Blockbuster deck extension
- Thread starter kj454
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hoskvarna
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I have been operating one for past two weeks.
We don't have any logs that straight to use a longer deck here in Iowa.
Will take more hydraulic power to advance a log that long and heavy. Plus bigger equipment to load one that long.
My 2 cents
Sent from Hoskvarna Hills
We don't have any logs that straight to use a longer deck here in Iowa.
Will take more hydraulic power to advance a log that long and heavy. Plus bigger equipment to load one that long.
My 2 cents
Sent from Hoskvarna Hills
Jhenderson
Addicted to ArboristSite
How would you handle wood that long? 40 ft is pretty awkward.
From what I remember, the blockbuster machines are towed from the deck end. The larger machines only have a 8ft deck, smaller machines 5ft. to handle 40ft long logs, you would need a deck at least 20-22ft long ,minimum. this would mean adding to the towing end of the machine 20-25ft. That would pretty much mean not being able to tow. Well you could make it towable, but at great cost. Extending the deck is just a matter of making a longer deck and adding to whats already there. You could possibly use rollers to carry the extra log length, but I would question the ability of the single drive feed chain to advance a log that long. You could also make the feed chain longer so that it reached to the end of your long deck. You also have similar problems with the live feed deck. You have to have feeder chains at the end of the log to keep the logs feeding straight to the trough.
With your current deck, why not buck you logs to the length your machine can handle. You could extend your live deck to hold twice as many logs as it currently does a lot cheaper than trying to engineer a extra long log trough for 40ft long logs.
With your current deck, why not buck you logs to the length your machine can handle. You could extend your live deck to hold twice as many logs as it currently does a lot cheaper than trying to engineer a extra long log trough for 40ft long logs.
Thanks for the replies and the ideas.
I want the capacity for the longer logs because one of my most time consuming tasks is bucking the logs to length to fit on the processor. I already have all support equipment to handle the long logs.
I'm concerned as well that the current trough would not be long enough and I would have feed problems. It doesn't seem like anyone has attempted this yet. I'm gonna try running a longer log and see how well it feeds. Extending the trough I think would be pretty difficult, expensive, and time consuming. Expanding the live deck doesn't look too difficult. Anyone have a good online source for roller chain, sprockets, hydraulic parts, etc.? I live in a pretty remote area and there's no local source for these kind of parts.
I want the capacity for the longer logs because one of my most time consuming tasks is bucking the logs to length to fit on the processor. I already have all support equipment to handle the long logs.
I'm concerned as well that the current trough would not be long enough and I would have feed problems. It doesn't seem like anyone has attempted this yet. I'm gonna try running a longer log and see how well it feeds. Extending the trough I think would be pretty difficult, expensive, and time consuming. Expanding the live deck doesn't look too difficult. Anyone have a good online source for roller chain, sprockets, hydraulic parts, etc.? I live in a pretty remote area and there's no local source for these kind of parts.
Check on-line for used log decks.
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Seeing as you are in a remote location and parts are hard to come by you should make sure that you can still run the regular deck without the extension. That way if something breaks you can just cut the logs shorter and keep running. So two drive chains connected by a short shaft would be a plan.
I have a 14ft conveyor I plan on using for my log trough. this should allow for processing a 28ft log, as long as the big end of the tree is placed forward on the conveyor. Not sure how well crooked, knotty, and twisted logs will feed, With a wide enough conveyor, might work. Even though you dont have a lot of support equipment on site, You must have something that will load a 40ft long log, or you wouldnt be attempting a deck to load on. With that in mind, I think your easiest, and maybe cheapest way of extending the deck would be a belt conveyor that could be set on and off at the end of your current deck. Make it with legs so it can straddle your trailer tongue. add a live deck and connect it to the current hyd's with quick connects. One thing I am thinking is will it be worth the effort. If the processor is going to stay on one site, than setup time wouldnt be a problems, but if you plan of moving the processor to different sites, then you would have to consider the time it would take to haul the processor and extra conveyor, hook it all together and then factor in just how long it would have taken you to buck the trees to length. Extra trips to a work site, setting up and taking down in preparation for transport, might take more time than just firing up a chainsaw and bucking a few trees to a length that fits.
Timbercreek
ArboristSite Operative
conveyor to extend troth with a simple power beyond quick coupling to the maine feed motor would work(series)
another thought is adding roller conveyors, but knots/limbs may stick in between rollers.
as for the greenchain, just make another pair of strands, and again tag them into the other hyd motors with hoses and quick couplers. say you made another 10ft log deck, and space it 8ft away from the current one, youd have 26ft supported??
another thought is adding roller conveyors, but knots/limbs may stick in between rollers.
as for the greenchain, just make another pair of strands, and again tag them into the other hyd motors with hoses and quick couplers. say you made another 10ft log deck, and space it 8ft away from the current one, youd have 26ft supported??
