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ATTACHMENTS | GRAPPLE SAW
The attachment weighs in at a reasonable 1.1 tonnes, and from the hitch to the tip of the grapple provides an extra 5ft of reach, which means Dom has quickly learned to be extra smooth on the controls for a comfortable day operating from the cab. The rotator hitch bracket has been designed with hitch pins at a 40-degree angle, which allows the tipping link geometry to obtain a useful working range, including positioning the grapple vertically. It was impressive to see man and machine tackle a large Beech tree that needed to be felled. Dom used the grapple saw to sectionally fell the crown and large upper branches. Then, Graeme Louden used his range of Stihl chainsaws to put in the initial cuts at the base of the tree in the normal manner, and left Dom to push the tree over into a safe area for processing.
Built To Lift
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Hultdins Supersaw 555s
The SuperSaw 555S is a grapple saw unit for production machines operating under gruelling working conditions. The casing is particularly robust, and all components have protective housings. This saw unit has a more powerful SuperCut 19cc motor and requires 140 to 169L/min of oil under 180bar pressure for high cutting performance, akin to that of a harvester. A smaller 10cc motor is available for machines with less hydraulic flow. Saw bar lengths are either 90cm or 100cm,
Dom also demonstrated the powerful lifting capacity of the 16-tonne Doosan excavator by lifting the entire tree trunk and, with two half cuts with the grapple saw, the trunk was quickly cut into smaller lengths. The grapple legs feature ve solid 50mm Hardox tines to excel in this demanding application. This machine and grapple saw setup will also be very useful in taking down trees infected with Ash dieback at stage 3 and 4 that need to be mechanically section-felled close to structures or buildings. Once the timber is processed, the Doosan and grapple neatly stacked the timber ready for collection by Agriforest’s John Deere 1210G forwarder, which travels a short distance for roadside collection by HGVs.
Douglas and Dom are clearly delighted with their Doosan DX160-5 and their new Powerhand grapple saw unit that makes this type of work much safer while signi cantly improving productivity and working conditions for the Agriforest team.
