Homemade Chainsaw Mill

[bella wood]

Big J ,, i looked into similar a few years ago,, problem was getting the speed rite,, i thnk i remember a chainsaw rpm is about 9000 and petrol engine about 2800 rpm ,, fast spinning hydraulic motor 4000rpm from what i remember ,,

 

I did enquire about a dedicated slabber from swing mill dealer and was told tht a chainsaw mill was probs faster as the dedicated slabber didnt have enough rpm to match a chainsaw mill,, they may have changed that now,,

 

The other problem i came across would be some way of attaching the chain drive sprocket in the system due to them having the 7 internal drive teeth that fit chainsaw clutch ,, I have since spotted 16 tooth sprockets (7 internal for chainsaw mounting ) in america for racing chainsaw which are about 3 1/2 inch in diamater and could be used to gear up the speed and also be used as mounting on a plate due to its large diamater,,

but im not sure how they would hold up to continuos use

[Stompy]

 

I like the very flat cut you get with the chainsaw mill, I can handle the sawdust, but the cut speed and the fumes are awful.

 

 

Do you not get a nice flat cut with your bandsaw mill??

 

The reason I was never that keen on woodmizers etc is the blade width or lack of. It seemed that a narrow width band would wander all over the place giving a rippled cut..... all cutting tools if pressed will take the path of least resistance.

 

I recently looked at a bandsaw mill over here, proper industrial piece of kit with proper 5 inch wide bands. Good price (5000 ish euros) compared to woodmizers etc but would be tricky to make them mobile due to weight. Perfect for a stationary mill though.

 

Anyway think I give it some thought and see what I come up with, am pretty set on making one now.

 

Your guys plans with hydraulic motors etc sound awesome, a bit beyond me at the moment but I will watch with interest.

 

Thanks for all the sound advice

[Stompy]

My mill (Logmaster LM2) does cut very well and indeed very flat, especially compared to it's predecessor (Woodmizer LT40). A lot has to do with the wider band (2 inch) and the fact that it's thicker too. I'm a big fan of a four post head too.

 

It's a chicken and the egg situation with a purpose build hydraulic chainsaw mill though. It requires a reasonable amount of work ahead of it to justify construction but the work would only be wisely undertaken with a bigger more powerful chainsaw mill!

 

That LM2 does look a cracking bit of kit, you sound chuffed with it. Do you find you get any band wander on it at all? Trying to work out the optimum band width in relation to accuracy over power needed to drive it. I'm still happier with a 4 inch plus band I think.

 

I'll try to get some pics up of the beasts I'm looking at if your interested?? Bit of machine porn for you sir??

 

I know what your saying about the hydraulic mill, but I can't help thinking that there would be far too much bespoke fabrication, trial and error, and hence cos,t to warrant pursuing it without the idea of recouping any cost through selling a few units..... ie: if there was a market?!?!

[agg221]

I know what your saying about the hydraulic mill, but I can't help thinking that there would be far too much bespoke fabrication, trial and error, and hence cos,t to warrant pursuing it without the idea of recouping any cost through selling a few units..... ie: if there was a market?!?!

 

Not necessarily. If built right there will be a small number of jobs which it can do that nothing else will. This would mean that there was no competition for the work, hence it could attract premium pricing to recoup the costs and then remain highly profitable per outing thereafter. I find this with my chainsaw mounted bandsaw - although I'm sure there must be more of them that have been imported into the UK I'm not aware of them and it secures certain jobs that nobody else can do. It is, in fact, pretty much the reason I started doing any contract milling, not because I wanted to specifically but because it started being offered based on the kit.

 

There is of course the other reason for doing it - to see if it can be done

 

Alec

[Stompy]

 

There is of course the other reason for doing it - to see if it can be done

 

Alec

 

Very true, if only to create another toy for the collection And I'm sure it can.....

 

What is this chainsaw mounted bandsaw you speak of?? got any pics? Sounds interesting

[bella wood]

Managed to find some specs for a hydraulic saw motor on the net for forestry harvester,, they run up to 10000 rpm ,, require 180 -200 litres a min dependent on sprocket size, and min operating pressure of 220 bar to 280 max

 

the saw motor also seems to control the ram which moves saw through the log ,,I wouldnt like to buy one thats for sure ,,anybody got an idea of price ???

 

My big hydraulic power pack for my sawmill is a fordson major industrial engine ,, and the pump produces about 90 litres and about 100 bar ,,

 

i think portability just went out the window as i think it would probs need a 80 hp engine to run a motor like that,,

[agrimog]

hydraulics are a strange thing, to get the high flow rates required to get a motor spinning fast enough for the chainsaw, the pressure goes down, your starting to look at large class 3 pumps, and these need big power to run them, possibly something like a small car diesel engine, with a couple of pumps on the back, one for saw, one for ancillarys, your then into big wieghts and lack of portability. Ive looked into the various hydraulic options and a saw assembly from a harvester head is prohibitivly expensive compared to other options ( precision built plunger type motor with epicyclic gear box and bar mount and tensioner all built into one unit), makes a bandsaw seem cheap

[treequip]

Managed to find some specs for a hydraulic saw motor on the net for forestry harvester,, they run up to 10000 rpm ,, require 180 -200 litres a min dependent on sprocket size, and min operating pressure of 220 bar to 280 max

 

the saw motor also seems to control the ram which moves saw through the log ,,I wouldnt like to buy one thats for sure ,,anybody got an idea of price ???

 

My big hydraulic power pack for my sawmill is a fordson major industrial engine ,, and the pump produces about 90 litres and about 100 bar ,,

 

i think portability just went out the window as i think it would probs need a 80 hp engine to run a motor like that,,

 

The reason that motor uses that amount of oil is because they have that amount available on the carrier, you can do it with less if you use a standard low speed high torque motor and gear/belt drive the sprocket to get a respectable chain speed.

 

With that system you could run a mobile setup on a JCB beaver power pack, or similar

 

It will be slower than the harvester motor option but you have less power available and less in means less out.

[tcfengineering]

We would custom make this kind of thing at the right price. Everything already exists to do the job, if you look at Holtec crosscut saws in commercial sawmills, they have every you describe, but working vertically in a cross cut scenario. I have repaired, installed and commisioned a few of these, and they are a simple thing. Wouldnt be too hard to use this type of technology and make it into a large slabbing mill.

 

Cost is another issue, I expect that it would not be a cheap item, but this would depend on the spec you drew up for it.

[tcfengineering]

Do you envisage that this unit is setup in situ over the log like a lucas mill or would you be bringing the timber to the mill ?