We are always looking at ways to improve cable yarding and this was the result of customer feedback, operational trends in the global market and improved safety.
The LS500 Live Skyline, is the latest addition to our Shovel Yarder series and has been under development for the past 3 years. We have worked on safety and efficiency as well as versatility to ensure we offer the market the very best.
We have worked very hard to ensure that all the systems are easily integrated, and accessible to the operator of the machine. At anytime the operator can view line tension, carriage speed and carriage location, which takes the guess work out of it, and allows production from day one. The operator can get on the yarder and start hauling with confidence with user friendly controls, and owners can set the machine to suit the operator’s confidence levels, which makes for a calmer work environment.
The LS500 is an Uphill machine, meaning payloads are landed in a controlled fashion on a Skyline system, what makes it unique is that the Skyline can be raised or lowered to the ground in a very controlled manner, hence the “Live Skyline” terminology.
The yarder can run a shotgun carriage, a grapple carriage or an automatic T carriage, which means the LS500 can be geared towards the harvesting area more accurately.
The secret sauce is in the software and purpose built hydraulic system, we just felt that we had to design this machine from the ground up, and we are very pleased with the result. The new series of Shovel Yarders are all rear mount, which makes the machine more sure footed on the landing, the larger tower give us more lift, and the winch is super powerful and smooth to operate. We have designed the LS500 to fit on excavator bases at the 30-ton range, as we need the engine horsepower and most importantly the stability. We are also seeing a trend of 30 tonners in forestry now, especially on smaller timber, as you need to increase your payload to compensate.
The LS500 has a working range of 500 meters, a line speed of 7 meters per second (governed) and Skyline tension power of 20 tons for those extra-long racks.
We are proud to be a local manufacturer with over 37 years of experience, supporting our local timber contractors and grower operations.