arboriculturist

Do you have the 3rd UK 480P Nick?

The MF 35X tractor is positive earth, although Tajfun said a fuse would blow the same as if you crossed polarities when connecting by mistake. Changed tractor polarity now. Attempted to diagnose over the phone and exhausted all avenues. Kilworth have a new motherboard coming from Slovenia early next week and Henry is travelling down to install. 450 mile round trip! Round of applause for Kilworth. ? As I have only the 3rd 480P in the UK this is the first issue of this kind they have seen. GDH has one and I'm not sure who has the 3rd?

I would agree 100% - Henry in the workshop said I could have rung him yesterday on a Bank Holiday !

Give them there due, Kilworth phoned 1st thing today. It could be down to the MF 35X having a positive earth - just got home checking this out by running a 12v feed off a different tractor, i'll report back possibly for the benefit of others who wish to use the same tractor.

Here's an even stranger issue. Connected up the 480P for the very 1st time today as delivered by Kilworth. Checked there is 12volts from battery. Press and hold green button d - display lights then goes out as soon as you release button. Tried this multiple times. 1 time and hour glass egg timer symbol lit up in top l/hand corner of display. Alarmingly at one time when I had engaged PTO tractor lever and was raising the tractor clutch - the Log conveyor started to extend by itself while still folded up !!! Lucky it did not wreck the conveyor. Read the manual multiple times and still it will not operate. We were planning a lot of processing over the Bank holiday weekend and Monday. Emailed Kilworth but no expecting a reply before Tuesday of course. I think I have exhausted my current knowledge. Electronics issue probable for solenoid to self function and the conveyor to start to extend on its own. Any suggestions appreciated?

That's sound advice. Rob D - Chainsawbars said a similar thing - sell to a wholesaler.

Everyone appreciates the complete process chainsaw milling from the felled stick to stickered, covered milled timber back at your base is hard work and time consuming. From what I hear - nationally there is a mass of milled products stickered and covered, which the producer is unable sell. We process a lot of timber up to 500mm, which could easily be milled to add value but have held off buying a Panther Mill due to the uncertainty of demand for milled timber. Perhaps there are routes to a market that I am unaware of? Is this actually the case that there is a very limited market for air dryed slabwood?

That's taking efficiency to a whole new level. I wish I could produce a video of that quality. I enjoyed watching it and you made everything look completely effortless, which of course it isn't. ?

Its Horse Parsley - Alexanders. It grows well in Devon & Cornwall and pretty well all parts of it are edible if you find yourself short of veg.

Missed that post - We have spud ported saws and the 1st saw the 3/8 goes on is 357xp and the 660 ( Not ported (YET) ) has 3/8 also as even with 3/8, the 3ft bar on need to take it steady. ?

There are less cutters with 3/8 for any given bar length of course but IMO 3/8 doesn't keep edge any longer. 3/8 removes deeper chips which is why they cut faster and this in combination with 3/8 cutting wider chips is why they need more Hp to run at optimum cutting speed. I can sharpen 325 much quicker than 3/8 which is why we use 3/8 where possible.

Our ported 346xp won't bog down with a 15" bar on 325 - 3/8 it would in hardwood. 3/8 quicker crosscutting on certain softwoods. 3/8 more expensive. 3/8 wide kerf = lost timber as sawdust. Way more vibration with 3/8 and too aggressive off ground for precision work. 3/8 a must if your a softwood cutter on piecemeal. ?

I would fit the new one and a new chain, then closely monitor for evenness of wear. If Spud sees this post he will probable diagnose the issue.

Less likely to be a single chain that caused this as due to nature of processing you change multiple chains rather than sharpen. Bar check - done. Are you sure Bar rails are same height using a square especially at sprocket end? Have you checked sprocket Internal fit? How does it compare with the new one? Does it rock more? Are you sure bearing is 100% serviceable?

£75 from EF last week Beau ! We are planning to increase our turnover as well as raising £5 m3, it's the only way forward as I have invested heavily in a lot of equipment.

Producers are dropping like flies, even some of the long term boys have thrown in the towel. I mentioned a yer ago it will be survival of the fittest!

I agree - its all about the grading. I grade out the non uniform timber, oval etc. for the larger 12" logs as those customers accept chunkier logs and keep the best timber for smaller log lengths. As you say 12" through the 12 way needs to be round or some of the outside logs are kindling. Decent timber is harder and harder to find though and you almost have to travel to sites 1st to check out the quality which is a pain and only really worth it for multiple loads.

That is why I flagged up the 480P which we have. 12" is the maximum I like to split 8 way if 12" logs, 10" dia for shorter spec. Anything larger then its the 12 way. That gives outer logs 51/2" x 2-2 1/2" as they will be convex on the outside of course. Anything larger than 12" and it' s 16 way next. There is no lo-cost option unfortunately - the 480P is 25K. Just raised our prices by the way, so 100% hard 120, like gdh I prefer small annual rises and customers seem to agree when asked.

Posch 360 with 8 way knife would be good. Or you are looking at a Tajfun 380 which is quite a bit more money wise. We use both and I am very fussy about quality control. ?

Having watched this video, I would certainly take the gamble.

Apologies - to be honest I just did a quick search and homed in on the word genuine. I will need some so will take care searching for the real thing. Or possibly buy some little used cordless tools off ebay as such low cost its worth the gamble.

Here we go: Genuine 2x For Makita BL1850 18v 5.0ah LXT Li-ion Battery- TWIN PACK https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/263959073283?chn=ps

Having had Makita 18v cordless drill for 9 years and battery still going strong, we bought another, same model used off ebay for £25. So now have 2 batteries and a charger. I would not hesitate to buy the bare DUC 353 and the bare DUC 254z and use the cordless drill batteries. The genuine batteries are available 5 amp for around £47.95 for 2 ! The 353 would be invaluable by the firewood processors.

This is a different model - 1 battery and soon runs down. The Makita to buy without doubt is the twin 18v battery (wired in series to give 36v) - DUC 353

This is like trying to re-invent the wheel. There is a reason nobody in the UK does this. Drop the idea. Innovation v stupidity and it is important to know when to walk away. Sorry to be negative.