TWO EXTRA H/P, NO EXTRA WEIGHT.

 Portable sawmills by name and by nature must be "portable" to survive in the market. The easiest way to lose this portability is to gain weight. This can happen in a number of ways, weight can be gained looking for improved features such as electric start or hydraulics, or it can be gained in model creep such as  can be seen with the latest four wheel drives. This type of development means a company can lose its original customers as the new bigger and supposedly better machine is bigger heavier and not suited to its original job. The original eight inch Lucas Mill ran a 20 H/P pull start engine and the power head weighed 152Kg. The weight of the power head is important as it is not only the heaviest component it is the part that has to be moved the most. The Lucas Mill has minimised this weight by separating the raising and lowering gear from the engine blade and gear box. The first major upgrade on the model eight came in 1999 with the introduction of the 25 H/P Kohler engine. This upgrade also included electric start which means a battery had to be added. To just add the bigger engine and battery would have increased the weight by 15Kg or 10%. Changing the trolley frame to aluminium kept the weight gain down to just 2 Kg. The latest upgrade will not increase the weight at all. The new 27 H/P engine is a development on the 25 H/P engine we have been using up to now. The engine shares the same displacement as the one it replaces however many parts have been changed to increase power. The new engine has a larger carburettor for increased air flow as well as redesigned heads and improved ignition timing. Maximum torque is now produced at 2800rpm instead of 2400rpm as on the 25 H/P engines. As the mill normally operates between 3400 and 3600 RPM this leaves the mill with plenty of torque in reserve. The 25 H/P engine has proved itself to be extremely reliable in the three years we have had them in service, many engines have clocked over 4000 hours with little other than routine maintenance. These engines like the new 27 H/P engine replacing them are protected by high temperature cut out as well as low oil pressure cut out. The combination of these two things means that very few problems turn into big ones. The new mills will be covered by a two year warranty as has been the case from the beginning. For people not requiring the production that this mill offers, may be better served by either the

Model 6 - 13 or the  Model 6 -18. These machines are both six inch models and are powered respectively by a 13 H/P Honda pull start engine and an 18 H/P electric start Vanguard engine.