Bustergasket

We are still using single cab hilux, super cab ranger and a nugent 14ft cage trailer, loose loads in the pick ups and bulk bags and log nets plus kindling in the trailer, contemplating going to barrow bags as easier to unload and i think i could get over 20 on the trailer so that would be a bigger route, i also just bought a pallet leveler to make stacking and rebagging easier, we have the process down to touching the wood once that’s when we offload, if we bagged it into barrow bags we could just the pull the bags off in effect still only touching it once, also added benefit of grading, i guess only way is to try it and see [emoji106]

this bit is not straight but it deals with this ok

Here is a quick video, my camera skills are not good, but you should see the machine is quicker it’s automatic nature means we can munch through much more timber, we even managed a doughnut and coffee outside while it was munching away, a bit risky leaving it alone, i has a hose fail the other day luck i was in there otherwise it could have been a right mess and expensive, next things will be to have the oil sampled and then looking to run a HVI 46 hydraulic oil [emoji106]

It’s been a while and we have been busy running the Woodcutta and splitta, we have done some extensive upgrades to the hydraulic circuits, electrical circuits, and we have added a number of sensors which mean that the machine looks after itself much more on its own, upgrading this machine so that it has many of the features that the latest machines have has been a great exercise and have to say We have received the usual great service and support from Fuelwood, along with the upgrades the pressures have been increased by about 40 bar, We have put a photocell sensor on the outfeed so it now has the pause function and a switch which now means the magic finger is no longer needed. Today i have stripped out one of the clamping jaws as i could see some cracks appearing from a previous repair, i was pleased to see the bushes were in excellent condition and were made of a phosphorus bronze and were huge they look like they will last forever, anyway i welded some reinforcement 5mm and ground it up and repainted I have done a video and will upload when i get a chance, we are really on top of the firewood for this coming season, and have taken on a couple of new customers on a wholesale basis prob about 100 cube and that’s been no problem, we are getting on so well iam considering selling the transaw as it’s not getting used [emoji848]. slightly different note but yesterday we had a refusal in the splitta the only one all day but it shows how consistent the log size is keep on chopping [emoji106]

Like previous replies, very respectable, not the best but still very good, have found mould needs to have a close eye, but kept dry it’s good, that black dusty under bark “dust” is a good indicator that’s it’s sycamore [emoji106]

Looks good How many bags are on each the pallets pictured ? cheer

I had a flyer in the post, i will try and take a picture, it looked like they will have lots of bits of kit and working demos, i have been to a few of these before and can defo say it’s worth a trip out, some awesome bits of kit and plenty of demos, mostly carried out in the woodland, trying to get there sat pm [emoji106] thought it maybe if use to some of you on here

Well i have been leaving the machines running more and more on their own, so i went to more timber as i was on my own and came back to find logs everywhere and this [emoji23] it was a simple jam and i suppose an indication i have not quite got something 100% buttoned down, other than this the setup is going very well [emoji106] keep on chopping

We are looking at chemical castration so it’s an injection into the nuts that can last 6-18 months so you can see the effect before deciding, i have seen a few dogs go more aggressive after chop, depends on why they are been aggressive i guess

This is the new boy, settling in slowly, he is super round the farm, but i think he is finding the local pub a bit too much, he is 14 months old and had zero socialisation until the last 12weeks with us, not bothered by shotgun noise, great with other dogs, good with females, great round machines, wary around men and has kicked off big time at a few blokes, we have sorted his dominant and continued challenge for top spot behaviour round the farm, and he is becoming reasonably affectionate with us, completely different with others though, and his unpredictable tendencies are keeping me on my toes, he has so much to learn, iam really hoping he will chill over the next year, fingers crossed

i heard of a bloke who had a similar situation someone kept nicking his chopped logs so he somehow drilled a hole inserted a crow scarer and plugged it, he did a few of these and left them in a prominent position, they disappeared and funnily enough he had no more logs go missing!

Have to be honest Matty, i did not price a lasco, i think both bits of kit will do the job, and it’s surprising how fast they bust stuff up, as is seen by Stephen’s reply earlier in the thread, i think that’s on a bigger machine, but from what i see i think the small versions are just as impressive, prob just don’t have the reach and are very slightly slower, you just let the cone bite and it takes the timber, no pressure needed other than to stop it rotating the timber, i can see corrosion to the cone could be an issue as it will increase the friction, working on a silicone boot packed with grease, does anyone else do anything when not in use ?

Well i have been mulling over the perceived pros and cons of using a cone splitter for a while, this is the S2X800 model, picked it up yesterday from Fuelwood and managed to split some of the larger diameter lengths last night, it was a doddle to get the hang of even in the dark with only the digger lights on, iam running it on a 4ton machine, plenty of power, i had the 245mm cone, probably should have gone for the 300mm option, but like all these bits of kit until you have used them you just don’t know, i cannot see any downside to using the biggest cone possible (maybe wrong) i would estimate i split 10 ton in two hours, now originally i was going to reduce the larger dia 500mm stuff so it would go through a processor, however i was surprised to see the timber was 20-25%, so decided to bust it smaller and used for boiler fuel (running a bit low) i plan on grading the straight stuff to the processor and the gnarley stuff for boiler, i think iam going to get on well with it for producing boiler fuel and getting some of the nicer stuff through the processor, it splits huge volumes very quickly and the slivers are welcome boiler fuel, i will put done more viewpoints up when i have had time to use it s bit more, here is some pics

Well we managed to get an hour on the machines on sunday, we fed through all the bits which it refused a few weeks ago those two simple mods now mean the woodcutta will reliably cut 430mm diameter and the splitta will also just take that, there is still scope to go bigger with woodcutta but realistically as the splitta would need serious modifications and then it would not be a standard machine, so it’s probably best to leave it where it is and look for a splitta 400, pretty sure they will do nearly 500mm, the difference in volume is huge, when going from 360 upto 430 there is almost 50% more volume going through the machine, we really were struggling to keep it fed and get the bags away, the new single entry gate needs to be fixed to stop it sliding from side to side as that did jam under the ear which was left from moving the backstop roller closer to the chainsaw sprocket but that’s simple, the cleaner and conveyor are also working well and have to say we are ending up with very clean bags i have been thinking about moving the fingers on the cleaner just a little bit wider but fear it might take out too much of the smaller stuff which people seem to like, i guess best option would be to make them adjustable or make it so you can swap the whole set of bars as a complete unit [emoji848]

How did you get on ? did you manage to keep up with it ? [emoji106]