Shane

To be fair, given the typical lifestyle of a woodchipper and the treatment they get, we should really be impressed that the poor things work at all. They all have their quirks, its just a case of which are least inconvenient, and we all prefer to love the one we own.

I like it:thumbup1:

Spot on. HASWA 1974 was all 'our own' doing without input from Brussels. The 'sue their arse off for everything' mentality came from the USA not Brussels. I would look at someone with CS30 and good attitude. CS38 can be a help as you can provide the rescue cover. Chipper ticket so the company can show 'all staff qualified to carry out their job'. Other tickets depend on your planned area of work. The last 'trainee' we had with loads of tickets was found dozing in the cab while we were all slaving away. That was his last day at work.

PM sent

Thanks for a good variety of replies. I sent a reply to the email saying I am no longer interested and disappointed that they effectively want reassurance that we will behave ourselves. They sent a reply to that asking my permission to phone me and discuss it. Why not. It is only a few minutes work. The scale of my business is such that a number of smaller jobs can be well worth doing in a 'bitty' day. Like some have said... the price will need to be adjusted to cover the costs. I consider what they have done to be a change in the specification. If they disagree they can look for someone else. I don't need to just do monster jobs as my overheads aint that high. We will see what happpens.

I have a 4 mix hedge cutter. Must have got 3 tanks of fuel through it before it died. Had the tappets adjusted twice in 2 hours subsequent use - now it is perfect for 5 minutes then dies. We don't even take it out now. Heap of dung in my view! We have a 2001 2 stroke which keeps bumping along and an echo. The 4 mix is just gathering dust. A failed attempt to reduce emissions, it reduced reliability much more.

About 6 months ago I quoted for a small reduction on a yew in a local church (one we have worked for before). To clear a light over a footpath. Cost was £80 max all in, but it needed TPO permission. After 4 months they got back to say go ahead and apply, then do it when permission is granted. I did the application including a couple of chats with the TO. Yesterday I received an email from the church warden ... -------------------------------------------------------- I have heard back from the Diocese. They need the following from you please: 1. Insurance – confirmation of the contractors public liability insurance. 2. Health & Safety – confirmation the attention has and will be given to H & S, working at height, using chainsaws etc.. 3. Seemly conduct – of those working on or near a church. 4. Schedule of work – this is basically covered in the email alrear dy sent by the contractor (but should be incorporated). Please could you provide this in a single document. Have you heard back from the Council yet. Although the Diocese may agree for the work subject to the council's approval, they would also like a copy of the letter giving the permission please. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't mind the usual 'commercial' stuff - that helps keep the cowboys at bay. But has anyone ever been asked about guaranteeing 'seemly' behaviour? I guess we had better not boil up any goats heads on site, keep our trousers on etc., but I don't have any documentation to prove that:confused1:. How much paperwork is worth doing for a job with a max earning of £80? There are a few other trees that we could get to do at some point but when you have to wait 4 months for a quote acceptance then have to recite the 10 commandments in Latin it's getting silly.

If you find the right person its a question of whether they can be flexible to fit in with your busy days and 'not used' on the other days. If you find a really good helper it may be worth paying them the full week to keep them sweet. When demand > supply then price goes up.

My tree stuff cost me loads, but the tarmac truck wasn't cheap nor were the adidas trackies and 3 core poly-rope. And dont get me started on the cost of braces and my pork-pie hat.

This is a good idea - REAL weights for real vans. That leaves the 'typical' tranny with roughly a 1 ton payload - (without tools!). That is approx. 3 cube of chips or one honest cube of beech logs. Best make frequent trips to tip off then.

Buy this one and put a decent engine on it! stump grinder | eBay That link is not working, look on ebay - theres a converted digger with a knackered engine.

Stefan, I reconwhen the engine gives out on your machine you could spend a couple of days welding fillets in to strengthen it, then mount the motor of your choice onto the chassis - longways to keep it narrow then convert the drive to hydraulic (it will use up some HP but if you select a big enough motor it will not notice) - maybe use some bits off a 50hp predator or something similar. Just make sure the casings are modified to allow easy access to starters, filters etc. and you are on to a winner. Gotta be worth a go. Cummins powered beast that goes through a 26 inch gap! Just don't forget to strengthen the chassis first.

Didn't someone on here engineer their own machine a while back. IIRC it was really well thought out and made. I'll offer my thoughts for a specification.... Narrow enought to go through MOST gates (not just the big ones) - well under 29 inches. Short enough to give good manouverability. Powerful enough to make the faff of transport and unloading worth the hassle 40hp+ Diesel driven for the required torque (and cheap fuel). Use an engine that is as common as possible - easy spares sourcing. Maybe longitudenal mount then hydraulic drive to wheel (keep it narrow) Service parts ACTUALLY easily accessible - not just claimed in sales literature. Is there a small digger narrow enough to buid something on to? There will be loads of problems but surely this is not impossible??? Good luck, I'd be happy to chip in as far as my tech knowledge goes.

Keep the outermost (cutting) teeth sharp, replace them regularly with new or sharpened ones. I replace the inner ones about every third change of the 'cutters'. My wheel has 6 slots. The Rhinos cut vertically at a much faster rate, and sideways about the same as multi-tip. The rhinos come in standard and extra large size, the bigger ones are brutal and harder to control with a pedestrian machine - we use standard and they are fine.

Tut, tut, Steve.... you should know better. Things like that belong on Arbtrader.

Their design is good at clearing debris. It is difficult to get at the non leading edges to sharpen. Next time you buy new teeth try replacing the multi-tips with Rhino teeth. Much better. I do use old multi-tips on the 'inner' slots of the wheel just to clear/rake out the debris. I've found the performance/cost balance of this set-up works well. It is really easy to sharpen the Rhinos

This is a last resort - to get it turning over fast enough... You could try removing the starter mechanism then with a powerful battery drill or - If you know someone with an impact wrench - turn it over with an appropriate socket on the 'gun. Probably best to start on a lower torque setting as you dont want the nut on the end of the shaft to over tighten/shatter etc..

Send it to Spud, he can fix anything.

Me too, I've blocked the sender. Given how little money the Govt. is spending on anything I wouldn't expect anything for tree suregery.

I will never agree with your simplistic approach, but you are as entitled to your views as I am to mine. I would rather this forum was used for discussions on arb issues. I'm off to sharpen some chains. No hard feelings.

Open message to Matelot and his 'followers' It is awful that these things happen. We all have a strong reaction based on our own experience and opinions. Maybe, just maybe, instead of taking the 3rd Reich approach and assuming it must be foreigners, inferior beings, madmen etc we could be more grown up about it and suggest exactly HOW something can be done. Isn't it true that theres good and bad in all groups? Apart from loony terrorist groups that want to injure and kill innocent people. The problem is (and always will be) that they don't go around in uniform so we dont know who they are. They hide amongst the decent Islamic groups. In the same way that paedophiles don't go round wearing T shirts advertising who they are, and the low life scum who nick our chainsaws and chippers try to blend in with everybody else. So how can you identify the bad eggs? You cant. If you really think your method will work, we live in a democracy, get off your bigoted backside, make public your solution, get elected as a majority then go for it. You might just find, though, that it would be a hard battle and one you would lose. So take the easy route of the keyboard warrior, demanding that 'They' need to act now the way that you want and anyone who disagrees is a pussycat. I don't persoally agree with a lot of what you say, but i can't prove that you are wrong or stupid. Maybe I am. Just please, please, stop ranting on an arb forum about your fascist politics and go and DO something about it.

From my recent experiences with them I would look elsewhere. They totally screwed up an order for stumpy teeth and others I know have had blades re-ground at the wrong angle, then 'corrected' to a different wrong angle so there was no room for any more grinding! This is only my own personal experience, of course they may be the only two errors the company has ever made (apart from the on-line sysem you have shown).

Nice bit of fraying there.

£200???? I saw a dosco push along chassis (no engine or flywheel) go for £400 at Ardingly auctions at least 5 years ago. Good luck

I think smaller chippers (gravity fed) are hard work. BUT they have a place if a lot of your customers have trees/shrubs which are small enough and they want to keep the chippings. The above case is further strengthened if it would be a long drag to take the brash to where a towed chipper would have to be used. You may well find that once you have used a gravity fed chipper and a towed hydraulic feed, you would never again use the gravity fed one. There are many on here who use small chippers, and many who dont. there are good reasons for both approaches. PS the > sign needs to be the other way round (pedanticus maximus) Good luck