# 42" Chainsaw mill Build



## Clay3063

After waiting literally months for something or another to come through on several options that sort of presented themselves to me for milling my own timber I have finally decided that if you want something done sometimes you just got to build it yourself.
After weighing the pros and cons and even more than that the costs of building vs purchasing a bandsaw mill I have decided that the best route to owning a decent bandsaw mill is to purchase one. Were it not for the cost of bandwheels and the various assorted other specialty items needed to build a good BS mill it would be cheaper to build. But given the cost of those specialty items I am going to wait until I have enough money to buy one rather than build one.
That still leaves me with no way to mill any lumber. So I started looking at a cheaper alternative, namely a chainsaw mill. After spending countless hours on the internet researching, watching videos, etc I have decided that CS mills can run the price gamut almost as well as the BS mills. IE, you can spend a bunch of money on one if you're not careful. I thought about an Alaskan mill or a Granburg mill but decided that my back just could not take the constant abuse of pushing a CS bar and blade through 24+ inches of 10-20 foot logs. So that left me with picking a larger mill using a carriage similar to a BS mill, powered by a 4 cycle engine.
That's what I have decided to do. And this thread is going to be a progression of build pictures in order to share what I am doing with others and maybe inspire others to build their own and also to solicit advice from those who have already built something similar.
Before I continue with this thread I should mention that I actually build a chainsaw powered mill using a 50cc Poulan chainsaw about 15 years ago. It was not a bad effort and actually worked fairly well. The biggest drawback was using an under powered saw trying to cut through some fairly large mesquite logs. The other drawback was the amount of waste made by the much larger kerf of a chainsaw blade vs a bandsaw blade. I took that into consideration in the build I am about to start now. I figure given the amount of timber I have available at this point I can afford a little more man glitter production than I could have 15 yrs ago so even though I hate to waste good lumber. Necessity rules the day and I am thus going to start on this project tomorrow, Lord willing and the creeks don't rise.
Actually I started today and even took a couple of pictures but I will post them later when I post some of the others. After all, if you've seen one stick of squaretubing or angle iron, you've pretty much seen them all and that's all these pictures are anyway.
(BTW, Admins if this isn't the right spot for this build sequence feel free to put it where it goes.)
So without any further ado...
Day 1:
Late last night I got online and ordered a 42" Oregon Pro Bar and a 25' roll of 10* ripping chain. The size of the chain is *WoodlandPRO 25' Ripping Chain Reel (33RP-25R). *I then ordered two 7 spline 8 tooth drive sprockets. One will be used as a spare. Then I ordered two 1" pillow block bearings and four 1" locking stop collars and a 24" x 1" drive rod. That should take care of the cutting head assembly with the exception of parts I will have to fab to hold it all in place.

Day 2: I got up early this morning and drew a couple of sketches of what I am looking for and the general dimensions of the carriage. Once the carriage is built I will build the track frame to fit. From there I called my metal distributor and ordered 4 joints of 1/8 x 1 1/2" sq tubing, 1 joint of 3/16" x 2" sq tubing and 2 joints of 1/4" x 2" x 3" Angle iron. That should be sufficient to build both the carriage and the track frame and track. Mary and I drove to the mom and pop metal supply out in the country about 35 miles from here and picked that order up this after noon. Then I got online and ordered 4 v groove track wheels. This is another one of those specialty item that they charge and arm and a leg for. SMH. 26 bucks each for a cast iron single bearing 3" diameter wheel. We went to my youngest nephews birthday party and called it a day. 
Tomorrow we will head out to the shop and start cutting metal for this build. Hopefully I may even get to assemble some of it before we have to quit at noon to take care of other business. We shall see. I hope to post some pics tomorrow evening. 
Until then, Shalom - Clay

BTW, one further thing. I have one for sure power option and possibly a better second option to drive this 42" blade through all this timber we have stacked up. The for sure power unit is a 13 hp briggs and stratton. The second possible option is an V-Twin Briggs in the 22 hp range. If I can get my hands on that one, that is the route I am going to use. Otherwise, the 13 hp is already in my possession and is just a matter of removing it from the lawnmower frame, tuning it back up and installing it on the mill.

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## The100road




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## woodtickgreg




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## ripjack13




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## Sprung




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## Clay3063

Day 3: Well CRAP! 

Keep chewing your popcorn. Two jobs came in to be done before noon. We knew it was going to be a short day. What we didn't know was that Dad was going to need a piece fabricated for the new old ussed lawnmower deck he bought for their yard tractor so that mom could mow the yard before the rain sets in a little later. We also had to build a watering system for a neighbor who has chicks coming in either this afternoon or tomorrow. Chicks gotta have water and momma's got to mow the grass. This afternoon we will be meeting with some others from our church and giving watermelon slices to all the folks who will gather downtown for the annual June summer music festival. So today is done. And the sawmill isn't. Blah Blah Blah. 

TOMORROW!

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## Lou Currier



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## woodtickgreg

All in all it still sounds like it was a good day.

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## Clay3063

End of day 3: 

Every summer for the last three years our church has iced down a cattle trough full of watermelons and then taken them down to the square and served ice cold slices to any and everyone who shows up down at the summer concert series that is hosted by the city in the month of June. Tonight was no exception. We iced em down, sliced them up and gave to any and everyone willing to stop and say hi. Now we're back home at the little house on wheels in the woods and almost ready to turn in. Tomorrow should be a good day. Lord willing. 

One thing that did happen towards the mill. We have procured an 18 hp V-twin B&S engine. I'll need to tear down the carb and clean it up but it's in good shape with not a lot of hours on it. That should power through anything we put on the mill. Tomorrow we cut and weld. Pics coming soon.

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## Don Ratcliff



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## steve bellinger




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## Clay3063

Ok Boys and girls I told the wife to take some pics with my phone as we progressed this morning. And we did progress quite a bit. The main carriage is built. The motor / saw carriage is built and welded to the main frame. All that lacks now is the nit pickin parts and small stuff. I am waiting on those parts to be delivered. Should start arriving Tuesday. Once I get the engine I'll know how high to raise the mounting plate on the sliding motor mounts. The bar attachment pieces will be fabbed once the bar gets here. I got an email yesterday that said the stinking ripping chain is on backorder with Baileys. Should be back in stock and shipped around the 6-9th. We'll see. The pillow block bearing and drive shaft and pulleys and chain drive sprocket will all get mounted too. Then the winch to crank it up and down, battery mount, fuel cell, oiler and oil tank, etc etc etc. 
So, as I said, I told the wife to take some pictures. So she did. Enjoy. Feel free to ask any questions.

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## Clay3063



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## Clay3063

This last picture is where we stopped today at lunch. I've got a premarital counseling appointment with a couple from church this afternoon so we had to quit for today. The mail man came at his usual 1 pm time and brought stop collars for the drive shaft and the carriage wheels. Getting closer. Each hole, each weld, each piece puts us that much closer to making some man glitter. I'm pleased. I'd of been ore pleased if I hadn't be interrupted yesterday and could have gotten all this done then. Oh well. We'll see what happens next week. Shalom - Clay

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## Clay3063

Got to thinking maybe I aught to explain the pics a little bit. First pic, metal on the trailer. Ha! After that the build. First part we worked on the main carriage. I used 1 1/2" x 1/8" sq tubing for the main frame. It's strong enough to support everything we are going to put on here and still maintain pretty solid rigidity. The slides are 2" x 3/16" sq tubing and the bottom rail on the carriage is also 2 x 3/16" sq tubing. We built the sides first. Then turn them upside down to weld the top on. Once I was satisfied with it being square I welded it all in place. The second part of the build is the engine tray. It will ride up and down the main carriage via one 12" piece of 2" square tubing on each leg of the main carriage. The overall height of the carriage as it is right now is 5' 2" tall. It is 50" wide. 28" deep w the footing (2" sq tubing) being 36" long. I centered the frame on the footing. The 3" carriage wheels will mount on each end of the feet and ride a 2" x 3" x 1/4" angle iron track. The track will be oriented with the 2" side upright and the 3" side laying flat. I haven't decided yet what I am going to use for bunk and won't know for sure until I get the motor head package finished. The track will be the last thing we build and the dimensions on it will be dependent upon the finished motor carriage. I intend to build a trailer at some point with a removable axle assembly and 6-8 screw jacks for leveling and stability.
The purpose of this build is two fold. #1 - It is going to get us milling and making lumber and thus, hopefully create some revenue by which we can purchase a bandsaw mill. #2 - The second purpose of this build is to produce the ability to slab larger logs than we would ever be able to mill on most bandsaw mills we could buy. With the 42" bar I suspect we will have 38-40" slabbing capacity. That is going to handle all but the largest logs we could come across in our neck of the woods. If we find anything larger, the carriage has an inside width measurement of 47". I can always buy a larger bar and thus increase our cutting capacity by another 6-7 inches. In reality however, I don't see that need arising. If it does, I'll probably just build a bigger mill. But for now, I think 38" cutting capacity is more than sufficient for our needs.

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## Clay3063

Day 5 and 6 of the build have been spent pretty much either in bed sleeping or sitting at the dining room table wishing I was outside. I've got some kind of crud. Headache deluxe. Nausea. Took two Tylenol with Codeine last night about an hour before I went to bed. Dulled the headache but didn't do much for the nausea but add to it. Spent most of the night scratching like I was having DTs or something. Finally got to sleep about 5 this morning only to be awakened twice. Once by the wife around 5:30 to see if I felt up to going to our Tuesday morning prayer meeting. Second time by my nephew who had come over to use my hydraulic press so that he could put new u-joints in the drive shaft on his truck. Now I am up I guess for a while. Feeling like 300 pounds of hammered crap stuffed into a 50 pound tator sack. 

In other news, I ordered another 25' roll of ripping chain from another source because the order from Bailey's won't get shipped until the 16th. I ain't got time to be sick nor wait on chain. The track rollers arrived 3 days after I ordered them and are sitting on the floor of the camper beside my seat. The oregon bar / chain combo I ordered from bailey's should be in today. The chain is a regular crosscut chain and I will have to regrind it to the 10-15 degrees required of a ripping chain. The pillow block bearings and driveshaft I ordered from Amazon should be here today as well. Still waiting on the engine that my buddy is providing for the build. (He has timber he wants to mill as well.) 

So, if I can get over this general feeling like I've been hit by a truck, I'll get out there and get this thing built. Until then... enjoy your popcorn boys. It's always something.

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## Tony

Get to feeling better!

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## Clay3063

Elvissssss has.... er Santa Claus has left the building!!!! 

And in his wake he left a 42" Oregon Chainsaw Bar (I've only ever seen pictures of chainsaw bars this big. Now I own one!) and 42" skip tooth chain (I'll have to file it down to 10 degrees for it to be any count at ripping), one 24" x 1" slick drive shaft, two 1" pillow block bearings, 2 eight tooth floating drive sprockets, and a replacement valve for the RV style toilet in the little house on wheels in the woods. (We've been filling a 3 pound coffee can with water to flush the toilet for the last month or so. It worked so I figured, Hey! No use in wasting money on toilet parts when I could spend it on chainsaw mill parts and other various woodworking items and accessories. That didn't go over so well with the help so I went ahead and indulged her desires too. So now we have indoor plumbing again.)

Now, if I can shake this bug I'll go outside and start on finishing the build. WE ARE SOOOO CLOSE!

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## woodtickgreg

I would start at about 15 or 16 degrees before I went to 10 on that chain. !0 just seems to make to much fine dust for me and seems to dull quicker. I like 16 degrees for my chainsaw mill.

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## Clay3063

Day 7.... Wednesday. I don't remember. I did teach the adult Bible Class in the pm. And I had to go borrow a cargo trailer for a fellow minister who needs it to haul a bunch of luggage for teens for camp. That killed the morning. Still fought a headache most all day. Blah Blah Blah.


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## Clay3063

Day 8... Thursday. Today. Better day. Headache is gone. Stuff arrived Tuesday afternoon. More stuff arrived yesterday. Bought some more stuff yesterday. Bought some more stuff today. Then I put the carriage wheels on. Wasn't hard. Just took some figuring. Using things for purposes other than they were designed for requires what my ole daddy used to call Southern Engineering. Yesterday, I could not spell engineer. Today I are one.
Then I mounted the hand crank winch, pulleys, etc for the lift system. Works pretty good. But not good enough. Kept wanting to hang up a little bit on the ride up. I figured there was too much side pull from the pulley not being directly below the winch so I cut that pulley off and welded it to a piece 2 x 2 angle iron which put it directly below the winch. Then it worked better. Didn't want to slide down very well but I figure by the time I put the engine, bar, chain, drive shaft, and all the other stuff on the engine mount frame it will slide more freely. At least that is what I figured after I pushed down on it and it did what it was supposed to do. That carried me through half the afternoon. Mary has a cousin who has a mill and metal lathe. I am going to carry the drive shaft over to his place tonight or tomorrow and turn the shaft down a bit on one end to mount the chain drive sprocket and then use the mill to cut a keyway for the drive pulley. Borrowing his stuff would be easier than trying to dig mine out of the barn. Now I have to prepare for a premarital counseling class for a couple from church. 
Shalom - Clay

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## woodtickgreg

Hey, don't beat yourself up. It happens when it happens. I never seem to get the time to do things when I want to either.

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## woodtickgreg

Looking good and it's coming along nicely. Hey if you need some hope plastic blocks for anything I have a bunch in 2 x 4 x 6 and 2x6x6 plastic sliding on steel is always a good thing. You can cut and machine this stuff just like wood.

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## woodtickgreg

P.S. If I was giving the pre marital counseling class there would be lots of time to work, I would just tell em don't do it!!!

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## Ralph Muhs

Just a suggestion. It seems you are building a mill similar to my mill. You might want to put some angle braces on the frame. With my mill, I get a little movement left and right as I push through the sawing process. There is a natural tendency for the frame to want to lean right as the band saw blade pulls to the left. It kind of wants to move back and forth, especially when I hit a dense knot or if sawing a large log. A dull blade causes it too. I think an angled brace would help since there is a little flexing of the frame.

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> Looking good and it's coming along nicely. Hey if you need some hope plastic blocks for anything I have a bunch in 2 x 4 x 6 and 2x6x6 plastic sliding on steel is always a good thing. You can cut and machine this stuff just like wood.



I may have to take you up on that. I kind of wish I had done something a little different on the sliding part of this thing. We'll see how this works. Fella I copied this design from seems to be doing pretty good with his. His is a little smaller and only has a 36" bar with a 10hp Sears Craftsman engine. Mine is using a 42" bar and almost twice the hp as his. We'll see.

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## Clay3063

Ralph Muhs said:


> Just a suggestion. It seems you are building a mill similar to my mill. You might want to put some angle braces on the frame. With my mill, I get a little movement left and right as I push through the sawing process. There is a natural tendency for the frame to want to lean right as the band saw blade pulls to the left. It kind of wants to move back and forth, especially when I hit a dense knot or if sawing a large log. A dull blade causes it too. I think an angled brace would help since there is a little flexing of the frame.



I've considered that. May do it yet for the very reasons you mention. My only concern is cutting down on the total amount of vertical height. I should get around 38-40 inches of horizontal cutting capacity and around 40-45 inches of height. We'll see. I am going to add corner bracing horizontally on the top of the carriage frame. I just needed to make sure I had good travel up and down before I welded anything too solid. 

Thanks for the input.


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## Clay3063

Ralph Muhs said:


> Just a suggestion. It seems you are building a mill similar to my mill. You might want to put some angle braces on the frame. With my mill, I get a little movement left and right as I push through the sawing process. There is a natural tendency for the frame to want to lean right as the band saw blade pulls to the left. It kind of wants to move back and forth, especially when I hit a dense knot or if sawing a large log. A dull blade causes it too. I think an angled brace would help since there is a little flexing of the frame.



I am going to be adding at least two locking dogs on the engine frame slides so that I can lock the whole thing in solid before each cut. That may take some of the play out of it. Again, it's going to be trial and error. So any and all input and advice is appreciated. Thanks again.


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## Clay3063

I had really hoped and planned on finishing this thing last week. But... things always come up that demand attention first. And now that window of opportunity has come and gone and the next three weeks are full of other planned stuff. Grandson is here for VBS at church this week through Wed. Thursday and Friday I will be in North Texas to speak to a large group of teens at Lake Cisco Christian Camp on Friday night. I'll drive home on Sat. and preach on Sunday, eat lunch with my parents on Father's day and then head the nose of the truck back north to a full week at church camp with another group of teens. I'll drive back home the following sat. and preach on Sunday then the wife and I are headed to Tennessee. Our destination is Nashville to attend a lectureship at David Lipscomb University through that Friday. Then we head back west at a leisurely pace to be home sometime on or around the 4th. After that, I should be more inclined and able to finish this build. I've waited this long to mill these timbers, another 3 weeks isn't going to hurt anything... I hope.

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## Mike Hill

Clay3063 said:


> Tennessee. Our destination is Nashville to attend a lectureship at David Lipscomb University



Well polish my brass - that's my neck-of-the-woods.

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## Clay3063

Mike Hill said:


> Well polish my brass - that's my neck-of-the-woods.



Uh... Yeh. But you can polish your own brass my friend. LOL. We're gonna be passing through several places where people live that we have made friends with via the internet and FB over the last few years. You actually live in Nashville?


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## Mike Hill

Clay3063 said:


> Uh... Yeh. But you can polish your own brass my friend. LOL. We're gonna be passing through several places where people live that we have made friends with via the internet and FB over the last few years. You actually live in Nashville?


Yep, like 3 or 4 blocks from Lipscomb.

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## woodtickgreg

These things you do for others is a good thing, it all comes back to you in many ways. Very cool that you do this for the kids and others.

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## Schroedc

Way cool, one thing to consider, my hud-son mill is similar in how the head moves up and down, add some grease fittings to the slides, you can hit a pump or two from your grease gun and stuff will slide up and down without issue

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## Clay3063

Schroedc said:


> Way cool, one thing to consider, my hud-son mill is similar in how the head moves up and down, add some grease fittings to the slides, you can hit a pump or two from your grease gun and stuff will slide up and down without issue


Great idea. I will definitely being doing that.


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## NeilYeag

Great info, Clay I got to ask pardon me. Did you put on a brand new pair of coveralls for the first few glamour pics???


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## Clay3063

NeilYeag said:


> Great info, Clay I got to ask pardon me. Did you put on a brand new pair of coveralls for the first few glamour pics???



Well of course. I am trying to improve my image. Publicist seems to think its a good idea that if I am going to continue to live like a backwoods redneck that I at least look like a respectable back woods redneck.

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## Clay3063

NeilYeag said:


> Great info, Clay I got to ask pardon me. Did you put on a brand new pair of coveralls for the first few glamour pics???


BTW, they are "overalls", not "coveralls". There is a difference. Seriously.

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## Tony

Clay3063 said:


> BTW, they are "overalls", not "coveralls". There is a difference. Seriously.



City folk........

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## Wilson's Woodworking



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## Mike Hill

He's been traveling!

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## Clay3063

After a very late start this week and a slow start this morning I have made some progress. Before I could do anything on the mill however I had to pick black-eyed peas out of the "Big Garden" up at mom and dad's house. And a few more tomatoes. Then I came back and got started. 

It took a while drilling these holes. I was stepping my way up to 1/2 and the drill I started out using is a 3/8 chuck. No problem if you got drill bits to fit. And some of which I do. But then I didn't and I found out that the wife had seen my 1/2 dewalt drill in the storage unit and decided it was in the way and put it in a tote somewhere and now can't remember which one. Of course she is out of town with the oldest child helping them pack to move and was no help in finding the "put up" drill. So I made do after reminding her that storing tools that are frequently used isn't a good idea. SMH. Women. Can't.... well never mind. I can't complain. She's better than most. And feeds me regular so there's that. 

Anyway. I welded the 8 tooth chain sprocket onto the end of the drive shaft. (I can't believe how close I got it to true after only eye-balling it in place and then holding it with a magnetic corner clamp. It's almost perfect!) Then after much ado, I finally got all of the holes drilled for the pillow blocks and installed them and then the drive shaft. I will wait until later to cut the shaft to length. Next up is to install the bar and it's various assorted attachment points, etc.

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## Clay3063

Having a hard time getting pictures to upload. Gonna try again.


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## Clay3063

Trying one more time with pics

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## Clay3063

Came in at lunch to eat and post the first pics of the day. Went back out for a couple hours determined to get the bar mounted before it got too hot. And I got it just in time. LOL. It's hotter'n blue blazes outside right now. I think I am done for the day. But at least I got the bar mounted. 

Next step will be to build a bar support for the opposite side. I am going to make it adjustable until I know it is cutting square. Then I may tack weld it solid. We'll see. The far end bar support (nose support) will be 1 1/4" square tubing that will slide within a 1 1/2" square tubing. It will have clamps for the bar similar to those used on the Alaskan style mills. After all is said and done I should have a maximum cut capacity of 38 1/2 inch wide and around 42 inches high. We'll see once I have it mounted on the track. This is a 42" bar. As such I am contemplating using an oiling system on each end. The guy I am copying from uses an oiling system on the nose sprocket only but his bar is only 36" long. Again, we'll see more as I progress. 

The hard part is done now. Everything else should be just a matter of mounting the various parts. I bought enough chain to makeup 6 ripping chains. And the bar came with a cross cut chain that I will probably grind to a 10-15 degree bevel and use it as a ripping chain as well. Anyway, here it is for the day. I'm done. Time to fill up the Hillbilly Hot tub and go take a soak. Might even have to open a bottle of sangria to go with it. On ice of course. 

Here's the final pics of the day

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## CWS

Awesome!

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## Lou Currier

Looking good

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## Clay3063

Had a rough night last night. Up at about 1:30 and didn't get back to sleep until almost 3. Needless to say I slept in a little late. Got up about 9 and ate my liquid breakfast (peanut butter banana smoothie) and headed out to the shop. I had cut all the parts for the bar nose support before quitting for the day yesterday. All I needed was to drill holes for bolts, weld a few things together and then attach it to the frame. I did that this morning before stopping for lunch break.

The plan this afternoon is to finish the engine mount and attach the belt tension springs and mechanisms. Then start on the track. The only thing I lack as far as parts is the engine and leveling jacks for the track system. The engine is being worked over by the guy who is donating it to the build. In return he gets to mill his wood on the machine when we get it finished. Sent pictures of the build yesterday to my brother in law (sister's husband) and he informed me that he wished I'd hurry up and get it done as he has a big mesquite he wants milled. "Dude, I've got 50 plus logs ahead of you but if you got cash I am pretty sure I can bump you to the head of the list". LOL.

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## Wilson's Woodworking

Can't wait to see the power unit that you are using to drive this bad boy.

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## Clay3063

Wilson's Woodworking said:


> Can't wait to see the power unit that you are using to drive this bad boy.



The plan Danny is to put a v-twin Briggs on it. I can't remember for sure but I think it's either an 18 or 22 hp. The one I've been designing this thing after uses a 12 hp and cuts pretty quick. I figure 18-22 hp should do even better. Again, we'll see.

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## Clay3063

Got the Engine Mounting plate and tensioning springs on. I need an engine!!! LOL. But the engine guy is in Tennessee at the moment. Guess it's going to be next week. We'll see. The engine mount slides very easily across the engine carriage frame. And the engine carriage frame slides fairly well up and down until the last few inches in the upper travel. That's fine as well. I will be adding bracing both vertically and horizontally in the upper carriage frame so the engine carriage is going to be limited to only within 9" of the top. That gives 39" of total height cutting capacity.

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## Clay3063

One thing I know for sure I am going to be changing sometime in the near future is the lift system. That winch is a novel idea and actually works ok. But there is a certain amount of leveling difference that you have to pay attention to when changing the height or you'll get an uneven cut. I am going to be purchasing some ACME screw rod and nuts and sprockets and chains to raise the thing evenly across the width of the carriage sometime in the near future. For now however I am going to let it be and just use it once I get it finished.

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## Lou Currier

Getting excited

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## Clay3063

Lou Currier said:


> Getting excited


Me and you both!!!

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## woodtickgreg

This is an awesome build. The only thing I might have done different would have been not welding the drive sprocket on. I still have that plastic if you want to try some for the carriage/head guides.

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> This is an awesome build. The only thing I might have done different would have been not welding the drive sprocket on. I still have that plastic if you want to try some for the carriage/head guides.



Yes Greg. I almost didn't weld the sprocket on. Hard to do that and get it centered and square. Had I not been able to get it as close as I did I wouldn't have welded it. But my metal lathe is buried deep in the back of the barn under a ton of other stuff and since I really don't have any place to put it and keep it semi out of the weather I just did it this way. One of the projects we hope to do with the mill is to build a two new shops. One a metal shop and the other a wood shop. Of course the wife needs a better house then this travel trailer to live in so that is first. 

Had I had access to my lathe I would have turned the drive shaft down to fit the sprocket. But alas, it is what it is. 

As far as the plastic you mention, I am not sure how I could incorporate it into this build. I thought about it after you mentioned it and I can't visualize how to make it work since I had already built the engine carriage. Ideas? How much are you asking for it?


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## woodtickgreg

Oh I understand the whole process of I need to do this before I can do that, I juggle that every day!! What I was thinking with the plastic was pads that would slide along the columns. It would involve making new guides to screw or bolt the plastic to, but it would eliminate the binding. I have found that projects like this kind of evolve, what we think will work we find out sometimes doesn't. 
Then we make design changes as we go. I know the engine carriage is already built, but if it continues to hang up and bind cut the guides off and redesign them. I was thinking of supporting the column or post on 4 sides with plastic guides. It could even be 2 upper guides and 2 lower guides, that would still support it on all 4 sides. You could maybe even slot the mounts so there could be some adjustment to them to take up slack. The mounts could be made of angle iron with 2 bolts to mount each one. Just an idea if what you have causes you trouble. The plastic I have can be cut and machined just like wood. Some machinist even use it for tryouts.

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## woodtickgreg

As a thought, what I see in the pics of the motor carriage is that it is supported on one side upper and lower, basicly 4 points, and only 2 points on the other side. That could be why it is binding, it's not equal. If you do decide to re do the guides I would cut off the square sleeves and start over. Just a thought.
I think what you have done here is great! Not criticizing you, just my thoughts is all.
Edit: plus everything will change once the weight of the motor is mounted.

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## rocky1

Plus everything is subject to change once you add torque from the motor and torque from the chain running on the bar. 

How are you going to lock all of this down so wood grain/weight of the slab/whatever doesn't cause it to wander while sawing Clay?

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## Clay3063

rocky1 said:


> Plus everything is subject to change once you add torque from the motor and torque from the chain running on the bar.
> 
> How are you going to lock all of this down so wood grain/weight of the slab/whatever doesn't cause it to wander while sawing Clay?



Rocky I am in the process of thinking through and mentally engineering a couple of locking dogs for the engine carriage and then I'll build stops and dogs for the track that the logs sit on.

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## Clay3063

Made a little progress today. After spinning our wheels for most of the morning searching for a machine shop in our area capable of cutting a key way in the jack shaft we finally found one in Sequin, TX. So we drove the 35 miles to Seguin and paid 28 bucks and some change to have a 6" x 1/4" keyway cut. Dude busted a perfectly good HSS endmill trying to cut it the first time. So he swapped over to a carbide bit and even then it was a chore. Big bridgeport milling machine and my little 1" hardened steel jackshaft almost broke the second mill bit. Hmmm. Then we tried to cut it down to size with his big band saw. Didn't scratch it. He looked at me and asked, "What kind of steel is this?" To which I replied, "I dunno. Got it cheap off of Amazon. So I guess it's cheap steel." To which he just groaned. Couldn't cut it to length so I told him I'd just do it myself on the chopsaw. 

Anyway, got home, installed the shaft and bushings. Then I cut and spliced a 135 drive link rip chain and installed it on the bar and shaft. Then we cut a hole for the drive pulley to fit through on the engine mount. Then we found that with the electric clutch that the pulley sat too low in the carriage and had to add two more pieces of 1 1/2" square tubing to get the right height for the engine pulley. Mounted the engine and then leveled the blade and bar to within eyeball specs and called it a day. Tomorrow we will install the belt, fuel tank, oil tank, battery holder, ignition / instrument panel and hopefully fire this puppy up. Engine size is an 18 hp B&S Vanguard. I think it should do just fine driving the 42 inch bar and chain. All in all I am liking what I am seeing as this little build progresses. I am hopeful to mill some wood by the weekend.

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## woodtickgreg

Does the carriage go up and down better now with the weight of the engine on it?


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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> Does the carriage go up and down better now with the weight of the engine on it?


Yes sir. It does.

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## Clay3063

It's the nitpickin details of getting this engine going that has me a little frazzled today. My buddy Don was unavailable so Mary helped me remove the wiring harness and various switches and controls from the donor riding mower. Then I pulled the electronic float solenoid from the carb bowl and got it ungummed and hopefully working today. I hate the way alcohol ruins everything it touches. Anyway, got the float solenoid put back on, carb re-installed, then welded the control panel on the back side of the carriage. The ignition solenoid was fried. So that's going to be replaced tomorrow and then we'll mount the gas tank, oil tank and associated lines and Lord willing have the engine running in the next day or so. I am not going to build the track system until I get the engine going. Sure as shooting I'd spend my time pushing it up and down the track making engine noises if I did. So I ain't. And that's that.

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## woodtickgreg

This is an awesome thread Clay, thank you so much for sharing this with us.

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> This is an awesome thread Clay, thank you so much for sharing this with us.



Greg, it's an honor and a great privilege for me to be a part of this group. Anything I add to help falls well short of what I have learned here. Besides. We ain't cutting wood yet. It may end up being a massive failure. We'll see.

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## Clay3063

We quit a few minutes ago to come in and take a break. The time was around 2:30 pm. As I walked in the house I chanced a look at the thermometer mounted under the canopy by the door. 109 degrees. Folks, it's hot.

Got the belt installed today. Good tension with the two trampoline springs and about 2 1/2 inches of adjustment if it stretches any. Mounted the throttle control permanently with a couple of 1/4 -20 bolts. And I cut out for the clutch switch and mounted it in place. Then we cut, built and installed the fuel tank holder and the oil tank holder. The fuel tank came from the snapper lawn tractor that the engine was robbed from. The oil tank is a fuel tank from an old snapper rider. Once those were put in place I plumbed the fuel line and added a fuel shutoff valve in line. Then the wiring harness. I don't have the oil tank plumbed yet but I have the hose to do that with and shouldn't take more than half an hour or so to do that when we go back out later this afternoon to finish. The battery is on charge and will be installed when we go back out this evening. I got the wiring harness hooked up to the best of my ability and my recollection to where all the connectors got. Bought and installed a new starter solenoid. Everything is in place except for the battery. When we go back out I am going to focus on getting the beast started and running. Then, if it runs I will plumb the oil line and tomorrow we'll work on track. I don't figure the track should take more than four or five hours to build.

Until then, it's chill time in the A/C. Did I mention it's hot out there?

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## Clay3063



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## Mike Hill

Clay3063 said:


> Made a little progress today. After spinning our wheels for most of the morning searching for a machine shop in our area capable of cutting a key way in the jack shaft we finally found one in Sequin, TX. So we drove the 35 miles to Seguin and paid 28 bucks and some change to have a 6" x 1/4" keyway cut.
> View attachment 131270 View attachment 131271 View attachment 131268 View attachment 131269
> 
> View attachment 131266
> 
> View attachment 131267




So the home of the World's Largest Pecan came through for you. Way to go hometown!

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## Clay3063

OK. Now I got a question. Which one of you guys is the small engine specialist? I want to get rid of all the un-needed wiring junk on this engine. I installed the battery and turned the switch and nothing happened. OK. Not unexpected. But I was hoping. So I pulled the truck up and ran the jumper cables. Still a big fat nothing. So then I hit the solenoid with the positive jumper cable and the starter spun the engine over. At least the starter works. That's a plus. Now, I need a schematic of drawing of how to hook up the ignition module, the oil sensor (or not), to the switch and starter solenoid and also to put fire to the electric clutch. That's all I want. There are at least 4 maybe 5 safety switches that need to go ASAP. And a couple of loose wires with female spade connectors and one square connector with 4 wires that I have no clue where they go. 

AND GO!


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## woodtickgreg

Two things you need to do, google the model number of the engine for the electrical break down, it will be by model, type, and code on a briggs. then you need to do the same thing for the tractor that it came out of, that will show you the main electrical schematic with all the switches. If the tractor is handy you can test the switches to see if they are normally open, or closed. I would use the oil sensor. You need to get the safety switch thing ironed out first. Switches should be brake, seat, clutch pedal and or gear position/neutral switch, and all of those will be before the clutch switch.
One other thing I noticed, you might want to move the control panel over a bit, opposite of the sawdust discharge side.You will be standing to the side when you are pushing it through the log, I would think you want access to the kill switch etc.

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## Clay3063

OK. Thanks Greg. Years ago I took a correspondence course on small engine repair. I was already repairing them on my own and took the course to be able to do a better job on my own equipment. (We had a lawn mowing service back in the 80s that was a side job for us.) Anyway, I can rebuild one in my sleep. It's all the safety switches and wiring that throws me a little. I will look up both numbers. What I intend to do is pretty much just build a new wiring harness that excludes all the switches except for the oil sensor and the clutch. As far as the kill switch, I am probably going to install a deadman switch on the handle that I will install on the right hand side. Just like that big red clutch / pto switch. Push it and the engine dies. The way the thing operates is that the saw dust will be discharged on the right hand side per the blade direction pulling into the drive shaft side. Kinda don't like the idea of the sawdust coming on the same side I"ll be pushing from but after looking at both sides it feels more natural to me to also be pushing from the right side. I dunno. LOL. Might put a handle and kill switch on both sides just for giggles and grins. I also need to put a small guard around the nose of the bar that sticks out of the left side of the bar nose support and allow room for the bar to move outward as the chain slack is removed.

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## Clay3063

Talk about a hair ball! I spent several hours last night and a couple this morning chasing down various leads and schematics until I found the right one. Thanks to @rocky1 and @woodtickgreg for the input. Both of you guys were a huge help in finding what I needed to find.

The wiring harness was something of a mess. As they usually are. So I cut all of the plastic coverings and tape and ties to expose all of the wiring. AS I looked at the wiring and the various plugs, switches and solenoids I noticed, after I finally found the right schematic for the mower that the only thing that was different on it was the wiring on the starter switch. There was not a single wire in the right place on the switch plug. Nary a one! That threw me off for a while. It all looked to be standard OEM stuff. I guess I was either wrong or someone had jacked around and pulled all the wires out and didn't get them back in the right spot. It took me all of about 3 minutes to put the right spade in the right hole in the switch plug to get it right. It took me an hour to figure out it was wrong to start with.

Needless to say, I cut all of the safety switches off. I reinstalled the oil sensor, the clutch switch, and new starter solenoid. The original solenoid had to spade tipped wires attached to it so that was the kind of solenoid purchased to replace the burned out one. After a little looking, figuring, and considering, I changed the new one over to a single wire solenoid and then hooked the jumper cables up to the truck (the battery that was supposed to be charged didn't have any life in it at all!). Turned the starter switch and was mildly surprised when the engine turned over. At that point I added gasoline to the tank, checked the oil, turned on the fuel valve, applied ether and fired it up. And it ran. Sorta. Carb will have to be rebuilt. I had hoped that I could just spray some choke cleaner in it and make it work. I was wrong. But the good thing is the durn thing runs!!!

I didn't do it in this video that the wife took, but after I ran it the first time (video) I fired it up again and hit the clutch engage switch and it too worked as advertised!

BOYS AND GIRLS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! WE HAVE A CHAIN SAW MILL!!!!

I was going to build the track today but I really need to work on my sermon for tomorrow and Bible Class materials!

( I was going to post a video to show the first startup and run. But alas.... I ain't figured out how to do that here. )

Thanks again for all the advice and help gentlemen!!!

- Clay

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## rocky1

You'll have to post the video to You Tube, then link the You Tube video here Clay. Forum software won't allow the video to upload. 

Congrats on getting her all hooked up and fired off!

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## woodtickgreg

That key switch thing is the typical crap I run into when someone tries to fix it first and really has no clue what they are doing. Then they say hey can you help me get this thing running? I really don't like working on things that someone else tried to fix first. Very cool that you figured out what someone else did, the average person might never have caught that. My experiences with carbs today is that you can clean and rebuild them but they o my work 50% of the time. Price a new one to see what the cost is before you spend money on a rebuild kit. Corrosion is the problem in the aluminum body carbs. At the mower shop I work at we put them in an ultra sonic tank and that helps but it is still 50/50.

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> That key switch thing is the typical crap I run into when someone tries to fix it first and really has no clue what they are doing. Then they say hey can you help me get this thing running? I really don't like working on things that someone else tried to fix first. Very cool that you figured out what someone else did, the average person might never have caught that. My experiences with carbs today is that you can clean and rebuild them but they o my work 50% of the time. Price a new one to see what the cost is before you spend money on a rebuild kit. Corrosion is the problem in the aluminum body carbs. At the mower shop I work at we put them in an ultra sonic tank and that helps but it is still 50/50.



Yes sir. Good advice. I will pull it and break it down. Alcohol induced corrosion is a killer on the aluminum. I'll price em and see what they run.


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## rocky1

Clay3063 said:


> Yes sir. Good advice. I will pull it and break it down. Alcohol induced corrosion is a killer on the aluminum. I'll price em and see what they run.




Price one WITHOUT the electric fuel solenoid! Keep it simple as possible.

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## Clay3063

rocky1 said:


> Price one WITHOUT the electric fuel solenoid! Keep it simple as possible.



I priced it both ways. I am thinking I am going to try rebuilding the old one first. I almost had a coronary.

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## rocky1

Oh yeah... tell me about it!! I'll buy the carb for your mill, if'you'll buy the gearbox for my mower deck! 

I've been procrastinating, hoping a used one would show up for a reasonable price, but the only one I've found has the same issues, and he thinks you can fix it for $250. That's why he spent $2200 on a new deck, I'm sure!

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## Clay3063

It's Monday evening. In the log book anyway. Not sure what day of the build this is. At this point what I know is that we have a chainsaw mill... sorta. I still need to build the track and the frame on which the track will sit. No big deal there. I think. I've got all the metal for it anyways. The issue at hand now is the carb on this BS engine. No pun intended.... wait, who am I kidding. After considering all the ins and outs of what to do with the carb I decided first of all just to price a new one. That's a no brainer. At 260 dollars and some change for a new carb I think I'll pass. So that left option B. Parts kit and just rebuild it. 

Someone tell me. Has everyone in the small engine parts business lost their ever lovin mind? 

Get this: One repair kit for an 18 HP BS engine = 148.00 at three different places including the local small engine repair shop and he said he doubted he could even get the parts. Best to just buy the parts I need for the rebuild and not pay for the whole rebuild gasket kit. 

So then I say to the guy, "So let's start with the needle and seat. Pretty sure that's gummed up and it's just better to replace it than try to jack with it. 

One needle. No seat. Just the needle and keeper spring - 24.00

"I'll have three of whatever your smoking and pass me a couple pills while you're at it."

He laughed. I didn't. 

I didn't even bother to ask prices on a new float or bowl gasket. 

Got online again after we finished running errands and sure enough...

One needle. No seat. Just a needle with the keeper clip = 24.00

All that took me to about noon. So I had my usual peanut butter banana smoothie. Took a 30 minute power nap. I had a funeral to attend this afternoon at 4. It is about an hour's drive over and another hour back. Ate dinner with the family afterwards. 

That leaves us with Plan C and a very Possible Plan D.

Plan C = If I get to feeling better than I do right now, tomorrow I am going to tear the carb down and clean it up, being very careful not to ruin any gaskets if at all possible. And if all is well and the carb looks decent and the parts can be de-gummed I will clean them all up and put it all back together. 

Plan D is to find another used engine or good carb.

Plan E is to just go buy a 22 HP Predator Engine from HF for 600 bucks and tell BS where to get off the train. 

Can you believe this mess? I just thought the world had gone nuts. I really had no idea just out of whack it was until today.

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## Lou Currier

@Clay3063 thats just for parts...you should see what they charge us non-mechanical types for labor!

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## Clay3063

Lou Currier said:


> @Clay3063 thats just for parts...you should see what they charge us non-mechanical types for labor!


I can only imagine. I understand these guys have an overhead. So do I . But, come on! It's like I told Mary about the local guy, He serves a very specific clientele. They can afford to pay the premium price for their equipment so they buy their lawnmowers, chainsaws, weedwackers, etc from him. He in turn provides a service to them by maintaining those machines, again at a premium. He doesn't like to see guys like me who can fix our own stuff as long as we have the parts we need. He is afraid of me and others like me. He shouldn't be. I'd do more business with him and so would others if he was a little more on the up and up. But again, I see his side too. He's trying to make a living too.

But...

He's either extremely out of touch or he's very afraid of me and others like me or he's slicker than snot on a glass door knob. Here's what I am talking about:

Couple months back I needed to adjust the carb on one of my chainsaws. It's about 14 years old and like all the new ones has a funky headed adj screw(s) for the high and low jets. Takes a special kindof screwdriver type head and each manufacturer uses a different style head. Supposedly they do this because the EPA doesn't want the average joe to jack with his chainsaw or weedwacker or leafblower. At least that's the story the local small engine repair guy (whom from this point on shall be referred to as "lserg" or "serg" for short). He says that the manufacturers won't let him sell those tools to me. That the government has made it illegal for me to own them. He goes on to say that even he has a hard time getting them. Blah Blah Blah.

So I go home, get online. And order a complete set on Amazon for less than 30 bucks. Got em 4 days later. Reset my jets on the chainsaw and she runs like a top now.

So you tell me. Is he out of touch? Or just very afraid of the average joe fixing his own stuff? Or slicker'n snot on a glass door knob and I just happened to be bright enough not to buy his line of bull?

One thing he was right on today, parts are high! REal High!


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## Lou Currier

@Clay3063 you should bring the tool to him and ask him if he wants to buy it seeing he has a hard time getting it  I think though, it is a little of both. They don't think that people are going to research things online because to most people, fixing an engine is foreign and then the other part is probably him trying to be slick.

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## Clay3063

Lou Currier said:


> @Clay3063 you should bring the tool to him and ask him if he wants to buy it seeing he has a hard time getting it  I think though, it is a little of both. They don't think that people are going to research things online because to most people, fixing an engine is foreign and then the other part is probably him trying to be slick.


I did go back after I got my tools and told him where he could buy a set. He just gave me a funny look. Didn't say a word. Just a look.

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## woodtickgreg

Clay, send me the model, type, and code numbers and I'll see if I can do anything. At least I can give you an honest answer. And for what it's worth, the harbor freight predator engines are decent engines, honda clones, but you can only get parts for them through harbor freight. You can't get carb parts, you have to buy the whole carb. Same with the starters, you just buy the whole starter. But the prices are sorta reasonable, ish.

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## woodtickgreg

At the power equipment shop I work at we cannot sell those carb tools, the fines for a business are very high indeed. but a febayer can sell them, he's not a power equipment shop. We sell the crap out of parts, I'll sell you anything you want, and we sell fair, just don't ask me how to fix it, lol. That's up to you!

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> At the power equipment shop I work at we cannot sell those carb tools, the fines for a business are very high indeed. but a febayer can sell them, he's not a power equipment shop. We sell the crap out of parts, I'll sell you anything you want, and we sell fair, just don't ask me how to fix it, lol. That's up to you!


Message sent


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## woodtickgreg

Got it!

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> At the power equipment shop I work at we cannot sell those carb tools, the fines for a business are very high indeed. but a febayer can sell them, he's not a power equipment shop. We sell the crap out of parts, I'll sell you anything you want, and we sell fair, just don't ask me how to fix it, lol. That's up to you!


I learned a long time ago how to fix things. I actually like tinkering with them and making them run. And like I said, I understand the ins and outs of a repair shop and don't begrudge a fellow a decent wage for a decent job, etc. I just don't like a run around. 
As far as the regs that say you can't sell me tools. That is getting out of hand. Quick. I have heard and read that a lot of farmers that have bought new JD tractors are turning to Europe to get bootleg programs for their equipment when they have to purchase new parts etc and reprogram the computers to make them work. Seems there is a monopoly that the gov has produced for the heavy equipment industry that makes you rely on factory service and not a local service guy or even your own skills. This whole thing is bogus to me. And it's time to get the government out of it. It's enough to get this ole preacher a little hot under the collar. LOL!

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## Clay3063

woodtickgreg said:


> At the power equipment shop I work at we cannot sell those carb tools, the fines for a business are very high indeed. but a febayer can sell them, he's not a power equipment shop. We sell the crap out of parts, I'll sell you anything you want, and we sell fair, just don't ask me how to fix it, lol. That's up to you!


I guess I may look at purchasing another set or two then so that if they make it illegal for others to sell them. Anything else you CANNOT sell me that I can still get online let me know. I'll be sure and get them too. SMH. NUTS I SAY! ABSOLUTELY NUTS!!!

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## rocky1

A lot of folks like that are simply retards! They realize the average person has absolutely no idea what is going on under the hood of their car, or whatever, and they'll throw any old line of B_S_ out there they think they can get away with. And, most folks don't understand it well enough to do anything but believe them.

The service manager at our local Dodge Dealership was that way. I finally told my wife that if she ever carried her car in their again, I was going to go in there and kill that ignorant SOB! That was right after they charged her $785 for AC repairs, to fix a defective $35 fan switch. He was lucky I was 2000 miles away when he pulled that B_S_.

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## woodtickgreg

So I got a chance to look this carb up and see what the deal is. Clay sent me the model and type numbers of the engine, I looked the carb up when I got to work at the mower shop today. The good news is that a carb can still be purchased for it, even after several super sessions of the part number. The other good thing is that it now comes without the fuel shut off solenoid. Which is not exactly what it is, it actually is a backfire preventer, it stops the flow of fuel into a hot engine and muffler so it doesn't backfire when you shut it off. Now the bad news, cheapest I could find it online was $225.00 from jacks small engine warehouse. It seems pricey until you look at what comes with it, it is a kit, comes with a new air filter base, vent hose, air filter top cap etc.

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## Clay3063

Yep. Jack's was the cheapest I found too. I think for now I am going to look at a couple other options. I actually have access to a 12 hp that is running. But was hoping to use this 18 for the power. I cleaned the carb today and now I am thinking it may have more to do with the fuel pump. I noticed that I had left the fuel valve on from earlier today and it was weeping a little fuel. Not supposed to do that. So.....


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## Clay3063

rocky1 said:


> A lot of folks like that are simply retards! They realize the average person has absolutely no idea what is going on under the hood of their car, or whatever, and they'll throw any old line of B_S_ out there they think they can get away with. And, most folks don't understand it well enough to do anything but believe them.
> 
> The service manager at our local Dodge Dealership was that way. I finally told my wife that if she ever carried her car in their again, I was going to go in there and kill that ignorant SOB! That was right after they charged her $785 for AC repairs, to fix a defective $35 fan switch. He was lucky I was 2000 miles away when he pulled that B_S_.



Yep. Not many things get under my skin anymore. But that does. Hard to be civil when you know someone is taking advantage of a situation because one party isn't as up to speed on things as the other. One thing I do know is something my ole daddy used to say (and still does), "What goes around, comes around." Jesus said it better, "You reap what you sow." Folks like that are sowing a lot of future grief for themselves. Personally, though I know they probably deserve it, it still makes me feel sad for them. It's gonna hit them and they aren't going to know why. Important stuff there.

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## Clay3063

For those who have been following... Brief update:

Yesterday we finally hooked the wires up and sprayed a little ether in the carb and it fired right up. Then it died. Carb issues. This morning I was feeling a little rough so I didn't do much. I did venture out and pulled the carb about mid morning and tore into it and cleaned it all up. Made sure the needle was good as well as the seat and then put it all back together. Still not any difference. Start, run, die. Gave up and went in the house. Forgot to shut off the fuel valve and when I went back out for a few minutes this afternoon I noticed that fuel was weeping from the pump. I pulled the pump and sprayed it down with carb cleaner and then blew it out ever so gently (yeh right! lol!) with the air nozzle. Re-assembled it and turned on the fuel. Sprayed a little ether and it fired up and ran for a couple minutes. I decided to let it run as long as it would and began adjusting the throttle in minute increments. It began to clear itself and ran pretty good through about half throttle. As I advanced it a little further it abruptly died. Fuel starved. Never did get it to run very long afterwards. So I quit for the day and came back inside. 
I've been consulting with a couple of the small engine gurus here and the consensus is that tomorrow I will buy a new fuel pump and see if that fixes things. I am thinking that it will. If I get it running again I am going to let it run with a mixture of seafoam in the tank until the tank is almost empty. 
Thursday, I am going to start building the track regardless of whether I get the engine running smoothly or not. I need this thing to go and the sooner I get it going the happier I am going to be. As a side note, I did engage the clutch for a brief moment just to make sure everything with the bar, chain, and various other drive components were working according to spec. They are, it did, I smiled. Now I will run the oil like to the bar to get lube to it and we'll have ourselves a chainsaw mill. 
Once I get it up and going I am going to draw up a set of plans for it. I've already promised a set to @rocky1. And though they won't be scale or professionally drawn I will include measurements etc so that at least you get an idea of what to do if you decide to build one yourself. Be patient with me in this. I've got a lot of stuff on my plate so it may take a while, like everything else in my life right now. LOL. I've got a 35 ft cattle trailer in the yard that has to be repaired this week too. So.... until next time, 

Shalom!
-Clay

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## Lou Currier

Thanks @Clay3063 ...patiently waiting


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## Clay3063

Lou Currier said:


> Thanks @Clay3063 ...patiently waiting


LOL. Yeh. Me too.

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## Clay3063

Ok Gentlemen. Here's an update.... on a very positive note!

The last two weeks have seen me very busy with pastoral duties and various other things that needed to be done. In the last week, the wife and I have been over 3000 miles helping kids move from San Angelo to Marble Falls. Visiting my buddy's daughter in law in the hospital in Houston. Speaking at a family retreat at the HEB encampment in Leakey, TX. Going to visitation for my Uncle's funeral on Saturday in the DFW area and then going back on Monday for the funeral on Tuesday morning at the National Cemetery in Dallas. And various runnings and goings on in between all those things. 

Couple that with the disappointment I had when I tried to get the engine running on this build and the subsequent disenchantment with the small engine parts suppliers trying to either get parts to rebuild the carb on this thing or just totally replace it, I was getting fed up with the whole process of this build. But, I've always had a tenacious spirit and was determined to make this thing work. So I poured almost a whole bottle of Sea Foam in the fuel tank along with about a half a gallon of gas and let it sit for the last week or so with the fuel valve on, hoping beyond hope that this would do the trick. 

I suspected all along that it was more of a problem getting the needle set right than anything else. I'd move it one way and it'd flood the carb. Move it the other way and it wouldn't allow even one drop of gas into the carb. I pulled and re-installed that carb over three dozen times after I mounted the engine and before I let it sit. I also knew I needed a new battery. So last week we bought a battery and just set it on the frame until I could take the time to work on it again. That happened this morning. 

I got up this morning determined to either make this thing run or jerk the engine off, throw it in the trash and go steal one somewhere... or rob the engine off the only running lawn tractor we have and fix the push mower so the wife could still mow the 2 acres of grass that we have fenced off as our yard. 

The first thing I did was change the battery and then gave the carb a quick squirt of starting fluid and that baby fired right up and ran great. I told the wife I was going to just let it run until all the fuel was gone. That lasted about 2 minutes and then, starved for fuel, it died. Needless to say I was a little miffed. So while she ran a couple errands, I pulled the carb off again. Removed the bowl. Jacked with the needle. Re-installed the bowl. Hooked the fuel line up and just put the carb on the mounting bolts until I was sure I had the needle set right. I didn't. Pulled it all off again. Jacked with the needle. Re-installed. Turned on the fuel and watched the fuel run out the over flow. Turn fuel off and repeated this procedure at least another dozen times until I finally decided, this time is the last time. And it was. By George! I've got it running!

I let it run for about 20 minutes.. Then I killed it and greased the bearings on the jack shaft. Hooked up the oil line to the bar oil tank and set it to drip on the infeed side of the nose. (that way it will make its way around the nose before hitting resistance in the cutting side of the bar. I fired it back up and turned on the oil and let it run like that for about 5 more minutes. I am satisfied! 

Now all I have to do is build the track that I was going to build three weeks ago but decided against it until I got the engine running right. I also need to install a heat shield for the battery. The hot air coming off the engine is ducted towards that side. Coupled with the exhaust manifold being there too, it is putting off a lot of heat that will surely kill a battery over time. 

Here's a pic of it running and a video. I don't know why there isn't any sound. But pay attention to the last few seconds as I hit the clutch engage switch and the chain starts spinning. 

PS - forget the video. I forgot I have to add it to youtube and then add the link here. Ain't nobody got time for that! That and I don't remember my youtube password.

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## Clay3063

I am working on loading the video to youtube. As soon as it gets loaded I'll post it here.

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## Clay3063

Here is the video link on YouTube. No sound. But it's running. Just really quiet I guess.


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## Clay3063

I am always a little leery of things. So Mary and I went back outside a minute ago to try it again. Pull the choke about halfway. Turn the key. And it fired right up! Turned on the oil. Hit the clutch switch and everything runs as advertised.

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## Tony

Alright now, throw a log on that bad boy!! Tony


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## Clay3063

Tony said:


> Alright now, throw a log on that bad boy!! Tony


I can't do any more to it today. Gotta get ready for class tonight. Tomorrow bright and early Mary and I will be building the track deck and track and Lord willing, we'll cut something tomorrow. Maybe. LOL.

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## Tony

Clay3063 said:


> I can't do any more to it today. Gotta get ready for class tonight. Tomorrow bright and early Mary and I will be building the track deck and track and Lord willing, we'll cut something tomorrow. Maybe. LOL.


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## Clay3063




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## Clay3063

Got out this morning and cut metal for the track bed. It is 20 feet long and 50 inches wide. It is made from 3 inch channel iron because I had a chance to buy a bunch of it that was scrapped from a commercial chicken house a few months ago... cheap. The cross pieces are on 30" centers. The track rails are 2 x 3 x 1/4 inch angle iron. The carriage wheels are centered at 44" so the track is welded to the bed so that the 3" side is down to better facilitate attaching log bunks. I almost went with the 2" side down and the 3" side up but decided I didn't want the carriage wheels up that high off the bed. Just a personal preference. The one rail is welded in place. I decided to wait until I got the saw carriage in place and then weld the rail down as I pushed it down the track. That way I can be assured of equidistant spacing the full length of the track. We had to quit at lunch when the temp got up to 105 in the shade. Went back out for about an hour and a half after it cooled down to about 100 in the shade. Then we called it quits for the day. Tomorrow I will finish welding the track in place. Install some log stops / dogs and place it on the ground and level it. I want to cut wood tomorrow and think it will happen... unless it gets to be 105 in the shade again.

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## Clay3063



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## Lou Currier

You're pretty handy with that welder.

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## Clay3063

Lou Currier said:


> You're pretty handy with that welder.


Thank you Lou. I started welding about 17 years ago when I got tired of people wanting to fix junk with more junk. IE - I was doing home remodeling / repairs. So I quit that as a supplemental income to my church work. (We had three daughters and I didn't take a vow of poverty and it's hard to raise children, especially teenage daughters in the 80s-2010s on a 1960s income.) So I bought an old lincoln SA 200 welder that had been used as a hanger queen and took it to have it repaired. 1400.00 and some change later I had a very good machine. From there I bought some books and started practicing. It wasn't long before I was good enough to start working in the oilfield and charging a nice sum for my services. I now own 4 welding machines. From an old 220v lincoln cracker box to a Millermatic 210 mig welder to the old SA 200 and a Diesel powered Lincoln Vantage 400. The problem now days is that I am getting long in the tooth and cant handle the metal like I used too and I get tired much faster as well. But never mind, if you got the skills people will flock to your door and as much as we are trying to get out of the welding for profit business... alas we can't. LOL. That and I am much cheaper than most of the other welders in the country.

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## rocky1

Go up on your prices... They won't quit coming if you're good, and you'll be able to build that new house sooner! 

Dad was doing the same thing with his pollination contracts Clay, he was $5 - $10 a hive cheaper than most, $15 cheaper than a lot of them. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and then all of a sudden he was having trouble coming up with enough bees, and he didn't want to say, NO! Pretty soon it got to the point he simply had to say, NO! Repeatedly!! And, then he started listening to those of us that told him to go up on his price, and he wouldn't have all those extra calls. 

So he went up... The calls slowed way down, all of his better accounts are still there, they're paying more and not complaining. A few of them grumbled at first, said they could get someone else to do it for less. He told them, to go ahead, they were going to get what they paid for. They did! Next year they were back; haven't grumbled since.

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## Clay3063

Oh... My.... Goodness!!! It's 6:24 pm and 110 degrees in the shade! Read that ONE HUNDRED AND TEN SWELTERING DEGREES! 

There. Now that I have that off my chest I can at least say that despite the high temps, high humidity and numerous phone calls, distractions, runs to town (4) and one run to the metal supply in Moravia, TX that we are a lot closer to sawing than we were a week ago. After having to stop several times this morning to answer phone calls, text messages and various other assorted distractions all very much a part of a minister's life, we actually got a lot done today. When I mentioned yesterday that all we needed was to weld the other track in place, cut and install the bunks, fabricate and install the log stops / dogs I really didn't think it would take so long. First I realized that the 2 inch square tubing I had intended to use for log bunks was going to be about 2 inches too short and would only allow me to cut down to about 3 1/2" from the bottom. So I sent Mary into town (Gonzales) to do an errand for me for the church while I went to the metal supply store I use in Moravia, TX. While I was there I bought 30' of 2 x 4 rectangular tubing to use for the log bunks. That will allow me to cut down to 1 1/2" for the lowest cut. I also bought 3' of 1 1/4" pipe and 20' of 1" pipe to use as moveable log dogs. (I think that's what you call them. Sounds legit to me anyway.) Then we made it back to the house in time for lunch and a short nap. Got back to it around 2:30 and the temp was 110 degrees. But I was determined I wanted to get finished today. We got all the parts cut and fabbed. All that needs to be done is to weld them in place. I think I can do that in a couple hours tomorrow so long as we don't have a day full of distractions again. We shall see. Here are a few pics from today. I really really like this thing more and more everyday and am super excited to put it to work! 

Oh, and I am so spooked by the engine that every time I walk by it I reach over, turn on the fuel, pull the choke and hit the ignition key. It has fired right up the first time every time since I got it running. then I grin real big. Push the clutch switch. Watch the chain spin. Shut off the clutch. Grin again. Then shut off the fuel and kill the engine. I am more than happy about this engine. I hope it does what I think it will do when we put it to some wood. I have been eyeing the stack of logs for several days now trying to decide what to cut first. Pecan, Ash, Sycamore, Elm, ERC, Oak, Hackberry.... Lord knows we've got a pile of it.

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## Tony

I vote for Hackberry. Tony

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## Clay3063

Tony said:


> I vote for Hackberry. Tony



LOL. Wouldn't you know it. I think it's one of the ones near the bottom. But I may pull it anyway. I'd rather learn on something that is less valuable then something like the sycamore or ERC.


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## Clay3063

Tony said:


> I vote for Hackberry. Tony


I was leaning more to an elm or ash. I have a bunch of that and they aren't on the bottom either. 

I've got a couple ash logs that are going to test the limits of this saw. Go Big or Go Home!!!?????

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## ripjack13



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## Clay3063

HEY... HOUSTONNNNNN!!! WE HAVE LIFT OFF! YEH, WE'RE GOING PLACES NOW!

And with that being said I am posting videos to You Tube so I can post them here. We welded the bunks in place, log dogs, and rail stops then removed the carriage out of the way and then moved the track to the ground. It is a temp location as I will probably put this thing on an axle with jacks to make it portable. But we've got a saw mill!!! Complete with the first slab!

.... and then we figured out why the lawn tractor motor was free.... The clutch was going bad. LOL. I've got bits and pieces of metal all over the top of the slab where little chunks of metal were being sheared off because the bearings are bad. I almost quit for the day. But again, being the determined, obstinate type, I fired it back up and idled it through the rest of the cut which is the second video. I was amazed at how well this thing ripped through the ash even with the engine at idle. WOW! The first cut was at anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 to full and then back to 3/4 and 1/2 throttle. I am impressed.

Here are some more picts of the day. We're done for now until I can get a new clutch put on.

The log we cut into was an ash. I didn't measure the diameter. It's big enough for a first log. I'd say the first slab is around 10-12 inches across. Didn't measure it either. What I will say is that the Ash borers have done a real job boring holes all in this piece of timber.

@rocky1, I haven't forgotten my promise to you. Just haven't gotten there yet. But I will. Thank you and @woodtickgreg for all your help in sorting through the engine problems and to everyone else for your comments, tips, and encouragement. This is as much a part of your work as it is mine and Mary's.

Without further ado, here are the pics of today. And I will post the You Tube videos when they get uploaded.

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## Tony

Awesome Clay, glad you got it going!! Tony

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## Clay3063



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## Clay3063




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## Clay3063




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## Clay3063

I don't know why the sound is jacked up on the videos. But it is. So just imagine a very quiet vrooom vrooom and the sound of a chain slicing through some very wormy Ash. And it is wormy. Really wormy!


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## Clay3063

That sound that sounds like a bucket of bolts getting tossed around is the clutch. About halfway through the second cut it started throwing sparks and bits of metal when the bearing turned loose. LOL. Guess I'll get a new clutch next week.


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## Clay3063

In the second video the chain came off at the end of the cut. I could see it was getting loose but was hedging my bet against it coming off. It probably wouldn't have had I put a wedge on each side as I neared the end of the cut like I did at the other end. I also knew this would be the last cut of the day as the clutch was busted as well. New clutches are anywhere from 110.00 to over 200.00 depending on make and model. So... I may just put an idler pulley on and make a clutch the old fashioned way even though I love the fact that hitting that little red button stops the chain immediately and is a lot easier to manipulate than the other route.

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## Clay3063

I already know of a few things I am going to do to this thing in the next week or two. I still have to put a push handle on it so that it can be pushed from either side. And I also believe I am going to put another hand crank winch on it to use to crank the mill through the wood rather than push it. I think that will give a little better performance. I am still super impressed that this thing cuts as well as it does. 1/2 throttle for most of the first cut and it zipped right through. Not as fast as some of the band saws I've seen but a whole lot faster than the Alaskan mills using chainsaws... even the big ones. When I pushed on this pretty hard to see if it would load up and slow the engine down it didn't seem to faze it. I am going to put a guard around the nose sprocket to protect anyone standing near that side while the blade is running and I am considering adding a water tank to wet the saw dust and help the oil cool the bar and chain. The oiler is doing a good job but the price of chain oil is a little hefty if I am going to use this thing as much as i plan too. Anyone else want to chime in and offer suggestions fell free to do so. 
I really like the log stops / dogs that we installed. I am amazed at how well they worked. The ones I have seen in other builds used water pipe T's slid over a pipe. I just used 1 1/4" pipe over a 1" pipe and welded the other upright pipe to it. When I slid it up to the log it immediately locked itself into place and just got tighter as I screwed the dogs down. Impressed! I will also be adding some bracing up top though as tall as this thing is, I am not sure how much play that is going to take out of it. It didn't start to shake until I put a lot of pressure on the cut. But I am going to add braces anyway. And I will eventually replace the crank winch for the up and down movement with some acme rod and nuts tied together with sprockets and chain. Just have to figure out the best drive mechanism for it. And also need to add a magnetic ruler so I don't have to spend so much time marking on the log where I want to initiate the cuts. 
I think this will be the official end to the build. I might add a few videos a little later once I get the new clutch installed.

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## Lou Currier

Noooooooooooo! It can't be over

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## Clay3063

Lou Currier said:


> Noooooooooooo! It can't be over


OK Lou. We can make this like the never ending story. It will continue......

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## rocky1

I'd add a spring loaded tensioner to the chain, and a shroud around it that was easily removed Clay. On a bigger log that chain could be up there head high when it comes off, and one never knows how or where things like that are going to play out.

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## brown down

nice build. I have a mill just like that and am doing the opposite with raising and lowing the cutting head. I have threaded rod now like what you plan on with sprockets and hate it. it takes so long to raise and lower the cutter. I made mine for a dedicated slabber and not for cutting boards. If I want boards out of a 2 in slab I resaw them and get book matching boards out of it. so to lower my mill with how its set up is something like 30 turns to lower it 2 in and quite frankly takes wayyyyy to long.


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## 2feathers Creative Making

Thank you for this build. I recently bought a sawmill trailer and carriage head that had most of the bits for a bandsaw mill except the saw motor and adjusting connections. (The expensive parts) I have a chainsaw mill. Yeah. Slow. No. I meant slower than that! I have a 19 inch bandmill so was already leaning toward chainsaw bar powered by a mid priced lawnmower donor so I could scavenge switches and pulleys. You know, like you already did. Will look to repeat your success sir. Thanks again for the verification.

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## vegas urban lumber

i just moved my 36" hudson to my newest yard, it has a rail spur that is being used and one good length that isn't used. this coming week i'm fabricating wheels so i can run it right on the train tracks. flat and plenty wide for logs of any length, the first job will be to pair down a weathered glue lam beam from 12" x 36" x 29 foot long into a couple of 5" x16" x 29 foot longs
pictures forth coming

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## 2feathers Creative Making

Nice. Would love to see pictures. Sounds awesome. Cant think of a log longer than my local train track.... but we will look for one that's too long now wont we?

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