Sigidi's NEW toy

[sigidi]

Well it had to happen, Lucas brought out a new mill and I've been busier than a fiddler's elbow at a square dance. Got a great deal on this my 3rd Lucas and have already offloaded Bo Derek, my 2 year old 10-30 to another forum member "Weisyboy" Drove 200k each way to go pick up the mill from a show which was kinda good 'coz Lucas drove it through 3 states and around 1300k to get it to the show. They used it for the couple days of the show which means it was all set up ready for me to cut straight away :D
First day I used "Sparky" (decided was his name as sparky refers to the electric bit of him using an EFI engine and a much better name than Jumbo, even though that would be apt as it's 747 cc) I pushed out $390 worth of timber in 1.2 engine hours  ;D

So this is a pic of Sparky all set up in his new 'home' for a little while, I should take a few pics to show you guys what I'm doin at the moment too - might add them Monday after the days slicing...



What the new engine looks like from the operators position, see all the wiring harness and fuses - even has a set of lights that come on and off when you do stuff with the key...



Side of the engine, with the specific EFI fuel filter line...



The warning stickers say to only use this specific kind of fuel filter on the EFI engine as other filters wont operate properly with the engine. It appears the whole line from the fuel tank to the engine is replacement only, this includes the two in-line fuel filters. Having said this there is a whole new fuel line filter assembly included in the Lucas kit box and apparently Lucas have ordered an insane amount of them so they can offer them to owners at a very good price as needed.

Most of the mill is the same as Bo Derek, with a few exceptions/upgrades...



The new style rail brake is certainly a very good brake compared to the 2 other style brakes I have used (not to say the others where bad, just Lucas seem to have improved on them) It will take a little to get used to using a different method to apply the brake but after a day or so I'm sure that will be ironed out. My only hesitation with it for the time being is having 'specific' points along the tracks where the brake operates, I'm sure this will become second nature soon enough as well - or I can put a cpl extra holes in the rails if I find there is a drawback using the existing holes. Although I am pleased the brake is much more thorough in it's application - its either on or its not.



The anti bounce strut has also been fitted with a plate to aid in deflecting any sawdust thrown toward the operator side whilst doing vertical cuts. I didn't get much time using this on Friday, so on first impressions it seems to make sense - will provide more detail on it after I've used it some more.

Also I found with Bo Derek, the winders where getting a bit tough on the shoulder to wind the mill up with how busy I've been this year (3-4 weeks at a time without more than 1 day in 5 off the mill) I essentially mill on my own, log rolling has been largely reduced by the use of Bob the Cat, but tailing the timber and actual milling has pretty much been all me, plus I know it sounds bad but at 37 I'm not as young as I remember ;) Anyway, Lucas have made some changes to their winders which make the winding process much easier by comparison - very easy to tell the new winders from the older ones, the new ones are red handled and the older style are yellow handled.

Apparently using the EFI engine will use 25% less fuel as compared to the previous carby model and marginally quicker cutting. I've dropped a full tank of fuel into Sparky to see how long a tank will last as compared to Bo and will keep you updated on how he goes - and of course update how things are as I use him more 8) ;D

lastly, have I mentioned I love my Lucas ;D ;)

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

WOW....the miles we will drive for a sawmill. :D

Congrats on your new saw.

[sigidi]

Thanks mate, quick off the draw on this one  ;)

I figure I'll drive more miles with the mill than to get the mill lols

[clww]

Looks nice! Congratulations to you! 8)

[fishpharmer]

Way to go Sigidi!  "Sparky" looks great.  This mill is a 10-30 with EFI and improvements?

[Delawhere Jack]

Your new mill is definately a 10! 

[tjhammer]

what the horse power on the new eng is it still a 10in cut, good looking saw  at 37 you are still a young man now at 69 it takes me all day to do what I used to do all day
tj

[logboy]

Boy do I wish you were closer so I could go and check it out.  I just spent the last two days sawing lumber with my 827.  All of the improvements you listed are things that I thought about.  The Kohler 27 is an absolute gas guzzler if you are into the governor all the time (which we are).  I'm interested to see how much better the EFI version is. Thats a 29hp right?  What "specific fuel" are they talking about? I don't know what kind of jungle juice you guys run down there.

And like you mentioned, the lock is not great. I have the older style that is supposed to catch by twisting. Unfortunately these days it seems like it just rolls back and forth on the 4 foot extension before it hits the end or the rail connector.  Ive learned to keep an eye on it when I'm raising or lowering.

Speaking of raising and lowering,  it's nice to know that they have revamped the crank system.  Mine is an absolute bear to raise when I have the 827 on one end and the dedicated slabber on the other.  I can feel it in my shoulder at the end of the day.

Most of the day I was sawing I kept wishing I had more horsepower and a bigger blade to cut 10" boards.  Unfortunately it would be hard to justify the upgrade right now.  Our lumber market is absolutely in the toilet and everyone is tight with their money.  My slabber keeps me busy.  I spend a fair amount of time slabbing for guys who own mills, like Woodmizers, and even commercial mills. $50k worth of mill and they cant cut a little 48" diameter log?  ;D

I'm 33 now and can relate to doing it by yourself. My Bobcat has saved my back and body since I got it.  Was that you or Weisboy that threw out their back a while back?

What kind of log dog setup are you using? I learned to saw from David Bolstad (RIP). He taught me just to flatten one side and flip them over. I had to do a fair amount of small logs this time around and the mill kept wanting to throw them across the bunks, even with a flat spot on the bottom. I know Lucas has their setup, but for $200 bucks I'm going to see if I can make something first.

[Leigh Family Farm]

New toys are the best! Congrats on the mill!  8)

[sigidi]

Way to go Sigidi!  "Sparky" looks great.  This mill is a 10-30 with EFI and improvements?

Yes Fish, the new EFI engine replaces the 30HP Kohler along with the improvements and yup she cuts 10" too ;D

what the horse power on the new eng is it still a 10in cut, good looking saw  at 37 you are still a young man now at 69 it takes me all day to do what I used to do all day
tj

Tj, that is funny - all day ;) horse power I dunno, I don't believe horse power directly relates to engine capacity, but regardless its 747cc EFI engine - apparently you guys have regulations over there specific to engines over 750cc or something and yup still the 10" cut - now I've had one I wouldn't go back, even if cutting 4x1 for a bunch of logs - yes it will be a bit more painful than using my old 6-18 to do a whole whack of 4x1 but tbh the added flexibility of the 10" cut has been far worth it.

Boy do I wish you were closer so I could go and check it out.  I just spent the last two days sawing lumber with my 827.  All of the improvements you listed are things that I thought about.  The Kohler 27 is an absolute gas guzzler if you are into the governor all the time (which we are).  I'm interested to see how much better the EFI version is. Thats a 29hp right?  What "specific fuel" are they talking about? I don't know what kind of jungle juice you guys run down there.

Yer Logboy they have thought of a few things I've been musing over too. If what I've been told about this EFI engine and fuel efficiency is on the money, my fuel bill will be 3/4 what it used to be and with the way fuel is goin that is a terrific bonus for me - worth the difference in upgrading in itself. It's not a 'specific Fuel' mate, but a specific fuel "filter' setup, still uses unleaded fuel. I stay away from ethanol blended fuel for the mill and the chainsaws, but stop short of using premium (hi-octane) unleaded in them.

Speaking of raising and lowering,  it's nice to know that they have revamped the crank system.  Mine is an absolute bear to raise when I have the 827 on one end and the dedicated slabber on the other.  I can feel it in my shoulder at the end of the day.

I bet having two power heads on the tracks makes a big difference, I had occasion to use your style winches on Bo Derek last week Thursday. I was milling for another Lucas owner and he already has his rails setup so I dropped my power head on to save time (so I could get off to pick up Sparky earlier ) BOY, I noticed a huge difference between using the older yellow handle winches versus the new geared red handled ones. Total cost down here is a little over $200 for a replacement set and 15 mins with a 13mm spanner mate - tbh if you are raising both powerheads all day, I'd disturb the moths and swap out your old winches asap.

I'm 33 now and can relate to doing it by yourself. My Bobcat has saved my back and body since I got it.  Was that you or Weisyboy that threw out their back a while back?

Nah Carl is 21 and doin his back in all the time, he throws his back out and I get extra work from him. It's a shame cos he still neat-o does the same stuff which wrecks his back.... he better look after BO better than he looks after himself ( yer I hope you're reading this Carl ;))

What kind of log dog setup are you using? I learned to saw from David Bolstad (RIP). He taught me just to flatten one side and flip them over. I had to do a fair amount of small logs this time around and the mill kept wanting to throw them across the bunks, even with a flat spot on the bottom. I know Lucas has their setup, but for $200 bucks I'm going to see if I can make something first.

Log boy, I'll do a 'log dog' post later tonight if ya like - will get some pics of the yard today too.... I've tried the Lucas log chocks, but I don't like how 'soft' the aluminium is in the bottom part - the part which holds the chock in place - I made some 'different' ones for myself but they had their own problems too and I've gone back to something akin to my original setup.

Thanks for the congratz guys  8)  8)

Me and the missus are heading out to see how long the rest of the first tank of fuel cuts

[logboy]

I'd like to see what you use for dogs if its not much trouble. I have seen everything from v-notched timbers all the way up to complicated interlocking timber setups that bolt together and take an hour of messing around. Neither seemed to work all that great. I'm looking for fast and simple so I can quit flipping the logs when I saw by myself. 

Youre right about fuel. Ethanol is a killer on small engines and plastic fuel tanks. I never run it, and I still put in the anti-ethanol treatment in each tank for the little bit that gets mixed in at the petrol station.

I may shoot an email to Warren about the cranks. I'd love to save my shoulder some wear and tear.

[customsawyer]

Congrats on the new mill.

[sigidi]

Already done 3 solid hours on the first tank of fuel, Bo would be sucking fumes right about now and Sparky's still goin strong.

I've got my own email to shoot to Warren - I freakin LOVE this new Mill. On the new cranks, my better half seems to think they are a DanG site better than what was on Bo Derek.

It cut like a champ today!!!! How rough is this - the Missus and I where slicing out a bunch of 8x2 hardwood sleepers 8' long today. This was the first sacrifice to the log gods, 1.1 m3 of log or around 1155kg (2541 lb)



This is what we sliced out in sleepers, with a bit of stray 3x2, and 4x2 comin off where a sleeper wouldn't fit...



and this was the waste pile from it...



After the log was finished, we set the next one up and went to do it all again, but Al remembers he should sharpen up... I go to sharpen up and take a close look at the blade.... I've only got 1 full tooth all the others have both corners chipped and one has lost so much tooth the pocket is exposed!!!! I try and think back to the log and if I heard 'that sound' or saw 'that stain' but then I remember that Friday I had ran through 4 batten screws when cutting out the step treads!!!!! So I had cut the whole log in the pics above with 1 good tooth and didn't even notice any slowing in cutting!!! DanG I love this machine. Well I changed to a good blade and my better half was tailing like crazy to keep up then ;D

[Okrafarmer]

Oh, I really want to get a swing mill!

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Oh, I really want to get a swing mill!

How far would you drive?  ;D

[Okrafarmer]

Probably to Australia, except I'm not sure if the old Toy Yoda would make it that far.  :-\

Don't you think a well-equipped swing mill with slabber would be the perfect complement to an LT-40? I saw a beautiful sweetgum tree today with a crotch about 5 feet wide, and I said to myself, "self, I can't mill that on the LT-40."  :'(

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Probably to Australia, except I'm not sure if the old Toy Yoda would make it that far.  :-\

Don't you think a well-equipped swing mill with slabber would be the perfect complement to an LT-40? I saw a beautiful sweetgum tree today with a crotch about 5 feet wide, and I said to myself, "self, I can't mill that on the LT-40."  :'(

If you had a slabber......I'd bring logs to ya. I'd even buy slabs from you! Slabbers make me Sloober.  :D
I'd love to have one too. 

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Al a big congrats on the New One Similar yet different ;)  ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) Ill be still using Ours for a while yet but there will definatly be another coming as you just cant beat having one even if you have other mills Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8)

Probably to Australia, except I'm not sure if the old Toy Yoda would make it that far.  :-\

Don't you think a well-equipped swing mill with slabber would be the perfect complement to an LT-40? I saw a beautiful sweetgum tree today with a crotch about 5 feet wide, and I said to myself, "self, I can't mill that on the LT-40."  :'(

Well I personally think the Lucas will beat a Band esp one of the same value once you start doing bigger logs on a regular basis   ;) and you can leave the toybota at home and Ill loan you a Ford when You get here Mate  ;) ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)

Oh, I really want to get a swing mill!

Jim lookin for excuses to get one already Mate    ;) :D  ;D ;D ;D 8) 8)

Regards Chris

[Okrafarmer]

I'll have to be content with the LT-40 for a while, Chris, until I make enough money to justify being a two-mill operation!  :D :D :D Maybe if I share with Lucas or Peterson my ideas for a better slabber, they will make it and give me one for free. . . . . . . 

[Meadows Miller]

Well Jim you could always do what My Grandfther did (according to my Grandmother ;) ) take on a job where the the logs are to big for what  you want to do with them & then you have an excusse rite there  ;) My grandfather had been doing CCA treated pine and hardwood posts and was the first to do it in Victoria and he took on a 100acre pine job where they where to get the posts from but they where also getting about 50% sawlogs as well  ;) so he went and got the first big mill from Grey Sawmills  ;) :D :D as he had always had swing saws for doing bridge timber and split posts and Muma always said he wanted a Big sawmill  ;) :D :D ;D ;D

[sigidi]

Warren Lucas has been saying for years the ideal combo would be a Lucas-Woodmizer team, the best of both worlds and the two would compliment each other magically.

Used the slabbing attachment with sparky today - no real difference there, I had to line it up with some shims to get it running true to Sparky as compared with Bo, and the log I used was one that didn't want to stay still so I had to go very gently on it. I don't really have any expectation that Sparky will operate any better or any worse than Bo did with the slabber.

but....

My fuel tank ran out today  ;D 8) and the verdict is I got half an hour longer run time with Sparky as compared with Bo, I reckon that would be a nice tidy saving over the year, may even commit myself now to getting something nice at the end of the year hahahaha

[Nomad]

Warren Lucas has been saying for years the ideal combo would be a Lucas-Woodmizer team, the best of both worlds and the two would compliment each other magically.

     It is the ideal team ;D

[Meadows Miller]

Gady

Al what sort of saving are you figuring over your average years sawing in fuel Mate ???

Nomad you would know having  the 10-30 and an LT50 and edger Mate  ;) ;D ;D 8)

That reminds Me I did break down about 12 10' to 12' 36" plus dia logs up into 10' wide cants at Readbeards so Jim could resaw them on his TK B-20 into siding it was only taking about 10to15min per log and they had about 6 to 700bft in them ea its pretty good production  ;) ;D

Reagrds Chris

[sigidi]

Al what sort of saving are you figuring over your average years sawing in fuel Mate ???

Mate just finished doin up my tax tonight, gimme a sec..... spent just over $1500 on fuel for Bo last tax year so the saving based on last years amount of work would be around $250-$270, but I'm already lookin like doin more than twice last years running, so would be nice to get twice the income on $10 less fuel a week  ;D ;D

[fishpharmer]

Warren Lucas has been saying for years the ideal combo would be a Lucas-Woodmizer team, the best of both worlds and the two would compliment each other magically.

     It is the ideal team ;D

I second that ;) 8) (or is it third that)

[Okrafarmer]

My friends on the island have a 6-inch Lucas and an LT-15, and they saw a lot of tropical hardwood.

[logboy]

As I cranked my 827 from the lowest position to the max height numerous times over the last three days I kept thinking about those new cranks of yours.  I really need to order them. Has anyone hooked up a working electrical setup before?

Do these look like the new handles? Or are they the old ones?
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=SSW+8&catID=


Is the new EFI engine blubbery in any way? My slabber has the high efficiency carb so it uses a lot less gas. Unfortunately it also runs terrible and likes to die at idle because its starved for fuel.

[sigidi]

Logboy, nah mate that is the winder handle for the sideshift mechanism - it moves the power head/blade across the horizontal. Man I cant believe how expensive just the handle is over there oh and BTW, I don't really now what the answer to the question about the log chocks was about (bit further down the Baileys page) no reason at all the logs chocks cant work on small logs, just means you may get less recovery from them, but ya gotta use  something to hold the small logs????? I dunno,

anyway to your question mate....Take a look here...



This is what the new set looked like for both endframes, so a new set of cranks for each end. (also I got a new set of measure gauges at the time too)
This is what they looked like on the mill at the time of getting the new cranks... (notice the yellow handle)



So for install, wind the rails to the bottom, undo the 13mm nylock, lock nut off the end of the chains on both uprights for the end frames,



take out the top bar for the endframes, then slide the crank assembly off the top of the post and drop on the new assembly - do this for each upright, then put everything back together...



New set of winders ;D

About 12 min for each endframe and a whole heap of work saved on your shoulder, after using these I've given up on the electric idea now mate

[logboy]

I was so tired last night I didnt read the caption, I just looked at the photo. I dont see them on Bailey's website. Maybe I'll shoot Warren a message and see if I can get them.