Got an email promoting a new product, thought it was an interesting concept as opposed to the tree spade method. Comments?
Yair . . . They must have special cutters on the chain, most trenchers I've seen don't go too well with roots . . . interesting concept but its complex and a second machine is needed to lift and load. I Imagine it's for a special application? Cheers.
Dunno, as I said the manufacturer just sent me a new product offering, they're in China so you never really get much information. Right, you do need a separate machine for pulling and carrying, but in the right situation, like for instance a nursery where you're pulling several trees at one time, one operator could be making the cuts and another one could be pulling the trees and transporting them to where they could be wrapped for shipping, or reloaded onto a truck for immediate hauling? Neither of those machine is as big or heavy as what I would assume you would need to handle a tree spade with the tree in it. The lighter weight and ability to fit in smaller areas might be an advantage? I'm not selling any, just trying to understand the concept and it's feasability....
Who gets to drive all those steel rods in the first picture, or does the machine do that also? I can't imagine it would be competitive in the US with that kind of labor. That root ball wouldn't hold together for long either, not much good to move the root ball halfway to the destination and then plant a bareroot tree.
Steel rods? Methinks thou art hallucinating, but it is a small picture here.... Yeah, looks like they're in pretty much optimal soil conditions there, for sure would need to be wrapped.
Maybe it's wood but it's sure not a circle of roots sticking out of that root ball, there's very few roots on the outside of the cut.
I think your seeing the weeds and underbrush underneath the dirt that was kicked up from the trencher, at least thats what it looks like to me :beatsme Its a cool idea, it would need a steel cage and a burlap sack on them to make them last for any kind of transport.
OK, sure I see it now. I still say it won't hold together in most soils. Tipped on it's side and hauled any distance, forget it.
I would like to see a video of it working. I am at a loss as to how it cuts a full circle. Keep moving the power unit? Looks like it would take a bit of time to go around and trench that much. I can see where it would take a good sized tree out, really limited by the crane capacity and trucking ability.
I'm not tracking all of it myself and I can blow the picture up quite a bit. The arm that the cutter is on is attached to a circular rail, that rail and the circular frame above it both have the same gap in them to go around the tree. The rail is geared on the ID and at the back of the circle is a worm drive and either a gear or chain case driving at least two gears that mesh with the teeth on the ID of the travelling rail. Looks like rollers spread around to pick up and carry the rail. I can't quite make out how everything clears to get those hydraulic hoses around and out of the way, but I think it can probably turn a full 360 or a little more one way and then back. The cutter itself has a tilt cylinder to set the depth of cut.
I am starting to undestand it. The cutter bar must travel between the machine and the circle to go the 360 degrees. Probably is more room there that appears in the picture. The "loader arms are high enough for it to go under. The bar that carries the cutter seems a little small to carry the weight and torque.
Can we take a min to comment on how sketchy that rigging is on the tree hanging on the hook?