Tree remover

   / Tree remover #51  
J_J said:
Bob, This is a picture of one man moving a railcar with the railcar mover.
Click to expand...

Thanks J_J. It looks like the lever is stronger near the fulcrum. Moss, do you confirm this?
 
   / Tree remover #52  
Just to throw out an idea. I was thinking of making a lever with a pipe on the end that was about 2 feet long. The pipe would go down to the ground and have a plate on it to act as a foot so it would not sink into the ground and it would not roll to the side too easily. About 18 inches from the foot-pipe, I would have a stop so that a chain could be wrapped around the pipe and the tree. I would reinforce the pipe from the foot-pipe towards the tractor end for about 3 feet, probably by welding a plate vertical from the pipe. There would be something at the tractor end for the minihoe to grab.

I would appreciate any comments before I actually build this.

Thanks for the comments so far. Think safety on this thing.
I think it would be best to cut the tree down first and leave about 5 feet of tree on the stump. For safety sake if nothing else.
 
   / Tree remover
  • Thread Starter
#53  
BobRip said:
Thanks J_J. It looks like the lever is stronger near the fulcrum. Moss, do you confirm this?
Click to expand...

It looks like the ratio of force to lift would be around 100 in to 2 in.

Yes, it is thicker at the bottom to match the rail width.
 
   / Tree remover #54  
ponytug said:
Of course you are thinking correctly!

You have the lever part spot on. But Pythagoras usually refers to the length of the sides of a right triangle, a*a +b*b=c*c... The lever ratios were also covered in a prior email by somebody...

As an aside, if the PT is prying the tree out of the ground, it could easily pry out a tree that was heavy enough to tip it after the tree was no longer a vertical dead weight. i.e. As soon as that tree is loose from the ground, you probably want to pop open the jaws holding the tree, so that the tree doesn't apply Archemedes lever principle back on to the PT and you.

All the best,

Peter
Click to expand...

Doh! :p

Archimedes instead of Pythagorus... at least I was thinking correctly about the lever, though I'm lousy with remembering whose principle it was... :eek: :eek:
 
   / Tree remover #55  
BobRip said:
Our messages must have crossed. The PT will not lift beyond what the minihoe is designed to support, the relief valves will see to that. Now if there are side forces, (I think that is what you mean by transverse forces), this might be unpredictable, but I have had tranverse forces on the arm before and did not damage it, the PT did roll towards one side, and if they got great enough, the PT might roll on the side. Perhaps a rotating joint is needed so that the tree will fall left or right without twisting the minihoe. Is this your point.
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Bob,

A transverse force is one that acts perpendicularly to a member, in this case, the beam axis. So the load from the tree is a transverse load on the beam. As you correctly expect, it is also the dominant load that you will see.

However, if the beam did buckle, then all sorts of strange, chaotic things could happen.

John
 
   / Tree remover #57  
sawdust_maker said:
Bob,

A transverse force is one that acts perpendicularly to a member, in this case, the beam axis. So the load from the tree is a transverse load on the beam. As you correctly expect, it is also the dominant load that you will see.

However, if the beam did buckle, then all sorts of strange, chaotic things could happen.

John
Click to expand...

So if I cut the tree down first and just use this to remove the stump, do you see any issues.

By the way, thanks for yours and others' insights into this. I hope I have not been too obnoxious during this discussion. I do appreciate everyone's insight into this.
 
   / Tree remover #59  
BobRip said:
Very interesting. I wonder if you could just drive a probe into or under the tree (maybe drill a hole first) and then lever it out.
Click to expand...

I've tried prying out trees with my forks. That just doesn't work well on big things because the rear end of the unit lifts off the ground and/or the forks will bend.

If you could drive the point of a very long, strong beam under a tree and have some sort of fulcrum (with a large foot so it doesn't sink) close to the tree and you pulled DOWN on the beam, you would probably get some decent leverage. However, if you pull down and the PT goes up instead, that is a very awkwrd feeling when the front tires come off the ground and the oscillation takes place. The operator is sitting on the front half of the unit and will tip 12 degrees to one side very fast.
 
   / Tree remover #60  
BobRip said:
Very interesting. I wonder if you could just drive a probe into or under the tree (maybe drill a hole first) and then lever it out.
Click to expand...

Why not tie off 20' up the tree and use it's trunk as the lever as long as it is strong enough.
 
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