Hi guys I have been looking at this forum for 12 months now and thought there should be a place for us guys this side of the pond to show you how we do it here.
I am glad to see this thread, now, please add some explanations, because that's nothing like what I'm familiar with. Are those huge winch drums on the side of hoe booms? Is that an old County 4x4 tractor in the background in the last pic?
^^^ no kidding, *** is on that jcb and daewoo???
Hi mitch and oregon If you are interested in photos and info in our skylines i will post some more when i get back home at the weekend.most of my photos are on pc at home.its a bit awakward on a phone.. Yes they are big winch drums,my jcb in the photo will work 200/300m without any tiebacks with a verey qwick set up time.The large drums only need two sometmes three layers of rope so this almost eliminates rope rap and binding.Also when you come to syncronize the two drums there is verey little difrence in line speed between drums as esch drum has only two or three layers.
Thanks for sharing, interesting equipment. I have to be honest, when I think of the UK I don't think of logging. It's a good thing to broaden ones horizons, fill us in on your operation.
How much line pull and speed do you have with those big drums obviously they are driven using hydraulic motors they must be reasonable size? would be interested to see some close-ups of the winches and drives. Is anyone using bigger yarders madill, t-bird etc.?
big drums Hi prolog, The biggest majority of excavator skylines in the uk are based on small drum skyline winches, in wales and the welsh borders is where you find most of the big drum machines.We use track gear boxes from other excavators,the bigger the drum the more speed.The drums on my old jcb in the photo are 6'6'' dia but on single speed track box, but by putting output from both pumps into the motor gives you a line speed of about 3.5 m a second.A fellow contractor has 8' drums on two speed hydash boxes can get 7m per second.Pulling power ranges from 4 to 8 tons pull depending what track box is used. My jcb i built myself to my ideas i have since rebuilt it on a daewoo dh 220,it is so simple to drive my granny could drive it.The sky line winch is operated by a pedal on the floor, the haull in and haull back are one hydraulic four way servo lever and one three position switch.put the switch to the left it operates left drum and the right when the switch is on the right and the middle both together. If the servo lever is pushed forward the drum pays out pull it back is comes in.Move it to the left it brakes on the left drum and right brakes on the right. I will try and find a bit more time next weekend to post some more photos as it is i have run out of time this weekend and the caravan in the wood and the harvester beckons me for another week of long shifts.
they look way more complex then the backspars we have in bc
Parts of the UK have extensive logging areas..Namely North Wales,large areas of Northern Scotland plus smaller concentrations elsewhere.Soft woods like pine and Larch
my absolute dream job would be to run processor in Scotland