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My Chainsaw Milling Jig

Started by ManjiSann, October 27, 2019, 04:56:53 PM

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ManjiSann

One of the reasons I wanted to get the bigger chainsaw was so I could mill logs. I finally got around to starting my chainsaw mill. My work space is kinda small and I don't have the luxury of leaving tools set up so there's a lot of time spent moving stuff around otherwise I'd be done with it by now... that's my story and I'm sticking to it  :D :D

I'm using 1" square steel tubing with 1/8" walls. I have 1/16" walled tubing around but I was afraid it was too weak and would crush easily and I just went out in the garage and tried and sure enough if I torque a bolt down too much it crushes pretty easy. I'll use the 1/16 stuff for something else.

I am making the outer rail adjustable as I'm not the best at drilling things exact and I figure this way if/when I replace the bar I don't have to worry about things not fitting if I'm off a bit (sorry, I haven't cleaned it up from welding so the smoke and slag is still there a bit)



It slides fairly easily. I doubt I need two bolts to hold it on each side but I tend to over engineer things and if one is good then two is better..

Here's some of the other parts ready to be cut and welded



The bar with the flat stock welded on it will be cut into a 4" and 6" length with the flat part and hole in the middles (hopefully  :) ) These will be the parts that bolt to the chainsaw bar. I'd imagine most of the forum members know this already but for anyone trying learning, the flat bar stock is to lift the tube off the chainsaw bar so the chain won't hit it. The two short pieces of tube with the 3 nuts welded on will be welded to the two outer bars and hold the height adjusting bars. The two bolts on the same side are to take up any slack due to the 1.25" tube being not as snug a fit with the 1" as I would have liked and then the single bolt will be what is tightened to keep the height where I want it. 

Here's a pic of my AMAZING stick welding skills... I'm still learning how to use my old but awesome miller stick welder (or a stick welder in general) so my welds are far from pretty but they do hold things together so I'll take them 



As it stands I think the smallest cut I can make will be around 1 3/8". I'd like to be able to go smaller but for now this will suit my needs and I can make more verticals as needed if I need a thinner cut.

I'm hoping to work on it a bit more tomorrow before work but if it's too cold out I'll end up working on my basement instead. My ambition goes down in direct proportion to the temperature  :snowball: :snowball:

Brandon 
Poulan Pro 5020AV, Husky 390XP

JoshNZ

Looks good, what kind of saw are you going to run on it?

What's limiting it to that large a cut depth?

ManjiSann

I'm using a Husky 390xp with a 24" bar. I plan to get a 36" bar in the future and will build a new jig to fit the longer bar.

If I weld the vertical tube flush with the bottom of the horizontal bar then the height adjustable tube will hit at the T which is 1" thick plus the 3/8" flat bar piece. I'll try to remember to take a pic tomorrow to explain it better. 

Brandon
Poulan Pro 5020AV, Husky 390XP

JoshNZ

I think that makes sense. There must be a way to mount the female tube next to the cross member of the frame, and high enough that the horizontal section of the bar clamp can draw up to flush with the frame.

I have a few photos of the granberg mill tucked away if you're interested I can dig them up.

JoshNZ

There's one of the photos I mentioned. Pretty intricate design for a chainsaw mill I suppose, but I'm sure you could adapt the idea of the female clamp being beside and above the frame. Something to think about for v2.0 maybe


 

Nebraska


ManjiSann

Got the jig finished today.

Getting ready to weld one of the height adjusters



Tapped the holes to bolt the bar to the jig



Cleaned up the nuts that were welded and put it all together





I need to weld some sort of handle to help push the jig along with but haven't decided if I want a short vertical one or more of a horizontal bar.

If it's not too cold tomorrow I will probably drill the bar and test the fit.  I'm hoping to try and mill later this week. It's not perfectly square but I'm hoping it's close enough to be an improvement over my free hand attempts  ;D

I need to come up with something to help make the first cut flat. I don't have an aluminum ladder as I've seen used. I'm thinking either a frame of 2x4's or I did see a nifty plate that you screw one in on either side and it has grooves to hold a 2x4. I have a fair bit of steel plate I may try and do that with. I'm kinda chomping at the bit to try it out and feel like I'm racing the weather so we will see which I choose to do.

Brandon 
Poulan Pro 5020AV, Husky 390XP

ManjiSann

I drilled the bar and it was pretty easy. I think the bits are titanium nitride coated or something like that, nothing super exciting just the standard Dewalt bit. Had the drill press set at 600 rpm, piece of 1/2" steel bar below it and some pipe cutting oil.



I chose not to drill the sprocket center as 3/8" is just so close to the rivets that I decided it wasn't worth the risk of messing something up. 

Unfortunately I only get about 17" between the vertical bars but I haven't had too many logs that wouldn't have fit that once the logs were squared up. I'm trying to pinch my pennies so I can get a 36" bar and will probably use a different bolt diameter so I can safely drill the sprocket center. If in the mean time I REALLY need a few more inches I can always make a new vertical pole and tap a smaller bolt.

Here's the saw with the jig bolted up! 



I'm just itching to give it a try but the weather has been snow flurries a bit lately. I may brave the cold tomorrow and try it out. For now I think I'll be using some sort of 2x4 set up for the first cut's to square the logs up. 

Brandon 
Poulan Pro 5020AV, Husky 390XP

BUGGUTZ

I built a similar jig a few years back. A couple issues I had. 

With the radius of the log the bolt head would drag in the bark and fight me the whole way. My solution was to use my straight edge as a fence and put a guide above the bar, saw end.

I also had an issue with where my handle was. The bar would want to dive and then wedge in place. I cant remember where I ended up putting the handle. If I can find it I will post a pic.

All in all it worked well. I slabbed a bunch of logs with it! I wish I had made it clamp the bar instead but it got the job done until my Belsaw was finished. I haven't messed with it since.

Yours looks well built. I cant wait to see some boards!
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