CS100 Question

[Dillinger86]

I'm starting to outgrow my 18/100G! Had the 130 arborist on demo and what a difference that machine would make to my work....

[dan494]

I'm starting to outgrow my 18/100G! Had the 130 arborist on demo and what a difference that machine would make to my work....

 

 

You'd probably outgrow that too being a 20hp petrol 35hp diesel is where it's at !

[Daythe trees]

I've had a cs100 for two years and it's done a power of work, it's done some fairly hefty takedowns as well, lots of sending at times. But with a sympathetic user who listens to the engine note it can push through some volume. Now a tr6 is joining us as like others have said the cs100 may be good but it is a bottleneck at times.

 

If you go the cs100 route then a decent trailer and something which can tow 3500kg is a must to cart away the timber which is oversize, I bought this setup by accident and am grateful I did.

 

Replace the belts aswell straight away or buy spares and carry them as the original factory ones mine came with were utter garbage!

[Maxnaggle]

Surely you wouldn't need to compete with the guys who run bigger chippers due to the difference in overheads?? I personally would rather take a bit longer on jobs and come away with a load of cord wood and white finger. That's just me though

[dan494]

Surely you wouldn't need to compete with the guys who run bigger chippers due to the difference in overheads?? I personally would rather take a bit longer on jobs and come away with a load of cord wood and white finger. That's just me though

 

 

I don't think there is that much difference in overheads, looking at arblease the difference in the cs100 vs the gm130 is £100 a month or £25 a week. Labours gonna be your biggest outlay so saving time makes up the difference and more if you can do just one extra small job a month!

[Ty Korrigan]

Of all your overheads in business, time is one of the most important 'variable' costs.

Finance for example is a 'fixed' cost.

The more you invest in anything that saves time the more competative you will be.

I spent the best part of 5k on a CS100 and to be fair I used it above and beyond the call of duty.

It made me money and when I sold it on I got an excellent price for it.

However, not saying the CS100 or it's type are bad machines at all BUT...

If I'd bit the bullet and gone for a used 6" machine for the same money in the begining, my labour costs would have a been a fraction of of those required to feed the CS100.

I would have increased my profit and been able to undertake far larger jobs from the very start thus advancing the business.

Ty

[Dillinger86]

For those of you who have made the jump to a bigger machine, was it leap of faith to do it?

I've been out on my own since last october and i've been 6 days a week mostly since... But the thought of taking on finance for a bigger machine over 4 years concerns me though having said that i'm very nearly at the point where I have no choice

[Ty Korrigan]

If your working 6 days a week yet the thought of finance worries you then ask yourself this.

"Am I too cheap...?"

Ty

[Dillinger86]

After all labour and comsumables i'm making about 750 a week...is that cheap. I haven't spoken to many other tree surgeons so don't know. I've got more wood than i know what to do with.... I think finance is well affordable but it's just what if i have a quiet period

[njc110381]

I'm sure they're decent, thought about getting one but preferred tow behind rather than needing a trailer, plus paid 2k for it and sold it for 2.5k!

Also how many customers want the chip? Very rarely when I ask do they want any so think it would be very limited how often it would be needed to get into a back garden?

 

I'm just in the process of building a trailer for mine. I'm planning on it being a similar layout to the 18/100 - it certainly won't be any bigger or heavier, but can be wheeled off when needed. There's no negative to it that I can see.

 

I was using mine in just that situation today. Taking the chipper to the branches meant I could chip 20-30 branches into a wheelie bin then drag that out and tip it. Better than dragging 20-30 branches to the chipper. It saved me hours of walking.

 

I'm also amazed at the material it handled. I thought after reading this topic that I'd push it a little to see how it coped. It chipped a good length of 5" willow that I thought would stall it. The drum design seems to stop it from over feeding on thicker stuff. It doesn't pull as hard on thick branches as a disk chipper - probably because at that point the blades are pushing away nearly as much as pulling? It certainly would have killed my 18-100 or given me a serious beating trying to slow the feed, that's if it would even have fitted down the throat. After that I gave it a fork that would have a TW150 scrabbling for grip. In fact I'm positive that it wouldn't have fitted. The wide throat allowed that piece in with ease.

Edited March 19, 2016 by njc110381