Last year, at Euroforest, I first saw the Konrad Combi Yarder, something completely original as the skyline tower was mounted behind a 14 tonne Liebherr R914 excavator.
I spoke to Franz Buchsbaum, the sales manager for Konrad Forsttechnik, and he explained that it was a compact self-contained unit that was able to skyline the trees and then process them with the boom mounted Woody
H40 harvesting head. This small compact design with the smaller Woody head is ideal for thinning and smaller tree sizes. It can be used at roadside or it is able to travel through the forest to extract timber on ground too steep, wet or rough for conventional harvesting equipment. It is a 2.5 tonne skyline with a maximum cable extraction distance using the 400m Konrad carriage. For longer distances it would require larger cable drums, making the unit much heavier.
This design is unique because, despite being attached to the rear of the excavator, the tower still allows the excavator to rotate. The operator can process the timber and then, due to the design of the Woody head, is able to stack the produce for collection by timber lorries at roadside or secondary extraction by forwarder. With the tower fully extended, it is 9830mm high but for transportation it folds up to 3376mm high by 8358mm long and 2640mm wide. The carriage weighs 5,500kg – add the weight of the excavator and Woody head and the total is just over 21,000kg. This unit had been sold and was heading off to Switzerland to work.
At Austrofoma I caught up with Franz again and found that Konrad had manufactured a bigger version of the Combi Yarder which was being demonstrated at the show. Both size options are now available from Konrad.
At Austrofoma I caught up with Franz again and found that Konrad had manufactured a bigger version of the Combi Yarder which was being demonstrated at the show. Both size options are now available from Konrad.
This Yarder was based on a Doosan DX235LCR excavator with a very tight tail swing, ideal for rotating around the tower. A 3.5 tonne skyline, the first one that was manufactured was tested in Slovakia where it is still working and another two have since been sold there. Japan has been another productive market for Konrad and the Woody heads as carriages and dipper booms have been exported and fitted to Doosans and Sumitomos in Japan.
This larger yarder has a Woody H60 harvesting head, which has a 65cm cut and a grapple opening width of 125cm and is therefore ideal for stacking cut produce. It is capable of de-limbing at speeds of 0-5m/sec and weighs 1350kg.
The fixed dipper boom on the excavator has been exchanged for an extending boom, increasing the reach to 10.45m.
When the tower is fully extended during operation it is 11830mm high and for transporting on the highway it folds down to 3375mm. It is 2990mm wide and weighs 6000kg so in total it weighs just over 32000kg.
All the setting up on both yarders is done by remote control and, when working in large timber with the Doosan, extra anchor cables will be required.
All the setting up on both yarders is done by remote control and, when working in large timber with the Doosan, extra anchor cables will be required.
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