Small Mill Setup

[Benniee]

Hello All,

For years I've had an old chainsaw kicking around my shed - mainly used for cutting up firewood. It was a Frontier F35. Did the job for many many years. Unfortunately due to the recent flooding we had up this way it will be put to rest.

To replace it I've bought a cheapie Dolmar 33cc saw with a 16" bar on it. This will do everything the frontier did I'm sure. What I'm curious about is getting a frame made up (most likely out of RHS), to mill small logs.

I've seen some really long bars on some saws and I'm sure they don't sell the saw with a bar like this attached, so where do people buy the longer bars from? I'm very aware that the little 33cc Dolmar will not slab anything too substantial, but I'm guessing I'll need a slightly longer bar on it to attach to the frame. Say something like an 18" or 20".

Now I don't have the money to go any buy a large cc chainsaw - I'm just trying to make the most of the little Dolmar I have got. Am I kidding myself on this one?

Ben

[outback]

My guess is your'e pretty much maxed out the bar length for that saw now, much bigger and it will bog down big time.
The downside from this is if you attach an Alaskan style mill, you will loose extra bar length, and then you will be milling logs the size of match sticks.

My suggestion would be a beam machine, it will at least allow you to use a larger proportion of your current bar.

Chainsaw milling is very hard on the saw, no matter where you go everyone wants more CC's.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=3&p=41139&cat=1,41131 gives pics and info on the above mills, you can get them all in Australia, in fact the GB is Australian made.

[Ironwood]

Hi Ben,
I started out with a similar sized saw to the one you have. I built a 'rail mill' type setup for it, was alright if you were content to cut up small logs, and had plenty of time and patience. It was very hard on the saw by the way.

I soon upgraded to a husky 3120 with a 42" bar which was much better for my needs.

The small saw is a way to start off, and get yourself a bit of useable timber, just dont expect miracles with it.

[weisyboy]

go to were you got the saw they will be able to get you a longer bar skip chain and the mill.:2tsup:

[Benniee]

Thanks for all the replies.

I will definitely be heading back to the place I bought it from to source a specialised chain - they were very helpful when I bought the saw. I wasn't sure if they'd have a longer bar though, or if there was a better place to buy them.

I don't expect miracles from the little saw that's for sure. It would just be to mill up some timber for my own hobby use from small logs. The longer bar would just be to allow me to mount some kind of frame up, not to mill larger logs.

The beam machine looks interesting - but with the bar only supported at one end wouldn't there be a tendancy for the cut to drift a little? I'll see if I can dig up some more info on that one.

Ben

[martrix]

If you want to be a little kinder to your saw while milling (saw under constant load) make your fuel mix at 40:1 and detune the High side of your carb so it lowers the max revs= less heat in engine.

[weisyboy]

serch for info on the alaskan small log mill.

i have one only attaches at one end of the bar but it cats as true as anything and is easy to use.:2tsup:

[Benniee]

Thanks for the info weisyboy - The Alaskan small log mill looks like a nice little unit. It's probably just an illusion but it looks a bit more substantial than the beam machine.

I've got a couple of other related questions, and perhaps they belong in a thread of their own - but I'll whack them in here anyway.

First if, if I'm going slow and steady with the saw would I need something to put extra oil on the chain? The Dolmar saw has an auto oiler for the chain where my old frontier had a little button you'd use to pump a bit of oil onto the chain.

Next, I'm sure I've read somewhere that only the main trunk is any good for milling because the branches usually have stresses and tension in them. Not being a milling expert this is a bit confusing to me so I'm hoping one of the experts in here can explain why branches aren't very good.

Ben