"patriarch astDOTnet" patriarch wrote in message
.17...
"jbeck" wrote in :

snip

I am looking at acquiring a hedger. These are machines that go
through orchards, and prune and shape trees on a large scale. I know
a little bit about mechanics, but I don't know jack about the big
sawmill type blades. The machine I have the offer on has a little over
20' in cut, and is equipped with multiple 32" blades. The use is
strictly in a cross cut type fashion. The questions I am trying to
find the answers to are (not in any particular order):

1) Where do I get replacement blades--(I found a quote for a 38"
blade--$1600, but that's it!)
2) What types of blades are out there? And what are the most
suitable? What are their specifications?
3) This particular machine has a history of being a weak cutter.
The motor driving the cutting head produces approximately 40hp - 50
hp. I have a spare (from another application) which can produce about
140hp. The engine produces about 225hp, and the pump is suitable for
that size...would I be overtorquing the blades that are there if I
Aggie Engineered it with the 140hp motor? Are there blades of that
size (32") which can take that much hp? Or is this something that I
am going to have to completely rebuild for my own application? And
that's why I really am after technical specifications for blades, and
what is available. If I can find those types of specs, I can figure
out the rest.


My brother-in-law is an Ag agent in Arizona, affiliated with UA, and a
specialist on orchards. I've met a few of his colleagues. I can't
imagine
that there's something in what you're wanting to do that your ag agent
wouldn't know. Unless you're not in the United States, that is.

Nearer home, there's a couple of good sharpening services I'd talk to.
Let
them know what you're trying to do here (it's not furniture building, is
it?) and see what you could put together. Those folks retip and repair
carbide blades all of the time. And they would know who does sawmill
equipment in your region.

Good luck with your experiments.

Patriarch

I might check with them...but I suspect our agent is out of his scope in
regards to this.