Milling deep beams

[MikeRock]

https://artbiz.com/homelite.htm
See this site. That is my mill to a T... I have a smaller oil tank and the helper handle is the newer model, introduced that summer.. Yeah!!! I knew (hoped any way) that I wasn't nuts.

You sure had me going out to the shed at 0200. Cold!!
I never had the Homely Light...... had one Mac, a 125 Super Pro, bought for this mill. Too damned loud. Then got my first Stihl 075AVE and loved it.
I still have my first Stihl 041, when they still painted them red. Next ones were orange. Have six 041's and 8 031's and three 075's. Old, torquey, and mine!

God bless
Mike

What I called an 'edger' is the G555 Mini-Mill. Mr. Granberg sent it as a gift. We talked engineering and stuff for an hour. I gave him some sprockets and chain to couple the two depth of cut adjusters for parallelism, and a larger handle for ease of turning. I took the mill over to the USDA Forest Products Lab in Madison, WI, which was a few blocks from where I lived in grad school...they had it for a month and cut all sorts of exotic stuff, including ebony from Congo. I still have a bit of that left, rest went to a friend who made guitars and banjos. Some stripey African wood too.... yellow/brown and real dark brown stripes. Purple heart too, from the tropics.... they went through a few chains for sure. I had some vet friends working there that were intrigued by the chain saw mill concept. It was the first one ever tested at FPL.
I cut cherry, walnut and various oak varieties with it. Just dug it out after thirty years to cut again, red and white oak for a project.

 

[AZWoodworker]

Nice setup. So this was limited production pretty cool. love the story. 4 feet would be nice. I use the Alaskan chainsaw with a 72-inch bar for larger than the 3 feet. Love the 75 and 76's.

 

[djones]

By using a beam cutting attachment on your saw bar, you are only limited by the length of your bar. Here I am using a 18" B&C to cut through this pine log of 14'. To do this I took off the top slab with my CSM then screwed an 18' rail (2 nine ft. rails joined in the middle) to one side of the log and ran my beam guide along the rail with saw attached. Remove rail and do the same to the other side to get whatever size beam you need. In this instance I was making 4 x 4's and made 4 passes with the beam saw and finished with the CSM to make 6 - 4 x 4's. You can make any size beam you need.
I am using a Timber Tuff beam cutting guide from TSC which is adjustable to fit different size rails. There are others available as well..

 

[HumBurner]

Are those purchased tracks for the beam cutter specifically, or some metal that works? If just store-bought metal, what would it be called and what are its specs/dimensions?

I'm finding the edging mill better than the Alaskan on smaller stuff, but the Granberg thin rail is flimsy and doesn't match evenly from piece to piece. It also needs something to hook into to hold the mill down from the top.

 

[BobL]

Are those purchased tracks for the beam cutter specifically, or some metal that works? If just store-bought metal, what would it be called and what are its specs/dimensions?

I used patio tube for the tracks for my beam cutter.

 

[HumBurner]

That looks way more stable and secure without having to adjust or modify much.


Thanks for the info and photo, Bob!

 

[TheLaundryMan]

I used patio tube for the tracks for my beam cutter.
View attachment 974204

Bob, are you cutting all the way through that log? I’ve been thinking about using an edge mill clamped near the end of a bar to cut 6” deep and take 1/4 of a log out to mount on an outside corner of my house. Obviously I cannot tell from that picture how long your bar is but I’ve been wondering if it’s a possibility

 

[djones]

Are those purchased tracks for the beam cutter specifically, or some metal that works? If just store-bought metal, what would it be called and what are its specs/dimensions?

I'm finding the edging mill better than the Alaskan on smaller stuff, but the Granberg thin rail is flimsy and doesn't match evenly from piece to piece. It also needs something to hook into to hold the mill down from the top.

The beams I used were given to me by a neighbor who was tasked with throwing them away. They were used in a sports park owned by the city. They are just 2 x 4 aluminum rails. The idea is not to cut all the way through on one pass but to make several smaller cuts. It goes much faster than trying to cut all the way through. I use a regular chain on this saw, not a ripping one. It's almost like noodling, you get a lot of long chips and I keep the saw at a low angle to the log and just pull it back towards me as I go along. It just takes some practice to get the hang of it but it solves the problem of re-sawing big slabs.

 

[BobL]

Bob, are you cutting all the way through that log? I’ve been thinking about using an edge mill clamped near the end of a bar to cut 6” deep and take 1/4 of a log out to mount on an outside corner of my house. Obviously I cannot tell from that picture how long your bar is but I’ve been wondering if it’s a possibility

Not on that photo, but I can easily do that.
In that photo I was making some park furniture like these

That saw has a 25" bar a Lo-pro chain.
The beam mill has 8 grooved brass rollers that hold the saw onto the log at any angle AND if I'm cutting right through the wood it allows me to cut with the top of the bar so it ejects the sawdust onto the ground and not over the operator.
However ,when I'm doing blind cuts I have to use the bottom of the bar.
Here is a shot of a blind horizontal cut.


Normally I just use a hand held circular to break up slabs up to 2" thick but here's a shot of when I didn't have my circular handy.

I have mainly used the beam mill to break up slabs thicker than 2" but these days I just use the bandsaw mill.

 

[TheLaundryMan]

Not on that photo, but I can easily do that.
In that photo I was making some park furniture like these
View attachment 974789
That saw has a 25" bar a Lo-pro chain.
The beam mill has 8 grooved brass rollers that hold the saw onto the log at any angle AND if I'm cutting right through the wood it allows me to cut with the top of the bar so it ejects the sawdust onto the ground and not over the operator.
However ,when I'm doing blind cuts I have to use the bottom of the bar.
Here is a shot of a blind horizontal cut.
View attachment 974791

Normally I just use a hand held circular to break up slabs up to 2" thick but here's a shot of when I didn't have my circular handy.
View attachment 974794
I have mainly used the beam mill to break up slabs thicker than 2" but these days I just use the bandsaw mill.

That is awesome! Is your beam mill a home brew contraption? I’d love to see some close ups on it. Screw it im just gonna fly to Australia and help you mill for a month or two and absorb everything I can

 

[BobL]

That is awesome! Is your beam mill a home brew contraption? I’d love to see some close ups on it. Screw it im just gonna fly to Australia and help you mill for a month or two and absorb everything I can

Here is a WIP with all the grind details
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/first-go-at-making-a-mini-rail-mill.96379/

 

[Mike Van]

Hi all,

I have a Granberg MKIII (I think) mill I've been using for around a decade. I primarily mill softwoods for timber framing that are longer than 16', as many mills around here don't like to mill over 16', and when they do, the bd/ft price goes up considerably.

I have to mill a few oddballs for a steeple restoration that aren't particularly long (around 14' in length), but they're beefy, 14"x15".

The maximum depth my mill can do is 13", so while I can make these 14x15's, with my current setup, I'd have to make four "First Cuts", which could be a huge pain depending on how twisted the log I'm going to be working with is.

Right now, I'm considering taking my mill to someone who can weld aluminium and having my depth rails extended from 13" to 20".

If anyone has any other suggestions, I would like to hear them. I checked Granberg's website, and didn't see them offering taller depth rails, plus, I have to do this by September, and am a little wary of shipping times right now, as Granberg says they're 5 weeks backordered.

Lastly, I don't know if anyone's covered this before, but I mill with a 288xp, and regarding adjusting chain tension, was tired of either having to take my mill off or having to mess around with a flathead bit & a 1/4" wrench, so I modified a clutch cover off of a 562xp, and it works like a charm. It's ugly as sin, so if you have young children, I suggest you ask them to leave the room before clicking on the following pictures.

Thanks in advance for any replies,

Bryan

Bryan - My shopbuilt bandmill from 30 years ago has just 7" from the blade to the frame - When I need a 12 x 12 or similar, it's what I leave the cant as. That won't work for you?