Need milling tips

[timberwolf]

404 would waste more in the kerf, 3/8 is standard, but I have herd of people using pmx or 325 as posted above.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Jake, you may not have to mod the clutch cover on your 066 for milling. Try it first- the chips are small and they really scream out of there. The stock clutch covers of the Stihl saws are well designed by being open at the bottom. The main thing I would do would be to remove the rubber deflector inside the back of the clutch cover, and grind off all of the internal cast-aluminum mounts for this rubber (nip these castings off with dikes first, then grind with a flap wheel or something). You want to achieve a smooth, almost polished surface inside the clutch cover, behind and below the sprocket. Probably no need to grind off any of the bottom lip, though this remains an option if chips don't clear for some reason.
On the other hand, I made more radical mods to my Husky 372 clutch cover because these covers are somewhat more constricted at the bottom, in comparison to the Stihl. For this machine, I did grind about 1/2" off the base of the cover plate, in addition to removing the rubber deflector and its mounting apparatus. I use the 372 for long-grain ripping, and this produces long shavings that need a lot of clearance.

My clutch cover already has 1/2 inch blown out of the back(involuntary modification)-result of debris ejection from a prior adventure. Just figured it would hasten chip removal. Rubber flap is still intack though so I'll look at that.
I'll look at it closer. I know from ripping elm with my poulan and 028 chip clearing while ripping can be an issue-long fibers hanging up etc. Never thought of modifying. I'm going to look at all my saws now.

thanks for the tip

 

[BIG JAKE]

Big Jake,
If you don't need live edges on your boards or the widest boards possible you may want to saw a four sided cant first. That way you only saw through the bark twice for the whole log saving some sharpening. Also your next cuts are much thinner/faster as well through clean wood and your boards are edged.

For example a 12-13" log yeilds a 9"x9" cant and I find a 9" or 8" cut around twice as fast than a 12" cut. Keep in mind I use a 372 though so I'm sure you can scale up these numbers for your saw.

Ear plugs plus muffs are good idea too.
Good luck,
Ian

Indy that's good advice on the cants. I've seen a lot of pictures of guys slicing a log with the bark on, but it didn't occur to me at the time if your throwing it away why waste saw/chain life to cut through it time and again for nothing. Also, rough bark can harbor alot of grit from past winds in dry conditions(at least down here in New Mexico-drought. Gonna be a bad fire season) which would reduce bar life as well. In the grand scheme the effects may be negligable(but I don't think so), but I figure the less I run the saw the more years it'll go. I've got a cherry log to mill and plan to leave that bark on for(shelving/natural look). Will rip and plane the rest for styles and rails on some cabinetry on the honey do list.

Good tip-thanks for imparting some wisdom.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Advice given thus far is right on.

As a small little tip, my buddy and I mill with his 660, and he bought it for milling, but bought it with a full wrap, as that's just how they're sold out here. Turns out that the full wrap portion of the handle bar is a Godsend. The saw spends so much time on the ground, between runs, refueling, whatever, and with the Alaskan on it, it's on it's side. The full wrap provides a little stand for the saw to rest on, and keeps the powerhead itself out of the dust and dirt. The handlebar was starting to wear from all the abuse (which the powerhead would have been absorbing) so he wrapped it in heavy duty spiral wrap, like what you wrap hydraulic lines with. Works great. I'll see if I can get a pic.

Jeff

I have a full wrap also-send the pic. Cushion, however minimal can't hurt from a vibration standpoint.

thks Jeff

 

[BIG JAKE]

404 would waste more in the kerf, 3/8 is standard, but I have herd of people using pmx or 325 as posted above.

Any strength differences between 3/8 and .325?

thks

 

[BIG JAKE]

I read a post a while back where a miller said don't use bar oil but-he liked motor oil. ? I guess from here I need to just dive in. Thanks all for the good advice and taking the time-I appreciate that. Got alot of tips I never thought of. I may build my own mill as I have a lot of steel on the rack-can't have that. I liked Andy's aluminum ladder/rail idea(different thread)-I'll look at the pics and see what I come up with.
John I like your block idea for board thicknesses-lots of good tips!(I'm like a kid in a candy store)

thks,

 

[artwood]

I've been running a 42" bar w/ .325 Carlton chisel chain on my 088 for over a year now. Haven't had any chain breakage. This was something I was concerned about at first, but has held up well. I've cut green/dry, hard & softwoods with it right out of the box. When I get the chance I'd like to modify a loop, 5-10 degrees and take out a few teeth as well.

I have a copy of Sam Maloof's "Chainsaw Lumbermaking" in excellent condition that I would be willing to sell.

 

[BIG JAKE]

I've been running a 42" bar w/ .325 Carlton chisel chain on my 088 for over a year now. Haven't had any chain breakage. This was something I was concerned about at first, but has held up well. I've cut green/dry, hard & softwoods with it right out of the box. When I get the chance I'd like to modify a loop, 5-10 degrees and take out a few teeth as well.

I have a copy of Sam Maloof's "Chainsaw Lumbermaking" in excellent condition that I would be willing to sell.

Eric are you milling with that chain at the standard 35 deg angle or just felling and blocking? Also, PM your price on the book I might be interested dep on your price.

thks

 

[WadePatton]

Mr. Malloff cut away some of the rear of the cover. Not a lot, but some. Easier to see than 'splain. Maybe I'll borrow the book again and copy a photo or two. Does copyright apply to out-of-print?

Saws aren't made to run sidewise 100 percent of the time.

ALSO, I've heard here that the extension part of an aluminum ladder makes a great milling rail--and is a bit cheaper than the rails sold commercially.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Mr. Malloff cut away some of the rear of the cover. Not a lot, but some. Easier to see than 'splain. Maybe I'll borrow the book again and copy a photo or two. Does copyright apply to out-of-print?

Saws aren't made to run sidewise 100 percent of the time.

ALSO, I've heard here that the extension part of an aluminum ladder makes a great milling rail--and is a bit cheaper than the rails sold commercially.

Was thinking about your sidewise comment-They aspirate just fine at any angle but I wonder about the heat flow from the fan if it doesn't draft as well-Seems like it wouldn't matter sideways but heat naturally goes upward on it's own. GYPO had pics on a post recently where he was milling bar pointed down. Guess he was going stir crazy mid winter so he was milling out in the snow. But about the heat dissipation on the surface at WOT that fan will be singing, doesn't seem that it would matter but I'm no expert. Any feedback from others on this?
Not sure as to copyright on photo's but yeah send a pic if you get a hold of one.

 

[BIG JAKE]

I have riped smaller white cedar and othe planks upto 13 or 14 inches with a 20 inch bar, much quicker and easier to handle. However it does dull a bit quicker as each tooth goes around more often.


Several different shapening styles, they all work, maybe some beter in specific wood or log sizes.

One style is to file strait across the top plate or at a 0 or 5 deg angle compaired to the traditional 30 or 35 deg, other styles involve also removing every second top plate. rakers will need to be lowered a bit also.

It is hard work, pace yourself, start slow, makes a good job first thing in the AM.

Wade, what clutch cover mods have you seen or done, I would be interested in this.

I might build a milling pipe at some point to help keep the power and RPM where I want, get the exhaust out of my face and cut the noise down. TokyoStu had good luck with his pipe for milling, have not herd much lately from him?

Brian

Brian is there not any worry about hooking up all that power with the shorter bars. I'm still thinking about a 28 inch bar but maybe a 26 if I can get that length. Lakeside has 25 inch bar on his"just for fun" but I don't want to over rev. Guess I can apply greater feed rate to compensate.

 

[timberwolf]

No problem hooking the power up, just push it a bit faster, maybe also drop the rakers an extra 5 thous on the shorter rip chain.

I willl have to give the 325 a try. There is different thickness drive links on 325. Stihl RS is .063 oregon .058 and I think even some 325 chain is .050, so there would be a difference in the breaking strength I would think. 3/8 chain does have a lot more meat around the rivets. Should not over rev with a shorter bar At times I run a 16 on the 066 for firewood. Richen it up if your worried.

 

[Lakeside53]

Then the 5th cutters become side cutters as in ripping chain I suppose right?
I haven't checked chain prices but would guess modified regular chain is substantially more economical than is ripping chain based solely on the replies.
404 or 3/8's chain? I'd want as little waste as possible. I don't know if anyone runs 404 or not on the 066.

Thanks Andy

Yes, it's a lot cheaper to get your ripping chain this way and "do it yourself". 3/8 is standard out here on an 066.
if you're going to be ripping, you will blunt a lot of chains, so you might want to invest in an decent chain grinder.

On you other thread where you were concerned about overdriving with short bars, as other have said, richen up the saw (use a tach) and just keep the feed rate up. I'm considering gluing a "tiny tach" to the back of my mill saw just so I can keep an eye on it. After a hour or two of full power I'm not sure I would be able to tell what speed my saw was running at! For wood cutting, I run REALLY short bars, like 16 inch on a 361...

 

[Lakeside53]

I wonder about the heat flow from the fan if it doesn't draft as well-Seems like it wouldn't matter sideways but heat naturally goes upward on it's own. .

I wouldn't worry about this - the fan is 1000's of times more effective than convective forces. The important thing is to keep the fan cover (recoil) clean of dust and debris, and blow out the the saw with a compressor daily.

 

[BIG JAKE]

I wouldn't worry about this - the fan is 1000's of times more effective than convective forces. The important thing is to keep the fan cover (recoil) clean of dust and debris, and blow out the the saw with a compressor daily.

Andy have you won any money with cross dressed 051 yet? Could be a lot of fun!

 

[BIG JAKE]

I just picked up an 090 that is set up with an Alaska mill that is running .325 with the cutters set to 0 degrees. I think it's got an eight tooth rim. I haven't counted the drive links yet but it has to be in the hundreds on a 42" bar. I'm really looking forward to trying this set up out on some Black Cherry I have available so all these tips are very helpful.
John...

John how's the .325 chain holding up or has it been too cold to mill out in KC? I have .404 on mine and a 7 tooth rim and since waste is an issue I need to change-bummer as that 32 inch bar still has almost all the paint on it. Let me know how it holds up.

 

[artwood]

Jake

You can probably just change the tip on that bar to .325. Make sure the gauge on the chain is the same as on the bar though.

 

[BIG JAKE]

You can probably just change the tip on that bar to .325. Make sure the gauge on the chain is the same as on the bar though.

I'll look into that. I'm running same gauge on my 028 so they'd be the same just different lengths.

 

[oldsaw]

My clutch cover already has 1/2 inch blown out of the back(involuntary modification)-result of debris ejection from a prior adventure. Just figured it would hasten chip removal. Rubber flap is still intack though so I'll look at that.
I'll look at it closer. I know from ripping elm with my poulan and 028 chip clearing while ripping can be an issue-long fibers hanging up etc. Never thought of modifying. I'm going to look at all my saws now.

thanks for the tip

Don't worry about chip ejection, since it isn't "chips" but dust unless you get some internal grain transistion (usually a knot) that will give you some chips, but mixed in with the dust. Mine is rock stock, with the flapper intact, complete with teethmarks where it had tossed a chain for the prior owner. I'd never really thought of it before, but the prior owner apparently got real hurt or real scared, or both on mine. it had kicked back so hard that he had broken the chainbrake handgard and shattered the chainbrake, then took some healthy chunks out of the rubber flap as the chain ejected.

Anyway, you won't see a lot of long fibers.

Mark

 

[bman]

sharp chain, sharp chain, sharp chain!

The three most important items when milling. I am a little fussy about cut speed and if Im not getting small chips but dust I stop and dress the chain. Best device I have found for this is the granberg file and joint file holder. Claps onto the bar in seconds (no need to remove bar and chain, just prop the whole mess up on the log) and gets everything EVEN, TP angles, depth of cut and does an excellent job of lowering the rakers, I have yet to find a raker depth gauge that gos to .050. My sage for chainsaw milling? "its the little things that'ill kill your cut speed"