first milling this week

[wi50]

I just purchased a new GB double ended bar mill and 44" rail kit. My longest bar is 36" so I drilled a hole in the end a safe distance behind the sprocket, as close as I dare go to the sprocket and berring. Drilled a hole in the end of the mill as far inside ( just inside of the powerhead mounting slots) as I could to allow me to run a bolt through the bar, I machined a spacer the correct length to hold the bar at the same height as the powerhead. I made another spacer to hold the bar tip shield and aux. oiler tip. There's 29-30" of capacity now with the 36" bar.

I've got a late 066 mag, dual port, that's one strong running stock saw. I richened it up and turned the oiler up all the way.

Now for a couple of questions. 7 pin or 8 pin sprocket? Milling red oak.

Simply sharpen the chain to 10 deg, or what angle and raker depth?

I should order some milling chain from Baileys and will likely do it tomorrow, but I'd like to try some milling this week if I get some time.

 

[Brmorgan]

I just purchased a new GB double ended bar mill and 44" rail kit. My longest bar is 36" so I drilled a hole in the end a safe distance behind the sprocket, as close as I dare go to the sprocket and berring. Drilled a hole in the end of the mill as far inside ( just inside of the powerhead mounting slots) as I could to allow me to run a bolt through the bar, I machined a spacer the correct length to hold the bar at the same height as the powerhead. I made another spacer to hold the bar tip shield and aux. oiler tip. There's 29-30" of capacity now with the 36" bar.

I've got a late 066 mag, dual port, that's one strong running stock saw. I richened it up and turned the oiler up all the way.

Now for a couple of questions. 7 pin or 8 pin sprocket? Milling red oak.

Simply sharpen the chain to 10 deg, or what angle and raker depth?

I should order some milling chain from Baileys and will likely do it tomorrow, but I'd like to try some milling this week if I get some time.

7-pin rim definitely in that size of wood, especially Oak. I've done a lot of playing around with my 066 and a few different chains on 7 and 8 pin sprockets, though all in softwood. I've found that even with <20" cuts in Pine or Douglas Fir, the saw just seems to run better with a 7-pin. I can't notice much if any difference in cut speed at that size between a 7 or 8, but the 7 lets the saw hold RPMs higher in its powerband a bit better (thus keeping it cooler theoretically), and I don't have to hold it back or control the cut as much. I do file the chain a tad bit more aggressively for the 7 though, to put that few percent torque gain to work.

If you're going to be ordering a proper ripping chain shortly, I wouldn't bother going through all the effort to modify a standard-profile chain just for a few cuts. I've milled a fair bit with chisel chain at 25° top angle, and it can cut a bit rougher because the sharp point of the cutter wants to pull the chain sideways more, but in hard Oak that shouldn't be a big deal. 10° is a good happy medium between a faster cut speed with a steeper angle, and a smoother cut speed as you approach 0°. I do most of my smaller milling with a 25" low-profile setup on my 066. It cuts great and the saw hardly breaks a sweat. I wouldn't recommend it for a 44" bar though; it would stretch horribly if nothing else over that length!

Bob will be along to fill you in on chain sharpening profiles shortly, I'm sure. For the most part I just eyeball it for touch-ups, and use a filing guide jig after a few such sharpenings or after rocking a chain etc. when I need to really file the cutters back and make sure everything's set nice and uniform for every cutter.

 

[woodsrunner]

Hey, glad you found a GB mill! Welcome to the world of milling. Be warned it is very addictive. Have fun and holler at us if you need anything. I personally have given up on the 10 degree milling chain and just run regular chain. I also would recommend using an auxilary oiler, even on a 36 inch bar. (My GB's all came with one, did yours?) Sounds like you setup yours exactly the way I set up my first GB. Keeping the chain sharp is probably the single most important part of making everything work well.
Good luck and have fun.

Scott

 

[BlueRider]

You guys do know that the size of the chain pitch will affect chain speed just as much as the sprocket size right? I am assuming the original poster and Bmorgan are both runnng 3/8" pitch but it would probably be a good thing to verify your talking apples vs. apples here.

 

[Brmorgan]

You guys do know that the size of the chain pitch will affect chain speed just as much as the sprocket size right? I am assuming the original poster and Bmorgan are both runnng 3/8" pitch but it would probably be a good thing to verify your talking apples vs. apples here.

I normally assume 3/8" unless the saw in question is an 076 or 090 or something where .404 would be an advantage to get the chain speed up a bit. There's no other upside to using it other than cutter durability, so unless you're working with really dirty bark or beach logs (or milling Ironwood) I can't imagine it being a better choice for an 066. Maybe someone should build a .404 low-profile chain...

 

[wi50]

I milled some toningt before dark, I just sharpened my full comp chisel chain to 25 deg. and gave it a try. Cutting roughly 26" of wet fresh cut red oak it cuts roughly 1 ft a minute, or an inch every 5 seconds. It's easy to overload the powerhead with the 7 tooth sprocket, I see where a 120cc saw would be used. I'll order a ripping chain sometime but not going to make a special order for it this works fine for now, though I don't know how good a ripping chain will work as I've never used one.