Hey swing blade users

[DonE911]

I have a few questions that maybe can be answered here.  

I'm not really trying to start a Lucas vrs Peterson vrs X thing.

For you Lucas owners... why ( design maybe ) must the saw head be turned to double cut?  Is there a modification ( home brew ) to fix that issue?  Are the Lucas Mills Upgradable to the next size up in blade.. ie  6" to 8".  Can the motor me upgraded later... say you buy a 13HP to start out and 2 years from now you want the 20Hp ( or whatever)

I know I can get these answers by calling the company, but I recon I'll get better answers here.

The Peterson looks great, and just by looking at the stuff they sent and reading here I think its a better machine,but it's price is a problem (sort of) for my pockets and I'm sure quite a few others.

I should say that I am not looking for a mill to start a new life as a sawyer, and I don't care if I never make any money with it. (although some $$$ would be nice)   I can afford the payments either way I go, but that doesn't mean I want to spend any more than I have to.  

PS

 I visisted with deadheader over the weekend... Thanks Harold.. I really could have spent all night looking over your lumber... good thing the wife called... and she says thanks for the sawdust.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Hi Don.  Maybe I can answer a few questions for you. The Lucas mill has to have the whole carriage turned around. There is a bracket or something on the carriage that is in the way. Someone could design a way to use it without turning, I reckon. : ;D ;D

  Not sure about upgrading to the 8" blade.

  Have you checked sawmillexchange.com??? They list used mills for people. Sometimes there are used Swingers.

[DonE911]

Thanks...

I've checked there a few times... there may be 1 or 2 on there from time to time...  but the cost difference from new is so small I might as well buy new.  

I think it's great that they appear to hold value so well, but that doesn't help the guy looking for a used mill on the cheap. :D

[Captain]

Hey Don,

I'll try to answer the 6" to 8" upgrade question.

What makes the Peterson upgradable is the fact that the basic frame and center unit size is shared between the 6" and 8" mills.  Coversion requires a new gearbox, with a longer shaft to accomodate the extra 2" radius of the blade.  It is not a simple matter of just changing blade sizes.  The gear ratio to achieve the right rim speed is different also. It also comes with new guards/shields to accomdate the increase in blade dimension.

Having said all of this, I do not know the potential for upgrade of the Lucas Mills.

Keep looking for used mills, they are out there.  

CAPTAIN

[Swing_blade_Andy]

I can answer your Lucas Questions anyway.

Unfortunately you cannot upgrade with Lucas save putting a 9" blade kit on the 8" model. The reason is that the frames are different widths. I guess that you could do some home modifications but that's up to you. I am not sure that any agent will have a spare powerhead/carrage to supply without frames - usually they want to sell as a whole machine.

The turning lug is Lucas's answer to the reverse cut question. Don't know how well it works because I havn't used it but it should work. I have my own method of doing that process. I'm thinking safety. I happy with it.

Like the early Apple computers, you are ment to mess around with this yourself. But keep an eye for things that will bite you - if the Lucas does bite you, you might not get better. As it is, it certainly will not bite, never happened to me anyway.


Key thing....
Each machine is really good at doing the things that its good at. If you stay doing those things then you might have a good time. If you don't then you have a bad day.

Andrew

[dmcc]

I've got the 618 and I can't see where it would be practical to convert to 8". It would basically throw the whole geometry off and almost everything around the engine/carriage/saw arbor would have to be modified.
As for the double cut, the engine sits low in the carriage, to the left of the cut. To move the blade over past the intended cut size causess the engine to run into the cant you are trying to cut. Thats why you have to turn it around to cut the other side.
It could, however, be easily modified to double cut if the depth of cut was kept to a max of about 2" thick, making anything up to a 2x12 easy. There are a couple of small guards that could be removed for this.
I have turned mine around and made several 1x12's, it works fine.
As for the Lucas in general, I have been very happy with mine. I'm sure the Peterson is a finer mill, but after 30,000 bf of 2x's, I've gotta say this sucker works! It's about the cheapest way I've seen to get the kind of production I've seen with it.
Let me know if I can help.

[DonE911]

dmcc

What type of wood are your working with?  

I'll be cutting mostly SYP and Oak ( water, Aus Pine, live ) into lumber... not really concerned with slab stuff right now.

Do you think the 6" is good for what you use it for or do you wish you'd spend the extra $$ on the 8" ? Do you feel the extra power over the 13hp was "needed"?

 I'm not looking for the big production...  I'll be happy to cut what I have time for and don't care if I don't make enough to cover the payment every month...  

Thanks for your input.

[Ianab]

Hi Don

The 6 inch / 8 inch question mostly depends on what YOU want to cut. If you are mostly planning to cut 4" or 6" then the 6" cut will be ideal. Personally I cut a lot of 8" stuff and like the option of the bigger blade.
The 13hp doesn't limit what you can cut, just how fast you can cut it. My mill is only about 8hp, runs thru 4" cuts sweet. However you really slow down on the 8" cuts, but it just keeps on knawing away.

ian

[dmcc]

Don,
That's a tough question. If you KNOW that you aren't worried about production then the 613  will be fine. The majority of my sawing has been SYP, and I feel that is where the lucas really shines. I think in pine you should still be able to take full cuts, just a little slower. If you mostly want 2x4's and 2x6's, then you'll be fine making the occasional bigger board by double cutting. If you want to make 2x8's every day, you'll get SICK  of double cutting, even if you didn't have to turn the mill around.
A couple of things to remember:
While the 8" mill will easily cut up to 8"(of course), anything bigger than that and you are still turning the mill around. The way I looked at it when buying was the only gain I got was 2" on one pass.
If you buy a 613, it doesnt come with the extensions to cut 20' lumber, and their not cheap. The 618 does have them.

[DonE911]

Thank you to everyone for your input...