Pros and cons of 24" V Mini mill

[Woodworks]

Looking at getting one of the above for an MS 460 with 25" bar.

 

Had a read through of various discussions on both. It sound like the Mini mill is versatile and great in combo with a larger mill. My concerns with the Mini mill are accurate as only guided at one end also limiting if I end up with a bigger saw (not planned at the moment). Once boards are roughed out I can do the sides with workshop band saw which can take 11" under the guides. No particular purpose to milling other than trying to make use of larger butts that were earmarked for firewood.

 

Which is the one to get?

 

Thanks

[Big J]

It won't be accurate on a 25" bar. An 18" maybe, but not 25.

 

I tend to use mine more for accurate cross cutting of beams and lengths of timber - I set up a jig to do this and it's very useful. For vertical milling it's a bit hit and miss I find.

[ucoulddoit]

I have a mini mill but have only used it after first cutting a slab off the top of a log to create a flat face onto which I fix a plank with the the guide rail. I'm not sure how easy it would be to use the mini mill to cut boards from a round log? Another issue is that the depth of cut will be several inches shorter than the bar. From memory, probably 6 to 8 inches shorter. With the small log mill you would only lose about 2 inches, but the recommended max bar length is 20 inches to give an 18 inch width of cut, which coincidently is about the same as the mini mill with a 25 inch bar. I used a small log mill for a couple of years before buying extra pieces to convert it to a 24 inch mill which I use on a 25 inch bar which gives about 19 inches width of cut. I found the small log mill great to use at first on a small chainsaw (14 inch bar!) and later on a larger saw with a 20 inch bar. But I find the 24 inch mill easier to handle and more accurate. From my experience over a few years using a mini mill, a small log mill and a 24 inch mill, I feel the 24 inch mill would be the most useful for the size of saw you already have. Logs which are larger than about 20 inches diameter could be halved by freehand cutting along the length so that the mill could then be used to cut planks from each half.

 

Andrew

[Woodworks]

Thanks chaps.

 

Looks like it's the 24" Alaskan for me