BIL mill gets a workout.

[BobL]

BIL gets a good work out - Plus it rained - now who's NOT a pretty boy then?

Cheers

 

[BobL]

Hydrid river gum

Here are some slabs of milling of a Hybrid river red gum. It's very hard wood - BIL was working hard!
Unfortunately it had a fair bit of dry rot and fungal attack.

Part of the stash.

 

[BobL]

Western Australian Red River Gum

This was a tree similar to the previous one but for some reason it sure cut a whole lot easier.

The slabs look small against the trailer wheels but just for reference those trailer wheels are truck wheels.

Close up of the handthrottle and in the background you can see the vehicle I use to pick up the slabs.

Video's soon.

Cheers

 

[Burnsy]

Nice Work

Great work Bob, you seem to be cutting much more each time you use it. Wish I could have dropped over for a play but I am layed up with the dredded flue.

Loved that casurina you cut the other week.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[BobL]

Movies

First Movie [HYbridRG1.mov] is of the Hybrid redgum. This sucker is hard and chain had been used to cut previous 3 slabs.

Next Movie [Rudis1movie.mov] is of the Western Australian River Gum. Fresh chain was grabbing a bit - you can hear the saw bogging down occasionally. Otherwise it fair tore through this stuff.

BTW : Hand throttle works really well.

The movies are quicktime.

Cheers

 

[BobL]

Great work Bob, you seem to be cutting much more each time you use it. Wish I could have dropped over for a play but I am layed up with the dredded flue.

Loved that casurina you cut the other week.

Cheers,
Mike

Cheers Mike - good to see you posting here, This is a great site you will love it.

Yeah drop over anytime but preferably leave the flubug at home.

Yes I am getting a bit quicker - less stopping and checking for loose nuts and bolts. I lost a nut off the hand throttle today but it was not critical. Today I cut 8 slabs and made about 120kg of sawdust before I ran out of fuel (4.5 litres) - I have to get a bigger fuel container. This is probably not too bad considering the river red gum is pretty hard and I'm still learning.

 

[Burnsy]

Yes I am getting a bit quicker - less stopping and checking for loose nuts and bolts. I lost a nut off the hand throttle today but it was not critical. Today I cut 8 slabs and made about 120kg of sawdust before I ran out of fuel (4.5 litres) - I have to get a bigger fuel container. This is probably not too bad considering the river red gum is pretty hard and I'm still learning.

This is all good, you should be a real wiz by the time I call you to come and help me mill the two big bluegums that died on our block last summer:help:
I have been lurking here for a few months and thought I had better sign up. I am considering some options in regard to timber thicknesing at the moment. I was going to buy a combination planer thicknesser but am now considering a slab master, wood wizz or home made variant so that I can do slabs and burls as a home based business on the side as these can all be used to do recycled timber as well as slabs.

 

[dustytools]

Nice work Bob!

 

[martrix]

ah crap, I cant wait to get into some millin like that! cool vids.
:rockn:

So now that you've got both hands on the mill at the same level, is it much more ergonomic? How well balanced is it say when you rest it on those logs in the vids? Is the power head still the heavy end?

She is a unit now.

 

[woodshop]

Nice work Bob... I see you kinda "rock" the mill back and forth a bit as you go down the log. I do that also, and I think it does go a little faster in the long run although technically folks will tell you it really doesn't. For example, I don't rock my chainsaw back and forth bucking a big log into cants, just lay the bar into the log let it cut. The csm however, I think is a little different, and some might disagree, but cutting a way, then skewing the saw a bit and cutting the other side of the slice a bit, then back etc seems to make wider cuts go a bit faster for me. For stuff less than 18 inches I don't do that, just plow through same angle.

I like your throttle control... if I used my csm for milling all my wood I might invest the time to hook up something similar. I only use mine to slab and slice the log into 14 inch wide cants so my Ripsaw bandsaw can them mill into lumber so I'm usually only running down the log 3-4 times at most. Also, I pull my 395 out of the mill to buck the larger logs, and guess I wouldn't want to have to fuss taking the contraption on and off. Then again probably doesn't take long to do so.

Good post, thanks.

 

[BobL]

Woodshop and Martrix.

So now that you've got both hands on the mill at the same level, is it much more ergonomic?

Yes it is much more ergonomic and considerably less tiring than having ones arms spread wide between the regular throttle and the handle on the mill. Having one hand on the wrap bar means you can also crank the extra oil button if you have one. It's interesting to see where ones arms gravitate to as one tires during the day and it seems like a vertical handle coming of the wrap handle might be the way to go, as the wrap handle is a bit low at the bottom end of a sloped log. Something else to experiment with!

How well balanced is it say when you rest it on those logs in the vids? Is the power head still the heavy end?

The power head is still the heavy end but the whole this will sit level on the rails so its;
- lift the sucker onto the rails
- brace hip against the power head handle, left hand on the mill cross bar, rhand start (see picture below). This mill will just sit purring there as the rails are sloping downwards.
- turn on aux oiler
go - gO - GO!

Rocking the mill

I agree, the stuff I was cutting was quite hard and rocking at least gives an illusion of faster progress down the slab although overall there is not much in it.

I like your throttle control... Also, I pull my 395 out of the mill to buck the larger logs, and guess I wouldn't want to have to fuss taking the contraption on and off. Then again probably doesn't take long to do so.

Removing the hand thottle connnection at the mill end is easy as it just requires loosening a cable tensioning nut on the throttle handle and slipping the cable end out of its holder - I need to do this regularly (see below). Removing the hand throttle assembly at the power head end is a bit messy and would required the removal of 3 bolts (A, B and C) in the picture below. (B does have a nut on it but it's missing from this photo)

However, removal of the assembly is not necessary as the regular trigger can still be used with the aseembly in place. What would be a pain and possibly dangerous would be the cable dangling around while bucking although that could be coiled up and tied around the handle. Better still would be to use a similar quick release mechanism as per the mill end throttle handle and completely remove the handle or best of all buy another saw!

A feature I find very useful about the BIL mill is that I can replace the chain without removing the powerhead fron the mill. Unfortunately I do need to remove the hand throttle cable to do this but the quick release at the mill end allows me to still do this.

Cheers

 

[dustytools]

Bob, here is a remote throttle control that I salvaged from an old cut-off saw cart that we used to use to saw concrete floors with. It is off of a Husqvarna set-up. I have it pictured here mounted to the 084. Hopefully the pics are viewable. Loosen the one nut to remove the entire assembly from the saw. View attachment 56870

View attachment 56871

View attachment 56872

 

[Jonsered2095]

Nice one Bob.

Q. Do you use the rails every cut for lead in reasons? I always thought welding/bolting an extention on to the guide rails (clamped to the saw) would provide for this. Not being critical, just I am considering a milling set up also, other than my [similar] home made open ended slab mill. (Its made from mild steel and a bit cumbersome/heavy, but it works well) I hate fiddling with setting up and was thinking of a framed mill of some sort. Just interested.

 

[BobL]

Bob, here is a remote throttle control that I salvaged from an old cut-off saw cart that we used to use to saw concrete floors with. It is off of a Husqvarna set-up. I have it pictured here mounted to the 084. Hopefully the pics are viewable. Loosen the one nut to remove the entire assembly from the saw.

Thanks dustyT. That is a very nice and simple design although it does not look quite as easy to stick ones hand in there and operate with the unit in place as mine (I have found this is still useful even in a milling situation). It would also not be quite as easy to implement on the 076 as the handle tapers from front to back. However, it does give me an idea as to how to reorient the cable on my setup so that it does not need to pass though the base of the powerhead - then I would be down to a one bolt removal.

Q. Do you use the rails every cut for lead in reasons?

Yes I have been mostly using the rails. I have used BIL without rails and if the log is low and flat, no rails are OK, but when the log is sloping and the starting end of the log is higher up than usual it's just hard work holding it up there to get started. I prefer to mount it on the rails and then start the engine and take it from there. Another advantage of rails I have known about from using my small rail mill is that if a bump is generated in a cutting surface can be magnified in the subsequent cut whereas using the rails gives you a flat cut every time.

Yes it does slow you down a bit unbolting and rebolting the rails (~1 minute per slab?) on for every slab but I figure I'm only doing this for a hobby so I am not in a particular hurry. If you are milling boards this would be more of an issue.

I always thought welding/bolting an extention on to the guide rails (clamped to the saw) would provide for this. Not being critical, just I am considering a milling set up also, other than my [similar] home made open ended slab mill. (Its made from mild steel and a bit cumbersome/heavy, but it works well) I hate fiddling with setting up and was thinking of a framed mill of some sort. Just interested.

No worries. I would prefer the bolt on rails over adding more weight to the mill. Having used my small framed rail mill

and seeing how easy that is to use there is no doubt that a framed setup is much easier to use.

Cheers

 

[Jonsered2095]

Nice little unit in the pic.

Yes it does slow you down a bit unbolting and rebolting the rails (~1 minute per slab?) on for every slab but I figure I'm only doing this for a hobby so I am not in a particular hurry. If you are milling boards this would be more of an issue.

I was'nt thinking so much of the time [for my own purposes] as the having to do. In saying that you have a simple set-up that works really well. I like it. And ~1 minute is irrelevant to most csm'ers. I'm just tyre kicking and seeing what others are doing. So thanks Bob, you seem like a decent bloke.

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Great stuff as always!!!

Thanks for sharing.