PeteB

You missed the comments in a GreenMech sales meeting a year or two ago!

Surely you mean "work it until it is broken!" Rather than work on it until you break it! If there is metal bits in the filter then it might be time to start putting money aside! Are there two filters? One on the suction side and one return? Are the tanks steel? Stick a magnet to the bottom of the tank.

Good on you for going to the effort to show your wares. Very best wishes and I hope it goes well!

Why were they "really good times?". Are you an "anti-establishment" sort of person who is against progress or someone who was having a blast while the state was paying you? I feel unsettled by what is happening in Sheffield but, by and large, the tree stock had to be mismanaged over years (decades) because of lack of money, lack of knowledge and lack of impetus. Yes, it has been handled badly and the majority of protests are from an biased, ill informed public who are coerced by the press whose only interest is to sell space.

Gallowtrees in Sheffield had one of those Kingwell/GreenMech excavator based grinders for sale a while back. An excavator can be had reasonably cheaply and a replacement arm/engine can fabricated by local blacksmith/engineer!

Not worth a great deal if you cannot tow it surely. 3000kgs is quite heavy too!

Worth repairing or fit a new one? Might just be worth buying a new one and cracking on with the workload.

There is an ArbTrak 200 in Poland which has done a documented 1,200+ hours in a year!

And filter at 500, but, who does!?! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!

Talk to Dean at Global, he will be able to help you.

Support from the importer will be hit and miss at best. They now sell Forst! That being said, robust build and heavy. If I was a machinery dealer like Global Sales in the Midlands, I'd take it for service work and talk to you about spares costs and availability prior to doing work.

Chip quality depends on many factors. Generally speaking, arborist's chippers are, bye and large, made to chip arising's from tree work and make a big pile of brash into a small pile of chips with little regard to chip quality. Biomass chippers turn timber into biomass quality woodchips that are suitable for that industry (with all the variables taken into consideration). But, cost of that machine increases beyond tree workers budgets quickly. This is a generalisation but not the rule. Site clearance units are about that, site clearance! If the bye product is usable then that is a bonus! What machine are you operating? What are the blades like? What are the shear bar or anvils like? What are you chipping and why?

Lordy! Has it really been 8 years since that mad show at that Kingswood spot? Time fly's heh?

Barry Pollard worked with me at Barrowcliff Ltd, blinding climber and strong work ethic. Honest and reliable too! Worked for Treewise and got them into power line stuff but got stiffed by Martin Stanley I heard. Then top man at ENS(?). Then went on to be a linesman and gave up tree work. I got to say, it was a pleasure to work with him.

The chance of them coming off is slim - bearing failure allowing the flywheel to wobble is usually the cause of woe, that or a chunk of steel. But, if a genuine blade, genuinely failed then we would take care of the repair at the factory. Our blades are sunk into a cup, most other blades are surface mounted and therefore, they they come apart then bits fly everywhere, in spectacular fashion, doing untold damage. If a GreenMech disc blade is busted, there is a chance of a chunk going up the spout and the rest staying in the cup, held in with the countersunk bolt. We have had a customer who suggested that his blades were sub-standard after one cracked, no damage was done to the rotor, casing or shear bars so I gave him a new set. The cost of getting them analytically tested was exorbitant - so he went away happy and we felt that that was the best way forward. I recently put some prototype blades on a customers machine and something did go bang and damage was done. We put it right. That was on a three year old machine with over 1000 hours. And we lent him a machine.

On a point re - manufacturers of chippers and their blades. GreenMech blades are manufactured under license with a copyright on the blade. Any one who is reproducing blades to the manufacturers spec is in breach of copyright. An illegal act is it not? Any copies that are not to the manufacturers design void any warranty. I won't condone the use of copy blades as if the do fail through a fault, who would cover the damage done to the rest of the machine. Blade failure is indeed very rare, but if they do, the damage can be spectacular. I know of one chap who had a blade come off a brand new Jensen and Redwood referred to the manual which did say 'check the bolts before first use'. The chassis was wrecked and had to be replaced at the customers expense. I once voided the warranty of a load of machines when the customer advised me that he used copy blades - they went in the bin sharpish (nice pun?) While there is a place in the market for most things and everyone has a right to earn a living, I don't buy copies or forgeries etc.......whatever the promises made.

I haven't read the blog, but why was Timberwolf singled out for attention? Even if it is just in the title, it sort of implies that TW machines behave differently to every other chipper if they have blunt blades. I have been in this game since 1990 and can confirm that no blade works well if blunt! I know that there is a market place for everything but I would always countenance the use of genuine blades. Would you chuck copy Goodyear's on the family car?

Kanga from Australia via a company based in Leicestershire?

Thanks for the response so far, TBH, it is a small job at the father in law's! Me, I'd burn the stuff but he is paranoid about smoke and the hedge going up! The place is a mess so trying to tidy up so a paddock mower could keep on top.

I need to flatten an area of about two tennis courts of scrub/old brash in a field in North Nottinghamshire. Any self drive hire stuff within striking distance? The stuff is probably a tad thick for a flail.

Zeppelin, the hire company in Germany are refreshing some of their fleet.

Customers colours!

Who has them? Recommended makes? Pros and cons?

I'd be worried that trying to straighten it and the act of bending it will now have the flail shaft running out of true and stress load things. The cover may straighten but put extra plating around the mounts.