First go at making a mini/rail mill

[BobL]

Finished . . . . well for the moment . . .



In these you can see the perspex cover
Notice I modded the bar twist mechanism with a steel block to turn the bar.




The Perspex cover will eventually vibrate to bits but for the moment I can see what's going on underneath. Eventually I'll replace with an ally or galv steel cover.

Cheers

 

[BobL]

First run

Well I had a short period of time this afternoon where I could nip down to the milling yard (12 miles away) to try the mini-mill out.

The main purpose of the mini-mill is to break up dry slabs so I can resaw the lumber on my bandsaw. I had a small slightly twisted slab of 3" thick red gum that I was going to cut up for firewood that I thought I would try it out with.

Here you can also see the grey T-shaped rail I made for it. The rail is made from two pieces of 10' long, 3 x 1.5" RHS (0.06") welded together into a T.



Back view


The basic idea is like any mini mill, clamp the rail onto the slab and then slide the mill and saw in one piece and onto the rail and . . . . cut.

Because the mill and saw are firmly held down the saw can cut either way - top OR bottom part of the bar.

The disadvantage of cutting with the bottom of the bar is because the chain is going up during the cut, the majority of the saw dust ends up spraying into the air over the rail, and if there is a breeze, the operator.

The advantage of cutting with the top of the bar has the chain going down during the cut so the majority of the saw dust ends up on the ground and not on the rail or the operator. However, the chain still throws enough chips back onto the operator to be a nuisance but a small guard should fix this. I thought there might be more vibration cutting with the top of the bar as the saw would tend to lift the mill and rail off the log but that did not happened - maybe it will with a longer slab.

This was a normal cut, you can see not much sawdust ended up on the rail, but of course it was a very narrow cut.


They look very happy with each other


Just to finish of a pic of my van with my minimal milling kit I carry between the yard and home. When I go bush I carry a lot more stuff including my log rails on the roofrack.

 

[Matildasmate]

Thats some fine looking wood work and jewelry there Bob , you and your wife must make a great team , very impressive mate . Cheers MM

 

[BobL]

It's lmost 3 years ago I made the mini-rail-mill described in this thread to break up my slabs into lumber.

This method of cutting up the slabs works OK while the slabs are maneuverable and short enough to clamp down to my work table but what happens when they are longer?

What I want to be able to do is cut the slab with the CS mill and then perch the slab just off the side of the log and peel off lumber without tek screwing a guide board onto the slab.
So here is what I came up with.

I didn't have a slab at home to demonstrate this so I just demonstrate it with a piece of 4 x 2"


At one end the rail can sit flush with the end of the slab and use a conventional clamp like this. The rail overhang is just enough for the mill to perch on so the saw can be started


At the other end is a custom clamp that can be easily repositioned to cope with different length slabs.


My next problem is what happens if the slab is longer than the rail ?
So I am in the process of making a longer rail or maybe another that joins to this one.

 

[mtngun]

Glad you are well enough to be building mills, BobL.

 

[Fundyheather]

Merry Christmas what a thread!

Hi all, I'm a newbie with a small slabbing mill under development. I'll bother you with pictures later, but I just wanted to say these tips are precious in my sight.
jim

 

[BobL]

Hi all, I'm a newbie with a small slabbing mill under development. I'll bother you with pictures later, but I just wanted to say these tips are precious in my sight.
jim

Welcome Jim, Looking forward to seeing your photos.

 

[Quietfly]

I know this is an old thread, but thank you for sharing this!!!!

 

[Czech_Made]

Excellent design, Bob! I will be borrowing I mean stealing some of your ideas. The UHMW pieces on my mill are wearing out, plan is to do wheels instead.

I especially like the 45 degrees orientation of those wheels, what a clever solution!

 

[BobL]

Excellent design, Bob! I will be borrowing I mean stealing some of your ideas. The UHMW pieces on my mill are wearing out, plan is to do wheels instea
I especially like the 45 degrees orientation of those wheels, what a clever solution!

Thanks CM,

I made several versions of the saw holding attachments - themes solid one is where the mill bolts to the bar bolts but below are a few shots showing it in action to make park furniture.
This uses a conventional mill bar clamp because I had to cut to a specific depth - ie plunge then blind cut for about 6 ft.

Horizontal cut


Angled vertical cut.


More details and Photos about milling this park furniture here
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/nature-playground-milling.294273/#post-5779506

 

[Tarki0]

Your rig is a heck of an idea. Thanks for sharing it here. Gave me all kind of 'craz-nay' mad scientist ideas.

 

[BobL]

Your rig is a heck of an idea. Thanks for sharing it here. Gave me all kind of 'craz-nay' mad scientist ideas.

Thanks, I have the odd "craz-nay mad scientist" ideas from time to time.