fae mulcher head

[The Learner]

hi all
a mate of mine has a fae tree mulching head on his positrac rc100
and is experiencing semi regular breakdown
what sort of life are you getting out of things like

belts
bearings
and teeth

have any of you had hairline cracking to the frame?
thanks in advance

 

[The Learner]

soo nobody has ever had a
bearing failure
a belt break
or a tooth wear out!!!

thats amazing!!!!
too bad my mate must have brought the biggest dud to have all of theses failures that nobody has ever experienced

 

[joispoi]

A mulcher head is probably a future investment for me. I've never owned one. So, yes- your friend bought a mulcher head that's broken down more than mine. :tong (But then again, your friend has probably done more work and made more money with his).:cool2

Sorry my post wasn't more helpful. :drinkup

 

[mowingman]

I ran a Fecon forestry mulcher with the Fecon head, for two years on a 1000 acre+ clearing job. We averaged one of more breakdowns almost daily. I can hardly remember a day without some type of breakdown. On the head, it was hoses, hoses, hoses. On the crawler unit it was engine overheating, hoses, A/C problems, frame cracks, fuel tank cracks, track drive motors, and many other things I cannot remember.
Luckily, we were leasing the machine, and did not own it.
Forestry mulchers just take a beating, and are constantly trying to tear themselves apart. Kind of like concrete milling machines. Very high maint costs.

 

[Tones]

Belt and bearing failure can almost be put down to an unbalanced rotor or bent axle shaft. I run a Fecon and found out the hard way that rotor balance is very important and now get about 1000 hrs per set of bearings.

 

[mowingman]

I forgot to mention our tooth wear. We went through 2 sets of teeth due to routine wear. As I recall, we got about 600hrs/set of teeth. We did replace an occasional tooth due to hitting scrap iron chunks that we encountered now and then, or hitting a big rock.

 

[The Learner]

thanks for that :thumbsup
so bearings last between 500 and 1k hours for the environment id say thats good to impressive
belts are just like any other
teeth are a factor of material vs how much it hits

and it is possible to bend a rotor or drum :thumbdown

 

[Belooky]

I can't say for an FAE, I run loftness, but I'm so far right at 1,000 hours on the factory belt, and one drum bearing. I had one get wiped out due to heat. I've got 400 or so hours on my current teeth. I have several sets of different teeth depending on the job so I haven't ran one set for the continuous time I've owned it

 

[NotecA]

Belt and bearing failure can almost be put down to an unbalanced rotor or bent axle shaft. I run a Fecon and found out the hard way that rotor balance is very important and now get about 1000 hrs per set of bearings.

Dear colleagues,

I would like to share with you an experience that has made my job of mulcher maintenance much easier. Many of us are used to the fact that rotor balancing is a process that requires time and disassembly of the equipment. However, I have found a way that eliminates these difficult and time consuming steps.

When working with mulchers, I came across the Balanset-1A portable balancing tool from Vibromera. This tool makes it possible to perform balancing directly on site, bypassing the complete disassembly step.



For those who are interested in details or want to familiarize themselves with the working methodology, I suggest visiting the official Vibromera website at https://vibromera.eu/example/mulcher-rotor-balancing-process/.

 

[Tones]

On a sprial tooth pattern mulcher a marker pen and string line can achieve the same results and the only disassembly is to remove the belts. To find the heavy tooth spin the rotor by hand and let it stop on its own. The tooth closest to the string a long the bottom is heavy. Swap it with the tooth at the opposite end and opposite side. Keep doing that until the rotor has no preferred position to stop. Takes about an hour to do.

 

[NotecA]

On a sprial tooth pattern mulcher a marker pen and string line can achieve the same results and the only disassembly is to remove the belts. To find the heavy tooth spin the rotor by hand and let it stop on its own. The tooth closest to the string a long the bottom is heavy. Swap it with the tooth at the opposite end and opposite side. Keep doing that until the rotor has no preferred position to stop. Takes about an hour to do.

If, for example, the left side of the rotor has a heavy cutter on the top and the right side has a heavy cutter on the bottom, then the rotor will not turn with the heavy point down.
This creates a problem that cannot be found and corrected by simply spinning the rotor and waiting to see where it stops, because the imbalance is only apparent when the rotor is spinning. For these cases, you need dynamic balancing, which checks the balance while the equipment is running.

 

[Jimbo]

So, are you trying to sell this product?

 

[NotecA]

So, are you trying to sell this product?

For 10 years I have been balancing rotors of mulchers, combines and more, so I would like to share my experience and knowledge.
I balanced rotors with Balanset-1A, which was developed by my father and his friend. It's our family business.

I also had my own mulcher, on a caterpillar tractor and I personally sat behind the levers.

And if anyone is interested in buying one or wants to know more, I am always ready to answer questions.

 

[treemuncher]

I watched your video. I don't understand why you don't use clamps or other methods for your test weights. Welding and cutting off test weights is really labor intensive and time consuming. Balancing is frustrating and time consuming enough as it is. I usually clamp or bolt on my test weights, often custom machining special fixtures to make it easier and faster to get the job done. Of course some rotors are more difficult to affix temp clamps than others but I have different methods for each one.

When doing a 2 plane balance, I usually try to get a 30% change in magnitude with a test weight location and/or 30+ degrees. Is that what you recommend or do you have better input? I've been balancing my cutterheads for well over 20 years and I still dread doing them. Sometimes it takes me 2 hours, sometimes 2 days to get it smooth. Yes to new bearings. Using a Baladyne Balance Mate 2 plane unit with an Excel spreadsheet provided by the same.

 

[NotecA]

During the balancing process, a one and a half kilogram test weight flew off at 1800 rpm. The load broke off with such force that its fragments not only broke through the door and windows of the car behind, but also damaged the wall of the building in front of the mulcher. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the situation was extremely threatening.

The welder had assured us before the incident that the welded joint was secure and even offered to stand in front of the mulcher as proof of his words. Fortunately, we took no chances.

Since then, I've always insisted that it's better to do a little extra work with a bolt cutter or use a heavier sledgehammer than to attach a load unreliably.

You're right: after installing a test weight, the vibration or phase should change by at least 20%, ideally 30%.

Before balancing, I recommend checking the following:

Bearing play: before balancing, remove the belts and wiggle the rotor with a crowbar. This can save a lot of time.
Weld the front curtain and the pusher frame on the mulcher to the mulcher body during balancing. They should not be loose.
Inspect the mulcher housing for cracks. If any cracks are found, have them machined and welded.

Note that the green mulcher has a welded front plate and horns.

It's better to do it right away than to balance randomly later.

 

[treemuncher]

Yep, my building has some scars from large, flying weights. I've learned a few lessons and always try to close the flap unless the discharge is pointed out at the woods. I usually try to balance over gravel to minimize trajectory if something flies off. I don't care how strong a magnet is - it won't stay on a cutterhead moving at anything over 1/4 speed - only stout, fairly light clamps or screw on fixtures can be close to safe test weights but nothing is safe at full speed unless riding a bolt with full contact or welded on.

I do not balance at full speed unless I am doing a final trim of 100 grams or less. I have balanced some heads secured to a concrete pad with rubber damper pads and tie down chains with ratchet binders - that worked about the best for repetetive results. I've never welded any of the structures but I have tightly strapped them into a secure position to minimize vibrations.

I think finding a consistant test situation is the most difficult thing to achieve. That's likely why strapping it down to the concrete was one of the better sessions that I've done. Anything free floating seems to take longer and if the down force changes a bit on a captive shoot, results vary too much to be reliable.

 

[NotecA]

Securing with chains to a concrete base is a good solution. This helps you eliminate problems with resonance.

I only used this method of balancing a mulcher once when one of the customers allowed anchors to be installed in the concrete floor, because they had a lot of equipment and balanced regularly. More often, however, I have to balance in the forest.

I don't know the Baladyne system, but I think you can plot the resonant frequencies with this instrument. It can even be done manually.

Run the rotor up to operating speed and then turn off the power so that the rotor starts to decelerate. While the rotor is decelerating, record the vibration amplitude values in a table, and then graph the vibration magnitude versus time. On the graph you will see the peaks of resonances. At these frequencies and frequencies close to them balancing will not work.

For example, on that graph (top right chart) you can see that the resonance peak on sensor 1 is in the range of 500-900 rpm, so when balancing should avoid this frequency of rotation.

By fixing the mulcher on a concrete slab, the resonance will go well above the operating speed of the mulcher and will not cause any problems.

When balancing the mulcher on a hanger, the resonance is quite low, but dangling structural elements and other defects such as cracks can cause problems.