting your handywork for us Brmorgan.

I am building a system like that. I am using aluminum extrusions for the guide rail and a linear bearing that slides on the extrusion, The saw is attached with bolts through the bar to a metal piece welded to a 1" steel rod that is held with pillow blocks. The function is the same as your just a different way os getting there. I will post pictures on a new thread when I am done. I have the parts but have not welded the mount yet.

Nice job Brmorgan,

A simple design that works so well.:biggrinbounce2: Keep us posted on future milling jobs.

jerry-

Well done B R,

Building a better mousetrap! That's what it's all about.

I am rebuilding the entry way too my front porch (some rotten floor board ends). I might need some beam stock and I had a norway pine that I removed. I could have used a machine like that too make the process easier. After this beam, I did make a smaller rail set (to replace the ladder on smaller stuff) out of drilled angle stock,carriage bolts, and 2x4s. The "Beam" machine has got too be faster and "squarer". That 3rd cut can be a pain to get lined up with carpenter square and rails while trying too get it bolted in.

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I'll try to address a couple of the questions.

BobL said:

The only thing that worries me slightly about those direct bar clamping mechanisms is the CS twisting in the clamp and then what happens to the chain? I know it's no different to a lot of mills but it still worries me.

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I have the same concerns. I've never had the clamps on my Alaskan totally give way but I did have one get a bit loose and creep towards the chain, enough that it began to pinch the chain groove and cause some overheating and blueing of the steel in one area. I think what I will end up doing is welding a couple 1/2" nuts onto the sides of the outside (not bolt) clamp piece, and use a couple heavy-duty serrated tip set screws for additional hold.

I don't really feel like having to drill holes in all my bars, partly because I would prefer to be able to mount the mill anywhere on the saw bar to prevent over-penetration of the bar tip. Also I HATE drilling bars. I don't wreck bits anymore because I got smart and use carbides now, but it still sucks.

dustytools said:

Nice job! Do you have to install a longer pivot rod to expand the width if you were to want wider boards?

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I assume you mean if I want the cant to be wider? If so, to make a large adjustment, both of the guide rails that ride on the guide board are movable, so in theory you could move them all the way to the other end. Just have to remember to make sure they're still square to the saw bar when they're re-clamped. The Superstrut rails are just over 16" long, so if you were using a 2X6 guide board and had the guides at the opposite end from the saw, that would give about 10 inches of possible additional width on EACH SIDE of the guide board, so in this case about 25" or more total cant width. I think doing this would require a stabilizing block equal in thickness to the guide board & rail combination to prevent sagging at the saw end, but that would be easy to do. And it would be hard to do before first flattening the top with the Alaskan. If I want to make a fine adjustment, I can just thread the rod in or out in minimum increments of 1/2 turn. I don't even have to unmount the saw.


The pics I posted here are the mill's virgin test run, so it'll definitely get some fine tuning and a few features will be added, and any ideas are more than welcome. One thing I want to add is some way of locking the pivot bar in one position (set screws maybe?) so that the saw bar cuts a consistent depth from end to end. This would be useful for making timber joints, or making dimensioning cuts in a cant to get multiple boards with one pass with the Alaskan. For example, make a 12" wide cant, and bore two non-through cuts at 4" intervals such that you basically have three 4" cants on edge tied together at the bottom. Take a pass with the Alaskan and get 3 2X4s with one cut.

Does anyone know if it's safe to mount the saw such that it's cutting with the top edge of the bar instead of the bottom, so the chips get thrown down to the ground instead of up over my head in a nice rain of sawdust? I know that a bind could cause the saw to want to jump up and out of the cut, but how easily could it happen? Or would the saw be altogether too difficult to control this way?

Brmorgan said:

Does anyone know if it's safe to mount the saw such that it's cutting with the top edge of the bar instead of the bottom, so the chips get thrown down to the ground instead of up over my head in a nice rain of sawdust? I know that a bind could cause the saw to want to jump up and out of the cut, but how easily could it happen? Or would the saw be altogether too difficult to control this way?

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You could always cut a groove in both sides of the guide board and drill a hole through and weld a nut to the outside of the angle iron. Then thread a bolt through that hole so it rides in the groove.

Like this:


I reckon it would be worth a go.