Big Mill, Little Mill...

[Idywool]

Hi Guys,

Just wondered if anyone could add their thoughts to this:

I moved to the West Coast of Scotland 5 years ago and so logs are in plentiful supply. Much of the fast grown Sitka goes for pulping to make paper, but there's loads of Larch available too, ostensibly for firewood. I had 25 tonnes delivered a year ago and it was dry when I got it, so thought it too good to just burn. Looked into getting it milled locally, but this wasn't possible at reasonable cost so I decided to get into milling myself. Read a ton of stuff online and in other places and decided that I'd start small and make my mistakes on a small scale before working up to a "big rig".

Having used chainsaws since I was a teenager, I felt confident in the use of them, but always thought they were underpowered for the job they had to do. Even more so with electric ones, which seemed to me to be glorified toys. So when I saw a 2400W electric one I thought that, with an equivalent power to a small to medium sized petrol saw, it should be a good choice for small scale milling of logs up to say, 9", with a small log mill attachment.

The results? Brilliant! Very smooth cuts with Oregon chains and 16" bar, and made some lovely bench planks for my garden benches, with no planing required. So far, so good.

I screwed it all up when I "buried" the blade in a 15" log. This was just too much and although the motor had ample power, the gearbox gave out. So the question is, has anyone out there managed to make an electrically powered chainsaw mill, can you use a direct drive off the motor shaft, what sort of rpm are you likely to need at the sprocket, etc?

I went the whole hog and got a Stihl Magnum MS880, with a standard 30" bar, coupled to a PantherPro mill made by Kim in Florida, which has proved to be an awesomely powerful bit of kit. I ripped a seawater-logged very wet 18" diameter driftwood Sitka log 5m long, through the centre line, end to end in just 3 minutes with it the other day and the result was 10m of bench good enough to sit on with just the edges chamfered off. Well pleased! The chain was a standard full complement Oregon 10 degree ripper. Fuel used was less than a quarter of a tank, surprisingly. All 122cc of the engine seemed to make light work of it.

So the question is, has anyone used a large saw like this with say, a 59" or 72" bar with a similar milling kit? The construction of the mill is so simple that I reckon I could simply buy some longer 1" square SHS steel and replace the 30" set with it, and presto! I have a bigger milling capacity. What think ye all?

Any musings gratefully received! Thanks all... Ivan

[Big Beech]

welcome Ivan

 

seems like your underway quite nicely with your new tool, and most importantly having some fun, if this is not a capital venture.

 

Running your new 880 would have ample power thru that small 18" softwood, but soon as the numbers in inches rise, things slow quickly. technique, chain sharpness etc. will soon show poor technique.

what logs do you wish to mill at that size would be my first question? don't foret on a granberg mill we (I) (U) loose about 6-7" for the frame. so a log of 53" or 66" is getting serious!!

most modern saws are built for speed with a little grunt, but not a great deal of old school torque.

I ve just recently milled a biggish beech, 32" slabs where Rhob had issues with melting drive bearings on his 088. I went and played with its bigger and older cousin, renowned for its exceptional cutting ability, stihl 090. these boards where only 32" wide x 12ft and its was taking me 11mins per cut and a full tank of fuel and oil on a 137cc machine. so again larger than you 880.

Rod D has more experience with that machine than I for milling so hopefully he will drop by, but either way you will be having a slow day in big timber

 

good luck

simon

Edited August 17, 2013 by Big Beech

[Idywool]

Thanks for this Simon, very helpful. I guess the electric option is not something many have tried then? When you consider the power/torque curves for electric motors vs those for petrol engines, you can't help thinking that electric would be better suited, maximum torque at zero revs, when you most need it...