Woodcracker® CS510 crane – the all-rounder among grapple saws

WESTTECH Maschinenbau GmbH is known for its innovative attachments for the excavator. But as the demand for gimbal attachments has gradually increased among customers, the mechanical engineering company has now entered the safety tree felling sector with a gimbal grapple saw: the Woodcracker® CS510 crane.

The new Woodcracker® CS510 crane stands out from the crowd with several noteworthy features. Despite its low tare weight, it has a cutting diameter of up to 540 mm and has a gripper opening of 1270 mm. Depending on the equipment, the tare weight ranges from 360 kg to 440 kg.

The strong 3-finger gripper presses down during the sawing process and thus has a secure grip on the cut material.

At the heart of the machine, the saw unit, an automatic chain tensioner always ensures that the chain is correctly fitted and thus prevents it from jumping off. Regardless of whether the machine is just being started or has been in use for several hours.

The grapple saw is made of Hardox® steel, making it particularly robust. The typical WESTTECH orange is applied by a special painting process. This cathodic dip coating and the subsequent powder deck coating ensure the highest quality standards and thus promise durability.

The grapple saw has appropriately dimensioned bearing bolts, with Glycodur® bushings that can be lubricated.

Like all Woodcracker® machines, this versatile grapple saw is low-maintenance and low-wear.

There are no limits to the possible attachment variants for the Woodcracker® CS510 crane. Thanks to its technical features, this grapple saw can be attached to any standard crane, such as timber or recycling cranes or loading cranes.

It is also possible to attach them to excavators, timber trailers, trucks or telescopic handlers.

The Woodcracker® CS510 crane can be attached to excavators by means of an excavator foot or telescoping stage. It is suitable for excavators ranging from 6 tonnes to 22 tonnes.

The excavator foot is available in two different sizes. The smaller one can be attached to excavators from 6 – 10 tonnes, the larger one to excavators from 10 – 15 tonnes. The choice of attachment variant depends on the weight of the carrier vehicle and the application area in which the vehicle combination is to be used.

If a higher reach is required, the crane can be attached to the telescoping stage Woodcracker® T4000. This combination increases the range of the carrier vehicle by up to 6 m and opens up new application areas, such as thinning or landscape conservation. Thanks to the optional quick hitch, other attachments can also be fitted to the telescoping stage instead of the CS510 crane.

The low tare weight of the grapple saw makes it ideal for attaching to a timber trailer. This also gives you the option of transporting the cut material without needing an additional vehicle.

The use of the grapple saw on a timber trailer saves time as you can fell, saw and load with just one work tool.

The third attachment option for the Woodcracker® CS510 crane is to a telescopic handler with a boom.

The lower tare weight of the CS510 crane enables a higher reach compared to an attachment with a rigid grapple saw, such as the Woodcracker® CS750 smart. The gimbal grapple saw can also be attached to smaller telescopic handlers, another major advantage.

The combination of a telescopic handler with a CS510 crane can be used in inaccessible places, both to fell or maintain trees as well as to cut or reduce tree crowns. Special tree removal in urban areas or settlements, maintenance measures along roads or routes and problem tree felling are also possible application areas.

The option of working in different axes makes this combination particularly suitable for tree care measures.

This also makes it possible to work down a slope, for example.

Telescopic handlers with an elevating cab and a CS510 crane can even be used for work behind obstacles, such as noise barriers.

The Woodcracker® CS510 crane grapple saw also cuts a fine figure on a truck. Like, for example, Westtech’s FELLERTRUCK. (More information at www.fellertruck.com)

Here, too, the application areas range from special tree removal in urban areas and care measures along roads and routes to problem tree felling.

The grapple saw can be easily attached to the existing crane.

If even more range is needed, a fly-jib can be used, giving Westtech’s FELLERTRUCK a range of up to 30 m.

Woodcracker® CS510 crane am FELLERTRUCK mit Fly-Jib

A major advantage of a felling truck is that if a container is carried, either on a container truck or truck with container trailer, the cut material can be sawed and loaded in one work step. This ensures speedy work, which is essential, especially when road closures are necessary.

In addition, a felling truck has a road permit with a maximum permitted speed of 80km/h, which minimises set-up times by quickly transferring to the next construction site.

Due to the large number of different attachment options, Westtech Maschinenbau offers various hydraulic versions for the Woodcracker® CS510 crane.

Thanks to the sophisticated hydraulic control system, it is possible to operate the grapple saw with only one double-acting hydraulic control circuit, depending on the requirements.

If the carrier vehicle has more than one hydraulic circuit, the tilt function can be controlled independently of the gripper.

This feature makes it possible to remove sections of the tree standing up.

Therefore, unlike other gimbal grapple saws, the Woodcracker® CS510 crane is also suitable for use in safety tree felling in urban areas or settlements.