New Products - Prentice SH-50 bunching saw

Caterpillar has announced a few enhancements to its SH-50 bunching saw, which was introduced two years ago.

The bunching head has, as one of its main features, the “straight grip bunching finger”. This is meant to be better at keeping tree tops together and creating tighter bunches. This enables control over more trees before they are dropped. If the tops are not kept together during bunching, the operator often has to drop the load before the full bunching capacity is reached. The head is most effective in early thinning (1st or 2nd) where the average diameter is less than 16” (41 cm), where a high degree of control is required. The improved head has a 62% increase in the useable bunching capacity.

The actual new enhancements include a 130% enlarged discharge chute, which will ensure that chips and debris are quickly removed from the saw housing. The head also has a new discharge design which removes the cutting chips and debris from the top of the saw and directs it straight towards the ground. This helps with safety, as the material is not flying everywhere, and also reduces wear and plugging. The SH-50 also has a boxed construction, which is claimed to be stronger than the tube-plate construction often used. Replaceable wear surfaces are available to extend the frame life.

Other changes which Caterpillar has noted include:
 

• Larger diameter and rerouted hydraulic hoses
• More protection to all hydraulic hoses and the saw motor 
• A bulkhead which holds the bunching finger hoses and reduces wear 
• The bulkhead can be easily removed to have easy access to hoses when servicing 
• Improved guarding at the front and rear to protect hydraulic hosing and the saw motor

This bunching saw can be fitted onto the Cat 553 and Cat 563 wheeled feller bunchers. The saw can bunch 13 to 15 six inch (15cm) trees, or 25 to 27 four inch (10 cm) trees.

The table below provides a few key specifications.
 

Source: www.prenticeforestry.com