Thread: Al's NEW mill

Yup you read it right, my NEW mill

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.

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

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

lastly, have I mentioned I love my Lucas


What the hell, I did all this write up and I STILL cant post pics?!?!?!? well stuff it y'all get no pics