I would like some opinions of my homemdae chainsaw mill..

[Justworkinghard]

Well,me and my father came into some free pine logs and figured they would work great for a front porch rebuild of our house.We want to make some semi rustic looking planks and beams to add some style to the inside framework. With a Stihl 038av thats been around for awhile, a new bar and chain, and some left over steel, we got to work. We made basically a frame, guide and sawmount for the 32"bar.

 

[Justworkinghard]

 

[Justworkinghard]

 

[Justworkinghard]

 

[Justworkinghard]

Its not perfect,but the slabs we cut so far came out mint for a design we made out of about 140$ or less.What I would love to know, is the best style chain to use?

 

[Justworkinghard]

To explain our design, the center piece is mounted to the log,so it stays if the log rotates 90 or 180 degrees and the T piece is square which will slide up or down to adjust height or thickness of cut. The outermost thin bars are stabilizers or work as fine adjusters if each side the main mount is slightly off square or level.Also the rope is connected to both sides of the saw with pulleys so a secound person pulls the rope from one location to evenly slide the chainsaw and its guide thru the log.Another person holds the throttle and makes watches the saw.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

If it were mine I would weld some flat bar on your tubing so there is no bow in the tubing. Then the tubing that has the saw mounted to it would have some slits to go arround the guide rails. I would say pretty darn good. Setting up the chain to do the best job possible is well explained in several threads here. Thanks

 

[BobL]

It's unnecessary to have the complication of a tube on the chainsaw saw mill sliding inside a pipe that runs along the sides of the log (log rails).
The mill can then just sit on top of the log rails.
Then instead of tube you can use RHS which will bend far less than a tube.
It also helps to get around bumps and knobs on the sides of the log.

The mill setup below shows a conventional CSM sliding on a log rail frame like yours.
It can be used to start an awkward cut on the top of a log using the log rails.
Once that cut is established, provided the log is big enough the CSM can then be used without the frame.
I mainly use the milling frame setup on short logs that would otherwise be difficult to hold steady the base of the mill has a set pf grippers that will hold any awkward shape like stumps, burls etc


Then, Instead of moving the log rails up and down the CSM is moved up and down using the cranks like this.
Its much easier to use the cranks than lifting the log rails and re-levelling these rails every time.

 

[Justworkinghard]

If it were mine I would weld some flat bar on your tubing so there is no bow in the tubing. Then the tubing that has the saw mounted to it would have some slits to go arround the guide rails. I would say pretty darn good. Setting up the chain to do the best job possible is well explained in several threads here. Thanks

I understand exactly what your saying. Like almost all our parts the tubing is re-purposed. They are thick galvanized pipe from my swing set I used as a kid and still stands in my back yard. And after we are done milling, they are going back in the swing set for my kids(when i have some) to enjoy. We checked the cut pieces with a tight string as a straight edge and they are very close to what we want for tollerance. Much straighter than Home Depot wood. Also the cut finish is great for a chainsaw cut in my opinion. They have some minor visable but pretty smooth to the touch lines which add character and will be perfect for our project to add a small rustic, home made look.

 

[Justworkinghard]

It's unnecessary to have the complication of a tube on the chainsaw saw mill sliding inside a pipe that runs along the sides of the log (log rails).
The mill can then just sit on top of the log rails.
Then instead of tube you can use RHS which will bend far less than a tube.
It also helps to get around bumps and knobs on the sides of the log.

The mill setup below shows a conventional CSM sliding on a log rail frame like yours.
It can be used to start an awkward cut on the top of a log using the log rails.
Once that cut is established, provided the log is big enough the CSM can then be used without the frame.
I mainly use the milling frame setup on short logs that would otherwise be difficult to hold steady the base of the mill has a set pf grippers that will hold any awkward shape like stumps, burls etc

View attachment 818278
Then, Instead of moving the log rails up and down the CSM is moved up and down using the cranks like this.
Its much easier to use the cranks than lifting the log rails and re-levelling these rails every time.
View attachment 818286

Looks like it works great for smaller wood, But the logs we got for free would be hard and horrible to lift. We pulled them with a pick-up from our neighbors lot and rolled with big pinch bars, They are 12ft8 long and 22inch diameter.

Its only 4 allen screws per side to lift or lower. Designed mostly by my dad which is a machinest, its easy to change but takes forever because he wants to get it too accurate. Trying to get it closer that a 1/16 in sometimes, drives me nuts but I can't blame him. Its his work and pride.

 

[Justworkinghard]

Thanks for the input, appreciate the thoughts.

 

[buttercup]

I like your mill and saw too, inventive and creative. But I would prefer something to lock the rail tubes perfectly straight though it might not be necessary to get a perfectly even thickness.
Here is a little more quick and dirty "on sight" version of the method Bob was showing using the Granberg minimill, no need for a helper to do the actual ripping this way.

 

[BobL]

I wasn't suggesting the logs be lifted up and put into/onto a base.
If the logs are are heavy enough then a base is not needed and they can be left on the ground.
For large logs I just use a set of adjustable length log rails like these that lock onto the log for at least the first cut.
Once a flat cut is made there's no need for log rails (although I often still use them).

The real beauty of this system is if you decide you are cutting 2" slabs there's no adjusting anything between cuts - just peel them off one after the other.

The other really important benefit is being easily able to lay the mill on its side on a table to easily touch up the chain.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

In line with that the rails could be a different thickness to make different slabs. I would have to say you have quite an argument for a simple system yet productive. Thanks

 

[BobL]

In line with that the rails could be a different thickness to make different slabs. I would have to say you have quite an argument for a simple system yet productive. Thanks

Yes, but it's really easy to raise/drop the CS bar relative to the mill (not log) rails using the cranks.