Ally mill saves a chain

[BobL]

Well, travel + a bad flubug has kept me 6 weeks away from milling - talk about going cold turkey!

Anyway started slabbing one of the 36" diameter spotted gums in milling heaven today but it turned out to be "one of those days". Firstly I left my cross cutting saw at home and had to go back for it, then it rained, then had a bit of trouble with the 076, then a fitting on the aux oiler snapped from too much vibe, phone/camera battery went flat, and then . . . .read on. . . .

Hence I only managed to cut 3 slabs. As I hinted previously this stuff is hard, really hard. I'll definitely be chaining chains between every second slab on these big suckers.

I was just finishing changing a chain when someone distracted me and I plum forgot to tighten the outboard end of the bar clamp. I started cutting a slab and felt a couple of rapid jolts. I stopped the engine and this is what I found!

Nut A was loosened right off so the top part of the outboard clamp was free to swing around. The gouges marked by the red circles showed where the chain bit into the solid ally bar. The chain was fine and I continued to cut 2 slabs of this big baby.
I'd hate to think what would have happened if it had been steel instead of ally.

 

[woodshop]

As usual Bob, nice writeup, great pics and interesting wood. Looks like it has been sitting a while by the time you got your saw to it. Looks like that aluminum saved you a chain for sure. I love aluminum almost as much as I love osage orange wood... they are both hard, tough, machinable but forgiving to a point. I too get distracted and forget to do things that come back to haunt me when milling or in the woodshop. In the shop forgetting to tighten a blade guard, or as often is the case with me, forgetting to put it back on after it has been taken off for something like a dado cut, can be dangerous. We all make mistakes... but one time my Father-in-law changed a tire and forgot to tighten the lug nuts more than hand tight. He was driving down the road and they felt this vibration that got worse and worse till they pulled over and discovered the wheel was on its way off the hub. Sheeeeeesh.

Thanks for the pics and writeup Bob

 

[BobL]

As usual Bob, nice writeup, great pics and interesting wood. Looks like it has been sitting a while by the time you got your saw to it.

Cheers WS. Yep it's been sitting about 4 months - it's still pretty green though.

We all make mistakes... but one time my Father-in-law changed a tire and forgot to tighten the lug nuts more than hand tight. He was driving down the road and they felt this vibration that got worse and worse till they pulled over and discovered the wheel was on its way off the hub. Sheeeeeesh.

That happened one time when we had the car in for new tyres. They forgot to tighten one of the wheels up. Wife went and picked cur up and drove it for 30 km then called me about a noise - when I went to see wheel and bolt stubs were ruined!

 

[Farmall Guy]

Cheers WS. Yep it's been sitting about 4 months - it's still pretty green though.


That happened one time when we had the car in for new tyres. They forgot to tighten one of the wheels up. Wife went and picked cur up and drove it for 30 km then called me about a noise - when I went to see wheel and bolt stubs were ruined!

Had the same thing happen to me about 50 miles or so after I had my old truck inspected, they had tightend the lugs down but dint torque them. Broke 3 studs and wrecked the wheel bearing in the process. I tightened the remaining 3 lugs and drove her the 2 miles home real slow

Makes me wonder what good the inspection dose, had I been doing 70mph when this happened I'm sure the wheel would have fallen off before I could have gotten the truck stopped

Thats some nice looking lumber you're milling there, makes me want to put the mill on my 066 even more

 

[Backwoods]

The other day it took me two hours before I got the fist board off the mill, nothing major just a bunch of little things that need my attention.

I have started the mill with out tightening up the saw before. It started rattling and I scrambled to put some tension on the saw.

I had a new set of tires put on the 1-ton crew cab truck before making the 3,000 mile trip across country. I made it as far a Wyoming when the speedometer went from 65 to 90. When I went to pull over the whole truck kinda wobbled, the camper swayed, and the 24’ trailer started fish-tailing. I Put some urgency into getting the whole thing to the shoulder and stopped. As the truck came to a stop the tire fell off, all the studs had sheared clean off.

Back to the subject:
Nice looking wood, look forward to seeing more of it. That alloy can save a lot of damage.

 

[irishcountry]

Hey bob you did a great job on that mill really nice. Have been wondering where you went nice to have you back! Great pics and you know we all have wood envy on this side of the pacific! Backwoods thats some bad luck but like they say it can always be worse one day i'd like to visit your neck of the woods I bet the trees are stunning! everyone have a good one and hang in there. irishcountry

 

[BobL]

Hey bob you did a great job on that mill really nice. Have been wondering where you went nice to have you back! Great pics and you know we all have wood envy on this side of the pacific! Backwoods thats some bad luck but like they say it can always be worse one day i'd like to visit your neck of the woods I bet the trees are stunning! everyone have a good one and hang in there. irishcountry

Cheers Guys, yeah I did 2 interstate trips and went to finland in 3 weeks, so no milling during that time. When I got back I had a heap of paper work to catch up on, and then I got a flubug (probably from all that air travel). It was quite a nasty one and I even thought at one stage I was having a heart attack! Just the thought of this nearly gave me another one cos there wouldn't be too much milling if that happened. Anyway doc got me on some pills and told me no milling for 3 weeks. Actually I felt OK after 2 weeks abd I did sneak out a week early and slabbed up a small (18") hardwood for a fellah at work. Anyway - I'm back and have a heap to do. Some new type of logs have also appeared in the yard, one called a Marri, and a rose gum - this one is really nice.

Stay tuned.