GMT Equipment: “Tele Radio gives us the space we need”

When Michel Gierkink – founder of a maintenance company for forestry machinery – discovered that combining a timber grapple with a chainsaw saved his customers a great deal of time, he saw a gap in the market. Combining these machines led to what is now known as the grapple saw, which is controlled in part by a Tele Radio wireless remote control.

Before 2010, it was possible to retrofit existing machines with equipment that combined gripping and sawing. But to do so, a crane had to undergo a number of significant and costly modifications, such as installing additional hydraulic lines all the way to the end of the boom.

Michel Gierkink, founder of what is today GMT Equipment in Vragender, the Netherlands, devised a hydraulic valve block that allows all the functions of a grapple saw to be operated using the standard hydraulics of a forestry crane. This eliminates the need for modifications to an existing crane – a new and unique value proposition for which he applied for, and was granted, a patent.

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Total Tree Control: plug & play thanks to Tele Radio

When a crane operator applies hydraulic pressure, the grapple saw clamps around the trunk. When even more pressure is applied, this activates the saw and the branch or trunk section is cut off. Like this, a tree can be safely removed in small pieces, in a controlled manner. A smart way of working, using the hydraulics of an existing forestry machine, truck, loader crane, telehandler, or tractor.

In addition to standard grapple-saw functions, GMT Equipment offers what it calls ‘Total Tree Control’: a technology that – thanks to Tele Radio’s wireless remote controls – is easy to install and operate as a plug-and-play solution on various crane vehicles. Generally, the rotator and the cardanic suspension of a grapple saw can move freely. Also, under the weight of cut wood, a grapple saw tilts downward immediately after sawing. Especially in tight-spaced or urban environments, this can lead to undesirable situations and may cause damage when the grapple tips down with the wood. How to prevent this?

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A solution that is anything but obvious

“By blocking the tilting of the grapple and the cardanic suspension in all directions,” says Hildo Hilbrands, marketing manager at GMT Equipment. “It’s a process activated using Tele Radio’s Panther PN-T21-3, which ensures that a branch or trunk section stays in position after being cut. Only once the situation allows it and a load has reached a safe place, the lock is released so the grapple can come down in a gentle manner.”

“You’d expect this to be a simple intervention,” says Hilbrands. “But the solution we offer our customers is anything but obvious. Thanks to our practical experience and very close contact with end customers we were able to develop it in a relatively short time. After sawing, the grapple is locked in place by an additional hydraulic command. Tele Radio’s remote control sends the electronic signal that activate the valve – designed by Michel Gierkink – that blocks the hydraulics.”

“The relationship with Tele Radio became an important part of the development of our products.”

– Hildo Hilbrands, GMT Equipment

After a branch or trunk section has been cut, the operator presses the button and the lock is activated. Pressing the button once again releases the lock, the hydraulics gradually resume, and the grapple can tilt to set the piece of tree down.

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“Tele Radio gives us the space we need”

“Tele Radio gives us the space we need,” Hilbrands concludes. “First of all, the space to adapt the remote control to our application. But also the space to imagine possibilities that do not yet exist. Using the remote control, we ran into obstacles. Tele Radio helped us overcome those obstacles, both technically and with solid advice.”

“The relationship with Tele Radio became an important part of the development of our products. The company is easy to approach, which fits well with our own philosophy: we want to be open to the ideas our customers come up with and, together with them, take our product to the next level.”