The Ponsse K121 is set to add more efficiency to forwarder load handling.
The K121 loader was premiered at the ExpoForest fair in Brazil. The completely new Ponsse K121 loader offers improved levels of efficiency and speed for load handling in tough conditions. The K121 loader extends Ponsse’s loader series to a completely new size range. The new loader combines high slewing torque and lifting power, increased reach, and a new type of loader geometry that is easy to control. It enables shorter loading and unloading times, facilitates working in conditions where load handling takes up a large proportion of the working time, and makes it easier to work on sites where large trees must be handled and on slopes that demand great power of loaders.
In conditions where load handling takes up most of the working time, loader capacity is of great importance. On the other hand, at work sites where the driving distances are short, and the load sizes are large, the usage time of the loader can be as much as 60 percent of the actual working time. This is the case on plantations, for example, where driving distances are very short. In these working environments, loader efficiency is particularly important to forwarder productivity. The improved geometry of the PONSSE K121 loader, easy control system, and the ability to install a grapple with a surface area that is 16 percent larger ads up to significantly increased load-handling performance.
Harvesting on slopes is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. The new K121 loader further improves the work performance on slopes, by providing the high loader power that is important for steep conditions. Such conditions also demand a large tilt angle for the crane pillar in order to ensure smooth load handling. The tilt stand available for the PONSSE K121 loader has a larger tilt angle, guaranteeing that the loader works at the right angle even in steep environments.
The Ponsse Elephant and Ponsse ElephantKing forwarders are also widely used on work sites where extremely large sawlogs are handled. The new loader model makes it easier to efficiently handle and move large logs, for example when loading onto freight trains. Due to the high torque, lifting power and stronger reach, trees can be lifted from even further away than before. This reduces the need to move the machine closer to the trees or having to bring the cut logs to the ground next to the machine before lifting.
The loader has been field tested in demanding conditions in Canada, Russia and the USA, where they have been put to work for thousands of hours. Ponsse indicate the results of these field trials have been very successful and encouraging. In designing the new kind of structure, the geometry of the loader has been comprehensively rethought to ensure that it is highly manageable, even with very heavy loads. The hydraulic system, its hoses and pipes have been placed inside the boom for added protection. The extension cylinders are also protected inside the boom, and the piping of the rotator has been protected by passing the pipes directly through the hanger. In addition, hydraulic end damping has been added to the lifting cylinder to make the operator’s work easier when working at the extreme limits of the cylinder movement, for example on steep slopes. The overall aim of these new structural innovations is to maximise the usage rate and ease of maintenance of the machines.
The new crane has the following technical specifications:
- Lifting torque: 195 kNm
- Slewing torque: 48 kNm
- Reach: 8m/10m (S/M models) (26ft/33ft)
- Tilting base tilt angle: -12 to +24°
- Large grapple surface area: 0.50 m2