Author Topic: Peterson or Lucas (Read 14687 times)

getoverit · « **Reply #81 on:** March 07, 2006, 08:58:26 pm »

do ya really think DanG would look like that without that white beard??

Inquiring minds want to know....

Jeff · « **Reply #82 on:** March 07, 2006, 09:01:43 pm »

No, I think he looks like this:

Chet · « **Reply #83 on:** March 07, 2006, 09:08:16 pm »

He kinda resembles a certain ex-governor of Minnysota.

doublecut · « **Reply #84 on:** March 07, 2006, 10:10:34 pm »

doublecut

rathbone · « **Reply #85 on:** March 08, 2006, 06:09:10 pm »

I believe that would sawyer. I am looking for a mill as well, I need to look closer at the Lucas. From what I have read and seen, the Peterson looks like a great unit, not sure how there could be something better, otherwise we would probably heard abou it.

Good luck !!
Rath

HARLEYRIDER · « **Reply #86 on:** March 09, 2006, 11:14:33 pm »

Doublecut, How does your new swingmill and/or ecosaw compare in price to the peterson?
Do you have any pictures or video of the swinger?
PM me

doublecut · « **Reply #87 on:** March 10, 2006, 11:29:36 am »

Hey "HARLEYRIDER "
We sure do have a dvd . We are nearing completion of the D&L swing blade.It always takes longer than one likes. But we can sure send out the video on the ecosaw and spred sheet for the D&L swing blade.
Package is on it's way now.
Thank you
doublecut

Eagle View · « **Reply #88 on:** March 13, 2006, 10:44:51 pm »

I had a good day sawing and visiting with Treebiker. I thought I would share an idea I use on the Peterson sawmill. It could be used on bandsaw mills also. I use a valve to adjust the flow of lubrication and use the On/Off switch only for turning the flow completely off or on. I will try to post a picture of the valve.

getoverit · « **Reply #89 on:** March 13, 2006, 11:22:28 pm »

Great idea Eagle View !

I have now moved my mill to a more shady spot on the farm, and it is near a water supply line. It is actually going to remain there for quite some time as I have a steady supply of logs coming to me now and it looks like I will be busy for quite some time right here at home without having to move the mill again. I'm actually thinking of doing something along the same line as what you have done, but just eliminate the water jug and go straight from the water hose instead. The flow control valve is a really good thing, and I have been wondering how to get a consistant flow. Looks like you figured it out!

sigidi · « **Reply #90 on:** March 15, 2006, 05:47:56 am »

now wouldn't ya know it... a question about Lucas and I miss out on the good stuff!!!!!

Well first of all big welcome to ya treebiker.

I can't say enough about my Lucas or the service I have received from the folkes at Lucas. I've even been honoured with a field trial/evaluation of a new attachment. Last year I nearly put my foot in it by posting on the forum asking others what they thought about the attachment, but at the time I wasn't fully aware that I had been sent it for field trials and that no one else had it!!!

Well I've moved past that...

Treebkier The biggest myth I'd like to take the chance to dispel is this furphy about double cutting with the Lucas.

I operate on my own about 92% of the time, the hardest thing about doing double cuts is picking 'em up after cutting 'em!!! No A frames, no engine hoists, no complicated stuff. you just use the face of the log to rest the sawhead on, then spin the carriage around and cut from the other side of the log, the worst thing about this method is pickin up that bloody big beam when ya finished!!

Treebiker my best advise to yourself and others in the past, get to run/operate both machines, make some sawdust and make heaps if you can before you spend ya $'s. The last thing I'd like to add - buy the biggest you can afford and maybe even bigger than you can afford at the time, this is engine and blade size. My ONLY regret in any of my decisions regarding milling (right back to 6 years ago, when I first laid eyes on a Lucas and Knew I would own one) is, I should have bought a bigger machine

I hope I have'nt got in on this one too late, but we have started building our house so I am flat out like a lizard drinking - it's been a while since I visted and I've missed having a chat (poor electrician probably charged me more today because I talked to him so long

)

You wnat to know any nitty gritty stuff - drop me a line

Good luck

Allan

JimBuis · « **Reply #91 on:** March 15, 2006, 07:28:43 am »

Sigidi,

Please explain some more about how you turn the power head around for double cutting. How long does it take you from beginning to end to turn it around? I am wondering how the time and effort in this process compares with the process involved in setting up the Peterson for the same double cut. I have the Peterson video which I have watched numerous times. However, I don't have anything from or about Lucas.

Thanks,
Jim

sigidi · « **Reply #92 on:** March 15, 2006, 05:11:08 pm »

JIm lets say you want a 20"x 4" you do normal cutting until you get to the edge of the beam you want to cut, then you do 10" horizontal cut, exit the log (switch engine off) slide the head to the left, lift the rails 4", slide the head to the right so the blade will sit on the top face of the log, drop the rails about 8" (whatever is needed to leave the saw carriage sitting on the log) now unlock the brake at the setworks so you can slide the carriage freely left to right, use the axis of the sawblade to pivot the whole carriage around, bring the rails back up, slide the head to the left, drop your 4" and finish the 20x4 from the other side of the log.

Probably goes without saying but biguns like this need a bit of wedging to stop them dropping down on the blade and heating your blades up.

I know it probably sounds long winded - (takes much longer to type

) photo's would have been much easier, but I am cutting small stuff for the next 3 weeks. The whole proces from the time you exit the log after doing the 10" horizontal takes 4 mins before you get back to cutting the other side of the log, no lifting of the carriage, putting wheels back on, A frames, engine hoists, or more importantly any other labour!!

I'll try and get some photo's together next time I am dble cutting, two weeks ago did a heap of beams for a fella - never thought of taking photot's

NZJake · « **Reply #93 on:** March 15, 2006, 06:28:16 pm »

Hey Sigidi, I didn't know Lucas made a 10" version. Is this correct?
How do you get along spinning the head on say a 15" log?
I take it that the there is a standard lead in tilt on the Lucas, will the face of the intersect side be shaped in a V manner?

Just curious.
Thanks, Jake.

sigidi · « **Reply #94 on:** March 15, 2006, 07:10:49 pm »

HI Jake,

Lucas 10" - you and I both know they don't, but Jim was trying to get a comparison regarding a Peterson mill - so I sopke Peterson for a little bit

15" log, with the hardwood cutting I do, I can't get enough timber free of sapwood in a 15" log to do a dbl cut, unless you go for something like 1 good beam out of the log, if I'm had pressed for timber and the beam is high value, then sure it can be done. one thing to consider though I have the 618 so I have a 16" blade, lets say we are looking at a 12x3 from the 15" log, this would have to come from right in the middle of the log and so yep enough of a face to spin the head on, but you need to have a really nice quality saw log to get that kind of beam out of a 15" dia. log.

blade lead in - yep just like the Peterson blades I would asssume, have a slight lead in the horizontal cut to allow material clearout, lack of friction etc. the Lucas does too. Factory recoms are for the lead to be 1mm of over the full width of a horizontal cut, so for example a 150mm horzontal cut leaves a 1mm 'step' in the face of the log after cutting the board/beam out (but me being me, I've got mine adjusted to 0.5mm over the 150mm horizontal cut

). The board/beam which comes off is flat on the 'bottom' face, but does have whatever marks where left from the previous level. Now one thing I have to educate customers on, is that what they are gettign from the sawblade, is rough sawn, it will have these slight steps from the cutting process. If they wnat it do dress back to let's say 12x3, then I will cut it a little fatter than 3" so they have the ability to clean it back - no one has wnated the extra work and is happy with rough sawn

V intersect - nothing you can pick up by eye looking at the log face, remebering of course that the released board/beam is flat on the 'underside' where the two horizontal cuts intersect. But again it is rough sawn. Grading rules allow for 2mm variation in dimensions within a board/beam, so I figure 1mm difference in the face of a 300mm beam is well within acceptable limits

Hey Jake, here's a thought, send me a Peterson to sit beside my Lucas, the house is to be built in three modules and I'll cut the first module with the Lucas, the second with a Peterson and the third with maybe and Ecosaw (Arthur???) I'll keep comprehensive records of all stats, log volume, tolerances of cut, fuel consumption, maintenance regime, blade maintenance, quantitative/quaitative analysis of effort required to operate all 3 machines, recovery stats, PHOTO's, then provide an indepth report using scientific method on the findings of all 3? Now I'm not being funny, this is serious, I've got a background in Exercise Physiology and research techinques, stats, all the number crunching stuff, time and motion studies blah blah blah. Maybe get Jeff to set up a blog section so all the members can see the daily stuff blow by blow.

Whadya think? Honestly, PM me?

Jeff · « **Reply #95 on:** March 15, 2006, 11:55:01 pm »

Careful fellers. We talk about what we have. Thats what we know. We need to be presenting good solid information on what ever we know best. Jake, you know Peterson, Sigidi, if you have a Lucas, you know Lucas. There will be no swingmill pissing matches here, and if ANYBODY gets to have them side by side to play with from posting on the forum its gotta be ME!

I ran a circle saw for 25 years and I would not begin to try to tell you the capabilities of a swingmill, even thought I have watched 3 different brands run now. I could tell you about the capabilities to a point for a LT30 manual bandsaw mill, but only to a point as I only have 5 or 6 thousand feet under my belt so I can only tell you what I can do with the mill, not what the mill may or may not be able to do.

Anyway, what I am getting at is, lets not go down this road. There are smoother roads to travel that get us where we want to go quicker and with more comfort. THANKS GUYS!

jpgreen · « **Reply #96 on:** March 16, 2006, 10:24:50 am »

I think the forum tends to be heavy on the Peterson side sometimes, but Lucas and Peterson are both awesome machines.

Lucas I understand has been working on inprovements also like Peterson does with their mills, and as with the Peterson gang, Lucas has first class customer service.

Both good folks IMO, which I admit is not worth much sometimes..

treebiker · « **Reply #97 on:** March 18, 2006, 02:38:54 pm »

Hey fellows, Still looking at sawmills. And just to show you I'm open minded, I looked at a LT40 yesterday and it was impressive. It was ran by a smart operater and he makes good money with his mill and kiln. I saw yesterday that if any good mill that is not push outside its intended scope of use, is a joy to have, and not a loser in a list. Treebiker

Kedwards · « **Reply #98 on:** April 06, 2006, 09:07:35 pm »

Mikeandike,

I like my combo of a Lucas dedicated slabber with my woodmizer. The large walnuts and cherry and cedars on aoccasion require that I slab out and the value I obtain from the slabs makes it well worth keeping it in that role. My primary reason for going Lucas over Peterson is COST. There really isn't much diference in functionality as they both perform in the same capacity.The Lucas in my opinion will perform wonderfully in a slabber role combined with a woodmizer.

jpgreen · « **Reply #99 on:** April 06, 2006, 10:48:14 pm »

I like the way you're thinkin' Kedwards...

News:

Author Topic: Peterson or Lucas (Read 14687 times)