Alstor 8x8??

[tcfengineering]

Oh and another question, would people prefer to have 8 wheel drive, or 4 track drive. If you could have 4 tracks like the ones they put on Quad bikes but more heavy duty, then it would travel extremely light on the ground, and they would also pivot to climb up and over obstacles.

 

This is what I had planned for mine

[Big J]

I have long thought of making something similar for myself. In fact I have the main spine, pivot and engine mount drawn up in CAD, just have never taken it further.

 

There is a fair bit of development work to get this right, I dont think its as simple as some are making out. The big question is, what would people be willing to pay ? The concensus seems to be that the Alstor is too dear, but what would be the price ? £20k, £25k ?

 

This would have a big bearing on weather it was worth putting the effort into development and testing/certification, etc...

 

I only think that the Alstor is too expensive for what it is. I think £40k for a forwarder is not excessive given the potential income. I am pretty sure that the chap with the Alstor here gets paid around £9 a tonne. He pulls 40 odd tonne out a day on average, so doing the sums, it's not going to take too long to pay the machine back.

 

I think £40k would be a good goal. Match the price, but improve the quality, capacity and versatility. The Alstor struggles with some of the larger logs we cut, and looking at what it leaves behind, you're left thinking that it could do with being just a touch beefier.

 

I think that the main constraint with regards to size is that it fits on a 16ft tiltbed (or similar) trailer and can be towed behind a Landrover (or similar). Once it gets any bigger than that, the economy and appeal of it goes out the window.

 

I won't pretend to have enough time to be able to operate a forwarder full time, but I am really rather interested in doing a couple of days a week and subcontracting out the other days. There is almost no one up here doing this kind of work.

 

Jonathan

[josharb87]

I have broached the subject with my tame engineer, and he seems to be quite interested. He did have one superb idea for an anti roll side slope system, which is to have the timber bogey on a horizontal sliding rail (similar to the sliding bogeys on timber haulage trailers). Hit an unavoidable side slope, all you need to do is move the load across a foot and it should be far harder to roll.

 

It would obviously be an expensive option that would be expensive and incur extra weight. However, if a lot of your work involved sideslopes, you might have the market to yourself.

 

Or could the bunk be slightly side tip? Like some tracked chippers

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Yes a forwarder for side slopes please!

[RichardT]

Interesting track system......

 

Ferrariagri - Traktori, Monitoimitraktori - Ajankohtaista

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUhZ2z_Vk34]Lego Forwarder - YouTube[/ame]

 

:thumbup:

[Big J]

Hehe!

 

Perhaps a little too small, but certainly under budget!

[Chris Sheppard]

I have long thought of making something similar for myself. In fact I have the main spine, pivot and engine mount drawn up in CAD, just have never taken it further.

 

There is a fair bit of development work to get this right, I dont think its as simple as some are making out. The big question is, what would people be willing to pay ? The concensus seems to be that the Alstor is too dear, but what would be the price ? £20k, £25k ?

 

This would have a big bearing on weather it was worth putting the effort into development and testing/certification, etc...

 

Price wise, I really don't know. Mid £20K's would definitely make it more attractive compared to an Alstor I'm sure.

 

Like the Alstor, I'm sure it would be a fairly niche market so there's never going to be the huge numbers of sales.

 

I've no real experience of the Alstor other than wathing them at Demos or on the internet, but things I see as negatives are the ATV type tyres look as though they could be easily damaged, the lack of reverse drive on the base models and the small payload.

 

I realise the payload can't be made much more without making the machine bigger but I feel a machine that sat between the Alstor and say a Vimek 606 would be a good useable size.

 

Sub 6ft wide between the bolsters and artic steering would be able to wiggle through most younger thinnings in the UK.

 

8wd would be nice, but 6wd would be a good starting point.

 

Reverse drive.

 

Diesel Engine.

 

Good hydraulic flow, with enough pressure to be able to handle something like a biomass shear (or even a bed processor/small stroke harvester head?)

 

Being able to transport it on a trailer behind a suitable 4x4 would be a huge advantage, even if it meant a purpose built skeletal trailer.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/RESOURCES/REF_LIB_RES/PUBLICATIONS/TECHNICAL_DEVELOPMENT/TN4098.PDF

 

Some interesting costs/m3 there; not entirely favourable either...

 

quote: "alstor... 3m3/hr @ £4.60/m3 on 3m produce". And that was then!

 

A £40k machine to do that

 

So VERY terrain specific only ?

Edited March 30, 2013 by TimberCutterDartmoor

[Big J]

http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/RESOURCES/REF_LIB_RES/PUBLICATIONS/TECHNICAL_DEVELOPMENT/TN4098.PDF

 

Some interesting costs/m3 there; not entirely favourable either...

 

quote: "alstor... 3m3/hr @ £4.60/m3 on 3m produce". And that was then!

 

A £40k machine to do that

 

So VERY terrain specific only ?

 

You'd not catch me paying myself £8 an hour for extraction! Not worth getting out of bed for!