First time

[sachsmo]

And couldn't be happier with the results. Lower 40s today, so I broke out my home made Alaskan. My biggest problem was getting the log off the ground, and getting the ladder dogged down. The old Dolmar is a heck of a tourque monster, never missed a beat.

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The design is super simple and worked like a champ!

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[sachsmo]

Milled 3 beautiful slabs 18 ft long and 2.375 thick. I ran out of daylight, so tomorrow, will set it at 1.5 and get 2 narrower boards from the crowns.

I am stoked with the way everything worked out!

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[dustytools]

Looks good!! I havent had time to mill anything in forever and your pics are giving me the itch.

 

[mtngun]

Good work !

What kind of wood ?

 

[sachsmo]

Near as I can tell it's White Oak, But the little bit of bark left was pretty deep furrowed, could be Ash.
Whatever it is, it's very heavy stuff, wishing I didn't buck up that big Sycamore last Winter!!

 

[sachsmo]

I got the 3 cuts x 18'= 54 feet of cutting about 16"wide. The chain was still cutting good and easy to bog the engine. How often should the chain be touched up? Have 3 Woodland Pro ripping chains from Baileys. I like the quality of cut, milling your own board is really satisfying. Now I need to work on some dogs to clamp the ladder down better, and some levelers too.

 

[mtngun]

How often should the chain be touched up? Have 3 Woodland Pro ripping chains from Baileys.

Depends on your wood, but I typically get at 70 to 100 feet of cut in doug fir before it slows enough to justify sharpening or swapping.

Nice boards !

 

[BobL]

Good work mobetter, that sure looks like nice wood!

Depends on your wood, but I typically get at 70 to 100 feet of cut in doug fir before it slows enough to justify sharpening or swapping.

I get 8 ft x 4ft and then I'm sharpening!

 

[Brmorgan]

Good stuff! Hope you're ready to fund a new addiction though.

One improvement I might suggest for your mill is a third cross rail somewhere like the Alaskans have. This helps to prevent the mill frame from racking or twisting. Yours looks pretty solid, so this might not be a problem and might just complicate it more; just a thought.

Typically you should sharpen as soon as you can "see" the actual edge of the cutter. You should not be able to see a perfectly sharp edge. Milling is a lot different from crosscutting, so as soon as this sharp edge starts to go, cut times drop off dramatically. If you find it's taking a significant amount of effort to push the saw through the wood, it's either dull or your rakers aren't taken down far enough. A sharp chain should pretty much feel like it's feeding itself into the wood.

Three years in, I'm still learning a lot about chain sharpening and maintenance for milling use. No matter what you pick up here, you'll still learn a lot from trial and error. A chain profile that suits one person's saw and milling style might be way less than ideal for another person. What chain are you using anyway? I'm thinking we ought to be able to eke more than a foot a minute out of that old Dolmar in wood that size. It should have the torque to pull an 8-pin sprocket just fine; you could give that a try. Or even pulling the rakers down an extra 5 thousandths if you think it can handle it.

 

[BobL]

Good stuff! Hope you're ready to fund a new addiction though.

:agree2:

One improvement I might suggest for your mill is a third cross rail somewhere like the Alaskans have. This helps to prevent the mill frame from racking or twisting. Yours looks pretty solid, so this might not be a problem and might just complicate it more; just a thought

Yeah, can't see any handles on the mill - I reckon you can't have too many. A handle on the third cross rail that can be adjusted for the width of the long is useful.

Typically you should sharpen as soon as you can "see" the actual edge of the cutter. You should not be able to see a perfectly sharp edge. Milling is a lot different from crosscutting, so as soon as this sharp edge starts to go, cut times drop off dramatically. If you find it's taking a significant amount of effort to push the saw through the wood, it's either dull or your rakers aren't taken down far enough. A sharp chain should pretty much feel like it's feeding itself into the wood.

Yep, agree.

It's interesting to see the temperature gauge clearly reflecting the chain starting to go blunt but the easiest thing is still to look at the sawdust, it should have more chips than dust.

 

[sachsmo]

The chain is still somewhat self feeding, so I will try a few more cuts with it today(if it stops raining). Yes a handle is in the works, and I have looked at many. It worked fine with slight shoulder pressure on the powerhead side upright, and the heel of my palm steadying the tip side. 12 inches a minute was about the rate, after figuring out what the old girl wanted, as for RPM. Lots of stuff to learn and try out, I may be hooked!

Chain is Woodland pro, 33R me thinks, 63 gauge, 8 pin, as much power the old Dolmar has, it is still very easy to bog her down, so the chain is cutting pretty well still.

When coming across a knot, had to increase pressure, as soon as it was past the engine would bog and start throwing chips.

I will touch up the chain with a few swipes of the file before we go out today.

Need to put an outboard oiler on it, although I saw no signs of lack of lube. Only had to re-tension the chain once.




Next project,

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[mtngun]

12 inches a minute was about the rate, after figuring out what the old girl wanted, as for RPM.

Thanks for the data. 12"/minute = 0.2"/second. Seems slow, but I've never cut white oak.

Need to put an outboard oiler on it, although I saw no signs of lack of lube. Only had to re-tension the chain once.

Those old saws often pump out more oil than new models.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[TSRuff]

Where did you pick up that extruded aluminum channel from? I'm toying with the idea of building a similar mill for smaller stuff with pretty much the exact same design you have. Glad to hear that it works like a charm... saves me having to worry if it will work or not! Plus if I'm happy with the performance of the little mill I'll likely replace my Alaskan MK III this fall.

One other question... what did you use for the connections between the different pieces of channel? The company that I found (http://www.alufab.cc) sells a variety of different connector plates and brackets. I want it to be rigid enough to be accurate, but would like it to be as light as possible at the same time.

 

[sachsmo]

google 80/20,

That have every imaginable bracket, slide, attachment option. As big as the twin City's is there should be a few dealers in your area.

The attachments are made with a little steel bracket that squares everything up. It has "ears" that engage the slots, and you drill an access hole to tighten the fastener. Pretty slick, and the little bracket only weighs an ounce.

The centers of the extrusion are of the diameter to tap out 5/16-18.
Everything assembles seamlessly and square, no need to purchase the expensive corner brackets, etc.

My depth set bars are the exception, they use 2 90 degree brackets per side. I drilled the bar at proper centers for my design and the bar is attached with 2 5/16-18 button head cap screws.

My bar was very tough to drill, ended up using a center cutting carbide end mill for the bar holes.

Check out 80/20 there is no end to the possibilities!

 

[TSRuff]

Can't thank you enough for the lead... I've got my design all wrapped up and will be tracking down a supplier shortly.

Once I've got everything assembled I'll make the plans and parts list available for anyone that wants to have a copy.

 

[sachsmo]

Thanks for the data. 12"/minute = 0.2"/second. Seems slow, but I've never cut white oak.


Those old saws often pump out more oil than new models.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah 10" per min. sounds pretty slow, it was probably better than that. I wasn't using a stop watch. It didn't take 18 minutes to make a pass.


Heck this was my first time milling, and trying out my new rig, I was pumped!

Heading out to get the slabs (wake up junior) be back and post a pic or two.

 

[sachsmo]

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Man those dudes are heavy!

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Almost bucked this up for firewood last Winter.

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[sachsmo]

next

"So easy a caveman could do it!

Going to hang my first shelf tomorrow, stay tuned, mo

 

[Eddie39]

Those are some big planks ,great looking wood .I built my second mill from the exact same stuff as yours works alot better than the first one i made ,there will be no stopping you now before long you ll have that garage stocked to the roof

 

[sachsmo]

Right on!

My long term goals are to clear 3 acres and mill the wood for my bride and my retirement home. (must clear 3 acres to make room for the pond).