iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

looking for pointers and hints with a stroke delimber.

Started by BargeMonkey, September 20, 2015, 09:07:22 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

BargeMonkey

 Finally got that delimber to my sawmill when I was home, wasn't pretty.  :D. I've been watching videos but have never seen one run, this was the only one I know of down this way. Topping saw is there, just needs a few little things. Anyone have any good hints or pointers of what NOT to do ? Tracked the books down on ebay, and have new bolts for the stick assembly sitting at the house. The logger I got it from figured out a measurement system on the boom and claims it's dead accurate for cutting pulp, this I've got to see. Has a fire system which is one less thing to worry about.  :D

  
She will probably sit there till spring, heading to a big oak lot on the mountain and no room for her up there.

deastman

When you pick up a tree with the delimbing arms grab it 6 or 8' up from the butt and pull it in to the rear grab arms slowly while first learning how to run it. Use your swing to line the butt up to go into rear grab arms. Be careful cause if you bring it in too fast and miss the grab arms you can drive the butt into the cab guard or worse it can go thru the front window and inside the cab. Learn where the boom will hit the stops both fully in and fully extended and try not to hit them while limbing. You will hit them a lot while learning but they have rubber blocks to cushion the stop,  just try to learn to not hit them constantly or you can damage the boom. The topping saw is a big plus, make sure not to move the boom while sawing and wait for it to fully retract or you'll bend the bar. It will limb hardwood and you will learn how to roll the tree and saw crotches and big limbs off with it. Be careful and remember that the boom sticks out behind you quite a ways and can hit things behind you while limbing and swinging such as trees, equipment,  trucks,  etc. Sort the different species and products  into different piles as you limb so the crane doesn't have to waste time doing the sorting while loading trucks. There's a lot of tricks to limbing that you'll learn as you gain experience, I've had two limbers and it was my favorite piece to run. If I was I closer I would love to run down and help you get started with it, show you how to set up your yards (landings) for a limber and other things I've learned from experience. 
Samsung 130 LCM-3 with Fabtek 4-roller and Cat 554 forwarder, Cat EL 180 excavator, Cat D3C dozer, Cat D7E dozer, '92 Ford LTL 9000 dump, Easy-2-Load 25 Ton tag-a-long, current project under construction: '91 Peterbilt 379 with a Hood 8000 w/extenda-boom loader

BargeMonkey

 I appreciate the info, hard figuring out setting up landings now so they are efficient, add a stroke delimber / chipper in the mix and you start scratching your head.  :D

deastman

I've also had two chippers, one whole tree and the other a drum chipper,  so if you ever have any questions on setting up yards for delimbing and/or chipping or need some info on either machine just let me know and I'll try to help. PM me and I'll give you my cell number if you ever want to call
Samsung 130 LCM-3 with Fabtek 4-roller and Cat 554 forwarder, Cat EL 180 excavator, Cat D3C dozer, Cat D7E dozer, '92 Ford LTL 9000 dump, Easy-2-Load 25 Ton tag-a-long, current project under construction: '91 Peterbilt 379 with a Hood 8000 w/extenda-boom loader

barbender

     I've never ran one, BM. I've watched our conventional crews limbing, they always work with the skidders, limbing every drag as the skidders drop them and push the butts up to the limber. Some guys enjoy running limber, others hate it ::)
Too many irons in the fire

BargeMonkey

 I did a clearcut this January that should have taken me 5-7 days with a fully mechanical set up, turned into a bit of nightmare between the deep snow and then wet skid road, thats why when i found this deal i jumped on it like a hand grenade. I've got to post some pictures of it, the landowner is an "IT" guy for IBM, gave him a can of blue tree paint and he went to town.  :D. I want a CTL set up like you guys are running but hard to justify right now and 75% of my jobs are so steep and big ugly HW.

She doesn't need much, glass isn't to bad, tracks are tired but it's not going to walk far. When you push the handle to slide the boom out, watch out   :o, I was slightly impressed. 

  

 

barbender

It should work great for you, BM. I've never watched one work in big hardwood though, only softwood and aspen. Our conventional crew will have 1-2 guys on the ground hand limbing drags when they get into big wolfy aspen though, so don't expect too much out of it ;) BTW, there are ways to work CTL in steep ground. We don't have much of it around here, but when we do work steep stuff, a lot of how it goes depends on the processor laying the wood out in a way that helps the forwarder out.  A lot of times in steep stuff, the processor will cut the tree and pull it down the hill, and then process it. That may not be practical on the side of a mountain where it is a 1/2 mile to the bottom though ::)  Also, if you can get to the top of your cutting area from another less steep route, and then work downhill with the forwarder things go way better. Forwarders seem to maintain traction  going down a grade considerably steeper than they can climb. If you are going downhill and start sliding, well, let's just say have spare undies for that ;D
Too many irons in the fire

barbender

   Did you ever look into putting a processor head on your Feller/Buncher? I thought maybe you discussed that once, but I can't remember for sure. Also, when I'm discussing forwarders the only ones I have experience in are 8 wheel machines. We run ours with tracks under the bunks and 1 set of tire chains under the cab end. IMO, the tracks do way more for flotation than they do traction. They tend to skate sideways over wood, and when you have good traction, the tires will spin inside the tracks. I suspect if climbing hills was your main goal, an 8 wheel with chains on every tire would get the maximum amount of traction.
Too many irons in the fire

Thank You Sponsors!