Procut mills

[Rx7man]

My friend bought the plans for a Procut portable mill, I'm probably going to have a fair bit of a hand in building it.. I was wondering about other people's experiences with them? Would it be worth while to make it 6" wider so a 24" log is easy to set up, rather than a tight squeeze?

What about the powerplant.. I can get a Husky 3120, but I think if we powered it with a 16 HP 4 stroke engine it would be less noisy to run, which would be nice!... I have one from a riding lawnmower, 2 cylinder electric start, and electric PTO engagement, which would be for the chain, and then I'd have a spare pulley to run a hydraulic pump off.. which would be nice

What I'm wondering is if people have built this (even just for a chainsaw) and said "I'd have done this differently"

What should my target chain speed be? I'm going to have to gear it up a bit from the 3600 engine RPM I'm sure.. If I get about 5000 RPM is that enough? Stay with 3/8th chain or go to 404?..
The plans should be in the mail, when I get to look at them I'll see what I can do

 

[olyman]

My friend bought the plans for a Procut portable mill, I'm probably going to have a fair bit of a hand in building it.. I was wondering about other people's experiences with them? Would it be worth while to make it 6" wider so a 24" log is easy to set up, rather than a tight squeeze?

What about the powerplant.. I can get a Husky 3120, but I think if we powered it with a 16 HP 4 stroke engine it would be less noisy to run, which would be nice!... I have one from a riding lawnmower, 2 cylinder electric start, and electric PTO engagement, which would be for the chain, and then I'd have a spare pulley to run a hydraulic pump off.. which would be nice

What I'm wondering is if people have built this (even just for a chainsaw) and said "I'd have done this differently"

What should my target chain speed be? I'm going to have to gear it up a bit from the 3600 engine RPM I'm sure.. If I get about 5000 RPM is that enough? Stay with 3/8th chain or go to 404?..
The plans should be in the mail, when I get to look at them I'll see what I can do

saws spin,,from 12,500, to 13,500.. ask bob what his chain speed is. one guy that used to be on this forum, powered his with a engine from a garden tractor also...

 

[mdavlee]

Chain speed in the cut is posted on husqvarna website. As long as the speed is loading the chain the 4 stroke should be easier to keep in a powerband.

 

[Rx7man]

I'm guessing I'm going to need about a 1:3 drive ratio to get about a 10,000 rpm spindle speed.. It's more of an overdrive than I'd like but I think it'll be necessary. I'm going to have to find/make a spindle that'll handle that kind of RPM, which could be fun

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

If your going that far, why not make it a band mill?

 

[Rx7man]

for now it's easier to stick with something I can sharpen, not all my wood will be all that clean.. It's not going to be really my mill either.. probably will turn out to be a "community project". If I decide to later I can always make a new carriage for it with a band mill head