RDM Mulchers

/ RDM Mulchers #21  
i like cimaf, dont get me wrong, however at the end of the day i will be drinking a cold beer while i watch whomever sharpen their teeth on the cimaf. when it is 110 degrees outside, i sure dont want to sharpen teeth
 
/ RDM Mulchers #22  
That's OK. I'm the one laughing at you drinking the beer while I have just finished 1.5 times the work you have with your carbides...but your just an employee and don't really care about that do you, you just don't want to sharpen blades, it's hard to find good employees (just ask Mark).

I watched a 170 HP power pack running a Brontasurus yesterday..I was expecting alot more. My little 118 hp daewoo, no power pack will cut right with that thing and I know I do 1.5-2 times as much as these guys in a day.
 
/ RDM Mulchers #23  
yes ask mark if he ever paid up?? no offense mark, however you are ignorant to the fact at hand here, as stated i like the cimaf head, however carbides cut better, especially doing seismac, r.o.w. how many hours do you get out of a set of cimaf teeth?? maybe 200 at best, when i can get 500-600 out of a set of fecon teeth, or fae teeth, or seppi triple carbides teeth. come to west texas and see how many fecon, fae, seppi heads are being used,then drive around and see how many cimaf heads are being used, you will go broke paying for gas trying to find 3 cimaf heads. i like budweiser, you must like portercable, makita??????
 
/ RDM Mulchers #24  
and just an employee? well sounds like you have to do all the work yourself, i can and will out mulch you 10 times more than you can ever do, do 7 miles of seismac in a 8 hour period.:laughing:
 
/ RDM Mulchers #25  
as for your daewoo, when you can afford a real piece of equipment such as john deere or cat, then talk to me, buy a link belt, you would double your profits. link belts are cheap and affordable, better than a daewoo:thumbsup:
 
/ RDM Mulchers #26  
one more thing for a small mind to generate, employees must also get paid, if they dont then they become bad employees. and then they dont give a s%^t
about their job
 
/ RDM Mulchers #27  
as for your daewoo, when you can afford a real piece of equipment such as john deere or cat, then talk to me, buy a link belt, you would double your profits. link belts are cheap and affordable, better than a daewoo:thumbsup:

When you can afford ANY equipment then we can talk
 
/ RDM Mulchers #28  
Easy there James. You missed the point. There are places for both and the guy who uses both is smart. I few points I have to make thought. I stayed out as long as I can.

1. Yes you will get more hours out of a set of carbides. But factor the price for a given time period (500hrs) and the price difference between our blades and carbides it ends up a draw on that point. If I can do the same amount of work, faster, and with less fuel, that is the point!!

2. Our blades cut the same at there last hour as they do there first. A carbide's effientency decline's from day one till there replaced. Sure you can make a carbide continue to work but I guess that's why on average carbide equiped unit are atleast 200hp more or greater. That my friend ends up being a waste of fuel. With prices per ft going down and cost of fuel going up that has to be considered.

3. Cimaf heads in Tx. Well since your talking about my territory, next when I'm there I'll show you a few, we will not ride all day and still have time to sharpen a set of blade's or 2 :D.

4. Excavator brands, really! pumps on excavators, 5000-5500psi, gpm based on hp and install it right and there just different colors and personal preference.

5. I feel ya James, I personally would not want to sit in a machine in a dust bowl working, waiting for a soft spot to get stuck in;). Or look back and know the mile I just cleared is only 1 of 15.
 
/ RDM Mulchers #29  
well quickdraw, when yopu can afford the machine i presently own, and its paid for NO PAYMENTS!, then yes we can talk,

hello robbie, seriously, i like the cimaf head, hate sharpening teeth. especially after 10 hours of mulching, and when it is 110 degrees outside, after 10 hours, all i want to do is service my machine, and go. also remember, sharpening teeth creates sparks, so there is a high potential of fires.:confused2:
 
/ RDM Mulchers #30  
i did not get a contract and run to the bank to buy my machine, i bought mine outright, so i do not own the new truck or the 600.00 dollar pair of cowboy boots, and i am not a nickel millionaire!!!!!!!!!!!!1
 
/ RDM Mulchers #31  
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 #33  
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
 
/ RDM Mulchers #34  
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:cool:
 
/ RDM Mulchers #35  
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.
 
/ RDM Mulchers #36  
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.
 
/ RDM Mulchers #37  
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.
 
/ RDM Mulchers
  • Thread Starter
#38  
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.
 
/ RDM Mulchers #39  
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.
 
/ RDM Mulchers #40  
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:
 

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