Milled 2x4's With Mini-Mill Setup

[820wards]

Just got back from the hills where I milled a bunch of 2x4's for my friend from some Ponderosa Pine trees. I wanted to see just how many I could mill using only my mini-mill. Based on the log size I was only going to get six boards per log. What I found was that I could mill four boards and then what was left of the log was just to narrow to mill with the mini-mill. I then had to use my big Alaskan style mill to make the last two boards. Here are some pictures of my setup to mill the 2x4's.

Also want to note you will see that I have drilled additional holes in my dedicated milling bar. These additional holes made it very easy to adjust the depth of cut into the logs.

Here we are making the side cap cuts after making the top cap cut.

Here we have set the mill up to make the center cut on the cant.

Closeup of the additional holes I have drilled into my bar to make adjusting the depth cuts easier. The holes are drilled on 1" centers using a drilling jig I made so that any additional holes I drill will be spaced evenly.

Here I have rotated the cant 90* and positioned the mini-mill guide board to make a 2" cut. I was only able to make two cuts yielding four boards.

Also needed to use plenty of wedges when making the cuts to prevent the cant from wanting to spring inward making the initial center cut narrower. The boards cut very square using this setup.

jerry-

 

[discounthunter]

nice work. boards look nice and smooth too.

 

[SDB777]

You've been burning some gas....big thumbs up to ya!!

2x4's appear to be very smooth. What angle you sharpening at?






Scott B

 

[Hank Chinaski]

very good idea on the bar holes.

I like your minimill. Did you make it yourself, or is it production? (I'm new to CSM)

Please post details of your setup: saw/chain/bar/mill etc Thanks!!!

 

[820wards]

You've been burning some gas....big thumbs up to ya!!

2x4's appear to be very smooth. What angle you sharpening at?

Scott B

Scott,

I have been setting the angle on my chains at 10* and have been real happy with how smooth the cuts have been. We were just goofing around and wanted to see just what we could do with the mini-mill. The additional holes in the bar really worked out nice to adjust to the diameter of the logs. I'm going to make an additional bracket for my dust/chip deflector for when I'm using the middle bar positions because it was throwing dust above my existing deflector shield. Won't be hard.

jerry-

 

[820wards]

very good idea on the bar holes.

I like your minimill. Did you make it yourself, or is it production? (I'm new to CSM)

Please post details of your setup: saw/chain/bar/mill etc Thanks!!!

I built this mini-mill setup. I made the rails longer sot it made it easier to start a cut and finish off my guide rail board. Here is the link to the build of the mini-mill.

jerry-

http://www.arboristsite.com/milling-saw-mills/158004.htm

 

[smokinj]

Thats pretty slick deal there!

 

[splitpost]

nice work. boards look nice and smooth too.

I agree....looks good