Thinking of selling Logosol M8 and buying a Bandsaw

[OliB]

Thanks agrimog,

 

It's my understandig that the pmx chain gives a kerf somewhere between 1/4" and 3/8", where my .404 chains seem to be spot on 3/8s". With my 880 I've plenty of power to support the slightly wider kerf, which seems to clear sawdust more effectively, and requires less sharpening. The over all amount of timber wasted is negligible when you add up a few cuts at the extra kerf of about 1/16" (0.00358 cu meters in my previous example of oak 4"x2"s, or 43p worth of oak even at £120 a cu meter), and the pmx bar and chain are relatively pricey compared to .404, which would also last me longer with less sharpening. But that's a swings and roundabouts debate, as a pmx set up will mill slightly quicker.

 

I've never tried inverting the M8 for oversize logs, it honestly didn't seem worth the effort, so I have an alaskan mill and 6m long ladder for larger dia logs. I did about 25 tone last year of logs that were 3 foot wide and 5m-6.5m long.

 

The M8 works well with 21" and 25" bars, but when I've tried to jump up to my 36" bars, for milling the fluted butts on some cedar I have, I got between 10mm (Sugi bar) and 12mm (Stihl bar) of bar droop, meaning my timber wasn't square. Not a problem with the Alaskan mill, as the bar is clamped at both ends. I know logosol sell a bar end guide/clamp that attaches onto the bar/chain guard, but the chain guard isn't long enough to fit on a 36" bar, and I haven't found this necessary, as the M8 mills perfectly square using a shorter bar that doesn't droop.

 

If I get a band saw,my main contender right now, having failed to find a reasonable second hand mill, is a new norwood hd36. My reasos are that I can buy a stationary manual mill with 90cm log size, and add whatever hydraulic, trailer and power options I want as my budget allows in the future. No one else seems to offer this option, good on you Norwood! Woodmizers LT20B seems a more sturdy mill, but it costs a lot more as you have to buy it with a power head and setworks, which is the last option I would need, and their log house moulder doesn't fit any of their mills but the lt10 or 15 (i've built a small number of log cabins in round logs and one kitt cabin, and need to build more in the future).

 

No one has bitten my hand off to make an offer around the £1800 mark, and considering it cost nearly half again as much as that, I'll probably hang on to it. Its possibly a better tool for squaring smaller oak into gate posts than a band mill, as the chainsaw probably handles the gritty bark better than a bandsaw, so it's not the end of the world!

 

Cheers,

 

Oli

[agrimog]

I take it you have the moulder for the logosol then, its worth keeping the mill for that alone, mill on the bandsaw, then profile/shape on the logosol, okay your limited to 9"on the moulder, but how often are you going to need more than that, if you do your looking at a serious bit of industrial kit that isnt movable. As for bar droop, I regularly use a 36" bar on my M7, and although it looks like it droops, when the cut starts it all seems to sort itself out and things come off just fine, again you've just got to make sure the mill is set up spot on, I'm making the move to a bandmill, but this is being driven by speed of cutting rather than anything else, when working with over 100 5mtr logs for a cabin, the logosol and chainsaw can become a bit tedious, plus the ability to knock off a few specimen boards from short bits always has a bonus

[agrimog]

p.s., if your doing a lot of 10-12 logs for a cabin, try a 16" bar on a 660, thats fast !!!

[OliB]

I had a log moulder briefly, but had to return it. Unfortunately Logosol UK, who I only have good things to say about, hadn't been told by headoffice that the log moulder is designed to only work with the 660. When I bought the M8, Logosol UK said really I would be best with a 660, or 880 saw. The 880 having more power, and therefore hopefully lasting longer, I went for that, as my local dealer gave me a price I couldn't turn down. Obviously I would have gone for a 660 had I known this.

 

This is part of the reason I want to move to bandsawing, as the norwood 36hd can run their log moulder on the same tracks. Cost of the norwood band saw aside (which like you I primarily want for speed plus the potential to add hydraulics in the future if budget allows), a norwood moulder is not drastically more expensive than the combined price of the M8 log moulder and a new 660.

 

I've never milled the logs for a kit log cabin, just used a flat pack some years ago. The other log cabins weren't moulded logs, but large WRC logs in the round up to 18" diamater.

 

With regards to a 36" baron the M8, I can't get it square. I take your point that when the saw is running the bar droop is less noticeable, but I can't get square. I don't worry about this any more, as I've got an Alaskan mill for the larger logs that I couldn't get on the M8 anyway, and with a 25" bar I can mill anything that will fit of the M8, even if I need to knock off some fluted butts with another saw, which takes no time.

 

Oli

[OliB]

p.s. I've never had a 36" baron! That should have read a 36" bar on the M8!

[Ganit]

Im interested to know if you are still looking to sell your M8?

[OliB]

Sorry Ganit, it's gone.

 

Ended up ordering a woodmizer lt40 to replace it, should be here soon! I um'd and ar'd about it for ages, but I'm saving equivalent to 2/3rds the price of the mill by milling timber for my new house, so it's the only opportunity I'm going to get! Plus woodmizer did a really good offer at the time, which saved another pile of cash.

 

I looked at loads of other mills, and a few looked awesome, but cost more than a woodmizer lt40 to get the same features. Think (hope?) I'll be very happy with it!

[bighillman]

Hi. Is your M8 still available? Thanks.

[bighillman]

Sorry, read the thread properly and realise it's gone.

[Steve Bullman]

1 hour ago, bighillman said:

Sorry, read the thread properly and realise it's gone.

Yep, bit of an old thread this one