Electric Chainsaw Mill Build

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Stu in Tokyo

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I have a chainsaw mill, works well, but well, it's a gas saw, of course. Even though I have put a motorcycle muffler on it, and it is very quiet compared to most chainsaws, it's still not something that I wish to run in my workshop. I don't really have the space to run it outside, and as I live in Tokyo Japan, what do I do? Well, I have this old heavy duty electric chainsaw, a Shindaiwa unit, it may not move the chain that fast, but the thing has some serious torque. With some ripping chain I've ordered, I think/hope it will do the job.

This is the third chainsaw mill that I've made, so I have learned a few things along the way, I hope to incorporate them into this unit.

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Right now I've got the parts done that clamp onto the bar of the saw,

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The nose has a built in guard, to keep me from hurting myself.

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The pieces of square tubing with the nut welded to them and the T-handles will be the parts that are attached to the frame that will go along the guide board and that sets the thickness of the cut.

I hope to be done soon, but I understand the ripping chain I ordered from Baileys Online will not be in stock until the end of May #:eek: Dunno what's up with that.... ???

I'll be able to cut 42.5cm or about 16 3/4" wide, not the biggest chainsaw mill, but not bad either. If the saw will pull the ripping chain through the wood easily enough, I might try to find a longer bar, I don't think that Shindaiwa makes a longer bar, and bars from other makes don't fit, I think, so I might have to modify a bar to fit (had to do with how the tension adjuster works on this saw).

I'm also going to make some kind of a fixture to hold the log in, some kind of cradle, that I can use for various lengths and diameters of logs, got to think about that some more too. I'll be able to hoist any log up to put the carriage under it, and I want it with one end higher than the other, I find that having gravity help push the mill along is a good thing.

Cheers!
 
Stu, Interesting build - thanks for posting.

I wouldn't have bothered using bar clamps but drilled the bar and bolted the bar direct to the upright. As well as making it much easier to change the chain this means less "stuff" to get hung up on the sides of the log.

Is that the oil tank cap underneath the locking nut on the in board end?

It also looks like you are running some sort of safety chain. If you use regular chain you will find it cuts a bit faster.

Cheers
Bob
 
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Stu, Interesting build - thanks for posting.

I wouldn't have bothered using bar clamps but drilled the bar and bolted the bar direct to the upright. As well as making it much easier to change the chain this means less "stuff" to get hung up on the sides of the log.

Is that the oil tank cap underneath the locking nut on the in board end?

It also looks like you are running some sort of safety chain. If you use regular chain you will find it cuts a bit faster.

Cheers
Bob

I never thought of drilling the bar, I figured the steel would be too hard, I might just give that a shot Bob, thanks!

Yes the oiler is not auto, you push a plunger and the oil is pushed onto the guide bar. The chain is whatever came with it, I bought it used, I have two loops of ripping chain on back order from Baileys, that should work better!
 
It seems you have pretty good fabrication skills and a mechanical inclination. If you are using a track for this mill, why not go all the way with it and install a larger motor? Doesn't seem it would be much more work than you're already doing. You'd basically be building a slabber mill with electric power. If I had the room & was confident an electric motor could do it within reason, I'd try it. Nice thread, BTW.
 
I never thought of drilling the bar, I figured the steel would be too hard, I might just give that a shot Bob, thanks!
Some bars are harder than others. Usually the bearing spacer in the middle of sprocket nose bars are the hardest but yours looks like a hard nose bar so it should be no problem with a freshly sharpened bit. Do a search for "drilling the bar" and you will get heaps of info on how to do it.

Yes the oiler is not auto, you push a plunger and the oil is pushed onto the guide bar.
That's not what I meant - I mean that the height adjustment T-bolt for the mill looks like it will get in the way when you go to add bar and chain oil.

If the oiler is a manual one you will find that is a right PITA. I would recommend fitting an auxiliary oiler and not even worry about the manual oiler.

The chain is whatever came with it, I bought it used, I have two loops of ripping chain on back order from Baileys, that should work better!
Yep that will be the go.
 
Some bars are harder than others. Usually the bearing spacer in the middle of sprocket nose bars are the hardest but yours looks like a hard nose bar so it should be no problem with a freshly sharpened bit. Do a search for "drilling the bar" and you will get heaps of info on how to do it.
Thanks I'll look into that!


BobL said:
That's not what I meant - I mean that the height adjustment T-bolt for the mill looks like it will get in the way when you go to add bar and chain oil.
The big black round knob? that is the knob that you tighten to hold the bar in place, instead of the standart two nuts that most saws use, it has two studs that go into the slot on the bar, and then this one large knob that tightens down on the side cover, I can use a wrench on it, as there is a place for that below the big black knob.
IMG_5629a_zps618e7437.jpg

I hope that makes it clear...?

BobL said:
If the oiler is a manual one you will find that is a right PITA. I would recommend fitting an auxiliary oiler and not even worry about the manual oiler.

Yes, an auxiliary oiler is certainly planned as well.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Stu, that's pretty cool. Since you're on the subject of electric mills, I have a question, not to hijack your thread. I have an old gear drive unit off an old Homelite saw. Anyone think I could use that for a platform to mount an electric motor? it already has the bar mount on it and I have a couple of 36 inch bars that fit it, Joe.
 
Stu, that's pretty cool. Since you're on the subject of electric mills, I have a question, not to hijack your thread. I have an old gear drive unit off an old Homelite saw. Anyone think I could use that for a platform to mount an electric motor? it already has the bar mount on it and I have a couple of 36 inch bars that fit it, Joe.

Don't see why not. A little redneck ingenuity and some duct tape should do it! Well maybe not the tape. I think the idea has great potential. Low noise, no emissions, can be ran in shop without ventilation. Stu might be on to something.
 
The big black round knob? that is the knob that you tighten to hold the bar in place, instead of the standart two nuts that most saws use, it has two studs that go into the slot on the bar, and then this one large knob that tightens down on the side cover, I can use a wrench on it, as there is a place for that below the big black knob.
I hope that makes it clear...?
Got it - thanks

Thanks for the feedback!
No worries.

I'm Looking forward to seeing it cut.
 
Hey Stu you should put your website in your sig. It's just awesome what you have managed to do in that basement shop of yours. Also some of your urban milling is worth showing the other guys on this forum.
 
Thanks Bob, when I figure out how to do that I will!

I've got the mill attachment done......

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Welding the last bit up using spacer blocks to keep everything square and level.

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Another look

IMG_5647_zps1f32f4e0.jpg

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All welded up and I added a push handle.

IMG_5649_zps25dd1dc2.jpg

I think this will work OK.

Now I have to figure out some sort of track to put on the ground that will hold the log in place.....?

Cheers!
 
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Hey Stu you should put your website in your sig. It's just awesome what you have managed to do in that basement shop of yours. Also some of your urban milling is worth showing the other guys on this forum.

What he ^ said
 
thought so! i enjoyed reading about how you started. the information in your posts helped me get started!

Oh yeah sure, blame it all on me!! :msp_biggrin: No really, thanks, I hope you enjoyed the site.

Well I got the first cut done today, a small chunk of VERY dry Doug Fir that I got from a house, I have about five 6' long pieces that I'm going to slab up, this was just the short end piece (long story about how I got these). This is the small end, maybe 10" in diameter, the large end is about 20" in diameter, so I should get some nice big slabs out of it at some point.

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I just put it on my workmate knock off, this really did not work well, as you can imagine the mill is heavy on the power head end, and the log wanted to roll to that side. The log also wanted to slide along the top of the workmate, but for one quick cut it worked. I built a guide for the first cut out of some plywood, it is like an I-beam, simple and straight forward, you can see the top part of the log still attached to the I-beam standing up against the wall to the right.

The Bad
  • sawdust everywhere
  • Log not secure, it rolled
  • Log slide along the workmate
  • Jig's minimum cut it too large
  • T-handle to secure cut depth in the way

The Good
  • Even with the crosscut chain the cutting speed was faster than I had hoped.
  • The motor did not really warm up at all during the cut
  • Using the manual oiler I was able to keep oil on the bar
  • The cord did not warm up during the cut.

First up I need to make some sort of fixture to hold a log. I have a couple of ideas, first up is kind of a ladder or train track looking idea, this would have the log sit on it, and had one end of the ladder with a stop on it for the end of the log to go against, and then the other end would have some kind of a clamp that would grab on to that end of the lot, basically squeezing the log between the two ends of the ladder, if that make sense.

I'd sure like to see any ideas or examples any of you have!

IMG_5654_zps4d30936e.jpg

I need to do two small mods on the mill, one is move the T-handle on the side nearest the power head up on the tube, it will get in the way of the big black knob when I do the second mod, which is to make the min cut thickness less. I think I'll cut an 1 1/2" off those tubes to give me a thinner min cut. The log holder will also be off the ground a bit, not need to be on my knees on a concrete floor. I'll also make the starting end higher by say a foot to let Mr. Gravity help out.

Lastly I'm going to hook up some kind of a hose to the saw, to where the majority of the sawdust comes out, I figure I could direct it into a garbage can or something, save on the clean up some.

Wish me luck!

Cheers!
 
.....

The Bad
  • sawdust everywhere........
    ...............
    Lastly I'm going to hook up some kind of a hose to the saw, to where the majority of the sawdust comes out, I figure I could direct it into a garbage can or something, save on the clean up some.


  • So, unlike the outdoor mill, where your addition of an expansion chamber placated the neighbor lady, here you might want to add a "compression chamber"? in order to keep that "fussy shop owner" from complaining about the messy sawdust?:msp_biggrin:

    Once you have the pickup at the saw properly directed, you could easily construct something like this Thien style separator to place between your vacuum/dust collector and it will catch the majority of the debris:

    [video=youtube;3QCAOwSqrko]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3QCAOwSqrko[/video]​

    Phil Thien's website has design ideas and links to discussions by those who've built their own.

    Just a thought....
 
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Nice work stu!

.
.

First up I need to make some sort of fixture to hold a log. I have a couple of ideas, first up is kind of a ladder or train track looking idea, this would have the log sit on it, and had one end of the ladder with a stop on it for the end of the log to go against, and then the other end would have some kind of a clamp that would grab on to that end of the lot, basically squeezing the log between the two ends of the ladder, if that make sense. I'd sure like to see any ideas or examples any of you have!
Have a look at the "Small milling rig" link in my Sig for some ideas

I need to do two small mods on the mill, one is move the T-handle on the side nearest the power head up on the tube, it will get in the way of the big black knob when I do the second mod, which is to make the min cut thickness less.
See, I had a hunch that thing was in the way :biggrin:
I think I'll cut an 1 1/2" off those tubes to give me a thinner min cut. The log holder will also be off the ground a bit, not need to be on my knees on a concrete floor. I'll also make the starting end higher by say a foot to let Mr. Gravity help out.
Or you could use log rails for every cut - as well as not needing modification the rails will allow you to correct for any twist and it will give you a smoother cut.
Lastly I'm going to hook up some kind of a hose to the saw, to where the majority of the sawdust comes out, I figure I could direct it into a garbage can or something, save on the clean up some. !
I'd hate to be dragging any sort of hose attached to the saw so here's my redneck solution. If you get the log/saw up of the ground try fitting a deflection shleld/panel to the sawdust exit point of the saw so the dust ejection point is straight down and then put a cardboard box underneath the saw so that you just kick it along with your feet underneath the saw.
 
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