KX210, KX280 and KX350 Tree Shears and KXK210, KXK280 and KXK350 Tilting Tree Shears can be equipped with the collector.
Using a collector to cut energy wood speeds up the work, especially when cutting smaller trees, as the difference can be up to 20-100%. This has led to a significant increase in the use of energy wood collectors.
In Central Finland, the current price for wood chips is around 45€/m³ when piled up on the roadside. The cost of driving energy wood, correspondingly, is around 5.5-7.5€/m³.
In our own tests with the KX280 Tree shear during restoration of a young forest, we have achieved a yield of around 2.5-3.5m³/h without the collector and 4.3 m³/h with the same tree shear equipped with the collector
Thus, without a collector, the yield is 45€ (price of wood on the roadside) – 7€ (driving) = 38€/m³ * 3m³ (volume felled per hour) = 114€/h
KX280 Tree Shear with the collector yields 45€ (price of wood on the roadside) – 7€ (driving) = 38€/m3 * 4.3m³ (volume felled per hour) = 163.40€/h
The output per hour is therefore around 49.40€ higher with the collector, which can be calculated almost entirely as profit.
However, it is important to remember that using the collector with the tree shear requires practice and two double-acting hydraulics on the machine to operate.
We are happy to help you in planning the implementation of hydraulics, and our selection includes the KX Semi-automatic collector valve, with which the collector can be operated from one double-acting hydraulic system.
Steps to use tree shear with the collector:
- Move the tree shear in the direction of the tree to be cut, with the collector closed and the jaws open.
- Cut the tree by squeezing the jaws.
- Once the tree is cut off, the collector is opened
- Close the collector, open the jaws and move on to cut the next tree
- Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 until the tree shears blade can no longer cut more trees or the collected bundle becomes unstable.
- Empty the tree shear by opening the jaws and the collector at the desired unloading point.
- Shorten the trees on the ground by using the tree shear, if they need to be shortened to facilitate driving.
Kimmo Tossavainen, 4 January 2024
