Thread: 046 biggest bar?

Originally Posted by marc350

Hi,
I've been reading through the timber milling section and think I might have a go at making a small chainsaw mill.

Watch out - you'll get suckered in real quick with this stuff! and you will get infected with CAD.

I've got a Stihl 046 Magnum and it's currently fitted with a 24" bar. From what i've read, bar sizes to suit the 046 are between 16"and 32". I also read some feedback on ebay of a 046 Magnum with a 36" bar - would that be right? How would that run? Would it not bog down or run out of guts?

The 046 is a nice strong saw. You could put a 36" bar on it in a 36" mill since you will lose 4" of cut as soon as you mount it in a conventional mill. You can probably mill 30" diameter softwoods but I reckon milling anything wider than about 24" of Aussie hardwood is gonna be slow work. You aso need a few inches of freeplay to negotiate your way around brancj unions and lumps and bumps

Nevertheless it's not a bad little saw to cut your milling teeth on just don't kill it in the process, keep the chain sharp as, tune it a little on the rich side and add an Aux oiler. If your logs are any bigger than this then I'd wait and get a bigger saw.

My question is what is the largest bar length I can go? And what changes would I need to make? ie sprocket size. Is the sprocket an easily swapped over part? as I would probably use the 24" bar for crosscutting then change to the larger setup to try my hand at some milling.

I'd stay with the 7 pin sprocket - anything else will just bog down.

Anyone have an idea of cost for new oversize bar & chain and if needed sprocket?

I'd contact forum member "Sawchain" and see what he has in the 36" line.

If you make a CS mill, resist the urge to weld the cross pieces to the mill rails. You can then easily increase the size of the mill by just getting longer mill rails and using the same cross pieces.

Personally I would not run more than about a 32 inch bar on an 046 and in aussie hardwoods you would find that a lot of bar for an 046 or ms 460. I have looked at the same saws and have come to the opinion that more than 30 inches you need 95 ccs+ you can do it with less ccs but it works your saw hard and you will find yourself longing for more power. I have recently looked at the 460 stihl the husky 576 and 372 and the shindaiwa 757, These are all about the same ccs and power rating and for the amount of work on a mill I would do with them I could probably get away with any of them but I would limit them to about a 32 inch bar. In soft pine or similar you may get away with larger but for hard wood I would steer well clear of 36 inches.

the 046 70 odd cc range is in an awkward range too big and heavy for most people who want to cut the families firewood for the year but big enough to fell some pretty large trees and not quite large enough to run the bigger bars that the 660 95 odd cc or 880 120 odd cc has the power to drive.

Personally I would rate them as a very good all round saw for the semi pro, or fairly serious weekend warrior. As bob said just dont kill it by expecting it to do what a bigger saw will.

Thanks for the replies Bob and Travis.

Suckered in... you think? no way..... not me......

I was suckered in the moment I found this site!

I'm in the process of planning my first mill and whilst I only have the 24" bar, I think I will make an adjustable frame so as to accomidate the 32" bar if/when I get hold of one. Just a basic functional design, nothing fancy or too ellaborate for now. Probably just a sturdy frame with an auxillary oiler added. Should have some pics up in the near future.

Yeah I think 32" bar will be the maximum I'll go - definately don't want to kill me 46er.

Is the normal cutting chain adequate enough for a little bit of milling work or shoud I look at something specifically for ripping? 6 of 1 and 1/2 a dozen of the other? (I guess it would depend on how much and what type and size of timber I'm playing with hey?)

Thanks Bob I will contact Sawchain about parts and pricing. Cheers.

Regards
Marc

Originally Posted by marc350

Is the normal cutting chain adequate enough for a little bit of milling work or shoud I look at something specifically for ripping? 6 of 1 and 1/2 a dozen of the other? (I guess it would depend on how much and what type and size of timber I'm playing with hey?)

Regular chain will work but it will produce a rougher finish so I think it is worth getting a ripping chain or just convert a regular chain to a 10º top plate filing angle, you can do that over a period of time every time you touch up.

You can run standard full complement chain which as bob said can then be filed or ground to 10 degrees, OR you can modify the chain to skip chain, Or granberg style ripping chain this will give a much better finish and should require considerably less horsepower to drive it. I had a thread going in this forum recently regarding how I made my own. Here is the link. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f132/h...-chain-109843/

I am planning on making a semi skip version next. I was almost astounded at the required horsepower reduction.