Electric Milling with a Panther guide bar and Mini Chain

This is the third of three videos showing how the Oregon CS1500 electric chainsaw was adapted for use in a portable chainsaw mill.
The first video demonstrated how the saw was adapted for use in a small portable mill using the default 18" guide bar and Low Pro, 0.050" PowerSharp chain.
The second video showed how the CS1500 electric chainsaw could be easily adapted for use with a longer 20" Panther guide bar running narrower ¼" pitch, 0.043" gauge Mini chain. This involved replacement of the chain sprocket to enable fitment of the new longer Panther bar and narrower Mini chain.
This third video shows the improved performance when using the modified chainsaw in the portable chainsaw mill.
I am most grateful to Rob Dyer for suggesting that I try the Panther Bar & Mini Chain with the Oregon CS1500 chainsaw and much additional advice & encouragement as regards deployment in a portable chainsaw mill.
The Panther Bar & Mini Chain with the associated Makita chain drive sprocket can be purchased from Rob at www.chainsawbars.co.uk

[@hedfuka8608]

Great video,you put so much into this project,the animation was very helpful,thanx for putting it out there,it's got me thinking.

[@TimPettigrew1]

Glad it was helpful!. Am using the setup on a regular basis for producing woodturning blanks for me and my woodturning club. Am making further tweaks and improvements s I go and will post an amended version of this vid in due course.

[@charliechu2741]

I started doing some milling recently and I too am using Oregon CS1500. Not getting oil to the chain is my concern and I have been researching since. Am I glad that I came across your videos! I can see you put in lots of effort to educate the viewers, the animation follow by actual operation, I really appreciate what you have done. I will now be getting my CS1500 n Auxiliary Oiler Kit from Amazon. I will definitely be switching to the 20" Panther guide bar in the near future. Keep up the great work and happy milling my friend!

[@TimPettigrew1]

Many thanks Charlie. Yes an auxiliary oiler is essential but the commercially available ones (e.g. Granberg) are much too big for these small bars. I successfully improvised one using an M5 banjo bolt made by Cammozzi (Product code 1631 01-M5) and cheaply available on Ebay (UK) for about 3.50GBP (including carriage). The other components needed are also cheaply available from either Ebay or Amazon. The 20" Panther bar (Product code E20-GA-42K-CV-1) is the only 20" bar that will fit the Oregon and is commissioned and distributed by a UK company called Chainsaw Bars (www.chchainsawbars.co.uk). At the time of writing this (November 2022) the bars are unavailable due to a change in manufacturer. It would be well worth contacting them to see when the bars are due to become available again. If there is anything else I can help with don't hesitate to get in contact.

[@charliechu2741]

@@TimPettigrew1 Thanks for the additional tips. You continue to surprise me at how resourceful you are! I will definitely take up your offer for help. Cheers!

[@annacraft]

This is a really nice setup! I just started milling with a 75cc chinese 24“ saw and thought what would be possible with an electric saw. Really nice results with the modification! 🙋🏻‍♀️Anna

[@TimPettigrew1]

Thanks for commenting Anna. Glad you're getting good results.

[@ks_hunter7327]

I don’t understand the reason for the plywood. Yes mill could move left and right but the depth won’t change without it. Great idea for using an electric saw for a chain saw mill. Otherwise you would use a ton of gas and it is much quieter to use in a city environment.

[@TimPettigrew1]

Many thanks for your comments. Yes, these mills usually rest directly on rails or a ladder attached (screwed) to the wood for support during the cutting traverses (this is essential for the first cut to get an initial flat surface). However for this smaller-scale milling, mounting the mill on a plywood carriage with castors running on rails make its support completely independent of the wood which is therefore much easier to orientate (especially irregular or branched pieces) to ensure the cuts maximise the potential of the wood whilst also ensuring a straight and even first and subsequent cuts. So yes I agree that milling larger trunks and boles would be more impractical using my carriage on rails approach and the usual approach of an attached ladder or rails screwed to the wood is certainly the better (or the only) option of getting a flat first cut.

[@markroper1900]

are you cutting with a ripping chain ? and a cs1400 chainsaw would have the same issues as far as lubrication of the bar goes im guessing on its side apart from a smaller 16ins bar too, just wondering if the panther bar could fit a cs1400 same power 2400 w

[@TimPettigrew1]

Hi Mark. No it's not ripping chain but you can get more info on the bars and mini chain at www.chainsawbars.co.uk/panther-chainsaw-guidebars/ The setup was recommended to match the Oregon saw by Rob Dyer At Chainsawbars. If you have any queries about the Panther products Rob is the guy to contact. The Panther mini chain looks to be compatible but you would need to fit a 1/4" drive sprocket.

[@danielroden9424]

that is the plainest looking slab ive ever seen. what kind of wood? whats it for?

[@TimPettigrew1]

Hi Daniel, the wood is Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). It's to be used for various woodturning projects where the pale colour is a good background for texturing, pyrography and colouring using spirit stains.

[@markroper1900]

I am missing something but most chainsaw milling the saw is the other way around as far as I have seen anyway, and would help bar lubrication I would think, tank above where the oil is going,, notice hard to get panther bars at the moment or , seems that way to me anyway., the right ones, Only thing i can think off to much oil the other way around, got the cs1400 and i can bar mill but nothing special slow and needs sharpening a lot with small logs and that's with a ripping chain but it the right way around with a clamp on so oil flow is ok, does need cleaning after blocks up with all wood chips, cant get it to work with out using tip cant do the stuff you do and keep the same angle at the moment anyway, not even with a petrol chainsaw., moving the angle in both cases .

[@TimPettigrew1]

Thanks for commenting. That's an interesting suggestion about turning the saw through 180 degrees (electric motor above the guide bar). With the Oregon CS1500 this would result in the orientation of the oil filler to be upside down and impossible to top up whilst mounted on the jig. I have found that it's much easier to have an independent oil flow controlled with an in-line tap from a reservoir container which can be simply topped-up at anytime during operation of the saw on the jig. As regards chain I have used both the standard 18" bar with the default PowerSharp chain as well as the thinner Panther Mini Chain (with a 20" Panther bar) and hopefully you can see from the videos I have had no major problems. The on-board sharpening of the PowerSharp Chain works well on the 18" Oregon bar but this cannot be used with the Panther Mini Chain (and 20" guide bar) as it is a completely different design and can only be sharpened as per conventional chains. I have yet to experiment using ripping chain on this set-up.

[@tucanman9775]

the first problem is buying the parts from seattle wa, usa ?

[@TimPettigrew1]

The Oregon parts should be OK as Oregon is a USA based corporation. There are now a lot of manufacturers of portable chainsaw mills. Other bits and bobs should be available via Home Depot, Amazon or Ebay etc. If you have specific problems let me know and I will endeavour to do some research for you.

[@tucanman9775]

@@TimPettigrew1i made a nice adj. first cut flat plain i just got the saw the mill comes soon i need at least a ripping chain but thin chain and 20 inch bar is ideal im giveing live edge mantels for x mas