Panther mill 2 showed up today, new hyper skip chains too 1-13-14

mmartone · January 03, 2014, 11:12:39 PM

Got my 54" Panther mill today, ups. Put it together at the kitchen table, seems decent, not exactly how I'd do it but looks fine. I'll mount it on my 3120 tomorrow and take a picture, waiting on chains for it so that I can try it out. Guess I need a drip oiler for the roller end of the bar, have to get some parts and build one.

HolmenTree · January 04, 2014, 03:04:30 PM

Looks like a nice solid built mill.
Manual over ride oiler on your 3120? You may not need the drip oiler.

mmartone · January 04, 2014, 06:06:21 PM

Heres a pic of it together.. I have a few small issues that I'm trying to sort out with the mfg.

HolmenTree · January 04, 2014, 06:27:36 PM

You can modify that mill so you can remove the chain without taking the mill off the bar.
Get rid of the lower 2 brackets. Drill and tap one 3/8" hole in the bottom of each upright bracket, drill 2 holes through bar to match upright holes. Bolt bar to mill, good idea to put a stack of washers under the bar tip end bolt head as a spacer to keep the bar tip from contacting the ground.

mmartone · January 04, 2014, 08:20:35 PM

I'm going to weld up a cover for the tip, thats to dangerous imo.. Gotta get it straight and squared up first though.

mmartone · January 13, 2014, 11:30:09 PM

Got my chains today and was surprised at the ripping chain I got. They said it was called Hyper skip and should cut fine, guess I'll try it as soon as it quits raining and things dry up a bit. I also built a little guard for my tip, hoping it might keep someone from getting and injury and also keep my tip out of the dirt.

Its not pretty but it should do, hoping any chips will fall through the expanded metal.

Ianab · January 14, 2014, 12:57:39 AM

That extra skip chain is what's used on the Peterson and Lucas slabbers, and seems to work well. By concentrating the available power on just a few cutters in the wide slab you can keep the feed pressure on and each cutter can take a decent bite into the wood. Otherwise you have a whole heap of cutters, but they are only skimming the surface and making fine dust. But they have to cut through the same amount of fibre each time, so they wear at about the same rate and you then have to sharpen 4 X as many cutters.

Ian

HolmenTree · January 14, 2014, 01:24:00 AM

I like how my full skip .404 on my Alaskan mill cuts. I remember years ago a old sawmiller with a circular blade mill took out every 2nd tooth to increase production.............I never forgot that. ;)

Ianab · January 14, 2014, 01:43:01 AM

Yes, the "less teeth to cut faster" on a circle mill is a trick that works if you are short of engine power. It basically takes 2 or 3 hp per tooth to drive a sawmill blade. (Rule of thumb). So if you have a a 50 tooth blade, and only 50 hp, it wont cut well. You have to slow the feed rate, but each tooth is still having to cut through the same fibres, so you have to slow down even more. Take it back to only 25 cutters, and you can keep the feed rate the same per cutter. Maybe only 1/2 the speed of 50 cutters/100 hp, but much faster than 50 cutters/50 hp.

This is how small circle mills like the swing blades get away with only 12-24 hp. Only 6 or 8 cutters on the blade, so they have that same 2-3 hp per tooth. Sure they can't cut like the 100 hp mills, but each cutter is taking a comparable, and decent, bite so the cutting speed is still good.

Same theory on skip chain when you go over the normal bar length. It's better to keep 1/2 (or 1/4) the number of cutters working properly, rather than have a full complement that's struggling.

Ian

HolmenTree · January 14, 2014, 10:17:14 AM

Thanks for that Ian.
Just to add I have to say with less teeth and more gap between cutters, they will dull faster compared to a blade or chain with more cutters.
Operators have to accept more sharpening time comes with more production.

qbilder · January 14, 2014, 10:26:18 AM

Very neat thread, fellas.

sharkey · January 14, 2014, 03:48:54 PM

Very nice mill MM. I like your tip cover too. Are you planning to use Canola or Vegetable oil in your dripper?

7sleeper · January 14, 2014, 06:05:38 PM

Quote from: mmartone on January 13, 2014, 11:30:09 PM
Got my chains today and was surprised at the ripping chain I got. They said it was called Hyper skip and should cut fine, guess I'll try it as soon as it quits raining and things dry up a bit. I also built a little guard for my tip, hoping it might keep someone from getting and injury and also keep my tip out of the dirt.

Its not pretty but it should do, hoping any chips will fall through the expanded metal.

VERY NICE! Safety is always good!

I have a question, are you going to add an accessory oiler on the top plate of your construction and make a hole so that the oil can drip down on the chain?

7

mmartone · January 14, 2014, 09:22:01 PM

I dont know for sure, that 3120 has an extra oil flo lever on it and I may not need it according to Mr Holmentree, I hope he is right. I just got some sycamore delivered this afternoon, about 34" across with a little butt swell, just right for my new mill.

swampbuggy · January 16, 2014, 12:06:53 AM

"Yes, the "less teeth to cut faster" on a circle mill is a trick that works if you are short of engine power".

I am wondering if this works for band saw teeth too? I know there has been many topics on set but what about tooth spacing? I have to buy a few new blades soon. I currently use 7/8" pitch blades but I ran across some that are 1.1" pitch. I have a 16hp motor on my mill. So, if the theory works out the 1.1" blades should make my mill cut better? Not that I have any real problems with the 7/8" blades but I am asking to learn.

Dan

Ianab · January 16, 2014, 01:24:47 AM

Depends... Do you have to back off the feed when you are sawing wider boards? Or has the mill got enough power to keep up a sensible feed rate. If you have enough power, then less teeth are going to cut slower.

I don't have experience with band mills, and the dynamics of their teeth are a bit different, but the idea works on circle and chainsaw mills.

Ian

shelbycharger400 · January 16, 2014, 05:41:08 PM

How many links between the pair of cutters. On hyper skip chain I'm tired of grinding regular chains.

mmartone · January 16, 2014, 10:00:38 PM

ok... theres a left cutter, right cutter, 12 links, right cutter, left cutter, 12 links, left cutter, right cutter, you get the picture...

mad murdock · January 20, 2014, 02:20:32 PM

that is a hefty skip. I bet it will do very well on the wide cuts. Nice job on the tip guard, BTW 8)

shelbycharger400 · January 20, 2014, 04:28:52 PM

I checked the grind IM using, and it's 14 links, IM running a 36 in bar, it was fairly close to being balanced on all pairs. Grinding reg chain into it takes a long time