Very cool way of winching your Alaskan up the log

[Rob D]

I recently sold an old Stihl mill to a customer and he told me how he winches his mills up the log... I've tried winching before and it's ok but can be a bit of a fiddle. The system he set up is cheap and looks very easy to operate. The thing I liked is that the winch is positioned on the mill rather than at the end of the log or similar.

 

 

Using a springy type rope as the line to even the pull i.e. he uses a waterskiing rope, you can position the winch in the right place on top of the mill to give the best point to pull i.e. given log diameter, saw power etc etc.

 

 

I've just bought a 12v winch off ebay for £90-00 that has remote controls and I'm hoping this could be a good way to mechanise chainsaw milling. Plan is to:

 

 

• Introduce mill into log
  
• Put some weight on top of the mill (saw that in Will Maloof's pdf!)
  
• Have a method where you can operate the winch and to start with the throttle is done by hand
  
• Have a way that as the winch tensions it also applies the throttle (may be tricky for someone like me).
  

 

 

But either way I think this winching method is a good one - I may try and get a few winches in and sell these as kits to go on your mill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boat winch as in pics on Stihl mill below Manual Marine Hand Gear Hand Winch 600LBS Boat Trailer Caravan Crane No Cable | eBay

 

 

Remote control winch I bought (but haven't tried yet - may do so today) WINCH 12V ATV BOAT TRAILER 3000 lb WINCHMAX BRAND | eBay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pics of Brian the customer and his set up (which he assures me works fine).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[difflock]

18/24 V cordless drill screwdriver to power a wee winch?

[Rob D]

Yes that would be good as you have a speed control then... would just take a bit of working out how to do it easily and also a few spare batteries.

 

 

 

[Forest2Furniture]

The more I read about this idea the more I like it, however my main concern with the electric winch is how flexible would the control be.

With a hand wound winch, as with pushing the saw you could tell when you'd hit a tricky knot etc but with an electric winch it would just plough on potentially damaging the chain and saw.

[Rob D]

The more I read about this idea the more I like it, however my main concern with the electric winch is how flexible would the control be.

With a hand wound winch, as with pushing the saw you could tell when you'd hit a tricky knot etc but with an electric winch it would just plough on potentially damaging the chain and saw.

 

 

I think you need to keep an eye on what is happening - if you come across a tough bit then the saw will bog down and stop and if you carry on winching you will then do a lot of damage. Hence the remote control that has a push button.

 

 

Also putting some sort of spring in there will help even out the cut - if it gets tougher then spring extends rather than just trying to pull the mill through at the same speed. As it comes to an easier part the spring retracts pulling the mill a bit faster.

 

 

All in theory of course but I reckon it would work.

 

 

[Forest2Furniture]

Anything that reduces the stain of pushing the unit has got to be a good.

 

For the sake of a few quid, think I'll try out the hand winch idea.

 

Just found a website that sells water ski rope by the meter so you can buy the length you need.

[Rob D]

Anything that reduces the stain of pushing the unit has got to be a good.

 

For the sake of a few quid, think I'll try out the hand winch idea.

 

Just found a website that sells water ski rope by the meter so you can buy the length you need.

 

I think you could set a hand winch set up for as little as £20-00 which can't be bad

 

 

[agrimog]

your starting to catch on to the logosol idea, the hand winch on the m series mills gives you a great feel of what the saw is actually doing in the cut and you can adjust your winching speed to suit

[Rob D]

The 12v electric winch is far to fast - is there any easy way to control the speed other than having the wire traverse backwards and forwards 3 or 4 times?

 

 

I've looked at speed controllers for a 12v winch and prob because of the high current they don't seem to be available...

[Forest2Furniture]

Ordered a 600lb hand winch of ebay for £10.5, it arrived yesterday.

Can't mount it in the same way as in the photos shown on here as the handle is to long but that will be a nice challenge to sort out, will post pics when attached.