Thread: Alaskan MkIII 36" ans Stihl MS 660

Welcome to the forum goat67

I've never measured my cutter bar with the alaskan fitted but I'm guessing I would lose 2 1/3" at the powerhead end, this could be reduced a bit if I went to the trouble of removing the dogs.
I found I needed to mount the frame just before the nose sprocket to avoid pinching it, I once mounted the frame directly centered on the sprocket to avoid it grabbing however it was an unsafe way of mounting because the clamp could not be adequetly tensioned. I think I loose about 3 1/2" on the nose. A solid nose would give an extra 2" over a sprocket, I think.

Wait for BobL to chime in, he's the forum's chainsaw milling guru & he'll know the exact measurments & can give you the best advice.

cheers

Spray tech has the numbers about right.

It's pretty easy to modify a standard Alaskan to grip the centre of a roller nose so you can gain a couple of inches that way.
This is done by drilling a hole in the exact middle of the nose and inserting a 1/4 or 5/16" tensile bolt and nut and then clamping ono the bolt. Drilling the mill middle of the nose/bearing is not as bad as it sounds. The bar nose and bearing are superhard so will fry a standard HSS bit. One way of doing this is to use a new Co bit, plenty of lub and slow speed on a drill press - you do have to hoike on it like buggery. The alternative is to use a new masonry bit with carbide tip. Most of my bars (including solid nose) have holes in them.

At the other end, alaskan mills that attach to the bar bolts rather the bar and removing the dogs are the way to recover all that lost cutting length. These mills also balance better on logs as they don't leave the powerhead hanging out in the breeze. Some GB mills had this feature but I don't think that there are currently any commercially available alaskan mills that do this. If you want this feature you will have to roll your own. I get 39.5" of cut from 42" sprocket/roller nose bars and can get about 1/2" more on solids. Bear in mind that solid nose bars can be fiddlier to maintain a good tension on compared to roller and sprocket nose. SOlid nose bars need to be kept tensioned just so whereas one can be a bit sloppier with the others. This also increases the chances of the chain on solids being too tight and robbing valuable HP and increasing wear etc.

If you want to see pics of mods that do all of the above, search the forum
OR
If you are lazy just say so and I will post a few links.

I'm lazy...just saying........

I'm guessing goat67 is the same sika who posted the same question on the Arboristsite? If so the guys on arboristsite and you own photos have go this covered.

with a 42" bar with roller nose, you have an easy access to 36' of bar for your 36" mill. I can leave the dogs on my mill and get the full 36" out of the mill with a spare inch on a 42 bar. Yet to have needed them all, though may one day.