Best bar and chain milling combo for new ms880

[antarty86]

Hi all, new here. I've just treated myself to a new ms880 to mill up some wind blown hardwoods I have access to and to hopefully make a few table tops etc I got the saw with the 48" bar and chain in the standard .404. Problem is I'm struggling to find a ripping chain for it? Also is it worth going lo-pro? And what bar and chain would you reccomend? Is it just a matter of changing the drive spocket as sombody on another forum said I wouldn't need to? (Not an arborist forum tho!) lol so thought I'd ask you guys that actually KNOW what you doing:thumbup:

Also can I do it with the standard chain that came with it, just to get feel for it or would that be a total waste of potentially very nice wood?

 

Thanks in advance

Ant

[agg221]

Hi Ant,

 

You could mill with the bar and chain which came with the saw. It will not cut as quickly or give as nice a finish but it will not ruin it.

 

The 880 is best kept with a .404 chain. In theory you can go lo-pro but it is handling a lot of torque so in practice is liable to break the chain.

 

It is worth swapping the bar to something with a sprocket nose as the hard nosed bars take more power from the saw and can heat up on long runs. If you want some ideas, you could look at chainsawbars.co.uk (Rob D's site) which can supply a very wide range of decent bars and several options for ripping chain.

 

What length bar to go for depends on how wide the trees are, and how big a mill you are buying. The 880 will handle the larger sizes but that makes things more expensive and more of a pain to handle for day to day work. A 48" mill doesn't cost much more than the smaller ones so allows you to extend the bar length when you need to. I would look at around a 46" bar to start with - this will allow a maximum cut of about 38" which covers most things.

 

Alec

[antarty86]

Thanks mate, the bar that came with it is the rollomatic which is a sprocket nose I think? The mill, I have made myself to start with and I just built it to fit the 48" bar without pinching the sprocket at the nose. I think it should give me around a 42" cut which should be enough for now hopefully lol would you suggest I need to make an auxiliary oiler fur that length?

Thanks for your reply

Ant

[antarty86]

Also should I remove the dogs? I believe I should avoid sea sawing through the cut so I was planning on taking them off?

Cheers

[Rob D]

There is no need to remove the saw dogs really unless you are desperate for that extra 2"!

 

 

A lot of milling is just doing it, reading about it and above all else a sharp ripping chain (which really is a semi or micro chisel chain filed to 10 degrees).

 

 

Loads of vids here https://www.youtube.com/user/alaskanmilluk/videos and loads of info on arbtalk so I would spend some time browsing.

 

 

[antarty86]

Thanks rob, do you sell a 48" .404 ripping chain?

[agg221]

Thanks rob, do you sell a 48" .404 ripping chain?

 

He does indeed. If you go to Custom chain loops and scroll down the list on the left you get to the .063" gauge, 0.404" pitch chain. Click on this and you will see the options, which include Oregon, Stihl and Granberg ripping options. The number of drive links you need will be stamped on your bar - just enter this number and it will be supplied as a loop.

 

Alec

 

p.s. if you contact tech support on Rob's site you get me anyway

[antarty86]

Also I was thinking that removing the dogs would allow me to put clamp nearer to the power head and take some stress off the bar? But if everybody else manages ok I won't bother lol just that a saw a thread about a cracked bar

Cheers ant

[antarty86]

He does indeed. If you go to Custom chain loops and scroll down the list on the left you get to the .063" gauge, 0.404" pitch chain. Click on this and you will see the options, which include Oregon, Stihl and Granberg ripping options. The number of drive links you need will be stamped on your bar - just enter this number and it will be supplied as a loop.

 

Alec

 

p.s. if you contact tech support on Rob's site you get me anyway

 

Good stuff! I'll be in touch on payday! Lol

[antarty86]

Is there much of a functional difference between the granberg and the Oregon? Apart from price?

Sorry if I should be asking these questions on the website lol