First Mill and Some Mesquite

[PheasantHunter]

After lots of lurking on this site and some free hand milling. I finally built my first mill. I say first as I am already thinking about thinks I would do differently. The saw is a 390, also my first milling saw, I would like to upgrade to something larger...of course!

I had a half log of mesquite that I brought back from Oklahoma last year for my first milling. I stored it in plastic outside under a bunch of sawdust (no checking and still solid) . The mill worked fine, however, more overhang on the backside of it would be good. I am still working on "spacers", the minimum cut with this mill would be 1 1/8" which I would plan to do very often, prefer 2" most of the time. Cost to build the mill was less than $20.

Open to suggestions on the mill and/or milling.

 

[BobL]

From the markings on the timber I can see you are sideways see-sawing the mill down the log.
It might seem like this is faster but it's not if you time it and you end up with a rougher finish.

If it seems like it's getting slower and slower check the sharpmess of your chain and especially the depths of the rakers.

I notice you have the blade at one end of the mill. This is also going to generate a rougher finish because this allows the mill to tilt backwards.
It also means when you finish the cut there is very little of the mill remaining on the log to hold it parallel to the previous cut

For improved stability I would moved the blade to the mid line of the mill.
Also it looks like you could use a few handles on the mill, holding the basic mill frame itself requires lots of bending over etc

 

[PheasantHunter]

From the markings on the timber I can see you are sideways see-sawing the mill down the log.
It might seem like this is faster but it's not if you time it and you end up with a rougher finish.

If it seems like it's getting slower and slower check the sharpmess of your chain and especially the depths of the rakers.

I notice you have the blade at one end of the mill. This is also going to generate a rougher finish because this allows the mill to tilt backwards.
It also means when you finish the cut there is very little of the mill remaining on the log to hold it parallel to the previous cut

For improved stability I would moved the blade to the mid line of the mill.
Also it looks like you could use a few handles on the mill, holding the basic mill frame itself requires lots of bending over etc

Bob, thank you for the feedback that is very helpful. I will move the mill toward the center of the blade. I had a handle all ready to weld to the mill, when my wire feed welder ran out of wire! I have new wire but it will not feed through the gun. I think am am going to have to replace the gun to get it to work. I will try to post new pictures when I make the modifications.

 

[abbott295]

I would hope it wouldn't be necessary to change the gun every time you run out of wire. The tip should be removable from the gun to allow the wire to feed through, then you put the tip back on. Make sure you have the right size tip for the wire/wire for the tip. Has the tension/pressure on the wire feed rollers been changed, does it need to be changed if you are changing wire diameter? Rollers themselves may have to be changed for different wire size. It shouldn't be that difficult to get new wire in it.

Unless you have a gun on your welder that you can't get the tip off of. I have one of those. I even took it to a welding supply store and they couldn't figure it out. I went looking for a replacement gun (cheap, of course.) At Harbor Freight they had an open box/slightly damaged 90 (I think) amp wire feed, not MIG capable, on the clearance shelf for $60. (I really don't remember if it was $50, $60 0r maybe $75.) It works fine for me, so it did not donate a gun to my other welder, but that was Plan A-and-a-half.

Good luck.

 

[PheasantHunter]

I would hope it wouldn't be necessary to change the gun every time you run out of wire. The tip should be removable from the gun to allow the wire to feed through, then you put the tip back on. Make sure you have the right size tip for the wire/wire for the tip. Has the tension/pressure on the wire feed rollers been changed, does it need to be changed if you are changing wire diameter? Rollers themselves may have to be changed for different wire size. It shouldn't be that difficult to get new wire in it.

Unless you have a gun on your welder that you can't get the tip off of. I have one of those. I even took it to a welding supply store and they couldn't figure it out. I went looking for a replacement gun (cheap, of course.) At Harbor Freight they had an open box/slightly damaged 90 (I think) amp wire feed, not MIG capable, on the clearance shelf for $60. (I really don't remember if it was $50, $60 0r maybe $75.) It works fine for me, so it did not donate a gun to my other welder, but that was Plan A-and-a-half.

Good luck.

Mine is a cheap Chicago Electric welder, the gun doesn't detach. I have spent hours trying to get it to feed the exact same brand and diameter wire that was in it. I am guessing that it either has something it it or has a slight kink in the feeder hose. Bottom line I am done wasting time on it. I found the gun set up on Ebay for $40 and ordered it. If that doesn't fix it, time to find a stick welder on Craigslists.

 

[abbott295]

My retired welder is a Schumacher (the battery charger company) (made in Italy) that I had bought at Northern, and it wasn't cheap to my mind at the time. As I remember, the problem it developed was that it ... Well, no, maybe I don't remember what the problem was, but my analysis was that the tip had gotten worn a little too big for making good contact/current transmission to the wire to function well, very probably brought on by cleaning the tip with acetylene torch tip cleaners because it would arc and the wire would stick inside the tip. My solution was a cheap Chicago Electric/Harbor Freight welder, maybe the same one that is giving you problems. But on mine, the tip is removable and replaceable and they have tips. It welds well enough that I did not try transplanting the Chicago Electric gun onto the Schumacher welder.

I too, feel I can weld better with a stick welder than wire, but the wire welder is much easier to weld thin, really thin, pieces. I have my father's old Forney welder.

Again, Good luck.

 

[gomoto69]

I would be really surprised if the tip was non removeable, even on a cheap welder, as tips are consumeables, and allow different size wire to be used. Try unscrewing the tip with pliers or visegrips. Stretch the cable out straight as possible, turn the wire speed all the way up and the gas off. You should be able to get it to come thrue even with the tip on, as they have a pretty good taper usually. Be sure to trim the end of the wire so there's no kinks or burrs, good luck!

 

[pepe_silvia]

From the markings on the timber I can see you are sideways see-sawing the mill down the log.
It might seem like this is faster but it's not if you time it and you end up with a rougher finish.

If it seems like it's getting slower and slower check the sharpmess of your chain and especially the depths of the rakers.

Newbie here also. Are you saying it's better to keep the saw perpendicular to the log rather than doing a see-saw cut?

 

[nk14zp]

Newbie here also. Are you saying it's better to keep the saw perpendicular to the log rather than doing a see-saw cut?

Yes.

 

[PheasantHunter]

I would be really surprised if the tip was non removeable, even on a cheap welder, as tips are consumeables, and allow different size wire to be used. Try unscrewing the tip with pliers or visegrips. Stretch the cable out straight as possible, turn the wire speed all the way up and the gas off. You should be able to get it to come thrue even with the tip on, as they have a pretty good taper usually. Be sure to trim the end of the wire so there's no kinks or burrs, good luck!

The tip is removal, however, the problem is about 12" in from the tip or 5' from the start of the wire feed. There is something in there blocking the wire. I am done messing with it (I have wasted hours trying to fix it). For $40 I am just going to replace the 6' of hose, wires, and tip/gun. S#%t happens!