New T-Mar Grapple Yarder

[T-MAR]

Picture of Log Champ

Hi Folks. We're well into assembly and the new swing yarder, dubbed the Log Champ 550, will be out the door and on the slope soon.

Here she is this Friday:



We're looking at:

Mantle Style side by side mains - full interlock and same speed reversing
55' height from turf to tip
3 guylines and a live boom
70,000lbs pull at bare drum
more lift / regen torque than a 7280
one piece move with gantry folded and left attached
350hp cat engine and transmission - C9 acert (no tier 4), 6 speed CX28
completely fly by wire - electronic controls with no oil or air in the cab, no pilot system, no airboard
no chaincase!

we'll keep you posted. If you have any questions email sales at t-mar dot com and that'll get through to me. Also questions welcomed here.

 

[T-MAR]

View of the other side from a bit earlier in the week for y'all

 

[Scott_527]

The Yarder is looking good Tyson, keep us posted. Is it going to be painted blue or is that just primer? Looking forward to seeing it in action!

 

[T-MAR]

that's right it will be blue. This was hotly debated at our shop and the blue looks great outside in the light.

 

[Scott_527]

Personally I like grapple yarders in blue. Both the light Cypress or Interfore blue and the darker navy blue you see on some of the Cypresses.

 

[T-MAR]

Well it's not quite Cypress blue but there are a few nods to tradition: The white cab, white tip on the boom, kobelt yarding control (with a modern electronic spin). This will be a dark blue which we've always liked

There are quite a few breaks from tradition as well. You might notice that there's no chain case in the pictures. The machine is electronically controlled so there are far fewer hoses and no oil or air in the cab. It also eliminates the relay panel and air board. Troubleshooting is extremely simple on this machine - one valve, one function. Pretty much the same thing goes for wires.

Mechanical same speed reversing and interlock is there - those of you familiar with 7280s will see it right away. I understand these slip clutches actually have a bit more regen torque.

The cooling fan is a variable speed hydraulic fan that uses a number of inputs from the engine ECU, Transmission ECU and chassis temp senders to run at the right speed. If a short or open circuit is found in any sensor it will go to full stroke. If the operator wants he can set it to full stroke from the control screen and keep working if there's a problem. If customers want a reversing fan we can install that as well.

We have a bit more up our sleeve, stay tuned!

 

[wornout wrench]

Well boys and girls

I went to the Tmar shop yesterday and Tyson was gracious enough to take an hour out of his busy day to show off the new yarder.

Pretty darn nice I say. I can not wait to see it finished and out making wood.
Yes it is radically different, but parts of it will look very familiar to old GY mechanics like myself.

I don't want to say too much. It is Tmar's machine so I think that they should be the ones to tell the world about it.

Nice job guys

And the wrench gets off his soap box and waits patiently for the finished product ( and a chance to see it in operation):woohoo

 

[theironoracle]

Blue? doesn't that make it a Skagit? LOL. the machine looks and sounds amazing!....TIO

 

[Coastal WA]

Looks like a great Machine, look forward to hearing and seeing more about it. Interesting about no chain case, how do you get power to the winch set? Also are the gears straight cut?

 

[log big]

will we see the yarders at the logging show in eugene 2015

 

[bushman1]

Looks like a great Machine, look forward to hearing and seeing more about it. Interesting about no chain case, how do you get power to the winch set? Also are the gears straight cut?

look's like motor is mounted back to front. must have planetary rearend like old washington 108's

 

[T-MAR]

bushman1 is at least partially correct. Engine is facing back to front and goes into a right angle drive in the center of the power input shaft (it's actually split) through the 6 speed trans. Lots of different gear ratios could be used in the right angle drive.

gears are straight cut instead of helical to get rid of load from side to side.

 

[T-MAR]

as far as eugene... depends on the people who own the machines I guess

 

[theironoracle]

That looks to be a huge hydraulic oil cooler! Probably hydraulic drive, with variable and pumps and variable angle motors and multiple of each you could have all sorts of crazy control of things with no transmission...just a thought.....TIO

 

[T-MAR]

What you can see there is a 3 section cooler - charge air, clutch coolant and engine. The sections are side by side instead of sandwiched one over the other so they're quite efficient.

Hydrostatic drive is certainly something that was looked at but in the end, even with variable pitch motors and pumps, the range of speed just isn't there. You can solve the problem mechanically but then you're back to having a gearbox anyway. I've seen some interesting ideas for hydraulic regen brakes but the heat is still created one way or the other - friction is friction. That said, things change over the years so my line is never say never.

You drive an interesting point there about the control though - we are using a separate valve for each clutch all of which are electronically controlled. That means we can make the winch do pretty much anything we can think of by adding it to the control program. The relationship between clutches and valves is 1 to 1 throughout the machine, all of them are electric so if you can dream it up it'll do it. Engine, swing, travel, guylines.. all of it talks to and is directed by the machine controller. It's all based on canbus which is used in every machine and truck nowadays. Wabco air controls on the other hand...

Hydraulic cooling for swing and travel, guylines etc is done through a heat exchanger to the clutch coolant. It's the same way it's done in a 124, 123, some 122s, probably in a 120 but I haven't had one apart yet. Hydraulic heat is usually associated with travelling when the winch isn't busy and regen heat is the opposite way around so it works out pretty good.

So there you have it, more to come

-Tyson

 

[theironoracle]

I was evidently posting at the same time as you, when I hit reply your "drive" answer was already there. The only thing I have my hands in that has a tranny replaced by a set of variable pumps and motors was a tigercat skidder, after watching operate and working on it I thought it was amazing! And since I come from a construction background I immediately thought that technology was perfect for wheel loaders working out of stockpiles or feeding a crusher. Are you running hydraulic motors in the cooler fans? I have only ever worked on 4 different yarders in my career so i am far from understanding the pros and cons of yarder mechanicals. The machine looks top notch and if does make it to Eugene I will be there. I hope I didn't offend anybody about the blue and white paint being "skagit"..TIO

 

[T-MAR]

I would almost think wheel loaders would be hydraulic.. maybe some are nowadays?

Hard to find a colour that hasn't been used on machines! Skagit and Cypress left some big blue shoes to fill

 

[DBDLS]

Just thought everyone would like to know that yesterday was T-Mar's 30th anniversary. Wishing them many more anniversaries and lots of success with their new yarders.

 

[Plebeian]

I would almost think wheel loaders would be hydraulic.. maybe some are nowadays?

Some of the Komatsu loaders are hydrostatic
http://www.komatsuamerica.com/wheelloaders.html . Volvo were still researching hydrostatic trans for their loaders.

The tigercat transmission has a bent axis motor. I guess the Fendt vario hydromechanical does something differently to get the greater speed range. http://youtu.be/b_-LL0sCT-k (at 5.42 - is the whole hydraulic motor/ pump being moved to get a greater angle?) Some of the Fendt tractors and harvesters have a healthy amount of horsepower now so the hydro trans must be fairly robust.

Hydraulic winches like the allied wh400 winch http://youtu.be/BaHdSmWggmQ ( Idaho cat excavator hauler) are more for smaller trees on shorter pulls at the moment.

What grapple is the new T-Mar getting?

 

[T-MAR]

Picture from the shop today. That's the Bendickson 123 out of paint. We're going to start pinning the boom and gantry on today.

LogChamp is getting it's air plumbing finished and wiring harness built. The first one takes a lot of time because we have to build it in the machine, remove it and measure it, then install it again.


The new yarder's getting a custom built Promac grapple. It's been tweaked a bit for pulling bunches in second growth.