Thread: Portable Swing Saw Mill for (Potential) Sale

I am testing the waters to see what interest there might be out there for selling my portable swing saw mill.
It is a home built version of a Lucas-Peterson-type-design but with some advantages and some disadvantages over that style.
Homebuilt doesn’t mean dodgy or dangerous. It was properly engineered and built. It functions well, and is reliable and safe.
It is more an amateur's machine than a commercial one.


Basics
* A trolley on 4 wheels -- with motor and swing gearbox and blade and sawing table -- runs on two ground rails of 6 metres long, thus allowing maximum 4.2 metre logs and cut boards (but it has extension rails to allow 5.5M boards). Any extra length of rail extensions could be added. Any farm-skilled welder could make them up
* The sawing table and blade move up and down, and wind sideways, to allow any sizing of boards desired.
* It can break down logs of up to 1000mm diam without any need for rolling or moving.
* It has a 600mm diam x 5.5mm kerf blade of 26 Tungsten tips which can rip up to 250mm deep (but not in one pass!). It can theoretically cut up to 250mm x 250mm.
* It has a 21HP Briggs and Stratton V-Twin petrol motor, electric start, (which is not monstrously fast, depending on your wood, but gets there eventually). Over its 3 years of life, I’ve successfully milled from green poplar to seasoned ironbark. Despite the work load, this motor has done little hard work and has been assiduously maintained.
* It has a 12 litre removable petrol tank.

Special Features
* Unlike all other swing mills, this one has 160mm of blade above the table top to allow top-sawing along a fence, which is of great advantage if needing to re-size boards after seasoning, or for re-cutting timbers when you change your mind over sizing, or for cutting other timbers which did not come from the log you are milling. So you get a mill and a tablesaw in one device.
* It has a “parking carport” with side covers at one end of the rails which keeps the weather off it when not in use – and very useful if it starts raining in the middle of a job.
* It is portable in so far as it can be broken down into sections that one person can carry and reassemble alone. I built it in a city factory and transported it in to my place in a 13ft dinghy. It has been moved around my property 4 times in 3 years by myself alone. But it is made of mild steel, not aluminium, and is therefore heavier than the pro’s machines. There's no polished alloy or stainless fittings -- just epoxy painted steel. But it would also be a great machine to just leave set up in a shed or paddock and to bring the logs to it.
* It has a 12v x 60amp auxiliary alternator to run its own table winch and a 12vdc-240vac inverter for electric tool use nearby (say an angle grinder, or drill, or lights).

Accessories
* Comes with a 1.5 tonne capacity petrol powered logging winch. This comes with pieces of 10mm steel cable totalling about 50 metres.
* Comes with a sharpening jig with diamond blade.
* Comes with a 1 tonne log trolley which helps logs travel along rough ground.
* Comes with 3 tonne high lift jack, plus other assorted tools for logging and milling.
* Comes with complete Operator’s and Repairer’s Manual (which I wrote myself based on my design and construction and milling experience.)
* As this machine is somewhat idiosyncratic, I would support any buyer with free assistance in breaking it down for sale; removing it off my property (it has to go by boat as there is no road access to the site); and to set it back up and run it the first time in its new home. But any buyer would have to provide the transport of the mill to their place.

Rationale
I am not 100% sure if I do want to sell it at the moment as it is rather inaccessible. Its inaccessibility is problematic (1) for potential buyers to come and see it, (2) as I don’t live at that location anymore, (3) and I don’t want to expend time and energy meeting on site with tyre kickers. A buyer will have to buy it based on photos, videos, phone calls, trust and intuition.
I am finding it hard to set a reasonable market price for this machine based on its unusual nature.
I was thinking maybe $8000, given the value of similar things, given its versatility, and given that it will give years of reliable service once understood.
So if there is sufficient expressions of interest, I will then formally offer it for sale in the forum and post all info and pics and videos for potential buyers.
It is located about 2 hours northwest of Sydney, but I might be happy to sell to anyone anywhere on the east coast.
So for now, please no detailed queries about it -- just general expressions of interest if you reckon there’s a market for it.