Refueling chainsaw mill mid cut?

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Bryan Duxbury

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I have a Stihl 075AV set up in an Alaskan mill. Works great! My only concern right now is how quickly it goes through gas. I've been milling some 30"+ wide logs in 3-4' lengths, and after every slab I have to refill the tank or I'm bound to run out of gas 70-80% of the way through the next cut. If it dies mid cut, I have to pull the saw back out of the cut and refuel on the ground, since the gas cap is horizontal when the saw is cutting. Giant pain in the butt!

But aside from that, I'm concerned that if I find a nice big 40" log that's a full 8' long, I might not be able to make a full cut before it runs out of gas.

I've found that the saw starts fine when it's on its side, so if I had a way to refuel it horizontally, I'd be happy with that. Has anyone seen like a right-angle gas cap adapter? (lol.) Seems like a longshot. If it doesn't exist already, what are the chances that this is something I could make up in my metal shop without killing myself in a fire? Just imagining like an adapter with gas cap male threads on the one side, a short turn or 45 or 90 degrees, and then female gas cap threads on the other side. That way you can use the stock gas cap with vent, etc.

Or, has anyone seen a solution for an external or expanded gas tank? Adding another liter of capacity would solve my problems.
 
Okay, first of all, I know nothing about chain saw mills or milling. Never done anything like that.

But, if you are going to go to the trouble of making some kind of an adapter, why not go the route of an external fuel tank with a hose running to your fuel cap?

Lots of guys that work on m/c's go this route, me included. Many times, the fuel tank on a m/c must be removed to make repairs, adjustments and such.

I'm not familiar with the style fuel cap you have on your saw. Is there room enough to drill a hole and install a hose barb? If so, that's half the battle. Once that is done, you can move on to an external tank. I'd recommend metal for durability / longevity. Hang it on a pole for gravity feed. You could even install a fuel shut-off valve in the line somewhere.

Any chance you can buy another fuel cap for your saw so that you could use it (unaltered) when needed?

Just thinking out loud. :innocent:
 
The external tank idea is starting to sound better and better. I can probably scale back my machining project to just an adapter between the gas tank and a hose barb and get good results. (Not sure how well one of these plastic gas caps would take a drill/tap operation, since it's got a bunch of other little parts inside.)

What kind of external gas tanks do you think would work well?
 
The external tank idea is starting to sound better and better. I can probably scale back my machining project to just an adapter between the gas tank and a hose barb and get good results. (Not sure how well one of these plastic gas caps would take a drill/tap operation, since it's got a bunch of other little parts inside.)

What kind of external gas tanks do you think would work well?


That would depend on how big a tank you want gallon wise. Would a 2.5 gal. tank serve you well? I've seen some EAGLE brand metal fuel tanks that look pretty damn good quality wise. Saw those at my local ACE Hardware store. And they were reasonably priced.

You could drill a hole in either the side or the bottom and put a hose barb in there. If you put a hole straight down from the filler cap, you would most likely be able to get a nut on the barb if it was threaded. That and some good sealer and you're off and running.
 
I run an 076 in an Alaskan. Not something I do every day but I can't say enough good things about that saw. I drag it out every month or so, make a couple cuts test cuts with it, then strap it to the mill, lay it over and run it wide open tank after tank.

They're a thirsty saw no doubt. I typically run in the 20-28 inch width, 6 to 8 foot lengths, primarily oak. I make one pass and usually have a bit left to make me feel ok about a full first pass but not enough for a second.

Would you mount the tank to the mill? They're pretty awkward as it is, a tank of any size would compound that problem and add more weight as well. Maybe you have a helper, I typically don't.

For me I just fill it up constantly, out of the cut, upright as you said.
 
Also, most people don't run into 40" + quality logs that often. For the times I would, I'd just deal with it and drag the saw out. Depending on what it is and how sharp your chains are you might make it anyway. I milled cedar once, 24-30 inches wide, perfect chain, my cuts were literally less than two minutes.
 
The comfort of an 075 (or 076) in the mill is worth dragging it out when necessary...;)

I usually avoid having mine run out of gas in the cut at all cost - they do run rather lean on the last drops of fuel :cool:. Fuel and oil get replenished whenever there is a chance.
 
I think it'd be rather easy to make a bracket for the external tank so it could just drop onto the mill and lift off, a quick connect for the fuel line would also be very easy for a no-leak hook up and disconnect. For a tank you could get a tank of a Honda or one of the clones or look at go-kart tanks, they usually come up to a gallon and are set for gravity feed setups.
 
I was thinking something on the order of a 1/2 to 1 gallon add-on tank. Connecting it to the mill via some kind of bracket was my thought too. Some kind of gas cap replacement with a hose barb (and maybe an on/off valve) has a ton of appeal, since it would make it very easy to connect and disconnect as needed.

I will stay away from using a gas can instead of a gas tank because I don't think a repurposed can would have the right kind of venting for the job. Gravity feed is great, but if you're leaving a vacuum up at the top of the reservoir it's gonna cause problems eventually.

Now I just have to figure out the thread pitch on this gas cap and see if I can turn that on my lathe... maybe a wintertime project.
 
I was thinking something on the order of a 1/2 to 1 gallon add-on tank. Connecting it to the mill via some kind of bracket was my thought too. Some kind of gas cap replacement with a hose barb (and maybe an on/off valve) has a ton of appeal, since it would make it very easy to connect and disconnect as needed.

I will stay away from using a gas can instead of a gas tank because I don't think a repurposed can would have the right kind of venting for the job. Gravity feed is great, but if you're leaving a vacuum up at the top of the reservoir it's gonna cause problems eventually.

Now I just have to figure out the thread pitch on this gas cap and see if I can turn that on my lathe... maybe a wintertime project.

Why not just run a line to the gas line on saw install a fitting between the two and put fuel filter in external tank.
Just thinking that would be better as to no modes made easy to go back when not on mill.
Could easily start gas siphon out of tank since it is mounted above saw.
Gas can fuel line and fitting is all that's needed.
 
How about using a larger tank from a saw in that series? I believe the the TS760 tank should be quite a bit larger - would extend cutting time the easy way...
 

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