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Chainsaw mill winch?

Started by Brad_bb, May 24, 2019, 07:13:26 PM

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Brad_bb

Ok, after a few days of CSM'ing, I'm thinking about adding a winch to help pull the saw.  The biggest energy drain in chainsaw milling is keeping pressure on the mill with my right hand and arm. 

Granberg has an Alaskan Winch but all the pictures show it with small mills (36").  I have a 56" bar and can cut up to about 50".  Is that little Granberg winch capable of pulling a mill this size?  Anyone tried it?  I have an older Granberg mill circa the late 70's or early 80's.  It has rollers instead of fixed crossbars like the later ones, so I'll have to figure out how to mount the winch.  Besides the Granberg, are there any other alaskan mill winches avaialable out there?


cha
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

doc henderson

I have not tried it, but even if under powered, I would think it would help keep tension on it.  i was just glad to hear you were not going to the local pub to hire someone working there!!!  :)  may actually want a little less pull with that bar size, depending on the drive motor.  
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Ironwood

I would think a winch is a possibility...I think for me, knowing the amount of "push/pull" needed helps determine chain sharpness. Just as a bandmill, not knowing cutting force necessary leads to blade wonder as the blade dulls and you kind of out of touch with pressure required. That said, I think a winch would be a good idea.... although from the see-saw Mark's on tour Catalpa it looks like your fairly "active" to get a faster cut. With a winch that action will be limited. 

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

tlbrooks

I use a 880 with 59 inch bar to mill oak logs. I bought the granberg winch and it works excellent. I will not mill without it . I used it last on my stihl 760 28 inch bar on oak logs and I cant mill without it. granberg has improved it since I got mine with a tension screw . I bought the update kit but I have not received it yet.

Brad_bb

Yes, see-sawing happens when 1)you're getting tired, and 2) when you have a very irregular side surface because the vertical rollers on my mill ride on the side live edge.  So sometimes you have to move the saw head end around knots and then push the other side to catch up.  If you try to stay even when you get to a large knot, it will draw the head into the cut as you roll off the knot.  On the next log, the walnut, the live edge was very uniform with no knots.  When milling that, I kept the bar at a constant angle and no see-sawing.

My saw head is a Stihl 090 that runs very well.  Even so, when the chain is in contact with such a wide area, if you push too hard you can bog down the motor.  You get used to how hard you can push and if you start bogging, you back off on your pressure and let the rpm's come back up.  You want to maintain good rpm's while cutting.  With that said, for everyone not familiar with the 090, it's not a high revving saw like current producing models.  It does have good torque though.  

My chain is sharp.  For example I sawed 3 Catalpa slabs and was wondering, given how much pressure it takes to feed, if possibly it needed sharpening.  So I sharpened the chain that night.  I use the Granberg electric precision fixture.  I've got some experience in the last few years sharpening chains, and I'm confident it was sharp.  There was no difference when I cut the first slab the next day.  I will file the rakers next sharpening.  I do have 4 broken little teeth and one full tooth, but in 177 links, I don't think that's having much affect.  I did order a new back up chain just in case.  I don't want to be in the middle of slabbing and run through metal or something and not be able to put a new chain on and keep going.
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

Brad_bb

Quote from: tlbrooks on May 24, 2019, 10:00:50 PM
I use a 880 with 59 inch bar to mill oak logs. I bought the granberg winch and it works excellent. 
@tlbrooks , That's good to hear.  From a past post, it seems it's important where you mount it in relation to the head and the anchor point towards the helper handle?  Any mill mounting tips?  Do you use the anchor bracket from Granberg that screws on the end of the log?  Do you like it?  
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

tlbrooks

the winch mounts near the power head and anchor point near the bar end on the mill near the outer end. the mount bracket for the end of the log came with the kit. the winch line pulls out and hooks to the end of log bracket  with a carabiner clip. as you mill it pulls the mill thru the log without the need of a helper. the bracket   swivels down out of the saws way when you get to the end of the cut. typical granberg quality that fits the mill well and lightweight. best 100 dollars I spent on the mill. like I said I would not mill  without it. I moved it to my smaller mill last week when milling 18 inch cants that I made with my big csm.

tlbrooks

I did notice you have a older mill. the winch mounts to the newer fixed bars very easy with two bolts. im not sure how you would mount it to your mill. 

Brucer

I haven't seen the Granberg winch. When I was chainsaw milling (2 Wood-Mizers ago) I copied the winch arrangment that Will Malloff showed in his book. It consisted of an old boat winch (free) mounted on a bracket made from flatbar that sat above the top of the log. There were two ropes on the winch that ran down to a pair of pulleys mounted on a wooden crossbar, and then out to the two ends of the crossbar. The crossbar was bolted to the end of the log below the cut. The ropes then went through a pulley on each end of the crossbar and ran down the sides of the log to the CSM. One rope attached to the outer vertical mast on the mill; the other went to a lever mounted on the sawhead. When the sawhead rope went tight, it pulled the lever against the trigger on the sawhead and reved the engine up to full speed.

Cutting went like this: set up the winch; start the saw and cut into the log until the entire CSM was resting on the log/guide; go to the other end and start cranking, slowly at first until the saw was up to speed. Then crank away, pulling the saw toward you.

Mill modified the mill by replacing the guide on the sawhead end with one that was about 12" long and flared out at the front. This would easily guide the mill over knots that were sticking out the side of the log. With an even pull on both sides of the mill, it would just move sideways when it encountered a knot on the side.

It was a little tedious to set up, but worked great once you got the cut started. I'd let the mill idle down every 4 or 5 feet so I could set some kerf wedges to keep the top slab from closing on the backside of the bar.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

quadracutter222

The Malloff book can be found online as a PDF, looks like a cool set up.  Lots of good reference info.

daveagain

Hi Brad-bb
Have you tried raising one end of the log for a bit of gravity assistance? I've cut some pretty big hardwood slabs (1.4m x 4m) with the Alaskan and the slope definitely helps. I have a little 3.3T crane on the truck which makes it easier but where there's a will there's a way.

goose63

This is what I did



 

Makes milling easey
goose
if you find your self in a deep hole stop digging
saw logs all day what do you get lots of lumber and a day older
thank you to all the vets

daveagain


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