Question for recent LT35 owners

[landscraper]

Hello,

I know there are a few guys on here with new/late model LT35 mills and I have a question or two six seven since I am a few weeks out from upgrading from my early model LT30 to a LT35 hyd.   I've read most all the posts I could that had LT35 in the post or title, so I hope I am not plowing old ground.

1:  On the walk-along control panel it looks like the joystick on the left side is the forward/reverse control for the saw head.  Does it have detente positions where it locks in forward or reverse or do you have to keep your hand on the control to keep the head moving?  My LT30 has a drum switch and I am used to locking it in forward on a long cut, walking alongside, and manually returning to neutral when I exit the cut.  One on of the videos the operator appears to be hands-free walking along with the head, but it isn't super clear from the camera angle.

2:  How low to the bed can you cut? If you are using the little nubbin backstops welded to the bed instead of the fold up and down backstops can you actually cut down to 1"? 

3:  On the simple setworks, if you are not using the pre-set thicknesses, does the display indicate anything useful or is it only active when using the presets?

4:  Did any of you upgrade from a smaller or older model Woodmizer like mine and if so how much difference in production have you seen?  Any night and day differences you would comment on? Anything you were expecting and didn't see?

5: How easy or cumbersome do you find the blade guide in-out adjustment to be on the fly.  My current rig involves turning a jam bolt, sliding the guide manually, and then re-tightening, so I normally set it once per log to just barely clear the widest part.  When breaking down a log to a cant do you find yourself adjusting the clearance frequently, or is it still a set it and forget it ?

6: Anyone felt like they should have bought one size up (or down for that matter) once they started sawing with a 35?  Any accessory or feature you wish you had/hadn't? Are you guys sawing for yourself, on-the side, or full time?  Just curious.  I am sawing 90% for myself, 10% on the side, although that will likely change some once I have the hydraulics.

7: How much coast is there in the up-down?  I have gotten quite skilled in the art of coasting the head right onto the mark, and I fear that I may have to shorten the neural pathway between my remaining ganglions and my hand if there is no coast built in on the new mill.

Thanks for your time!

[hunz]

1.The walk along  control panel on the newer lt35's have a thumb lever like the lt40+ models do, no joysticks. The forward/rev lever is on the left side of the box like you mentioned. It does lock into position, and then you use the potentiometer to increase or decrease you head speed. The reverse doesn't lock but is just spring loaded with no speed control....its just wide open when you hit it.

2. I am using the little peg back stops when I'm sawing cants. On my mill, the smallest board you can cut is 1". You can hypothetically go to 3/4" as this is the height of the pegs.

3. When you are using one of the 2 presets, it displays what preset you are on...1 or 2, and your board thickness to the nearest 1/16". When not in presets, it simply displays "manual". Its up to you to look at the manual scale.

4. I personally upgraded from an all manual 24hp mill, so I can't tell you there. What I can say is that LOVE the bi plane clamp!

5. It is fairly simple to use the blade guide adjust. I am sure it would be nice to have the power feature like on the lt40's though. I do adjust mine while sawing the log, to get as close as I can to where the blade enters the log. I figure the more stability the blade has, the better my lumber will be. It may all be in my head :D.

6. The only thing that makes me long for the 40, is the increased throat width and height. When sawing a large cant, I have only been able to saw down 10" or so before having to remove boards. It would be nice if I could roll through a cant until I hit the bunks. Unfortunately that is neither here nor there. I bought a mill that does what it is advertised to do.

7. I think that the coasting you speak of will be a little different now that you would have simple set. If you are sawing a standard thickness, there would be no advantage to pulling back and dropping down into the next cut in one fluid movement. Just one tap of the down lever, and the computer does it for you. Hope that helps!

Zach

[landscraper]

Hunz, thanks for the thorough reply - that's the kind of info I needed. 

[samandothers]

I started to reply but HUNZ had it covered.  Plus my mill is manual but it is all I need.

[SawyerBrown]

scraper, just reading your post for the first time, I agree with everything hunz said but will add my comments to your question 6).

I do only custom sawing, so I never know what I'm going to run into.  Had a call today from a guy with a 42" oak log.  Just for fun (I love geometry!), I put pencil to paper to see if it was anywhere close to theoretically possible by "bibbying".  Nope, not even close.  36" is the absolute limit, because the saw head raises just over 32", and you'd have to hang the log over the stops so the mast just clears coming by to get it centered up enough.  That's all IN THEORY mind you.  I sawed a 32"+ pignut hickory on Monday, and I had to stop a couple of times and do some trimming with the chainsaw.  The LT40 with 4" more would have been THEORETICALLY possible for 42" but still a challenge.  So, bottom line, I had to turn down a job because I didn't have a big enough machine.  Doesn't happen often, but once in a while.  Since I'm doing only custom sawing, I probably should have shelled out the extra money ...

The other thing is the debarker, which I will post separately if you're interested.  I heard they improved it on the new 35's, I hope so because it's definitely a weak point in my mind.  Not well thought out for big logs especially.

Otherwise, I love my 35!  I had a tree service guy come by on Monday when I was loading the hickory (about 10' long), and he said there was no way the mill was going to lift it.  Wrong!  Picked it up like nothing.  He stayed and watched me saw the whole thing!  So if you think you're not going to be sawing bigger logs, I would recommend it.