Some milling from the weekend.

Milled up another log on the weekend. Unsure of the species, it was a wind fallen tree at my mates property near Numeralla. Log was 6m long and 300mm diameter for the whole length. It was a tough day on the mill, first the ladder moved, then the height adjustment on the mill moved, then the blade suddenly went blunt. The result was four slabs and not a single one of them flat! It’s a shame because the timber is beautiful. I should still be able to use it, just with a bit of wastage. Luckily I only cut half the log so I have another 3m there which I will try not to destroy next time I’m down there.

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Nice timber.

RE; Mill slipping.
Regular bolts biting onto round bar are always going to struggle to hold.
I can't tell if you have second locking nut on those bolts or not.
You could try adding a locking collar that drops down over the round bar - at least that would help stop the bar from dropping.

I think your setup could use an auxiliary oiler?

It looks like you have some washboard effect happening? - not uncommon on narrow logs, try angling the mill to get a wider cut and keep the same angle all the way down the log, don't seesaw the mill sideways as that can coats ether mill to wobble and mess up the finish.

HI Bob. Thanks as usual for the advice. Re the slipping, I have to confess to user error on that one. I have two bolts going through heavy duty springs to set the height. However in my haste following the ladder moving I forgot to tension one up one of the four bolts. Alas, won’t make that mistake again.

Re Oiler - I probably should. I built the mill to take up to an 800mm log, but the reality is I have never gone anywhere near that and probably won’t. Could easily have built the mill for a 600mm log without an issue.

The bluntening of the blade was odd. It was about 80 percent through the cut and went blunt very suddenly. Might have picked up some dirt from the side of the log as I snigged it into the cutting site from about a kilometre away with my Ute.

I’d love to ID the timber as it’s very nice. I’ll try get a photo of a live tree from the property when I go back in a fortnight.

Thanks again.

Brendan

The bunt blade could be from silica in the tree too, one I milled up had fine sparks coming out every now and then in one section of the log ad I could see tiny little black dots in the timber after it was milled.
Could the timber be stringybark?

I actually saw some of those sparks Cal. Yep, could be stringybark. There are lots of stringybark on this property. This one looked a little bit finer though. The bark peeled off very easily by hand.

I like the mill. Its so simple its ingenious.

Yeah its a very simple design. I cant take credit though, just copied stuff I saw on the net. I ummed and ahhed about whether to drill through the bar or make the clamp on style arrangement. In the end I drilled through and am happy with that choice. It needs some rubberized grips around those uprights though. The vibes get bad at times.

For your next mill you may wish to consider this locking mechanism.
Instead of just a "line contact" between the locking bolt and the cylindrical mill upright, a slug with a curved face is used to provide full cylindrical surface contact.


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Look at getting some Anti Vibration gloves as they will help to reduce the numbness in your fingers at the end of a cut. I often wear AV gloves at work whilst running chainsaws for opening up fire trails and creating new trails and have at times been on the saw for 5hrs and the gloves make a world of a difference.

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Originally Posted by Wood Collector

Look at getting some Anti Vibration gloves as they will help to reduce the numbness in your fingers at the end of a cut. I often wear AV gloves at work whilst running chainsaws for opening up fire trails and creating new trails and have at times been on the saw for 5hrs and the gloves make a world of a difference.

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The best way to get away from vibe on hands when milling is to use a remote throttle. I got white finger after about 5 hours milling with my 076 so I got AV gloves, Not so bad in winter but I found them very hot at other times. As soon as I got a remote throttle setup the whole vibe thing vanished. I still wear gloves but those thin leather ones with webbed sizes.

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As well as avoiding vibe a remote throttle helps the operator to stand up right and keep their arms closer together reducing stress on shoulders and arms
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It doesn't need to be this fancy - I've used a half closed Zip tie that just slips over the trigger.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobL

It doesn't need to be this fancy - I've used a half closed Zip tie that just slips over the trigger.

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I do this for my whipper snipper. Its *sort* of like a logging mill, but for grass :rolleyes::rolleyes::D:D

Thanks for the tips fellas.

Brendan