monkeybusiness

Cider blunts my engineering terminology a little I'm afraid! I know what people mean about lego - I think the old GM bonnets look a bit like a wedding cake...

Was the new 6'' the quadchip, 'cos in real terms it will actually pull more through than your 190 does due to the letterbox feed, yet it weighs less than 750kg and has a turntable. I wouldn't worry about the plastic cover - it's the choppy choppy bits that matter (and a 1928 GM will choppy choppy 11'' wide pieces through unlike your 190).

We've just had 2 faulty 560xpgs - on top of one faulty xp. I personally run a 560xp that went back and is now fixed and it is super mega, but 3 out of 6 saws that I've been involved with have gone back (and take FOREVER to get sorted/replaced). Pretty poor performance really, and the aftercare is beyond terrible. If you get a good 'un it will blow you away, but do you fancy the odds?...

How much is it?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I think I already know....)

01925740995

I helped a firm assemble one of these about 10 years ago (I can't remember the make but I know it came from Scandinavia) and I have to say it didn't blow me away in terms of potential longevity. It was a very clever assembly process (a cross between Ikea and Lego) with all of the individual 'logs' CNCd to interlock with perpendicular walls, with nothing other than gravity holding the logs together. The mating faces were effectively triple tongue and grooved - all in all the finished building was structurally very strong. It was a fast build - 4 of us (2 experienced guys and 2 labourers) had a 2 storey house built with the ridge and purlins in place ready to take the roof in under 4 days - it would probably take at least 5 times as long if nobody on site had done one before as the kit is one of the most confusing puzzles I have ever seen (you also need a large area next to the site to lay everything out so you can recognise individual pieces). However, my concern centres around the fact that none of the wood was treated/tanalised, and it looked a MASSIVE nightmare to try and remove/replace any 'logs' at a later date if they became rotten/damaged. The whole building goes up 1 course at a time and locks together - trying to remove a log properly would entail dismantling the entire building from the top down until you reached the relevant course (or alternatively you could fire up the chainsaw and cut a big hole in the wall, but I'm not sure how you would go about letting new wood in effectively afterwards). I do love the idea of living in one though - the place felt cosy even without windows/doors etc.

I've never used one but my concern would be trying to pull away fully loaded up hill in the wet towing a chipper with just front wheel drive (but maybe it isn't a problem in the real world).

I dunno how much the Jensen you've looked at is but I'd also have a look at a greenmech quadchip if you can find one for similar money - they've got an even bigger opening and a turntable for the same weight.

A new customer has asked me to try and sort out her fruit trees (Apple, Damson, Malus) which are being decimated by Tortrix caterpillars for the 3rd year running (I haven't seen the trees previously - I am taking her word for it with regards the historical problem). She reckons that this year's infestation is the worst yet - all emerging blossom and leaves on the group of trees is being instantly destroyed by thousands of caterpillars, and she has had no fruit for the last 2 years. Aside from letting nature take its course through bird feeding etc, what other course of action is available. My thoughts run with spraying with a pesticide, but what is currently available that will be effective here? The physical pesticide application is not a problem, I just could do with some help/advice on what to use. Cheers!

Chainsaw carvers love big lumps of Sequoia - can you get a tractor with front loader to it? It will save you a massive amount of cutting/clearing up if you can get it away in big lumps!!! Post something on the carving forum and see if anyone is interested.

I agree - that would look spot on!!!

I totally agree with this - they make big money second hand and there are dealers selling new ones with decent discounts (ring Morris Bufton and Co in Ludlow and speak to John - he'll sort you out on a new one for not much more than they make second hand).

I'm amazed that you don't do everything you can to check the provenance of what you're buying - a quick phonecall to the manufacturers is all it takes. Please don't take this personally, but your relaxed attitude to what you buy helps drive the market for stolen plant and machinery. If people were more diligent at point of purchase it would limit the outlet for hot kit. If you do end up buying something that has been stolen then it will be taken off you if it is discovered by the police (unlikely I know, but not unheard of). I saw one of those police camera programs and they pulled a guy on the motorway and took his ifor off him as the laser cut chassis number had been plated over and a jockey wheel bolted on to hide the work - a very professional identity cover up. However (and I was amazed) the copper knew what he was looking for and confiscated the trailer. Plant manufacturers will be able to tell you what numbers should be where - if it isn't 100% then walk away (and ideally call the police - some poor sod maybe seriously out of pocket somewhere because of what you're being offered).

I've never been fond of Vermeers but that has to be the koolest looking chipper ever!!! The guy feeding it looks a bit scared/out of his depth in the video though (but he does offer a bit of scale!) I'd like to see it chip something big though, make it work a bit.

Supplying/using your own log splitter, or working for someone using theirs?

The Brian James looks the mutt's nuts - has anyone got one?

I've got a 12x6 ifor tipper and it's one of the most useful bits of kit in the yard. It'll carry as much as you can get in it (put the cage on and fill it to the top with beech rings and it loves it!). If you take the sides and headboard off you can put a landy 110 on it (which is handy as they keep breaking down). It might be a bit overloaded at times but it looks right and nothing ever breaks. I wouldn't personally buy any trailer second hand - you can throw 1000 quid at new tyres/brakes/bearings etc if you're unlucky. I don't know anything about the atlas trailers, but I do know that ifor Williams hold their money very well for when you come to swap it for a new one (which you should do before it needs tyres/brakes/bearings).

Ms361 - my favourite ever. I reckon the 560xp might be better, but so far 2 of the 5 we've had have gone back (pretty poor average I'd say).

Threatening to use his solititor - he sounds like a brown trout to me...

Cos I'm normally fixing something else the lads have smashed up instead! The chippers get serviced on the hour clock - grease every 40 hrs (blade attention if necessary), full service every 100. If there is a blade issue in between it is usually because someone has decided re-bar looks like a branch. It probably doesn't sound it but I am very sympathetic mechanically and I spend a lot of time on machine/vehicle maintenance. Blade life is one of the reasons I run GM chippers - the disks last for ages without attention.

We regularly run disk-bladed Greenmechs for 100 hrs between oil changes before even looking at the blades and they keep on chipping efficiently with no problem at all (although the chip quality can be quite poor at the end). I agree that super sharp blades make any machine perform amazingly, but the drop off in performance with the GMs is negligible - if the machine starts struggling it is usually because some tool has put something hard through and taken a chunk out of a blade (but even then they'll still chip!).

I know nothing about mogs but is there not something in the cab indicating what revs for what pto speeds? This is common on a lot of tractors. If not, either google or someone on here will undoubtedly let you know. Does it not say in the operators manual that should be on site with the machine at all times.........

It looks an interesting harness, but I guess once the bridge gets worn the whole thing is then scrap? I can't see how you could replace it? I'll answer that myself now reading about the product properly - those conecto rings are the answer and look very clever... (Sorry for jumping the gun).

Most PTO driven machinery is designed to run with an input speed (ie pto speed from tractor or mog) of either 540rpm or 1000rpm. If you have a powerful enough tractor/mog it is possible to run an implement (ie chipper) requiring 540rpm input from a 1000rpm pto output, but you obviously need to run the pto at approx. half speed, which in turn requires half engine revs from the driving machine. You need to find out at what engine speed your mog delivers 540 or 1000 rpm at the shaft and whether your chipper requires 540 or 1000 rpm input to work out how many revs to give it. If you do run the chipper at 540 rpm off the 1000 shaft at half(ish) speed (which it sounds like you are) then you should expect a lack of torque and the subsequent reliance on your stress control. Give it a try on your 540 output at correct revs and see if the performance improves (it should!).

As Hama said. The reason you get straight growth from the roots is because the root stock is standard Hazel with the contorta grafted on to it, and the root stock can throw up suckers if it is under stress.