Ally CSMs

[BobL]

Last tuesday I made the mistake of checking out our local online classifieds where a used 076 caught my eye. Since I live in one of the most remote cities in the world the general pool of used CSs available is very small and used big saws are even rarer I went and had a look yesterday. The saw itself was in excellent condition and so I managed to strike a reasonable deal and now I have this BIG CS with 28" bar sitting in my shed along side my other 3 babies (one month ago I had 1 small CS!). My intention is not to use the 076 in place of my existing setup for short small logs, but to use it for the occasions maybe 3/4 times a year when I can get access to bigger stuff.

A problem I face is my current CSM only copes with bars up to 24" so I will need to make a new mill which I am happy to do. While I have some suitable steel on hand I was thinking maybe of calling on my BIL ally boat builder to help me make a mill using ally. My question is to those that have experience with steel and ally mills. When used with big CSs, are ally mills significanly more likely to wear/break etc than steel mills?

Thanks

 

[CaseyForrest]

I think as long as you beef up the stress points, Aluminum would make a sweet material for a CSM. You could even add mild steel for gussets as needed.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

I don't see why not if built well. Sure would lighten up the load.

 

[woodshop]

I agree, if engineered right no problem. As you know there are many different alloys of aluminum. I have stuff so soft I can easily carve my name it in with a pen knife, and then I have come accross stuff so hard that it was tough to drill through. Not sure if they ship down under, but checkout onlinemetals.com. Here is the page where they explain the different aluminum they sell.

http://onlinemetals.com/aluminumguide.cfm

 

[wdchuck]

That 076 is beautiful, still has a nice gloss on the finish. Good score.

 

[BobL]

Thanks for the feedback. After speaking with BIL today he says he has just the stuff - its the ally he uses to build the frames to bolt 300HP diesel boat motors onto - he says that should just about do it for us. I'm seeing him tomorrow to discuss his (er . . our ) next project!

 

[oldsaw]

WOW!!! Nice score!!!

My advice. Use as much aluminum as possible. It's plenty strong enough, especially if you build stuff like I do..."not to break"

Mark

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

I agree, if engineered right no problem. As you know there are many different alloys of aluminum. I have stuff so soft I can easily carve my name it in with a pen knife, and then I have come accross stuff so hard that it was tough to drill through. Not sure if they ship down under, but checkout onlinemetals.com. Here is the page where they explain the different aluminum they sell.

http://onlinemetals.com/aluminumguide.cfm

Thanks for the link. I'm sure it will be useful sometime.

I thought this was amusing...

"At OnlineMetals, we all failed shop class. Multiple times. As a matter of fact, our employment applications specifically ask to see people's grades for their high school shop classes. If they're too high, they go into the rejected pile. We're also not engineers, and cannot make any specific recommendations about the suitability of a given alloy, temper, or shape for your project or application.

All technical data is for comparison purposes only and is NOT FOR DESIGN. It has been compiled from sources we believe to be accurate but cannot guarantee. This ends the part of the website that our pointy-headed lawyers made us put in."

 

[Railomatic]

Ally CSM

Aluminium mills can be made every bit as strong as one made from steel, when I made my version here I did it in a way so there were no welds, welds in ally tend to crack where they are small, everything was made using precission fitting parts, so that the whole mill can come appart and stow away easily.

Mill picture here can cut a full 1 meter 40 inches and weighs the same as one of my 24 inch steel mills, all you need is a good milling machine to do all the machining.

Saws pictured are Ally mill Stihl 088 using Cannon Superbar with 325 conversion and a 40 inch cut, Stihl MS 660 standard bar and 3/8" chain with a 22 inch cut, Husky 385 XP using Cannon Superbar with 325 conversion giving a full 24 inch cut.

Pound for pound the MS 660 is the best performer for its size and weight, the 325 conversion really does speed things up in the cut.

Mills ally 40 inch and steel 24 inch pictured in shot 952 both weigh the same.

 

[Railomatic]

Ally CSM's

Pictured here is my aptly named CSM called the Ultimate, she is seen here in her 48 inch guise.
Construction is of both ally and steel, where any welding is carried out there are steel parts and for strength and weight saving ally is used.