Rupe

You need a bit of space at the back so you can stand up and have logs passed to you, i.e. you cant have a full lenght roof. Other than that the longer the better IMO.

Definatly the sort of project I'll be looking at doing in the future.

I think prices are risign or staying high due to more people holidaying here instead of abroad. I want one, don't mind admitting it, but it would travel and I don't see the point of parkign in a feild with a load of other people when a pub car park will do just as well. Its the same as camping. I like camping and I hate campsites.

Yeah that would be good. Like a tempory additional height at the back. I had looked at that and it may still happen. One issue is the ladders would have to be removed before the flap could be raised and I hardly ever use ladders but can't bring myself not to carry them. If the roof goes right to the back of the tipper (or very nearly) then most chippers should be able to get the chip into the back without it going everywhere. In the original pics on this thread, the box is just under 8foot long (8ft sheet folded at the ends) and the tipper is 9 and bit feet long. There will be another piece atached to fillin this gap and that will come out over the tailgate a bit to help prevent side loss due to wind.

Yes, did consider sloping it forward, but the height at the rear of the box is what dictates how easily chips go in, if its high enough there then a slope doesn't improve things. Wind resistance maybe improved but your still driving a brick. As for water run off, not sure about that. Surely the water will run over the edges if its flat on top. Also a flat roof will be easier to mount some kind of roof rack and/or rollers for ladders.

That looks very similar to a tractor that a tree contractor near me uses. He has a trailer with hydraulic wheel heights, you can lift the wheels so the whole trailer lies on the floor and you can walk straight in the back or wheelbarrow loads of wood straight in. It also has a timeber crane on it somewhere (maybe that goes on instead of the walk in trailer) not sure though, not seen it around in ages.

Beat me to it.

A stumpgrinder would be a good start!

I can't be doing with curves Dean! Curves belong on women not on my chip box! Id have to cut a curved front section to fill the gap or have a higher front section than I have already to allow for the curve. I can see how the strength would increase though. I can make steel cross beam out of folded sheet, L section or top hats like on the sides. The roof can bolt to that and I can make triangle brackets at either side for strength.

Any suggestion Dean?? I'm favouring 3mm chequer plate aluminium so far but need to find out what it costs, have never bought any before.

A potential customer who panics at 50 quid is not a very good potential customer!! Another thing to look at is how many trees they have. If the 50 or 100 quid job is all they are ever goign to need then stick to the price. If they have loads of trees but just want this one small job doign for now then do it cheap. I know we all need work but cuttign doen the one and only tree in a garden is a dead end. We need to look for routes to more work not just the work itself. If every job you do leads to 2 more then you will always be ok. Sometimes you can suss out the job over the phone, if I have been recoemnded by anothe rcustomer then I'm there quickly, if its from the council recomended list then I'm there quick enough but knowing I'm competing against others on the list and ig its from yellow pages (I only have a free line entry) then I ask questions and might not bother going to look. This may sound silly as like I said we all need the work at the moemnt, but recently I've been to look at a few yp jobs and they had been done by the tiem I got there!

50 quid is very low if you have to travel even 15 minutes each way.

Another thing you could try, and I have doen it a few times, is to explain that it would have to a minimum charge 100 quid but if any of the neighbours need anything doing then there could be a discount of up to 50%. Once I tried this and they went off and spoke to neighbours and called me back with four other houses in the same street all wanting minor things doing. The original job went down to 50 quid and the others added up to half a days work so well worth the journey and all doen in probably the same time as the first job as we parked the truck once. Another time, the customer got theirs doen free cos they got me a 500 quid job next door. Its a good way of gettign other poeple to do promotional work for you instead of you maybe droppign leaflets etc.

I see. Its gonna be a flat roof, no need to overcomplicate. I'll make some steel struts and triangulate them to the inside of the box to give it torsional strength then stick some ply on top held on with bailing twine! So far this build has used no string or gaffa tape or nails, something wrong somewhere!

I dont want an arched roof Pete. I need to stand on the roof to reach the tops of those big trees I do occasionally. I might have to use plywood for a while to keep the cost down.

Cool site. It says my sheets are 35kg each, not bad! The aim is to keep it under 200kgs that way the whole tipper and chip box will weigh less than a factory fitted steel tipper. A steel roof may put it over the edge plus it would be best to not have too much weight high up, centre of gravity and all that, but the roof must still be strong enough for ladders etc. Aluminium is a third lighter so a 3mm chequer plate roof should be a bit lighter than 1.5mm steel.

It will grow back nice luv! Cuppa tea and some cash please!

They ar enot that far from you mate. Something your not telling us?

Hopefully this is lighter than frame and sheet in steel as there is no frame. Aluminium is three times more expensive and not as strong. A doble skinned alu box might do it like many arb trucks but the plan is to have one strong skin (steel) and an outer skin which is light and not structural. The tool box that is going on the new truck is aluminium. My tipper bed is aluminium also and the dropsides are 40kgs each. They are being removed. One sheet of this steel is approx 40kgs and we have used three and a bit so far. I will need to stand on the roof but it could be aluminium which steel strenghteners. Still not sure about this yet.

No. it looks as though it must have been done by proffessionals!! It not in my county so I don't know the tree offficer there but would love to know what they think of it in such a prominent place.

Can do! This one is custom built for my truck but could look at making a standard size one that just bolts straight on to any truck bed. Wait for the final pics, it will look quite different, but if it gets too heavy then it may end up as a log shed!!

My new chip box is comign along well but getting heavy!! We need to weigh it and then decide what material to use for the roof. So far its made out 1.5mm zyntec steel sheets, with folded ends and stiffeners. Theres no frame just the sheet. An outer layer will be added usign foamex board or grp panels ready for signwritting. The struts at the top are just holdign it together for now!

I pass these trees quite often on my way to jobs. It makes me so proud to be in this proffession!! Any of you who came to the Arb show at Cirencester may have seen these if you approached from the south, Swindon direction. Not really sure what the job spec was as some have growth left on. Not very good photos!!

Genius is pushing it a bit! Many of us used to use mig spools before the cubes were available. If you tilt the spool towrds the tree by shoving a stick/stone under one edge then it will unwind betterer.

Dean, you must have soem old mig welding spools lying around or know someone who does? Cut the rim off one side and smooth any rough edges and then wrap the throwline onto the spool. Lie it flat and throw and it will come off the reel easy.