Electric Chainsaw Mill

stu how is the end of the bar being held ridgid? a pin to compress against it?

larry merlau said:

stu how is the end of the bar being held ridgid? a pin to compress against it?

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The end of which bar Larry?

The chainsaw guide bar?

I got the log holder done.....



The gussets around the top of the leg where the angle iron bolts to the frame, and you can see where the strut will go, just clamped in place in this picture.



A close up of the gusset



I sharpened the tips of all the bolts that will grip the log.



The short legs done, the gussets and the strut as well.



That is done, not the best picture, kind of confined space, but it is done, now I just have to wait for the ripping chain to be in stock and be shipped to me.


One thing that this build really pointed out to me is that in my new welding room space, the next project will be a good welding table/bench with a vice, it was just silly using that piece of 1/4 plate on a workmate knock off, I need a proper bench and vice attached to it, next project I guess


Cheers!

My ripping chain will not come until the end of May, :'( and I need my space back, so I'll be stowing the log holder until then, but I wanted to give the whole set up a test run before I do put it away, so.....



..... I threw one of the dry Doug Fir logs on the log holder.



I'm worried that the bolts would not dig into the log, so I strapped the log down first.....





and then tightened the bolts down....



.... they dug in just fine ;D



I made a deflector out of cardboard and duct taped it to the saw, it worked well.



I sliced the top off the log.
This cut took less than six minutes, not fast, but not as slow as I'd feared. The saw body was only warm to the touch, and the cord was not warm at all. The deflector worked well and a box kicked along got a lot of the sawdust, maybe 60%.



I went ahead and did a second cut, this went even better, took maybe 8 minutes and with a modified box I got more of the sawdust, maybe 80% not bad at all.




I think that is a fairly nice slab of wood.


The bottom remaining part I'll cut into two square pieces something near 4x4s on my resaw bandsaw.



The saw seemed to work just fine, like I said, it's no speed demon, but it did not over heat, and I could keep oil on the chain as you can see.....



The tip did not overheat either....



.... I'm about 90% satisfied, and I'm sure that will get towards 100% with the ripping chain. I hope to also make a better box/dust collector of some kind, but all it all it worked great. The log was very securely held in place and the mill worked just fine, I'm calling this a win!


Cheers!

Sure is an absolute win in my view. Wood looks nice would be good to see what a piece of that core looks like plained with some clear finish. I think you scored on those logs. Great save all round.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

Great job Stu, and great pictorial to explain it all.

Stuart Ablett said:

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Red Green would be SO proud. You may be a Japanadian liquor-selling, bike-riding, martial artist, but deep down inside you're still a redneck engineer.

I just wanted to post this as basically finished, I took the other half of the log down to the Dungeon and ran it through my resaw-bandsaw.





I moved the saw to the middle of the shop, using my bench and tablesaw as infeed and outfeed.



Ready to go!


The results.....





The big slab on the left is the main piece I got, as well as two other not so bad chunks, this was the smallest end of the log, and it had some significant cracks in it, and I made a bad cut or two, as my resaw was not quite tuned up, yes operator error...


Once I get the ripping chain on my mill, I'll cut up the other four logs, until then I'll be stowing the mill and the log holder.
I'll make the slab and into a nice bench for a buddy's yard, it will fit in perfect.


Cheers!

Very nicely done and well documented. Cool toy!

Hu

What a great thread. I too admire the Red Green touch you added. Possum Lodge meets the dungeon .

Stu since you started this project, I have seen a chainsaw mill that cuts on the vertical side of the log instead of the horizontal. Seems like some advantages to this design. Any comments from you on this thought?

Jonathan Shively said:

Stu since you started this project, I have seen a chainsaw mill that cuts on the vertical side of the log instead of the horizontal. Seems like some advantages to this design. Any comments from you on this thought?

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Lots of guys do that for shorter logs, but if you have a 16' beam you want cut, how are you going to stand that sucker upright and run the saw 16' off the ground?

Running a 6' log at a high angle is a good idea, let Mr. Gravity push your saw, but if you go vertical then you can have problems with the saw staying on the rails, and the thickness of your slab getting messed up. I think that having the starting end of your log higher off the ground than the finishing end is the trick, with a short log, say a 3 footer that you are trying to slab up for benches or table tops etc, having a very steep angle would be good.

I hope that helps!

PS, my ripping chain FINALLY arrived, but right now I've got more stuff on my plate than I can remember, and the box from the post man with the ripping chain etc in it has not even been opened!

Cheers!