42" Chainsaw mill Build

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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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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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