I bought a model 1900 kit from Gary Boyd, way back in 2006, and spent about 2 months Welding, assembling and painting the finished mill. I powered it with a Honda 670 gasoline engine, still in frequent use today. The mill has run almost continuously since it was assembled, with only one break for repainting. I have not had to replace any parts. The drive system and bearings are still original and in good condition.I have sawn over 550,000 board feet of pine, cedar and black oak on it, to build two 2,000+ sf houses, with total wood interiors, including cabinets, doors, t&g pine flooring and t&g blue-stain pine walls. In addition, Ive sawn wood to build a 4,000 sf barn, including several 40 10x28 beams, plus many other structures at a local public shooting range, to which I am a member. Ive also sawn whole house wood floors for two friends, and sold about 155,000 board feet of salvage pine, and about 175 pc of 8 thick pine mantle slabs. The Linn MilI has obviously paid for itself many times over. And it still runs very reliably. It is constructed of heavy gauge steel frame, with high quality accessories, bearings, etc.It is kept outside in an orchard, in the weather, without protection, and it still runs like the day it was assembled. Ive had no problems, with any part of the machine, except normal blade sharpening and replacement. It is a precision machine, capable of doing a great deal of good quality work. My unit does not have motor feed or motorized lift features. I built a separate hydraulic log rack and rotating fixture, which greatly assists when quarter sawing. I would (and have) recommended this machine to others. When I start it, it runs and it saws straight, accurately and efficiently.

Without getting into a long story my experience has been that the model 1900 with the auto feed option worked ok for the first year until winter, then it became very apparent that many parts on the mill were not water proof and rusted very quickly first to go was the chinese made drive chain, second to go was the steel fuel tank with open vent hole pointing straight up, third to go was the electronic controls which are packed into an non sealed little metal box that get wet, water condensation and then does not work, fourth is the acme screws that power the up and down feature, these too were mild steel at best and are already rusting bad even when covered with grease or oil. All in all I would not recommend this mill to anybody that will be using it outdoors, maybe if in a barn or big COVERED building than it would probably be ok. One other thing is the main pillow block bearings that the band wheels are mounted on are way under size and heat up pretty bad if you mill constantly for an extended period of time showing that these too will fail sooner rather than later. If the mill used some better components it certainly would be worth the extra money but as is it is not worth the money that I spent due to rust, water intrusion and undersized main bearings. The mill needs to be re-engineered with st st components, plastic fuel tank with filter and shut off valve and a control module mounted in a water tight enclosure.