Portable chainsaw mill
- Thread starter Ed Davis
- Start date
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I have made 4 mills but unfortunately there are no plans for any of them because I made them up as I went along.
If you look in my signature you will links to threads where there are some pics - also do a search for what I call the "BIL" (brother in law mill.
I posted hundreds of pics on these mills but unfortunately most pics are now lost when this site had problems a few years ago.
All of my mills tend to be on the over engineered side to "eek out every possible parameter" as much as possible.
I can repost pics from the build if it helps.
Here's a few pics from the BIL mill build project - the text of which is in this thread
http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/csm-adjustment-locking-mechanisms.48517/
This is an almost all ally mill designed by me with the welding done by my BIL. Its based on inboard end of the mill being bolted to the to the bar bolts on the saw this makes for a very stiff design which really pays off on the final milled finish attainable. It also maximises the cut width as there are no bar clamps on the inboard end of the bar.
All the bar height adjustment locks and some of the rails adjustments are performed with steel cams.
Here's a short of the almost finished mill. The rails are HD highway road sign Al extrusions - there was been a lot of discussion about these back in 2007 when the mills are made and it seems like this extrusion is not available in the US.
Here you can see the bolt to the bar bolts connection
Aux oil tank made from 4" diameter Al pipe and brass plumbing fittings.
An inverted bicycle handle bar stem and Moutian bike grip makes a great anti-vibe handle
The bolt to the bar method requires the old clutch cover being modded or ditched. This is a temporary one I made out of galv sheet and polycarbonate. When I moved the Bin mill to the 880 I made a slim line all ally clutch cover for it
This was taken just before it was polished and you can see how the height adjustment works with the all thread rod and the little cranks - it also shows that the mill is a 3 posted design - two inboard vertical posts and one outboard post.
This shows the nose clamp. Originally I used a hard nose bar with a short tensile bolt though the bar nose and those Al jaws gripped down on the bolt. The current version uses steel jaws onto the bolt.
I might not look like it but the chain can be removed from the bar without removing the saw and bar from the mill so changeover time for chain is short.
Granberg is one of the standard chainsaw mills. BobL has also come up with a list of suggested modifications one can do to a store-bought mill. I'm not sure right now where to find that. If you really want to start with a low-cost store-bought mill, the Granberg Small Log Mill only clamps onto the powerhead end, then you can imagine the other end being similar. I, and my son Peter (who has done most of the milling) started that way. Then I built a mill, or two, and then found a Granberg on Craigslist. If you are patient and ready with cash, you can get lucky that way too.
Read the Chainsaw Milling 101 sticky at the top of the page. Ask questions. Notice that there are others on here that may be near where you are; most would be willing to show you their set-up if you can work out getting together probably.
Read the Chainsaw Milling 101 sticky at the top of the page. Ask questions. Notice that there are others on here that may be near where you are; most would be willing to show you their set-up if you can work out getting together probably.
It's in the Milling 101 sticky.
Brian72
ArboristSite Guru
I have the granberg and I'm very happy with it. I will recommend buying a little bigger than you need so you can run longer bars later if needed. I have a 36" bar and I bought the 48" mill.
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