New Milling Setup

[BobL]

Yes, the SLM comes with a plexiglass shield so I put both of them on. I thought about cutting one down so I could move the handle closer to the saw. I think that handle is going to be too far out on the mill to be comfortable unless I'm standing up to mill and that almost never happens.

Yeah, handle positions are important for long term milling comfort. I spent a lot of time experimenting with various log and handle positions. The difference can be arriving at the end of the day tired, versus completely exhausted. I've found moving the mill handle to suit the size of the log helps, typically, with smaller logs I move it closer to the power head. One thing fore sure I found was trying to maneuver the mill with arms too far apart puts a lot of strain on your arms and shoulders which is why I put my throttle on the wrap.

I was also going to put a plexiglass cover similar to yours on the BIL mill (I even cut out the bits) but then I discovered the following.

What I like to do at the end of a slab is exit the cut but leave the power head idling on the log rails to give the engine a chance to cool down for 30 or so secs. During this time I turn the water and aux oil off and disconnect the water hose. Because of the slope, the mill will vibrate it's way off the end of the log rails so I insert a wedge between the forward facing side of the trailing mill rail clamp and the log rail. This stops the mill falling of the log rails. if I had plexiglass there I would not be able to do that or I'd have to think of another arrangement.

What the outer plexiglass panel will reduce is the chance of things falling onto the exposed chain getting flung into you (such as what happened to me the very first day I was using my mill and the brass aux oil cap ricocheted into my face shield). So I'm thinking of putting at least a shield on the outer half of the mill.

Cheers

 

[Nikko]

What does the plexi do though? I guess it could be considered a chain guard of sorts, but when the saw's in the wood, northing's flying up and the bar/chain are buried. What am I missing?

Nikko

 

[Nikko]

What does the plexi do though? I guess it could be considered a chain guard of sorts, but when the saw's in the wood, northing's flying up and the bar/chain are buried. What am I missing?

Aww crap - the dog just got skunked....

Nikko

 

[BobL]

Aww crap - the dog just got skunked....

Bummer!

What does the plexi do though? I guess it could be considered a chain guard of sorts, but when the saw's in the wood, northing's flying up and the bar/chain are buried. What am I missing?

Correct, more or less .

When bucking, any exposed chain moving towards you but is usually facing downwards so things can't fall onto it and get flung towards you.

Same thing when falling/felling and the blade is horizontal, the trunk is between you and the other end of the exposed blade.

When milling with long bars on small logs there may be a substantial length of chain exposed. Half if moving away and half moving towards the operator. If anything hard falls onto the chain while on WOT that thing can pick up quite a bit of momentum (direction and velocity) off the chain. The time I got hit in the face shield by the aux oiler oil cap was like being hit with a rock from a slingshot (I still remember that as a kid when I was knocked out for 30 secs or so).

I agree the risk level is low to very low, (because usually there's nothing to fall onto the chain except perhaps bits of the mill) and there are probably other more pressing risk factors to worry bout, like dropping the slab on your foot, but it's still a potential problem.

Cheers

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I'm glad Bob came up with a good reason, because I couldn't. LOL It was on the small mills so I put'em on the big one. One hard and fast rule with assembling something from parts is -- No Leftover Parts Allowed --. If you have pieces left over, something is probably wrong. That's why I have the urge to put the other handle on there. It's there on the bench reminding me that I could conceivably make the mill heavier if I want. :hmm3grin2orange:

Ian

 

[BobL]

Here's some pics illustrating the issues for longer exposed blades. Like I said risk is low but knowledge is still potentially valuable.

In this shot its a 20" diameter log. Bar length is 42" and due to BIL mill's mounting I only lose 2.5" of bar and have 39.5" of cutting length. Cutting the first or top face cut, only 15" of the bar is in the cut and 25" are outside the cut.

I do have a smaller (30") bar but I only switch to that if I have a heap to cut at that size. I do have a smaller mill with a 20" bar but otherwise BIL has to mill down to sometimes about 17" diameter which then means lots of exposed bar.

Here's the operators view and potential place for a guard or shield. (The outboard trigger is no longer as shown but now on the power head wrap bar as per picture above)

Just for a change, sometimes I switch to holding the mill by the long horizontal ally bar. When I do this and there is a lot of exposed bar showing and I am very conscious of this - one slip or stumble and my hand could be down in the vicinty of the chain - so any kind of guard would save fingers or a hand. A guard would also stop stuff falling onto the moving chain. It doesn't have to be plexiglass, it could just be a wire mesh.

Low-risk, but not no-risk.

BTW The "culprit" label is the aux oil cap that hit me in the face shield.

Note the placement of the vertical outboard handle about in line with the middle of the log.

Cheers

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Hey! I was rooting through my saw box looking for something now forgotten and I found some presets and tie straps from when I was playing musical chains with loops before. I promptly dropped what I was doing, shortened my loops and milled up that little cherry log. Works great. Sorry, no pics. Thursday I'll be milling up a maple that's been waiting on me and I'll take the camera out then.

Ian

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Very nice! I am glad to see people using the extrusions, the price is right and they are very strong, I can't get enough of them. Can't wait to see some picts of the lumber.

I am going to build another mill that will be dedicated to 4/4 material. I am using it to floor my house. I just bought a 17" bar for the 075 mill. I use the 42" bar to make 12"x ?(depends on the log diameter) beams then switch to the short bar/mill and make 12" x 1" boards, dry them and turn them into flooring in my basement shop. The only concern is the balance of a short mill with the 075 head. I think a counter weight is in order.

Yep- I put a 20" on my 084 and had to counter weight it.