Arb Trolley worth it or not!

[agrimog]

taken in the spirit it was meant, having worked for a time with a fabricator, I found the easy ways of working with box section steels, and ally extrusions, the degreasing trick is once cut, a rag soaked in gunwash(cheap paint thinners) cleans it in a couple of rubs, before placing it onto the welding table/jig, at this point the next bit is usually falling of the saw, quick tack up, check square, and weld, ( the trick here is cut the sizes exact, saves a lot of time in prep work, and no de-burring the cuts, the weld pass flows the ends together), when you lift it off the weld table, 90% of the time its ready to go straight into powder ( dont believe what the powder coat guys tell you, they do very little, if any prep work, thats the beauty of powder coating..lol), a quick pre-heat removes any grease and oil that was missed , then BLAT, sprayed with the electrostatic powder, (first chance you get, check the types and finishes available, its unreal, you could spec your trolley in a leatherette finish if you wanted), another heat to set the powder, let it cool, knock in the plastic plugs, these are really cheap when you buy std sizes to suit box section, pop on the wheels ( can be sourced at your local re-cycling place for a song, quick word with the guys that run it, and its amazing the things that turn up in exchange for the odd bag of logs!!!.....barter at its best), and bingo a trolley, does help to have mates in the powder coating game, but I still pay the going rate for steel, ( common sizes are not expensive, and usually available ex stock) a quick phone call and find out whats available at a good price and the design can be ammended to suit, a bit of paper and pencil drawing, and your ready to go.....its easy

[Hodge]

taken in the spirit it was meant, having worked for a time with a fabricator, I found the easy ways of working with box section steels, and ally extrusions, the degreasing trick is once cut, a rag soaked in gunwash(cheap paint thinners) cleans it in a couple of rubs, before placing it onto the welding table/jig, at this point the next bit is usually falling of the saw, quick tack up, check square, and weld, ( the trick here is cut the sizes exact, saves a lot of time in prep work, and no de-burring the cuts, the weld pass flows the ends together), when you lift it off the weld table, 90% of the time its ready to go straight into powder ( dont believe what the powder coat guys tell you, they do very little, if any prep work, thats the beauty of powder coating..lol), a quick pre-heat removes any grease and oil that was missed , then BLAT, sprayed with the electrostatic powder, (first chance you get, check the types and finishes available, its unreal, you could spec your trolley in a leatherette finish if you wanted), another heat to set the powder, let it cool, knock in the plastic plugs, these are really cheap when you buy std sizes to suit box section, pop on the wheels ( can be sourced at your local re-cycling place for a song, quick word with the guys that run it, and its amazing the things that turn up in exchange for the odd bag of logs!!!.....barter at its best), and bingo a trolley, does help to have mates in the powder coating game, but I still pay the going rate for steel, ( common sizes are not expensive, and usually available ex stock) a quick phone call and find out whats available at a good price and the design can be ammended to suit, a bit of paper and pencil drawing, and your ready to go.....its easy

 

 

.....if Carlsberg made Arb trolleys........

 

 

Hodge

[RC0]

Every time I see an arbor trolley start up on this forum I just cringe....because it always ends the same way. Thanks as always for the kind words of acknowledgement from those who bought one and have made money from it. I accept also that there's been issues of wheels going flat and crappy retaining pins etc....but please consider that many aspects of a design has to lend itself to mass production in order to be worth while. In a perfect world you would build the perfect ever lasting product, everyone would make money off it and live happy ever after. But thats not the way it works. The guys at Stein are doing their best, and work tirelessly to keep servicing the dealers. things dont just fall into place and get done on their own, and pay for themselves. Nor do changes and improvements happen over night, but they do happen eventually. But thanks again

taken in the spirit it was meant, having worked for a time with a fabricator, I found the easy ways of working with box section steels, and ally extrusions, the degreasing trick is once cut, a rag soaked in gunwash(cheap paint thinners) cleans it in a couple of rubs, before placing it onto the welding table/jig, at this point the next bit is usually falling of the saw, quick tack up, check square, and weld, ( the trick here is cut the sizes exact, saves a lot of time in prep work, and no de-burring the cuts, the weld pass flows the ends together), when you lift it off the weld table, 90% of the time its ready to go straight into powder ( dont believe what the powder coat guys tell you, they do very little, if any prep work, thats the beauty of powder coating..lol), a quick pre-heat removes any grease and oil that was missed , then BLAT, sprayed with the electrostatic powder, (first chance you get, check the types and finishes available, its unreal, you could spec your trolley in a leatherette finish if you wanted), another heat to set the powder, let it cool, knock in the plastic plugs, these are really cheap when you buy std sizes to suit box section, pop on the wheels ( can be sourced at your local re-cycling place for a song, quick word with the guys that run it, and its amazing the things that turn up in exchange for the odd bag of logs!!!.....barter at its best), and bingo a trolley, does help to have mates in the powder coating game, but I still pay the going rate for steel, ( common sizes are not expensive, and usually available ex stock) a quick phone call and find out whats available at a good price and the design can be ammended to suit, a bit of paper and pencil drawing, and your ready to go.....its easy

 

You sound like you have a lot of experience mass producing and delivering Arborist equipment. Am I right ? what are they ? This is easy, that is easy. Nothing came fukcn easy to me mate, or the boys at fletcher Stewart. This industry is a wash with products that failed, and lost money, life changing amounts....because of flawed business models. I know this from bitter experience. Anybody can build a one-off. Try building thousands, with your own money, up front....distributing them worldwide, in the hope ( and thats all it is) that people are going to buy them. When did you do that ? You think we sat at home counting our money from this ? Think again.

[treequip]

taken in the spirit it was meant, having worked for a time with a fabricator, I found the easy ways of working with box section steels, and ally extrusions, the degreasing trick is once cut, a rag soaked in gunwash(cheap paint thinners) cleans it in a couple of rubs, before placing it onto the welding table/jig, at this point the next bit is usually falling of the saw, quick tack up, check square, and weld, ( the trick here is cut the sizes exact, saves a lot of time in prep work, and no de-burring the cuts, the weld pass flows the ends together), when you lift it off the weld table, 90% of the time its ready to go straight into powder ( dont believe what the powder coat guys tell you, they do very little, if any prep work, thats the beauty of powder coating..lol), a quick pre-heat removes any grease and oil that was missed , then BLAT, sprayed with the electrostatic powder, (first chance you get, check the types and finishes available, its unreal, you could spec your trolley in a leatherette finish if you wanted), another heat to set the powder, let it cool, knock in the plastic plugs, these are really cheap when you buy std sizes to suit box section, pop on the wheels ( can be sourced at your local re-cycling place for a song, quick word with the guys that run it, and its amazing the things that turn up in exchange for the odd bag of logs!!!.....barter at its best), and bingo a trolley, does help to have mates in the powder coating game, but I still pay the going rate for steel, ( common sizes are not expensive, and usually available ex stock) a quick phone call and find out whats available at a good price and the design can be ammended to suit, a bit of paper and pencil drawing, and your ready to go.....its easy

 

Well welding your own up, scrounging oddball wheels down the tip, using random steel sizes and getting your mates to powder coat is all well and good for a one off build but you cant make comparisons between that and what fletcher stewart have to do.

 

For a start they don't manufacture so they are tied to providing a drawing to a fabricator, messing about sourcing cheap materials to save a few quid would cost more than any savings and randomise the product. If someone needed new pins you could have to make them as a one off special and that's not how production work is done. The fabricator will want his money for manufacture and will want a handling charge for materials, which is fair.

 

Someone has to take the items to and from the powder coater, they will have to warehouse the stock before paying to send it to retailers who will also want a slice, then there is the capital tied up in materials, advertising and the like.

 

Its easy to see it as a high price for what is essentially a two wheeled trolley and I do think the price is on the high side but I can see where the money is going.

 

You just cant make a direct cost comparison between what they are doing and knocking one up in your garage with your mates to help.

[mad matty]

Man this thread is gone well of course....I only wanted to know how much people used one daily....how useful they found it etc,

everyone has their opinion granted, but my post was not started to offend or cause heated debate, or p**s Reg off,

I think I will keep my questions to myself for a while.

c'ya Matty

[Spruce Pirate]

Man this thread is gone well of course....I only wanted to know how much people used one daily....how useful they found it etc,

everyone has their opinion granted, but my post was not started to offend or cause heated debate, or p**s Reg off,

I think I will keep my questions to myself for a while.

c'ya Matty

 

It's a very useful bit of kit. We use it on almost every domestic job and have even used it in the woods to get stuff along narrow footpaths. With a bit of thoughtful loading you can get a lot of stuff on it. Realistically as it's mostly forestry we do it doesn't come out that often, but for domestic stuff it comes into its own. Like others have said, once you've got one you wouldn't want to be without it. As far as costs go, everyone has to do their own cost/benefit analysis - in my case it was far easier and more cost effective to buy one, if you have a lot more time on your hands maybe self-farbrication is an option.

[geoff]

Man this thread is gone well of course....I only wanted to know how much people used one daily....how useful they found it etc,

everyone has their opinion granted, but my post was not started to offend or cause heated debate, or p**s Reg off,

I think I will keep my questions to myself for a while.

c'ya Matty

 

No mate, ask away, that's one of the virtues of Arbtalk, getting info & advice. Don't let anything detract from that or we all lose out.

My penny's worth, as a non owner of a trolley, I should have got one ages ago for the domestic jobs with a long drag/ logwood removal, they speed up productivity, save a lot of labour & mess. What other trade would consider it viable to hand haul all that waste by hand!

[treequip]

Man this thread is gone well of course....I only wanted to know how much people used one daily....how useful they found it etc,

everyone has their opinion granted, but my post was not started to offend or cause heated debate, or p**s Reg off,

I think I will keep my questions to myself for a while.

c'ya Matty

 

On the right job it's a godsend, you can pile kit on it as well as moving waste. I don't use mine every day but then again I haven't seen much of it since I made it,,,,,,have i Ed?

[karl]

Man this thread is gone well of course....I only wanted to know how much people used one daily....how useful they found it etc,

everyone has their opinion granted, but my post was not started to offend or cause heated debate, or p**s Reg off,

I think I will keep my questions to myself for a while.

c'ya Matty

 

I think it was a worthwhile question, its always interesting to know how others are finding use of a particular product . I can tell you the very first job we used it on , the guys said it was a great bit of kit moving timber from a beech they had just dismantled out of a garden , wheelbarrows don't cope the same , nor will they ever carry brushwood to the chipper.

as for some crazy notion of building one in an hour...........speaks for itself , that soon turned into a couple of day doing the Steptoe run around recycling plants for whatever wheels might be lying about , an odd bit of steel gleaned here and there , the trip to a mate for coating , he obviously is sitting about to fit in friends powder coat when they want...I doubt it.

its a good tool designed to do a job which it does very well. I was happy to pay the price to get this readily built and ready to use when I wanted it.

not after collecting a handfull of bits and bobs to build my own effort

[agrimog]

RCO, I was involvedin the toolmaking side of the electonics industry, when the uk still had one, we produced the tooling for the production of populated circuit boards, lead times were caculated in hours , stock of raw materials had always to be on the shelf, and components had to be readily available, designs could be changed half way through a production run due to customer changes, it was a cut throat market, little wonder it all ended up going to eastern europe, lower production costs, so I have experience in the market and know what is involved, maybe a different market, .....a simpl;e question, an all metal wheelbarrow, doesnt cost £400, so why does an arb trolley, with a similar amount of work involved in its production?