TIMBER!!!

Working on a remote forested mountainside can be challenging at the best of times for both men and machines. Metsa, an Edinburgh based company that provides specialist services to the forestry and civil engineering sectors has enhanced its fleet of innovative Menzi Muck walking and tracked excavators with a TimberMAX T10 traction-winch.

Working on a remote forested mountainside can be challenging at the best of times for both men and machines

The TimberMAX T10 traction-winch can be used with many different machines. In this case, Metsa had it on a Doosan DX235LCR excavator and attached to a 14-tonne Menzi Muck M545X, a walking and climbing all-wheel drive excavator capable of accessing difficult terrain with minimal impact.

The Doosan excavator and TimberMAX winch is proving to be an innovative and perfect combination. Both supplied by family-owned dealers R. J. Fukes Forestry Services who were established more than two decades ago by John and Sue Fukes. The company is based at Longtown in Carlisle, just south of the Scottish borders, not far from where we visited the tree felling project to see in operation the Menzi Muck, with its fitted tree shear attachment, and TimberMAX winch.

Metsa are carrying out the work for Dick Brothers Forestry on the site managed by Euroforest, which is the UK’s largest independent provider of timber harvesting and marketing services.

The TimberMAX T10 traction-winch package consists of the winch unit and the iWinch Control System mounted in the cab of the Menzi Muck. The winch is compact and features an integrated spooling device - making it compatible with a wide range of carriers, like the Menzi Muck.

With clear user-friendly controls, the TimberMAX winch is easy to operate. Complete with onboard monitoring for slope angle and traction assist force, as well as an onboard camera to give the operator a clear view from the Menzi Muck of the winch cable and drum, giving the operator confidence and security.

In the cab of the Menzie Muck, the TimberMAX’s full user interface communicates vital information from the Doosan DX235LCR such as engine temperature, engine oil and hydraulic oil. Remote start stop is also possible from the Menzi Muck. And with its long service life due to the selection of best quality components and service interval reminders, service maintenance is easily trackable.

“The Menzi Muck does have its own integrated winch, but the TimberMAX traction winch has enabled us to operate more productively and efficiently on the site…”

Dave Godfrey, Metsa’s Managing Director, tells us that the TimberMAX winch has seen production rates on the project increase by up to 50%. “The Menzi Muck does have its own integrated winch, but the TimberMAX traction winch, with its 300 metre plus line, has enabled us to operate more productively and efficiently on the site,” says Dave.

Steven Parr, Operational Director at Euroforest, comments: “Operating in this innovative way reduces the need to dig tracks across the hillside, helping with water management, reducing reinstatement costs and minimises the visual impacts on the landscape. Furthermore, using the Menzi with a tree sheer is doing work normally carried out by chainsaw operators, reducing the exposure to men on the hillside, which is a challenging environment to work in.”

Adds Gordon Aitken from R. J. Fukes: “Originally, Metsa took out the Doosan fitted with the TimberMAX winch as a demonstration package, but they ended up buying both as it was so effective on the job. The TimberMAX winch is operated remotely from the Doosan excavator. Once attached to the Menzi Muck the tension on the cable can be adjusted by the operator from the cab of the Menzi Muck. There are three autonomous modes – downhill, stationery and uphill – and the cable can extend to up to 500 metres.”

The Menzi Muck operator is Metsa’s Jamie Wright and he says he’s more than delighted with the TimberMAX traction winch. “We are operating on quite steep ground here and the winch is certainly proving its worth.

Originally, we were running with an existing winch; it was quite similar but nowhere as near as quick.

With this new winch, the speed is phenomenal...

“We have probably increased our production rate by about 50%. With the old winch we were still having to use the Menzi Muck’s arm to push the machine back up the hill, but now, with the arm in air, I can drive the excavator straight up the hill at a much quicker pace.

“The winch holds a constant tension on the cable, but it has a facility whereby I can adjust the tension. For example, when I am working, I set it to 5 tonne and then turn it up to 8 or 9 tonnes when driving back up the hill. It pulls me up at a constant speed and has about 500 metres of working cable, while our other one only had 100 metres.

“Moving the Menzi Muck downhill was fine, but it was taking quite a bit of time to return to the top. With this new winch, the speed is phenomenal. At the moment I am using about 200 metres, but as we move farther down the site we will be using a lot more.”