what will cut a lot will cut a little!!!

[farmerjohn]

Hi All,

I have had a old swerber double headed mill with 2x 075's, few reliability issues maxed out in oak, but it has been an awesome start to milling.

i had the opportunity to get my hands on a few logs that are 5ft across at the bottom end with bad access for machines to move the logs as a whole.

sooo, i have decided to buy a double headed mill and a ms880 (i will run my ms650 on the other end) and the other will be sold.

I have bought a 87" bar to give a 72" cut.

MOST of the stuff i will mill with the chainsaw mill will be around 40 to 50" (though who knows whats around the corner, 2 months ago 50" cut was ample)

what are the pros and cons of cutting logs considerably smaller that the mill size.

(anything up to 35" ish i cut on a woodmizer)

has anybody ever bothered buying a smaller bar and chain for a larger mill or is it not really worth it for the 20" ish differance?

thank all

[Big J]

Having run an 84" bar on a double headed mill with two 880s, cutting logs much under capacity is very unpleasant. A lot of chain not buried in wood and I found that it's a stressful endevour for the chain anyway, so they're more likely to snap. Better if it's buried in wood.

 

My best advice would be to keep your old mill as well as having the new one. I used to run a 50" double ended bar too, and that was a much more sensible size. 

 

 

[farmerjohn]

Hi Jonathan,

thanks for the reply.

how are things now you are back down south ?

the other problem with the swerber is that my ms650 would not go on it without removing the chain break handle (not enough clearance between saw and upright on the mill)

ill speak to Rob as i think some of the mills are adjustable to put a smaller bar on.

I can not really justify having 2 seprate mills and 4 saws to run them

 

[Big J]

There is no one solution that will do everything. 

 

My best advice with the chainsaw milling is to cut boards as narrow as possible. The set up performs much better on a narrower cut and on bars 42" and under you completely eliminate bar sag. Better to mill as far as you can go on a narrower throat and then rotate the log (using a winch, or something similar). 

 

Very few customers want full width boards. Most are happy with a book match. 

 

All good down south. Very busy, much more so than I expected to be

[farmerjohn]

Man do I see what you mean about bar sag, I never experienced it with my 50 inch Cannon bar.

There seemed almost 1/4 inch deflection without the power heads on and set at maximum cut.

To reduce the sag we pushed the 2 sides in 5.5" each side and it reduced it drastically. 

Is there any issues with running the mill like this. Apart from if we get a bigger log we need to move the brackets back out.

[billpierce]

Man do I see what you mean about bar sag, I never experienced it with my 50 inch Cannon bar.
There seemed almost 1/4 inch deflection without the power heads on and set at maximum cut.
To reduce the sag we pushed the 2 sides in 5.5" each side and it reduced it drastically. 
Is there any issues with running the mill like this. Apart from if we get a bigger log we need to move the brackets back out.

Dont think that's a problem running the bar clamps set it a bit. Obvs keep an eye in the cut that the saws weight isn't bending down the way.

Also make sure yer bar is supported well when you do the bar clamps up as you can sort of force a bend onto the bar which accentuates as the change the depth gauges.

[farmerjohn]

cheers Bill,
we did notice that and ended up putting 2 wedges facing each other in the middle to support it then tightened the claps onto it.