New MILL Circular or bandsaw??? Brand??

[Don P]

 will the lucas mill a full 20' timber without the extensions?

Never tried, but no, there wouldn't be enough room to swing. Get the extensions if you go with a swinger. When we set up the swingset its over the extensions at one end outboard of the uprights. It ended up at the far end in the roller table setup later on when we switched gears, centered up, and started sawing bigger stuff. We also sawed some 30' material on the roller table setup doing a little careful climb cutting, chainsaw waste removal and then rolling in further. Wouldn't want to do much but outsmarted those few logs. We were avoiding the Alaskan but didn't do enough to really get a sense of whether it was faster. When setting up the track we did take the time to carefully level the rollers side to side and stringlined the length then secured them down to the line of bunks under them. It did work pretty slick.
Do take Mt406 up on his offer to ride along on his mills, that is a great opportunity.

[Don P]

I got a pic of the end of the rail, the upright and the powerhead today. The rail overall is 19' 3-1/2". I'm not all the way out in this setup but if you look at the rail holder on the upright it projects beyond the post about 6" so the uprights could be spaced around 18' apart. But, look at the powerhead, in order to swing and just have moving room the log needs to be to the right of the carriage in this shot, same at the other end. That's why I'm saying get the extensions, you won't regret it.




The black steel is what we fabbed for lifting and spinning. One thing we found out is you need to remove a little metal from the slabbing bar mount or at least think about that area where our angle iron vertical bolts to the roller bolt, that is where the slabbing bar mounts as well, check your clearances before you get out in the field and try to swap from sawing to slabbing in front of a client and it doesn't fit, Doh!

[Ianab]

I see on the Lucas web page you can order a mill with 8m (24ft) rails. But this of course makes it a little less portable than the removable extensions. But like Don is saying, you need the rails long enough for the blade to completely clear the log at each end.

If you are going really long, the Peterson WPF system with the rails on ground is easier to extend.

[mad murdock]

Wyoelkhunter, you can also contact Mike at Turbosawmill USA and see if he could hook you up with a used mill. There are some around and price would be easier to swallow. When looking at all features, I am convinced( hence the reason I went with a turbosawmill) that the single beam has many many advantages. If it hadn't gone turbosawmill is have gone with a Peterson. Turbosawmill's hobby mill similar to the Peterson Jr mill would do all you need of what you speak. Doublecutting on a Turbosaw is very quick, having not done it on a Peterson I can't speak to its relative ease, but have to imagine it isn't s whole lot different. 

[Ianab]

Doublecutting on a Turbosaw is very quick, having not done it on a Peterson I can't speak to its relative ease, but have to imagine it isn't s whole lot different. 

Yup, both do it pretty easily. 

[Wyoelkhunter]

I got a pic of the end of the rail, the upright and the powerhead today. The rail overall is 19' 3-1/2". I'm not all the way out in this setup but if you look at the rail holder on the upright it projects beyond the post about 6" so the uprights could be spaced around 18' apart. But, look at the powerhead, in order to swing and just have moving room the log needs to be to the right of the carriage in this shot, same at the other end. That's why I'm saying get the extensions, you won't regret it.




The black steel is what we fabbed for lifting and spinning. One thing we found out is you need to remove a little metal from the slabbing bar mount or at least think about that area where our angle iron vertical bolts to the roller bolt, that is where the slabbing bar mounts as well, check your clearances before you get out in the field and try to swap from sawing to slabbing in front of a client and it doesn't fit, Doh!

thank you for that info that answers some questions for me, so if i wanna roll 20' logs in underneath the rail thats gonna be a no go? whats the maximum distance you can get those uprights apart? It looks like most of the lucas mills come with the extensions allowing a cutting length of 20' but if i cant get that between the rails it wont do me any good unless of come in from the end like another member suggested. really like the weight and price of the lucas 6-18 but i dont know how big of a pain its gonna be to double cut a bunch with it. 

[Wyoelkhunter]

I see on the Lucas web page you can order a mill with 8m (24ft) rails. But this of course makes it a little less portable than the removable extensions. But like Don is saying, you need the rails long enough for the blade to completely clear the log at each end.

If you are going really long, the Peterson WPF system with the rails on ground is easier to extend.

i asked about the 24' rails and they wont ship those anymore  :'( dang that would have been perfect! 

[Wyoelkhunter]

Wyoelkhunter, you can also contact Mike at Turbosawmill USA and see if he could hook you up with a used mill. There are some around and price would be easier to swallow. When looking at all features, I am convinced( hence the reason I went with a turbosawmill) that the single beam has many many advantages. If it hadn't gone turbosawmill is have gone with a Peterson. Turbosawmill's hobby mill similar to the Peterson Jr mill would do all you need of what you speak. Doublecutting on a Turbosaw is very quick, having not done it on a Peterson I can't speak to its relative ease, but have to imagine it isn't s whole lot different.

I emailed him, ive also been talking to jake about the turbo mills, they do seem nice but they are a little pricey. they are pretty backed up on production and they wont have any ready to roll from new zealand till the 20th of May so by the time i get it we could be into the end of june or later. Also they seem a little slow from the videos, whats been your experience with them? 

[NZJake]

Here's a video showing production milling with the M8-Auto. This may give some since of speed.

The video you were probably watching was the M12 which does cut a little slower in full depth 12".

https://youtu.be/2cFcw8YIgWM

[Wyoelkhunter]

that looks a little better! do you feel like they are under powered? 

[NZJake]

No not at all. We are very happy with the 13hp units too in the smaller manual format.

I don't think a bigger motor will add to your daily production over the GX690. I feel it's more in the mills design that any gains can be made like loading logs and removing timber easier. Also single end sizing, (weight of push the mill if it's a manual) are all very important elements.

[mad murdock]

that looks a little better! do you feel like they are under powered?

To your question about speed and power, my M8 (started with it as an M6 and upgraded the mill with parts proc idee by Jake), Can average 150-250 bd ft an hour in most softwoods of course individual log dynamics will have a lot t do with production as well, and in hardwoods like oak, 75-125 bd ft/hr is what I am seeing with a chainsaw powered version. The automated mills drastically in frase milling speed and efficiency. If you. An get along with a manual mill now, with the Turbosaw, an automatic upgrade is a bolt  on affair and can be done easily whenever you are ready to make the jump. I opt for ultimate portability. Which is why I we t with the chainsaw powered unit. It is an awesome machine with plenty of power, and the blade technology that they have incorporated is pretty darned amazing as well. My 395XP husky has all the power i need to do what i have with my mill. I have over 40 mbf milled in the last 12 mo. And that is part time as well.