Kesla’s most popular head for thinning, 18RH-II, renewed

By MEq July 23, 2019 00:19

The extensive Kesla range covers both roller and stroke harvester heads for professionals, from small thinning heads up to heavy-duty heads for clear cuttings and processing at landings. At SkogsElmia, Kesla displayed the 18RH-II, 25RH-II, 27RH-II and 30RH-II roller models as well as the 20SH-II stroke head.

Renewed 18RH-II
Kesla 18RH-II is the second smallest roller head in Kesla range. It has hydraulics and power of large heads packed in a small and light, thinning-friendly package. The head is well known for its superior power/weight ratio. The second generation of the 18RH series was launched in 2014 and now it has been further improved. Originally the head was equipped with two delimbing knives as standard, and one rear knife available as an option. Today the 18RH-II head comes always with three knives. The new frame structure with the rear delimbing knife as standard is much more durable, being long-lasting even with the higher delimbing performance and ability to process larger trees.

Kesla 18RH-II’s maximum sawing diameter is 500 mm and delimbing diameter – 330 mm (front delimbing knives tip-to-tip), which makes it an optimal head for thinning and for short rotation plantations. The head can be installed on max 10 ton wheeled harvesters or excavators. For excavator use, Kesla offers Xtender boom options (whether Xtender 8 or 10), which ease up the use of the head with an excavator.

Kesla 29RH-II – for challenging hardwood
Kesla harvester head range was upgraded two years ago with models 27RH-II, 28RH-II and 30RH-II. Last autumn Kesla launched the Kesla 29RH-II head, which is a sister model to 30RH-II, in the US. Unlike the 30RH-II with 4 delimbing knives and optional 2WD or 3WD feed, the new 29RH-II has 3 delimbing knives and 2WD feed. The compact design, the large diameter of feeding rollers and robust construction make the head an ideal tool for felling and processing crooked and branched hardwoods. The head is available also with an integrated top saw.

The 29RH-II is an ideal head for 20-30 ton tracked harvesters or excavators as well as for the heaviest rubber wheelers. Kesla 29RH-II’s maximum sawing diameter is 780 cm and delimbing diameter – 480 mm (front delimbing knives tip-to-tip).

Focusing strongly on the versatility of the heads
Kesla is one of the most experienced players in excavator-harvesters globally. The heads have been installed in virtually all brands of excavators for different logging conditions from Borealis forests to mountains of Japan or Eucalyptus plantations of South America.

„As we don’t produce any purpose-built harvester base machine ourselves, we have set our strategy to listen to the customer needs and design the heads to be easily adapted to very different kinds of base machines. An excavator application has been considered as one of the key issues in product development”, explains Mika Tahvanainen, Director of Logging equipment business. ”We have also formed very deep factory-level cooperation with one of the leading excavator manufacturers in Japan, which gives us unbeatable knowledge about the technology of excavators.”