Processors choices?

[Pinkfoot]

How about a Posch duo and a splitter of your choice .

Scheppach do a duo also which has a tipping trough.

 

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[Billhook]

As much as I like the look of a processor, the more I look into it the more I feel it's not right for me. I don't want to buy timber in, I just want to log up what I get for free from the arb work I do. I am now thinking a decent pto saw bench working alongside a self powered hydraulic log splitter and then perhaps a conveyor into bags/landy. Anyone else run a setup like this? Any recommendations for saw benches and log splitters? I like the look of the rock machinery venom 22 tonne splitter but I'm a bit cautious of Chinese engineering. I have no idea about saw benches. Time to trawl the forum!

 

We used to have a Kidd sawbench and cone splitter about thirty years ago which seemed a big improvement on the old prewar sawbench!

Both relatively lethal for loss of fingers and risk of splinters flying at you.

A lot of heavy work but it did keep you warm in the Winter.

 

Bought a Palax Combi off Jas Wilson second hand in 1996 for about £2500.

PTO and linkage but it had the mounting point and pulley for a motor so I bought a 3 phase and I now have the option of electric or tractor pto.

Electric is quiet and fume free and I operate it in a lean to shed with lighting.

 

I collect the lengths of timber with a Matbro teleporter which has an ols muck grab on the front. This will take a couple of tons of 10 foot logs from the wood to the processor and by tilting the grab and gently releasing the logs with the hydraulic grab this works for me both as a forwarder in the woods and a log deck at the Palax.

 

A lot of the wood is not straight, mainly Ash and Sycamore but some oak. There are some horrible shapes that would not go through the automatic feed processors and because of this they do not always fall true iunto the splitter and can fall sideways especially on shorter lengths. For this reason I disconnected the automatic trip for the splitter and use a foot operated pedal.

 

This video shows all the lovely straight lengths that you see on every processor video! But it does show the 10 inch diameter log (I think it will handle a bit more than this)

 

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I like the circular saw blade which with tungsten tips seems to stay sharp for ever and waltzes through most timber but the main thing is I have control of the feed speed.

When processing smaller diameter lengths that are bent sometime a nearly 90 degrees I can feed it though in a series of quick cuts without cycling the splitter which is a big time saver over the machines which need to cycle every piece. In this case I would remove the static axe if I had a lot of similar stuff to process.

I like the relatively small amount of manual labour involved so I keep warm in the Winter. I cannot imagine sitting/standing by a totally automatic processor would be much fun on a cold day. There is no lifting and it is not hard just pushing the log sideways on the rollers and pushing the log into the saw.

 

The conveyor takes the split timber to one ton wooden potato boxes.

 

A lot of this is about the cost of a processor and spending £10,000 on a fancy machine may take a long time to recover with the price of firewood and global warming.

Palax processors can be picked up for reasonable money, probably less than a saw bench/ splitter /conveyor bought separately

 

PALAX 600 COMBI FIRE WOOD PROCESSOR | eBay

 

 

My old machine is still going strong after 20 years with no breakdowns and not many blade sharpenings (Thank you Jas Wilsons!). I am not sure how often the chainsaw systems would need fettling by comparison.

 

I like the fact that the blade is about as protected from the operator as possible, certainly a massive improvement on the traditional saw bench where the operator is in line with the blade and whose fingers are inches from the blade on either side with each pass. So without a processor there is potential injury not only from the blade but also from lifting and the damage to your back.

 

I am an old git of pension age and try not to do any manual lifting (been there, done that with Cwt, or 50kg bags of potatoes/fertiliser/seed, I have the T-shirt and the bad back) and if I do it right the teleporter should not only bring the logs from the woods to the Palax but also the boxes to our house and plonk them right outside the door next to the wood burner.

 

I am afraid the sad thing about logs around here is that the hassle of selling them to the general public with all their different requirements is too much for me and the only way I can sensibly make any money is to burn them myself and save the vast utility bills that we used to have.

But there again I do not have to rely on logs as my only source of income.

[lornah1979]

Posch is the way forward jonnygurkha. Speak to Simon Munro at Wilsons 01556612233 - they often have second hand equipment in as well as new.

[Bustergasket]

As much as I like the look of a processor, the more I look into it the more I feel it's not right for me. I don't want to buy timber in, I just want to log up what I get for free from the arb work I do. I am now thinking a decent pto saw bench working alongside a self powered hydraulic log splitter and then perhaps a conveyor into bags/landy. Anyone else run a setup like this? Any recommendations for saw benches and log splitters? I like the look of the rock machinery venom 22 tonne splitter but I'm a bit cautious of Chinese engineering. I have no idea about saw benches. Time to trawl the forum!

 

have a look at a splitta 400, if you are going to ring it with a chainsaw or tilt table saw then that machine will give u an abundance of great size logs, i have the older 360 it's virtually unstoppable, you will be surprised by how unfussy the machine is, as long as it fits in then it will split it even the most gnarly and dirty looking stuff seems to surrender, we cut and stack on pallets then have a day feeding it through, even 800mm dia rings which we knock in half go through, i still have to lift the rings into the machine though which is ok but when there's lots you know you've done it. i don't have an outfeed conveyor

[difflock]

I am going to pop over to Jas P wilsons next weekend for their open day, I might consider taking a run up to Caladonian as well, since the ferry has to be paid for.

Probably either a 2nd hand Posch or Palax would be on my shortlist.

 

But I see a Regon R1 on Wilsons site, whats the story with them?

 

Also I Suppose I should go and kick M Large's Hakki Pilke tyres before I go, and see if they have any trade-ins/2nd hand stock.

 

What I really want is a processor to bang out 1.0m lengths when fed straight Conifer.

cheers

mth

[old hand]

Does anyone have a KRPAN CS420 processor as apparently some have been sold in the UK?