jamesn
Bronze Member
while i am sitting drinking a cold bud, watching you :laughing:use your makita, partercable, or whatever you use to sharpen teeth, dont start a fire
RDM Mulchers
- Thread starter fishfactor
- Start date
- Views: 10387
jamesn
Bronze Member
cat got your tongue eh? what are your payments a month??:ashamed:
mick m
New member
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2011
- Messages
- 24
- Location
- Australia
- Tractor
- ford 5610,JCB 3cx backhoe , International 3288 tractor .Airman AX50U, Cat D4 dozer
being game to poke in here for a bit boys, but what machine is best in smaller regrowth ??? like under say 4 inches dia ,,,,or low bushy scrub ???
are fixed teeth better than flails or hammers in rocky ground ????
ok now go back to ribbing each other ha ha
are fixed teeth better than flails or hammers in rocky ground ????
ok now go back to ribbing each other ha ha
jamesn
Bronze Member
small machine? bobcat with a feon bh 85 fixed tooth, great for rocky ground, NO SHARPENING, 6 inch trees on down it will mulch, any machine that has high flow, its your preference what type of machine you prefer
deniscimafinc
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2007
- Messages
- 125
- Location
- Roxton Falls, QC
- Tractor
- Any, as long as there's a DENIS CIMAF head on it ;)
jamesn, do I understand that you don't get paid for maintaining your equipment? Many of the other readers are in the same situation?
Our guys in production are paid to clean the shop at the end of the day; that helps productivity for the next day (tools at the right place, etc..). I'd find it only normal that a land clearing business owner paid his employees to maintain the equipment (grease the bearings, check belt tension and, yes, sharpen the teeth if you have sharpenable teeth).
I know some of you guys are working in tough conditions: working long hours, being pushed all the time to clear more, by a boss who might see the 30-min/day maintenance on a mulcher as a waste of time.
But let me say this: one of our long-time customer, René, now retired of the mulching business, has over 10000 (ten thousand) hours on running our heads on excavator, in Eastern Canada (where rocks actually grow every years it seems). Very, very good operator, and very careful of his machine. Sharpened his knives 15 min at noon, 15 min at the end of the day. He said that keeps a better cut, and by helping picking up material better from off the ground, he didn't have to go as close to the ground as with dull knives. He didn't look like the fastest operator at first, doing slower functions with the trackhoe, but he always catched on the other guys moving fast with carbide hammers. But most importantly, he was constantly getting 800 to 1000 hours out of his set of knives. That is three times our advertised average life of knives (250-350 h on an excavator).
... At the other end, there are of course operators who will never get more than 150 h out of them...
Our machines are not for every types of jobs out there. But the experience of René shows that, for ground-level operation and above, with a good operator, whether there are rocks or not, a planar-knives head on an excavator will shine.
Our guys in production are paid to clean the shop at the end of the day; that helps productivity for the next day (tools at the right place, etc..). I'd find it only normal that a land clearing business owner paid his employees to maintain the equipment (grease the bearings, check belt tension and, yes, sharpen the teeth if you have sharpenable teeth).
I know some of you guys are working in tough conditions: working long hours, being pushed all the time to clear more, by a boss who might see the 30-min/day maintenance on a mulcher as a waste of time.
But let me say this: one of our long-time customer, René, now retired of the mulching business, has over 10000 (ten thousand) hours on running our heads on excavator, in Eastern Canada (where rocks actually grow every years it seems). Very, very good operator, and very careful of his machine. Sharpened his knives 15 min at noon, 15 min at the end of the day. He said that keeps a better cut, and by helping picking up material better from off the ground, he didn't have to go as close to the ground as with dull knives. He didn't look like the fastest operator at first, doing slower functions with the trackhoe, but he always catched on the other guys moving fast with carbide hammers. But most importantly, he was constantly getting 800 to 1000 hours out of his set of knives. That is three times our advertised average life of knives (250-350 h on an excavator).
... At the other end, there are of course operators who will never get more than 150 h out of them...
Our machines are not for every types of jobs out there. But the experience of René shows that, for ground-level operation and above, with a good operator, whether there are rocks or not, a planar-knives head on an excavator will shine.
Extreme Mowing
New member
Guys, I have run all kinds of teeth on different HP. machines but I will say this. When I put a new set of Cimaf teeth on a 97hp. machine, watch out because nothing is to big. May not be safe but sometimes it just has to go. I have run 600hp. machines with hammer teeth that could not mulch a 18" diameter log as fast. Granted a small machine can not stand up to punishment like that and should'nt, where as large are designed for that type of consistant work. I should note the small machine was mine . The big one not.
not to take sides but what james is saying you really run carbides much harder and longer without sharping and changing teeth daily.granted they are faster and do have a better cut.i see them on a excavator being better in every way because of less ground contact.
OP
fishfactor
Gold Member
Neither is better in all situations. Bottom line is you need both. I can cut anything with our GT25 and cut it fast. Sharpen the teeth everyday and it only takes 45 minutes or so. It mulches so must faster you can still get way more done in a day if the carbide guy starts mulching when you start sharpening. You charge more per hour and people will pay it when they see the difference in production. You burn less fuel with the knife head because it doesn't work as hard.
With practice, you can stay just above ground and let the gyro/cimaf mulcher suck up the chips to mulch without hitting dirt unless it's a high spot.
But... if it's rocky terrain or lots of trash such as metal, concrete,etc you will ruin the teeth which eliminates the productivity advantage. Damaged teeth cut very similar to carbides. Here the carbides win hands down. You can run right through the rocks most of the time without damage. You can also incorporate the mulch into the dirt when requested.
You just can't compare the two. Both have good and bad points. On some jobs the carbide head will out perform. On others the knife head will be the best choice. If you don't have both you are not as productive or as profitable as you could be if you did. I would have argued against this when we only had the fecon head.
With practice, you can stay just above ground and let the gyro/cimaf mulcher suck up the chips to mulch without hitting dirt unless it's a high spot.
But... if it's rocky terrain or lots of trash such as metal, concrete,etc you will ruin the teeth which eliminates the productivity advantage. Damaged teeth cut very similar to carbides. Here the carbides win hands down. You can run right through the rocks most of the time without damage. You can also incorporate the mulch into the dirt when requested.
You just can't compare the two. Both have good and bad points. On some jobs the carbide head will out perform. On others the knife head will be the best choice. If you don't have both you are not as productive or as profitable as you could be if you did. I would have argued against this when we only had the fecon head.
Extreme Mowing
New member
Agree both have there place. I ran a new Tigercat 480 with Fecon Smooth Drum rotor on a 150 ft pipeline mulching windrow after windrow of root balls,some as big as cars. The head was in dirt most of the time and I had 8 union dozers on my tail pushing me everyday. No time for sharpening or changing teeth. Then I ran A Bron 600hp on a new utility line working in conjuction with a logging crew. Ground lots of fresh stumps and standing timber. The carbides stand up but I would have prefered the Planers on the timber.When you have that much torque it ii great but on a small machine planers really help production and capability.
jamesn
Bronze Member
with the productivity with carbides compared to knives, carbides win hands down, try back dragging with a cimaf compared to a fecon, seppi, fae, the 3 later will win hands down, i like cimaf, rowmec heads but prefer carbides in rocky, sandy ground. fecon, seppi, fae all have hyd.push bars. another great advantage, how are you doing robbie?? economy here sucks really hard,although i own/operate my own machine now, so lots of hard work, litle pay:ashamed:
