Simple harvester/professor head

[Firewoodjoe]

Is the a head out there that don't require lots of electric or computers. Seems the old fabtek heads mostly hydro hoses. I haven't been around many.

[Skeans1]

The fabtek 2000 series or 4 roller heads are complete hydraulic to run the head other then the relay box for saw and bar return. Computers for these heads were built by Joral and can be had pretty reasonable compared to others, here's a good question for you how mechanical are you? Can you read pressures and reset pressures?

[Firewoodjoe]

I'm fairly mechanical but I do not like electrical

[Southside]

I have a Fabtek 4 roller.  What are you looking to do?

[mike_belben]

Lotta jokes in that title id probably get banned for. 

[Firewoodjoe]

 I didn't even realize I wrote professor instead of processor. Stupid spell check.

[Firewoodjoe]

I'm not looking for anything specific. Just brands that are simple.

[Skeans1]

The only electrical is your saw proximity sensor, knife float, and encoders on the head, all your other electronics for functions will be on the valve on the boom. On ours I have 9 wires from the boom to the head, on the boom there's 5 sets of coils for the pilots. Myself the newer style heads with the Can Bus are easier and faster for diagnostics it'll give me a code and from there I know where to look.

[mike_belben]

So does the prox determine the barsaw position or just if its home or not?  Do harvesters travel the saw based on a diameter measured by the knives or will it travel as far as the operator holds the button or what?  

How do they manage to have the knives grab hard enough to hold a log but loose enough to shoot it back and forth by the rollers? Do they have different pressures for hold vs stroke?  

Harvester design is pretty intriguing

[Skeans1]

Proximity sensor is the home sensor. To travel of the bar some will travel the diameter some will travel the full stroke of the cylinder some will do both or as long you hold the saw button. Hold pressures is determined by tree species as well as which feed wheels you're running. To running the log through you will have either a knife float or pulse of the knives, on a Fabtek it's a float to reverse you open the knives to feed back, on the new SP head I've been running it uses a pulse knife so as you feed back it opens and closes automatically.

[mike_belben]

Thanks good stuff.  When we say computer, are we talking about off the shelf PLC stuck in a gear cabinet or are these proprietary full blown computers like in cars?

[snowstorm]

10 plus for a new computer. that answer your question. mine has the display a mcc module on the head and a mckc module. all valves are on the head 6 wires 2 hot 2 ground 2 can wires so all valves and length and dia run on the 2 can wires. i have very little trouble with them

[Skeans1]

I'm not sure what a Dasa Forrester costs a Joral seems like under 5.

[snowstorm]

i have a motomit  that was sold to parker and was told they do not supply parts for it. then some of the motomit engineers went out on there own. i dont recall the brand name heard close to 15 k for a complete set up

[Firewoodjoe]

Everything said is what I dont want. Haha I'll stick with a slasher or just chainsaw.

[mike_belben]

X2.  

Have you ever seen the fixed head excavator grapples with a blade inside?  The grapple forces the tree onto the knife and severs it.   I think thats the worlds simplest feller head.  Maintain it with an angle grinder. 

[Firewoodjoe]

I've never seen one in person but have looked on the internet a lot. A friend runs a Ryan's equipment saw and seems to work well but not so much of a grapple as a feller. I've watch a lot of Logger wade videos and he uses a rotobec saw and does well with it. That's more what I'd lean towards.

[snowstorm]

X2.  

Have you ever seen the fixed head excavator grapples with a blade inside?  The grapple forces the tree onto the knife and severs it.   I think thats the worlds simplest feller head.  Maintain it with an angle grinder.

your talking about a shear. i had one 25 yrs ago. just dont try selling a log you cut with one

[mike_belben]

Yeah, i agree it wont replace your stihl.  Not a bad tool for pulp and clearing though.  Id love to have one. 

[Firewoodjoe]

We have two 16" morbarks. Cut a lot of logs. When we turned and bucked we cut 12" or so off the end. Hardwood in winter was fun. But cheap and doubled production for a hand cutter.

[bushmechanic]

I was going to say that there is no simple harvesting head ;D I would think the least amount of electrics are on the stroke heads.

[Corley5]

Risley Slingshot heads are pretty simple ;D

[Skeans1]

X2.  

Have you ever seen the fixed head excavator grapples with a blade inside?  The grapple forces the tree onto the knife and severs it.   I think thats the worlds simplest feller head.  Maintain it with an angle grinder.

your talking about a shear. i had one 25 yrs ago. just dont try selling a log you cut with one

Still got an old hurricana shear and a molbark makes a great flower planter anymore. The last time we ran a shear was over 30 years ago they're slow to put it nicely.

[Skeans1]

I was going to say that there is no simple harvesting head ;D I would think the least amount of electrics are on the stroke heads.

How is a stroker simple you still have a computer to run your lengths and measure with. A fabtek is honestly simple enough you can run it for cutting and limbing without a computer.

[Corley5]

No computer on the Slingshot I had.  A full stroke was 100" and could be adjusted a bit either way with the bump stops.  Put two foot marks on the beam for longer lengths.