-Thanks Casey. But no mig for me.
After this years changes, which were several, I'm going to need to save my pennies till spring so I can order logs early and get a jump on things early in 2017. Tools are great but I need logs to process to keep the cash flow going. I will need logs and pallets in the spring before money for this years work begins to come in next summer. Everything split this year sells next year, with the exception of yesterday. Also January is sales tax, plates, vehicle insurance as well. I like doing firewood, making it pay off is another thing.
-I've been sold out since Labor Day.
-A regular called yesterday, a regular pain.
-You ever have one of those regulars that think their special? Anyway, calls at 1:00, and says can I come in an hour and pick up the four cord you said you'd save for me. Pissed me off for a second right there, but I was expecting it, and got over it quickly. I changed my policy this year, because last year I did save four cord for him. He would pick up a half a cord every ten days or so. Screw that crap... This year when people asked me to 'save' wood for them the answer was a flat no to everyone, first come first serve, no exceptions. Okay so then he wanted green wood , sending someone else to pick it up. We loaded one and a quarter cord using the conveyor, or five pallets. The conveyor belt doesn't track well when it gets wind blown snow packed and lumped on the lower drum. We fought that a bit as clearing it is very difficult to reach. Told him if he wants more this was the last week, period, and even that was dependent on how much snow we get. Fifteen miles from here they got nine inches of snow the night before last and its been blowing since. Big lake effect (Lake Michigan) is fairly unpredictable. The new wood lot will not be as accessible this year either.
-What was nice, hand loading into the conveyer was that I found the splits had begun to season quite well on the pallets, better than I've seen mine do before. The cleared space for the wood lot is new this year, as are the pallets and netting. Sun and air flow!!!! Yes!!!! I've also begun to cover the pallet tops, but these were not covered.
-It has taken a long time to get set up, and I am very happy with the results so far. I had the stumps hauled off, and crushed concrete brought in and leveled. Guys did a great job. I got four semi loads of logs and borrowed money to imported the PackFix. Each step cost money. I still need to get production up, which for now simply means putting in more hours on the saw/splitter and forklift. The PackFix wasn't really up and running until the very end of July, and then almost a month sorting out how it works, getting decent used pallets in the beginning, and a tree trimmer out to clear a couple small dead limbs 40' up before getting really set up and running. Very, very happy with results.
-Two small disappointments with the PackFix, really hardly worth mentioning.
I should add, I don't know of anyone else in the states that uses a PackFix. The importer mentioned someone in Michigans upper peninsula had ordered one also. I gave him permission to pass on my email but I never heard anything.
One: it takes four pallets instead of three to equal a full cord stacked up in my racks. (no one has said three pallets to a cord, I was just hoping) The drum volume converted from metric comes out to 56.5 cu. ft. (times three = 169.5 cu. ft.) (times 4 = 226 cu.ft.) Four pallets stacked is one cord, often times a bit more, by two, three, four cu. ft. What that means is the expense of one more pallet, netting, and time... to process a full cord. 169.5 cu.ft falls far short of 190 cu. ft. loose thrown volume most people selling firewood go by. 190 cu. ft. in this case is far short when stacking it up as well. 226 cu. ft. is pretty close, being on the heavy side. I believe it's possible 12" splits may possibly be done in three pallets, but I've no call to try it. I doubt people would buy 12" splits, and that in itself would be more cutting/splitting for a cord. Shorter splits seems to be a Euro thing.
Two: The PackFix is powered by a vertical shaft engine that sits on top of the hydraulic cabinet. (you can see the muffler in post #83.) When pull starting the engine after a rain, water spins out of the vented engine combing. I'm afraid, given a chance, that could freeze and really screw things up, which is one of several reasons why I dropped the mast and stored it.
With those two exceptions, this machine is well thought out, quality build is beautiful, and the paint finish is no exception. Everything you would expect from a German parent company, and Euro build, in this case Austria. It does what it was designed to do, and does it well. Specs suggested 50-60 pallets per roll of netting, and I'm getting 50-54, or @ 50 = $2.00 per pallet (using 64 roll pallet pricing for the netting).
This is the bottom of an empty rack stacked on top of a full rack. I think the tip of the forks is in there also, as my son was screwing around doing the 'what if?' double stacking. Below is side view of base and top cross ties. There are six uprights per side, lagged down through the top, and held by the angle at the bottom. Ground contact is on two sides only. Then I could also use a pallet jack to move them on the concrete.
