Slabbing mill build questions

[slowmiller]

It has been too cold and snowy out to run the bandmill so I have just started building a slabbing mill. I am going by the design of the Lucas dedicated slabber as much as I can. There are a few things I have not been able to decide on and after looking through every relevant post here I am still unsure on how to proceed.

I am building end frames and rails just like the Lucas slabber/ swing mills and got to thinking that it would be nice if the rails were the same distance apart as the Lucas so if I was so inclined I could buy a Lucas swing mill in the future and use my slabber on its rails. How far apart are the rails on a lucas 8" or 10"?

I am planning on building the end frames and rails first and then making a simple carriage that I can attach my Husqvarna 3120 to as it is already set up for milling with a 42" bar. I can then cut and sell some slabs (up to about 32" wide) to help pay for a 72" bar for the final slabbing set up. This brings me to the second question: What bar should I buy? I am planning on using a ~20 hp vertical shaft engine out of a dead riding lawnmower and using a jackshaft with an over-center clutch (reading on the forum it seems like the electric clutches are not up to the task). I like the idea of using a bar that would fit the 3120 so that I could slab with the 3120 until the 4 stroke set up is all figured out but have also read that harvester sprockets need a bar that is wider in the tail than a normal chainsaw bar so the chain leads in right. I have access to and work in a machine shop so I can make a jackshaft that takes a 7 pin chainsaw sprocket but I dont know if that will take the HP and torque of the 4 stroke. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?

I have put a couple of half days into the build so far and will try to post pictures once it starts to look like something. Right now it is just a bunch of small parts in a box.
Thanks

[CaseyK]

So how has your project been coming along?

[trimguy]

@slowmiller did you end up doing this project? Do you have any pictures?