Kind of review for tracked wood chipper SZ130

[green heart]

1 hour ago, covex said:

 

So far it's working and saving effort to make smaller branches and feed every piece manually but hey, the larger branches it can consume are heavy too...

 

 

It looks fairly slow operating in the video, only chipping a 2/3'' diameter branch -can you not increase the feed-in speed any more?

Also, I thought that the internal grill could be removed, to give a larger chip size? 

Not too impressed -I guess it's only powered by a 13hp engine tho.

🤷‍♂️

 

[covex]

Yes, its 13hp, the branch that was in there is cca 10cm diameter (4"). but you are right the end of the branch was thinner.... It can have a higher feed speed, but for this diameter it's having problem to discharge the chips and clogs because the RPMs slows down too much (nostress stops feeding but RPM drop anyway) - its visible on the video. I may try to fine-tune the nostress RPM low limits (its possible to set on this machine). 

I am yet to try to remove the internal grill...

Edited yesterday at 07:28 by covex

[green heart]

1 hour ago, covex said:

Yes, its 13hp, the branch that was in there is cca 10cm diameter (4"). but you are right the end of the branch was thinner.... It can have a higher feed speed, but for this diameter it's having problem to discharge the chips 

16 hours ago, covex said:

 

 

Thanks for your correction -I didn't realise it was actually a 10cm thick branch .

So, that's actually quite good productivity, for a machine powered only by a 13Hp engine..

When I quizzed the Carlisle agents, they were insistent that their bigger 25Hp engine unit made no discernable difference to chipping performance, only to tracking speed up an incline.

Hence they would only now sell the 13Hp engined units.

 

Perhaps I'd better get up to Carlisle, to test out the demonstration unit.

 

Edited yesterday at 08:30 by green heart
Afterthought!

[Dan Maynard]

12 hours ago, green heart said:

their bigger 25Hp engine unit made no discernable difference to chipping performance,

It's completely crap either way?

 

Otherwise would be the only chipper in the world where doubling hp makes no difference.

[green heart]

1 hour ago, Dan Maynard said:

It's completely crap either way?

 

Well yes, maybe its crap when compared to a bigger tracked 6'' Forst/Jensen/Timber wolf/Greenmech etc

However -it's smaller, lighter, suitable for those awkward little 'back garden' type jobs -and significantly, it costs a fraction of the others listed..

I don't suppose it'll last 25 years like my current Cramer and Timber wolf, but hey, horses for courses !

 

[PeteB]

Got to be brutally honest. I know I was a GreenMech rep for 27 years,  but, if you tried to trade that for something else, I'd allow £25 in the deal for nothing to do with it! Everything has it's place in the market but I would not give it yard space. Buy cheap and buy twice. Support a European or English manufacturer rather some distant folk who dont supply the industry or support it with warranty or support.

[Dan Maynard]

8 hours ago, green heart said:

However -it's smaller, lighter, suitable for those awkward little 'back garden' type jobs -and significantly, it costs a fraction of the others listed..

You don't need to convince me on the mini chipper, I bought an approximately 10 year old JoBeau M500 about 8 years ago for £3k. Blades, belts, bearings, little bit of weld, some yellow paint, still chips like a champ.

 

I can see the attraction of cheap Chinese, I have a cheap stump grinder but the main reason that doesn't break very often is that I hardly use it.

[green heart]

PeteB and Dan, I'd 100% agree with you, re: supporting UK/EU manufacturing, every time -I always detest/avoid buying Chinese goods or tools..

 

I'd actually spoken with the Greenmech designer/director about two potential improvements to the CS100, prior to likely buying one (-and he was already independently considering one of the mods, then ).

But that was 2 years ago now, and sadly, it's evidently gone nowhere, in the light of recent sad takeover news there..

 

So, against all my principals, it's likely to be the Chinese/MDL chipper ( itself a copy of a Japanese machine !), the best replacement for my small chipper. It has the valuable addition (to me) of a feed roller and tracks, over the M500 JoBeau unit. 

🤔😒