2101 out for it's first run (for me)

[Nikko]

Well, after about 8 months of playing with it I finally took the 2101XP out for a run today. The chore was to mill a 4x8 out of a downed hemlock. Simple enough but the tricky part was that the beam needed to be 21' in length.

The XP pulled like an ox. Wow! But the bad news is it quite near the end of the last cut - it was idling and pffft! sounded like out of fuel, but I had lots and there's no spark. Good thing a buddy has his 285 waiting in the wings so we could slide it in the mill and finish the cut..

So - it was a trial run to see if this old saw is worth putting back on the road and it definitely is. Once I figure what's wrong and why it quit (and what it needs) I think I'll have a winner.

Nikko

 

[BlueRider]

guide rail question

Are those the guide rails you used in the background? can you explain how used them to set up for a 21' long cut. I'm always interested in learning a new way to skin a cat, especially if it is faster than how I curently do it.

 

[BlueRider]

saw quiting

Regarding the saw, sometimes the fuel filter in the tank can reach critical clog and it will just stop running and act like it is out of gas. the other thing that can do the same thing is the filter screen in the carburator. and the one that is a combination of the two is that on really old saws the filter can come apart and clog the screen. all are easy fixes.

 

[Woodsurfer]

Nice cut, hope your hemlock is free of "ring shake".

I too would like to know how you did a straight 21' cut with those short rails...

 

[Semi-Hex]

That is a long run for the lumber. Right now I have to pack all of my stuff into a six foot bed so the longest board I can cut is a hair over that. I would like to cut longer stuff too.

 

[Nikko]

The first cut took almost an hour and a half to set up ) including cutting the log to size and positioning it in the cradles. In order to use the short rails (they're 10.5' long) we laid a "bed" of 2x4's that were screwed directly to the tree into what would become waste. after much work with a level and string lines (and long screws and wedges and shims etc.), these 2x4's formed a perfect plane.

You can see the rails in their 1st position in this pic and you can also see the other 2x4's ready to support the rails. When we finished the first 1/2 of the cut we simple undid the rails, slid them along the tree (with the mill still in place) and re-attached them to their new home. Then we finished the cut.

Other than a saw wobble (my fault) we're within about 1/8" over the length of the beam (according to the string line). I was pretty happy!

The rails themselves are actually part of a ceiling system for a class 10,000 clean room that was dismantled. They're aluminum, light and very rigid. They belong to a buddy who's not afraid of making his own widgets and one of those is a home-grown "beam buddy". In this picture (below) you can see where we've flipped the rail over, fastened the two sections end-to-end to the soon-to-be-beam along a string line and are squaring the beam using a little 154.

Nikko

 

[MJR]

Very nice. Check the fuel line. Nothing like the comforts of working in the back yard.

 

[woodshop]

Nice job on that long log, I've never milled anything that long. Now that you accomplished that, is there anything you would do different for something that long next time?

 

[Adkpk]

Nice job on that beam, Nik.

Another way to do a long cut is to use spikes hammered in and lined up with a string. Set your first spikes. Then using a string line set the rest down the log. Of course trying not to go to deep. One on either side and about 4' apart. Then with an 8' or so, 2' wide or so sheet of ply wood slide it on top of the spikes as you go down the log. Being very careful not to clip the point of one with your chain. It'll get the top off the log and you'll have something better than a narley rounded log to work with.

 

[Nikko]

Nice job on that long log, I've never milled anything that long. Now that you accomplished that, is there anything you would do different for something that long next time?

thanks - we were pretty pleased with the results. But no, we'd not do anything different. It worked out really well and other than taking a bit of time, wasn't hard at all.

We are going to spend some time on the beam-buddy though, it's easy to get a wobble with it as is. But other than that, everything seemed to work well (except the saws - we've NEVER had that much trouble with saws! At one point or another all four of the saws complained or puked. Guess they need to be used more!)

Nikko

 

[Nikko]

Nice job on that beam, Nik.

Another way to do a long cut is to use spikes hammered in and lined up with a string. Set your first spikes. Then using a string line set the rest down the log. Of course trying not to go to deep. One on either side and about 4' apart. Then with an 8' or so, 2' wide or so sheet of ply wood slide it on top of the spikes as you go down the log. Being very careful not to clip the point of one with your chain. It'll get the top off the log and you'll have something better than a narley rounded log to work with.

Interesting idea. I'd be worried about the plywood flexing though. Has that ever been a problem?

Nikko