New Beginning's - ARPI photo tour

[mxridernorth]

Originally Posted by bobcat_ron

There is side cutter teeth, round teeth under and top of the disc, one the tree falls it gets sucked inside and just gets annihilated, they are some serious fun to watch.
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That might be true for small brush, but when mulching larger trees, you use the teeth under the disc to do most of the mulching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6mKsc326jA

Skip to around the 2 minute mark to see some larger trees mulched

[P.Services]

Originally Posted by T_S_S

Looks like your hard work and dedication is paying off Andrew! Awesome new machine. Did you consider a zero tail vs standard tail excavator? Ie-135 D? How do you like the 930? Any reason for choosing that over a j or k series Deere?

Picasso- what ever happened to your thread? Always enjoyed reading it.
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i have been sitting on the couch alot latley. So no updates from me.

No, ive got some big big things cooking in two totally separate industry's but still related closely to us. Honestly it may take one or two more years to get things started or it could happen this spring.

Lots of small things going on for Picasso, will have to bring that old thread back.

[P.Services]

Originally Posted by mxridernorth

That might be true for small brush, but when mulching larger trees, you use the teeth under the disc to do most of the mulching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6mKsc326jA

Skip to around the 2 minute mark to see some larger trees mulched

what are the advantages over a drum style head like a fecon and a climaf head?

[mxridernorth]

Originally Posted by P.Services

what are the advantages over a drum style head like a fecon and a climaf head?

That's a good question. I could guess at the pros and cons, but having no first-hand experience with a drum style, it'd be worthless.

[GQLL]

Originally Posted by P.Services

what are the advantages over a drum style head like a fecon and a climaf head?

The ability to cut trees for timber, be able to cut and the pick up and move the trees after they are cut with the thumb and u can dig the stumps up with the teeth

[ARP]

In addition to what GQLL said of being able to process timber to a certain extent, having the thumb to be able to move rocks, stumps, logs, etc. as well as being able to do minimal digging and creating of roads, the other advantage of this head is speed without a powerpack.

Drum heads by design transfer more of their "cutting energy" into the material that is being cut than a disc head will. Picture a Fecon head with a straight tooth setup- it is spinning downward, transfering all that energy into the material as it "pulverizes" the material with multiple, blunt tooth strikes at the same time. A drum head with a spiral tooth pattern will only do slightly better as less teeth are engaging the material at any one time, but the head itself is still trying to pulverize the wood with relatively blunt, carbide teeth so it still takes a bunch of power to work. This is generally why if you want to run a properly sized drum head with carbide teeth on an excavator, you see excavators with powerpacks. Unfortunately for us due to the areas we work in and our need to use the machine for other types of work, a powerpack was a non-starter. Therefore, if I wanted to run a drum style carbide head on whatever machine we got, I would be forced to run a head that was much smaller (and therefore less productive) than if I had a powerpack. Obviously this isn't good for competitive reasons.

If you then take the drum concept one more step to a head that "cuts" wood (more efficient way to reduce wood in size) versus "pulverizes" it, like you would with a Denis Cimaf or another head with knives, you start getting into an area that allows you to put a larger and more productive head on an excavator without the need of a powerpack. I know Quikdraw on here has a Daewoo with a Denis Cimaf, and after watching him run it, we were very impressed. Had we bought this excavator a year earlier, I would have a Cimaf on it.

Additionally, since the head is mounted on an excavator, you're not as worried about ground engagement (and therefore the need for carbide teeth) as much as you would be with a tracked or wheeled machine. "Cutting" wood versus "pulverizing" it becomes a more viable choice at this point since the knives that do the cutting, won't be getting damaged as often as they would if they were put on a head that spent more time on the ground. (The only time you really "pulverize" wood is when you are regrinding the wood on the ground, which is why there are carbide teeth only on the bottom of the AFE.) So, since cutting wood is a more productive use of energy than "pulverizing" it, we began to look at heads that cut more than they pulverized. While a Cimaf process logs on the ground better than the AFE, my big sticking point on the Cimaf was no ability to use the thumb with the head and you really shouldn't be doing "jump turns" with a drum style head for fear of placing the rotor out of alignments. For the work we do and in the terrain we work, being able to use the mulcher frame like a bucket with a thumb, was a necessity.

So, at the end of the day, we wanted a head that "cut" wood without a powerpack (and could still "pulverize" it once everything was on the ground), was beefy enough to withstand jump turns without worrying about warranty issues, and could be used like a bucket for moving objects with a thumb and doing small excavation duties. No small list of requirements for sure. For these reasons, we settled on the AFE over a drum style head. If we keep growing, I would like to have a beefed up Cimaf on another machine just so I can increase the options for the type of work we can do.

Hopefully this helps explain the differences between heads and why one may be more suited to certain applications over another.

[P.Services]

good explanation!!! thanks!

[talus]

Blah blah. Enough with the kid toys. This is what you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpwZ6..._order&list=UL

Congrats on all the new machines.

[Bleed Green]

I know what you mean about working in the mud Andrew. Grading and sloping in the mud has been too regular here for sure. Good thing is, I never figured we wouldn't be working this late into the winter so I guess I should be thankful for the mud and no snow.

[ClearViewGroup]

Andrew.. I no longer work for DENIS CIMAF but I can tell you that the heads have a frame that you can not damage with a jump turn..simply tilt the head up so the rotor doesnt hit the ground and it has re-inforced housing on both the "front" and "back" that allow you to pivot or turn or anything else you wish to do with out the rotor touching the ground...they are built like tanks