Newbie Questions on Milling with a Chainsaw Mill (homemade)

[BobL]

Yes, it drops on center of the roller tip, and will be simple to move. I don't know as yet if it's the oil or the gooy sap, or probably a combination of both....but I am getting a build-up of sawdust/sap/oil that kinda forms a radiused 'blocker' which may be working as sort of a 'dam' or 'sponge' type of thing. It is hard to see if much or any actual oil is flying off.....maybe I need one of those macro-cameras?

The ideal spot seems to be on the bar rails where the chain kisses the bar.

 

[n8ghz]

Just read 820wards thread about his bar oiler. I can do an o-ring cut too and integrate that concept into my bar support as well. I will think about maybe doing that, making the oil go directly into the drive link channel by cross drilling the groove to meet the o-ring port. Sort of like alot of bars do on the saw-end? My bar support is adjustable laterally, so there would no issue with adjusting the chain tension.

Hmmmm....good stuff on here.

 

[procarbine2k1]

Just read 820wards thread about his bar oiler. I can do an o-ring cut too and integrate that concept into my bar support as well. I will think about maybe doing that, making the oil go directly into the drive link channel by cross drilling the groove to meet the o-ring port. Sort of like alot of bars do on the saw-end? My bar support is adjustable laterally, so there would no issue with adjusting the chain tension.

Hmmmm....good stuff on here.

Looking good my friend! Glad everything is coming together for you. I will have to make it down your way one of these days!

 

[n8ghz]

Looking good my friend! Glad everything is coming together for you. I will have to make it down your way one of these days!

Yes Jeff, I hope you do.....This thing is showing promise....but I need to get back on the firewood processor project, now that the weather is givin' me a break.

Just let me know ahead of time if you head down this way....I'll make sure we get together and talk saws.


John

 

[820wards]

John,

Really glad to see your mill is up and running. I'm sure as you use your mill you will refine/re-tune the mill for better performance. Having your chain sharpened properly will really make your cuts smoother and faster. I'm sure you have a grin on your face the whole time you are milling. Great build fellow miller!

Keep posting those pictures.

jerry-

 

[n8ghz]

Yes on the grin. It was very rewarding to see it actually work on the first attempt. I have not done much with it since the day I made the video. Later that day, I broke a shaft that I had made inside one of the out-rigger jacks that lift the log. The 2 jacks are chained together for tandem operation, and can be driven from either jack with a hand ratchet, but I got lazy and started using a 1/2" drill motor. In my haste to play with this thing, I had removed the hydraulic motor that runs the jacks (which I had test run in the shop). So to play with it, I had that motor removed, and quickly tired of hand cranking...hence the drill motor. It was my fault that I broke the shaft inside the jack.......both jacks were nearing the end of the up stroke on a last cut and with no limit switches, the drill broke the shaft when it was going as far as it was going to go.

The original hand crank was 7/16" diameter, and that is what diameter I made the new shafts, but they are cross-drilled for roll pins that drive the bevel gear. That is where it broke. So now I have bored the gear out to 1/2" and may even go further to 5/8"?
5/8" is what the external shaft is anyway....where the sprockets are and the idle-end bearing...so I am thinking of going to 5/8" at the gear too. I will need to drill one side of the jack housing out to 5/8" too, but will leave the other side @ 7/16".

I am only going to do this (right now) to the broken jack....I'll do the other one some other time....?

The main thing is to get the hydraulic motor back on. This time, I will have a solenoid directional valve wired thru an UP and a DOWN limit switch so I don't bind-up the jack again. With limit switches, the other jack may live as is?

Pictures of the lift drive w/ hydraulic motor to follow when I can get some pics of it back together.

 

[john taliaferro]

Yes pic , cause i do not understand . Nice mill ,and Bob is right on the chain it will go a lot faster ,smoother, nicer ,even some quieter . where did you find the cute little winch ?

 

[n8ghz]

The cute little winch is a thing I built. From way back on this newbie thread, someone gave some good info on speeds shoving a saw thru a log. From that info, I built the little winch.....calculating drum dia,rpm,cable used etc.

The result is in the video....thank goodness for the speed info I worked from.....whomever you were....thanks....
For my saw, unorthodox as it may be, the speeds given seem to have me in the ballpark & working....


If you need info to build a similar winch. I can provide the data I used in designing it....no problem, just ask or send a PM.



john

 

[n8ghz]

Still working between bad weather @ getting the last of the logs I commited to getting out of OP property....and working to fix the last breakdown.

I will be moving the rig to where I will be doing all my milling too...as this is where I am taking the biggest logs....and then the rest of them here at my shop/house.

I am going to go buy a digital camcorder...so I can keep those that are still interested in this thing, with up-to-date pictures & videos.

Thanks to all for your interest.

John

 

[Old Blue]

Looking forward to when it's fixed and back up and running!

Old Blue
Rapacious taxation in the land of taxes and fees, where else but...
Kali-bone-ya

 

[solarboy]

another newbie, joining the frey from the uk

hello all, having built a mobile mill and cut a few tons using a husky 395, i'm realising how much hard work is involved in the absence of oxygen to breathe!

so to the next stage i thought....i have a falklands war, 3 cylinder diesel, bomb lifter with variable displacement hydraulic pump, i think its about 40hp. i also have modified a whisky box packing machine with a rather nifty rack and pinion height adjustment, which is just asking to have a chainsaw attached. then all it needs is a means by which a log can be slid through.

so my challenges to come are hydraulic motor choice (bent axial 5cc/rev piston?) and getting it, and mounting it with a bar tensioning mechanism.......oh and sliding a log through, but that can wait.

no cash spent yet......empty wallet syndrome....the poor thing positively quivers in fear, knowledge donations gratefully accepted!!!

great site...brilliant threads and contributors. hope to hear your views and be blitzing through some wood soon. all the best, mike

 

[BobL]

. . . . be blitzing through some wood soon. all the best, mike

If there is a chainsaw bar and chain involved there will never be "blitzing though some wood". Saw chain is by its very nature severely cutting speed limited. Chains have to tear/cut substantial amounts of wood fibres and then clear this wood. No matter which way one looks at it it takes time. If you want to speed things up you would be much better off looking at a bandsaw which has a much thinner kerf. Even then I don't see any blitzing.

BTW if you are breathing too much smoke, what mix ratio are you running and have you considered an exhaust modification that redirects the exhaust away from the front of the saw. Most modern saws have exhausts that fire out the front which then bounces of the log up into the CSM operators face or down into their boots and legs. Redirecting the exhaust makes a really big difference when using a CSM.

 

[solarboy]

If there is a chainsaw bar and chain involved there will never be "blitzing though some wood". Saw chain is by its very nature severely cutting speed limited. Chains have to tear/cut substantial amounts of wood fibres and then clear this wood. No matter which way one looks at it it takes time. If you want to speed things up you would be much better off looking at a bandsaw which has a much thinner kerf. Even then I don't see any blitzing.

BTW if you are breathing too much smoke, what mix ratio are you running and have you considered an exhaust modification that redirects the exhaust away from the front of the saw. Most modern saws have exhausts that fire out the front which then bounces of the log up into the CSM operators face or down into their boots and legs. Redirecting the exhaust makes a really big difference when using a CSM.

very valid suggestions and reasoning, thanks for that..i'm going forward with the hydraulic system though. band saws seem to deflect from straight a bit too easily for my liking. i'm already headed down the hydraulic road to slabberville...