After seeing a friend lose a leg, I created this

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Imadeapath

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I've worked in landscaping and lawn care for most of my life. As such, many of my friends did the same, as I made many of them in my work life. I had a very good friend nearly lose his life while trying to cut up some brush and small trees. While he survived the injury, he lost his leg just above his knee. This was about 6 years ago. So I sat down and started to play around with some ideas for what I can do to prevent another situation like that. Fast forward 5 years, a ton of money, and more R&D hours than I can count, And I have my finished product. I put everything into this, and I would love to know some thoughts of industry professionals. It obviously will not replace every aspect of a chainsaw. But, I hope it will reduce the number of injuries to users. This was a deeply personal project and product. More info can be found on our website, www.pathmakerllc.com

I would love to know your thoughts.
 
If you are serious good for you but I think you are a joke. That looks like a flipping joke posted by a member using a secondary account to get laughs and that is sad
 
If you are serious good for you but I think you are a joke. That looks like a flipping joke posted by a member using a secondary account to get laughs and that is sad
Wow. Not really the response I was expecting. I've actually been featured in a few magazines recently as well. It's definitely not a joke. The Gen 8 units have a combined 3,000 hours worth of use with no reported injuries. Wanted to share it was AS, as I used a lot of the information on here over the years. Seemed like a friendly place. Seemed like.
 
Wow. Not really the response I was expecting. I've actually been featured in a few magazines recently as well. It's definitely not a joke. The Gen 8 units have a combined 3,000 hours worth of use with no reported injuries. Wanted to share it was AS, as I used a lot of the information on here over the years. Seemed like a friendly place. Seemed like.

Don't mind Bil G.

He often engages his mouth, but seldom engages his brain.

Please accept our apologies.
 
It looks under powered and slow even with your video clips running at 1.5 speed, considering its almost 1,000 price tag it should have a wider bar that protrudes further from the machine so the operator is not in the bushes/brush using it. Sorry about your friend :(
If you could design it to run the saw chain and swap out to a forward facing hedge clipper sheers or even dual 10" miter saw blades for brush/vines with say a 4 stroke 210-220cc 6.5hp power head it could be a real work horse.
 
Don't mind Bil G.

He often engages his mouth, but seldom engages his brain.

Please accept our apologies.
That is funny coming from someone who probably has zero experience with saws and has zero understanding of the inherent issues with a machine such as that. It was done years ago and failed miserably but heck maybe this time...................
 
I am not a professional.

I can see it being useful in very limited applications. To me that would only be clearing stuff that is too big for a brush cutter. Even a 25cc Husky 525 RX brush cutter($400) will knock down 2" trees. Larger than that and that's why God invented small chainsaws.

Some potential problems have already been brought up, it looks slow and you're almost in the tree before the bar hits it. The oiling system looks problematic as well. I can see me knocking that tube off instantly.
 
Maybe this would be more for those who are mobility challenged, otherwise a blade on a weed eater would be faster and more mobile.
 
I can think of some situations where that could / would be useful. Around here, the mountain Laurel and Rotos grow thick and it takes time to work a path with a saw. But, not sure how it would work on steep ground, which is mostly where they grow. Good luck with the project and the company.
 
Well done on all your time and effort, and bringing about something that you deem as safer than what your friend used, and sadly was injured by.

As most of us here work really hard on keeping our bars and chains away from the ground and dirt, this machine does, on initial impression seem to bring the bar down into the dirt zone, even if its above the ground, and not hitting the dirt so to speak, dirt is splashed up a bit from the ground from wind/ rain / traffic etc.
So our natural thoughts would be on both chain and guide bar longevity.
I see that you covered that on your webpage, and agree on the angle of attack, but its still going to be an issue especially if your doing coastal wind blown, or naturally dusty conditions.
Then comes the mobility of it, and how easy/ hard it would be to get to where it needs to be used, and then how it works in different terrain/ slopes etc.
it looks ok on flat ground, but how would it go on rocky uneven surfaces, does the chain then grab/ bind and move the unit harshly, ?
I do like its application regarding bamboo tho, if its not too large / established.

Personally I think the power is fine for the application, as I dont see that taking down larger bits of trees due to its design, thus the power vs weight vs fuel burn consideration you put into it, I think thats a good well thought out balance.

What was your friend using at the time when he injured himself, a whipper snipper with a blade on it clearing small saplings, or a chainsaw that kicked back ?

as far as it replacing a chain saw, I could not see a use for it for me, but I am not a landscape gardener.

If I was clearing lots of small growth on clear flat areas, then maybe from a safety aspect I could see it having a place if you had others working for you who maybe were not that good at using a whipper snipper with a blade on.
This seems where your aiming, considering your webpage info.

In summary, Well done on your time and effort into tackling a problem and making aspects of your work safer, that deserves much credit and recognition.
Well done.

Will others capture the vision and take to your product, well I guess some will and some wont, and some will after actually using one and seeing how it can fit their application/ work requirements.

Again well done on thinking outside the box so to speak, and putting your dreams into a final ready to sell product, that alone deserves much admiration and respect.


Edited to add.
I could see this being popular in Tasmania where they have quite a bit of bracken fern to deal with, and maybe NZ too, so hope you have considered the option of an international seller too, but yes, that is a whole new area of paperwork and headaches to deal with, let alone cost of shipping and OS taxes and consumer law.
 
Firstly very well done, I admire anyone who follows their passion and is creative. I can’t comment either way, but I think @trains has done a well written summary. I think the landscaper is the key here small thin trees in a garden, zipping them away in one go without a felling notch. I’m certainly interested in seeing more.

In regards to some peoples comments here, I’d suggest not taking it to heart. As someone else said, too often people engage mouth without engaging brain.
 
If you are serious good for you but I think you are a joke. That looks like a flipping joke posted by a member using a secondary account to get laughs and that is sad
My Dad use to say "If you can't say something nice to or about someone, just don't say anything at all."
I think someone probably said the same thing about the first chainsaw ever developed. Oh well. :cool: OT
 
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