MS660 w/ 42" bar for milling

[SkySkrape]

I have the same question as you started with at the beginning of this thread. I'll follow it and update if I have anything to share as I've got an MS660 with a 42" Cannon Superbar and a Granberg 3/8" 0.063" ripping chain and a Granberg Alaskan Mill. It's all brand new (except the powerhead) and I'll be starting to mill with it next week, and I'll report back as necessary.

 

[goldfingers]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum but have been searching around on it for a couple of weeks now. I am about to buy a chainsaw for a chainsaw mill and was at the stihl store about to buy the MS660 when the stihl dealer and stihl rep both said i would burn it up milling 36" hardwoods with a 42" bar and said i should get an MS880. The average log will be 24" hardwoods with the occasional 36" hardwood. From what i gather on this forum is that there are plenty of people that mill with the MS660 and a 42" bar setup. The reason why i want to use the ms660 instead of the ms880 is because of the cost difference and because the 660 can be used for more than just milling whereas the 880 would be ridiculous for anything but milling. Also, i am milling for personal use only to get slabs of hardwood for furniture i build, so i will not be milling more than a dozen logs a year at absolute most. Enlight of all of this could you please help me out with a few questions.

1). I just need a sanity check to see if a ms660 with a 42" bar would work. I will be getting a smaller bar to mill and cut smaller logs.

2). How many inches do you lose with a chainsaw mill? Will a 28" bar work for 14" logs? or do i need the 32" bar?

3). Will it take significantly longer to mill a log with a 660 than an 880 (24" diameter and 36" diameter)?

4). If i go with the 660, what do i need to do to make sure i dont burn up the saw? (keep in mind the saw will be new and i dont really want to void the warranty if i dont have to, but if i need to i will)

5). For tuning it i have read anywhere between 11,000 and 12,500 rpm max. Is there one that is preferred and is this at full throttle with no load (not cutting)? Is the tuning only done through adjusting the carb limiting screws?

Thanks

Andrew

hi,
ive been using the ms660 for bout 3 years now milling on an Alaskan mill and also stationary mill,
if I were you the max I would go is 36 inch bar which I use at the moment, if you go larger than that you have to have your chain mega tight or you will get sag when milling and it uses up more juice.
with the Alaskan mill if you don't get it direct centre and tight the chain will touch the securing bolts (not good)
I wouldn't bother about rpm issues the main issues would be choosing a good ripping chain and keeping it sharp.
if you have a good setup you should be able to do a 7ft rip at 2ft diameter in around 4 minutes depending on what wood you are milling.
its also recommended in the manual if you have been milling don't switch the saw off straight away let I cool for a minute or so prolongs the saws
life.
p.s burning the ms660 up like the rep said is horse **** don't belive him
like I said ive been milling 3 years with it and it still works fine.
drop me a line if you need anymore info.