Tree guy wants me to build a processor for him. He brings over a pole saw and says the bar and chain can both be bigger. Assuming this is true, is this thing going to have enough power to be worth the effort of adapting and installing it?
Hydraulic chain saw question
- Thread starter Dune
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
I'm gonna go ahead and say no. It'd be like cutting a 20 inch oak log with a weed eater engine. I am a hydraulic engineer by trade and could do a power analysis if you know the displacement of the saw motor and pressure rating. I suspect it wouldn't be near effective unless you spin it at 100,000 rpm with chain speeds approaching the speed of sound.
Looks like a Freemont, with 3/8" ports. There are some numbers but I have no idea what the displacement is. The pressure is 138 bar.
I did find what I think is a bigger high speed hydralic motor today, so I may just start from scratch.
The thing is, even if this little saw took ten times as long as a larger one, it would still be an increase in production for the guy.
This confuses me Dune (not really hard to do.
). Why would a person want a processor if not for output speed? Using a tiny hydro pole saw for this seems...well...counter productive.
This confuses me Dune (not really hard to do.
Me too. I guess once a log hits the stop, 20 seconds to cut instead of 2 seconds will still be faster than bucking off a pile of logs on the ground with a gas saw.
If it doesn't have a prayer of working, I'll try to do something else, but this is Cape Cod after all.
Holy jeepers. He would be better off to hawk the saw and get a proper hydro motor and put a few of the bucks saved back into the machine.
Total joke? OK, that's why I brought the topic here. I don't know jack all about hydraulic chainsaws.
I wouldn't really call it a total joke. If he was constantly running 12" or less logs, it may have its place, but for more typical log stock its gonna be a stretch. I would guess that the pole saw could bring a pretty penny on the market. Turn around and put that towards a more favorable hydro motor and then build on..
To start off, I would try to size up what the processor is going to be dealing with. Size that to comparable processors on the market and then look up the pump that it uses. Keep in mind that behind this motor your gonna need a drive (pump/engine) to match the requirements. Of course you have to figure in all the other drags, such as the splitter itself, the log mover, lifter (if needed), conveyor, blah, blah blah.
Thanks, I realise that, but I am working within the customer's parameters. He still thinks the little one will work, but is willing to sell it and buy a bigger one. He is going to power it with an extra circuit on a boom truck or skid steer.
At minimum flow and pressure the horse power would be about 2.5 at max pressure and flow around 8, So it's in the range of decent hand held chainsaw.
Surpluscenter.com has some reasonable hydraulic parts from time to time
Surpluscenter.com has some reasonable hydraulic parts from time to time
https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=9-8287&catname=hydraulic
This one would do about 14 HP at rated pressure and flow. Might be hard to find a large enough sprocket to make the 1116 RPM speed work unless you upgrade to harvester size chain.
This one would do about 14 HP at rated pressure and flow. Might be hard to find a large enough sprocket to make the 1116 RPM speed work unless you upgrade to harvester size chain.
No thoughts of mounting a gas saw on a pivot? Saves an awful lot of fabrication and $$. Lots of smaller processors run this way.
The sale of that pole saw would buy a pretty darn nice chain saw and have some bucks left over. Down side is that a hydro saw doesn't need to stop to re-fuel.
Dune- think about a 2.5hp chainsaw trying to pull a 20-24 bar. It sure would be underwhelming. For a processor, I would probably be looking at a minimum of a 5 hp unit.
Is the plan to feed multiple control valves at the processor (in feed, saw, splitter will all need hydro)
Multi-way wedge with big azz cylinder?
Do you know the flow rate of the skidder or boom?
Pressure relief settings?
The flow for the skid steer is 19.1 gal/min. Havn't determined pressure yet. The flow should be effective for what he wants.
- Status
Similar threads
