Worm drive chainsaw milling attachment

Roland · September 27, 2018, 09:51:27 AM

I've been entertaining the idea ot incorporating this into my milling process.
Making the first rip cut with a 70cc chainsaw and the other 3 sides with the wormdrive. This is to turn the logs into timber ready to mill up at a later date with a bandsaw

Roland · September 27, 2018, 09:55:42 AM

Forgot to mention that the logs are only 15" pine being used for a 1k sq ft cabin build.

Roland · September 27, 2018, 09:59:17 AM

I'm a framing carpenter by trade and use to use the attachment for cutting the plumb cuts on rafters 20 at a time

Hilltop366 · September 27, 2018, 11:55:19 AM

Sounds like you are talking about a worm drive circular saw with a bar and chain?

My first thought is does it have a oiler for the bar and chain.

sawguy21 · September 27, 2018, 12:06:58 PM

I am familiar with worm drive circular saws but have never seen anything like that. An Alaskan mill might be easier.

Hilltop366 · September 27, 2018, 12:15:07 PM

"Prazi beam cutter" type of attachment is what I was thinking Roland was talking about.

sawguy21 · September 27, 2018, 12:21:35 PM

Well, I learn something here every day. ;D

mike_belben · September 27, 2018, 12:48:42 PM

There is no oiler on a prazi beam cutter so the bar probably wont last long.

Debark the logs and pile them off the ground, in a shady spot. Its a challenge to keep them in the breeze enough to prevent mold/mushrooms and out of the sun enough to prevent excessive cracking. But anyhow you can get 3-5 years storage out of this. Chainsaw milling sucks, do it all when the bandsaw comes along.

Roland · September 27, 2018, 12:49:35 PM

Yes sir Hilltop that's it!

Roland · September 27, 2018, 12:51:56 PM

It would be super easy to rig up a gravity fed oiler

Hilltop366 · September 27, 2018, 04:16:02 PM

This may work but I'm sceptical by nature.

I use to have a homemade Chainsaw mill using a 16 hp engine, it's been close to 20 years since I had made it. As dependable as gravity is it was a no go for what I was doing and I ended up using a low pressure bellows fuel pump, the issues were it was hard to control flow to a dependable rate and not being able to get enough oil when it was cold. The fuel pump seem to cure the issues.

Perhaps a lighter weight oil than chain oil will work better.

A issue with sawing cants to re-saw later is the cant may check and twist when drying out causing a loss of usable material making it unsuitable for 2x or boards.

Don P · September 27, 2018, 07:05:54 PM

I've got a prazi on a Milwaukee worm drive, that was the highest amp saw at the time. I'd give the saw one or two logs ripping before the magic smoke gets out and it is turning at something around 1/4 saw speed. Linear link has a manual oiler on theirs if they are still around. I use it for crosscuts between about 6 and 12 inches and for window flares, etc. I did set it up sort of like a router and trammel to hog and then swing an arc for a series of circletop windows in a log house. They certainly have their place but I don't think it'll be much for continuous ripping.

Straight 30 wt is good gravity feed ripping oil.

Roland · September 27, 2018, 08:10:38 PM

Perhaps just spraying it down often with wd40 during the rip cut would suffice

Roland · September 27, 2018, 08:23:29 PM

The idea is to rotate the saws and not have to take off the Alaskan mill and reattach a beam cutting attachement.
I already own the skilsaw and have used the chainsaw attachement for plumb cuts on rafters and it works wonderful, but continuous ripping may reak havoc on the saw. I think the chainsaw attachement will out live the skilsaw if used primarily for ripping.

mike_belben · September 28, 2018, 08:00:07 AM

Chalk line and chainsaw. Forget the prazi.

Small logging operation in the Amazon rainforest - YouTube

mike_belben · September 28, 2018, 08:10:50 AM

This is even better if you can fab a little and have a good drill press and HSS or better bits. Bars can be pretty hard to drill through.

CHAINSAW POCKET MILL - YouTube

Magicman · September 28, 2018, 08:31:22 AM

Quote from: Roland on September 27, 2018, 09:51:27 AMThis is to turn the logs into timber ready to mill up at a later date with a bandsaw

This process is generally discouraged and viewed as a problematic way of storing logs. With those smallish logs your loss could be excessive with twisting and cracking as they dry. Logs are much better stored in log form

Don P · September 28, 2018, 03:16:55 PM

We'll be sawing up some long stored logs tomorrow, a few will go into the firewood pile. I've come to the conclusion that logs are best stored in tree form.

mike_belben · September 28, 2018, 04:56:45 PM

Ive been storing mine on the stump since i got that first bitter sting of reality. A tie check for my "veneer" logs. Ouch.. I cut those down for how much?

Roland · September 29, 2018, 04:28:36 AM

Quote from: Don P on September 28, 2018, 03:16:55 PM
We'll be sawing up some long stored logs tomorrow, a few will go into the firewood pile. I've come to the conclusion that logs are best stored in tree form.

Thx for the that, that's good solid info.

Roland · September 29, 2018, 04:44:00 AM

I'm not so sure I'm going to have the luxury of milling and start const immediately after, so maybe storing in log form first to dry, and then mill and store before const.
If going this route, I'll forget milling with the chainsaw and use a bandsaw mill.
So now I need to get busy with a diy bandsaw.
How does building the band saw mill around a 144" 1 1/4" blade with the info given so far? Using 20" trailer tires and 1" keyed shafts with go-cart hubs, set screw pillar blk bearings, 3.5"main frame const and a 6.5hp predator engine?

Roland · September 29, 2018, 04:50:11 AM

By the way I want to thank everyone for info you shared so far it really does bring up alot of questions to mind.

Roland · September 29, 2018, 04:53:14 AM

After cutting the trees to dry I will seal the ends with lacquer. Leaving the trees in log form for 1yr.

Satamax · September 29, 2018, 07:15:41 AM

Roland,

Don't buy a prazi. I have one and it is plainly worthless. Bar bends etc. Only use i found for it, cutting openings for skylights in roofs.

I don't want to be a doomsayer. But, have you ever built a machine of the size and complexity of a bandsaw mill before. I have tried. I could have succeeded. But, it would have taken me far longer to start sawing.

Best bet, imho. Buy yourself a manual, like a LT15, or something. Get yourself a backhoe, and have a serious go at building your cabin.

I paid 2500€ for a serious piece of machinery. And 550 for the gen set. I already had the crane. Still, took me 2 years to pour the foundations, setup the saw, and find the genset, and repair it.

It all depends what your goal is. I did engineer studies, i have a lathe, mill drill. Fair bit of wrenches, and other tools. But, i have enough mechanics to do to maintain, or improve my equipment. And i have better to do, getting paying jobs. If your goal is fiddling with building a bandsaw mill, of you go. If it's sawing and building, better buy a ready made saw. And try to make a little money on the side with it, to pay for it.

Roland · September 29, 2018, 09:36:06 AM

To me, the backyard bandsaw mill seems very simplistic and almost antiquated.
Keeping it stupid simple but sturdy not to complicate things anymore then needs be.
Making sure everything is square and level.
Plenty of YouTube videos on the diy backyard bandsaw mills.
Anyone with basic carpentry skills can fabricate one.
Or cut the material to length and take to a welder if you don't have one.