9 FT Rail Mill Guide System 3 Crossbar Kits Work with Chainsaw Mill

The instructions are in pictures, not words. The pictures are laser printed and are quite clear. Sort your hardware and pieces and you should have it figured in no time. Step 1, mount the angle pieces to the center of the cross over so they come together at the center. Once tightened, the dog goes between them. If it's tight, start the dog at an angle and with light pressure it will go in. The cross overs mount to the rail via the square screws. Wing nuts are used on the connector pieces. It will all make perfect sense once you start using your mill. The 3' lengths are all 3', the gaps people see or the bends people see is because the cross overs are not square to the rail. A measuring tape and/or square fixes the problem. You can start with a perfectly assembled rail, when you start adding, subtracting sections, moving the dogs and levelers around to the length of your log, it will, after awhile resemble a snake. A small gap or curve in the rail is not an issue, you are leveling the rail from to back and side to side, if the rail makes a slight curve or you have an 1/8 gap, it will not bother your mill a bit. I do keep a cheap joist square and measuring tape when it gets out of hand. If all you are doing is 8.6 logs on a 9' rail, use a lock washer or light thread lock or have the joints welded. Lengths are assembled the way there are because of people like me that add and subtract 3' sections at a time and do multiple logs a day. It is designed that way for quick adjustment. The nature of the beast, vibrations will start to back out wing nuts and we've caught a couple of leveling screws that backed out. Bees wax is the best answer for what we are doing as the rail is indeed being adjusted that often. This is not a design, engineering or manufacturing flaw. All rail systems are about the same. Per one review about the dogs being cheap...the only way to bend one going in is with a big hit at a bad angle. They are stabalizers, there is no reason to drive them in hard. A little tap with the back of a hatchet and they are home. You do have to be careful prying them out sometimes, don't use your rail as a lever especially near a connector. Common sense and don't drive the dog into the log as if it's a railroad spike. Female (me), back of a hatchet, light tap, it's in. 1" wide, 18" long, under the rail, quick tap, they are out.

Well made. Easy to use. Durable. We bought one and was impressed so bought 2 so we could mill longer boards easily. Very happy eith this purchase.

This thing is so flimsy that it’s almost impossible to get a flat board with it. Those responsible for this thing will give solutions for its shortcomings but there should be none. There are these screws that are designed to keep it from sagging but it shouldn’t sag. If it were rigid, there would be no need to keep it from sagging The screws back out from vibration. Sometimes the screws are too long and keeps you from being able to slide your saw forward. There should be no need for these screws. Total disappointment.

Disclaimer: I have not used this tool yet, but I just assembled it. It is made with good materials, but in my opinion it's too flimsy. There is a LOT of deflection until you drive down the adjusting screws, and I mean a LOT!!! If/when I set it up for the first time to actually mill a log, I'll probably bring along a string to make sure the first cut is straight. Others use segments of extension ladders for the first cut, and now that I see this rail system, I wish I had gone that route too. I'm not gonna knock it all the way yet, because I have not used it yet, and it might still amaze me.... but I doubt it. It is also very narrow and I have concerns about keeping my 36" bar levelled on it, whereas on a ladder, this would not be a concern. If you plan on cutting 12" diameter timbers, it might be an excellent tool, but for larger diameter logs I'm just very doubtful. I got it now, and will try it when I get the chance, but my recommendation to all who want to cut larger logs would be to get a 20' extension ladder, drill & tap holes for some adjustment bolts and drill some holes for regular deck-screws to hold it in place. The ladder will be a much better guide than this flimsy tool. For the engineers of this product I would recommend to attach 1/4"X2" flatstock to the sides in order to take the flex out of the rails.

Difficult to keep sections straight, compared to full length rails.