Rail-O-Matic
ArboristSite Lurker
For the past fifteen years I have been collating information on chainsaw milling systems and their effective uses, the following information is what I have worked out, some of it might be of use to those contemplating buying or starting out in the art of chainsaw milling.
A good guide to having all the power needed to mill any given timber with a portable chainsaw mill, is to take into consideration the following.
How much water has the timber lost after being first felled or being blown down and what type of timber and how often you might use your equipment to carry out this task.
Was the tree dead standing or growing, and at what time of year it was cut down, all these can have a dramatic effect to how much strain is put upon any given outfit or sawmill.
As an old teacher during my engineering apprentiship said to us all, there is no substitute for CC's, in part this is true, but not in all, this can be explained when comparing a bandmill to a chainsaw mill, a smaller or half sized engine on a band mill will give enough or the the same amount of energy needed to cutting the same log with a chainsaw mill, but lets concentrate on the chainsaw mill for now.
A chainsaw with a motor size less that 80 cc does not really give you the cost effective power needed to power a chainsaw mill greater than 20 inches, if you add an extra 30 % of power needed to cut along the grain to what the original manufacturer recommends for using a saw normally, you will have a better balance to power your chainsaw mill.
A chainsaw with around 7.5 Hp is really only cost effective when cutting widths of around 24 inches, it will cut wider material, but tests have shown that it is really past its limit after then and the long term effects upon the saw will soon show their face, not to mention the larger fuel cost of running for longer periods, will quickly out way the extra cost of buying a bigger saw motor.
For the best results, the biggest saws are what is needed to carry out the really big tasks of 36 inches and over and to gain back some of the handicap from really wide boards, a smaller curf or chain width is needed, which can easily be acheived today, with the miriad of different products on the market.
Other saw mills which I have experimented with are, larger 4 stroke engines with a vertical shaft outlay, converted to drive bigger bars of 50 inches and above, they consist of a conversion plate from motor to bar, rather like those seen on racing saws, they are driven by a conventional harvestor sprocket straight onto the engine shaft and thus onto the bar, which is mounted to the same plate, for the oil supply, I have fitted an external oil tank, driven by the crankcase pressure from the engine in question.
They have proved to be very cost effective, with an outlay for a motor of 13 Hp costing a third that of a big chainsaw motor, there is no clutch to soak up any of the power, so you get full power to the chain, with a top crank speed of around 3600 they are slower than a chainsaw motor, but the extra perifral speed of the larger harvester sprocket makes up for this.
The only down side of things is they definately need two people to guide them manually, but run nicely on any rail or trailer system and they are good for twice the capacity of a conventional chainsaw milling system.
for those who are interested I can send information on how to build youself something along the lines regarding the latter.
Its now 00.37 GMT, Happy new year to you all.
A good guide to having all the power needed to mill any given timber with a portable chainsaw mill, is to take into consideration the following.
How much water has the timber lost after being first felled or being blown down and what type of timber and how often you might use your equipment to carry out this task.
Was the tree dead standing or growing, and at what time of year it was cut down, all these can have a dramatic effect to how much strain is put upon any given outfit or sawmill.
As an old teacher during my engineering apprentiship said to us all, there is no substitute for CC's, in part this is true, but not in all, this can be explained when comparing a bandmill to a chainsaw mill, a smaller or half sized engine on a band mill will give enough or the the same amount of energy needed to cutting the same log with a chainsaw mill, but lets concentrate on the chainsaw mill for now.
A chainsaw with a motor size less that 80 cc does not really give you the cost effective power needed to power a chainsaw mill greater than 20 inches, if you add an extra 30 % of power needed to cut along the grain to what the original manufacturer recommends for using a saw normally, you will have a better balance to power your chainsaw mill.
A chainsaw with around 7.5 Hp is really only cost effective when cutting widths of around 24 inches, it will cut wider material, but tests have shown that it is really past its limit after then and the long term effects upon the saw will soon show their face, not to mention the larger fuel cost of running for longer periods, will quickly out way the extra cost of buying a bigger saw motor.
For the best results, the biggest saws are what is needed to carry out the really big tasks of 36 inches and over and to gain back some of the handicap from really wide boards, a smaller curf or chain width is needed, which can easily be acheived today, with the miriad of different products on the market.
Other saw mills which I have experimented with are, larger 4 stroke engines with a vertical shaft outlay, converted to drive bigger bars of 50 inches and above, they consist of a conversion plate from motor to bar, rather like those seen on racing saws, they are driven by a conventional harvestor sprocket straight onto the engine shaft and thus onto the bar, which is mounted to the same plate, for the oil supply, I have fitted an external oil tank, driven by the crankcase pressure from the engine in question.
They have proved to be very cost effective, with an outlay for a motor of 13 Hp costing a third that of a big chainsaw motor, there is no clutch to soak up any of the power, so you get full power to the chain, with a top crank speed of around 3600 they are slower than a chainsaw motor, but the extra perifral speed of the larger harvester sprocket makes up for this.
The only down side of things is they definately need two people to guide them manually, but run nicely on any rail or trailer system and they are good for twice the capacity of a conventional chainsaw milling system.
for those who are interested I can send information on how to build youself something along the lines regarding the latter.
Its now 00.37 GMT, Happy new year to you all.