Equipment Spotlight CONEXPO-CON/AGG trade show offered attendees latest in biomass processing By Andrew Snook Showing off W hile the CONEXPO-CON/AGG show is known as North Amer-ica’s largest construction trade show, companies active in the forestry and biomass sectors had plenty to see at the triennial event in mid-March. This year’s edition drew a record 139,000 attendees to the Las Vegas Con-vention Centre to check out the latest technologies on display. The outdoor Di-amond Lot showcased a variety of grinder and chipper options. BANDIT INDUSTRIES Bandit Industries displayed its 2290 Track Whole Tree Chipper at the massive trade show, along with their smaller Bandit 20XP Track Whole Tree Chipper. While the latest version of the 2290 has been available for many years, it is one of the company’s most popular units. The 2290 is a 20-inch (in.) capacity chipper. This unit is built for land clearing and right-of-way clearing applications. The 2290 on display had a 525-hp John Deere engine. “There are three main configurations the model 2290 track can be ordered with depending on each end user’s application. A standard unit without cab or loader, a loader only unit controlled by the radio remote, and then a cab and loader unit where the operator can operate all track and loader functions from a roomy oper-ator’s cab,” says Jason Morey, marketing manager for Bandit Industries. The 20XP offers the same capacity as the 2290, but in a more compact platform with smaller engine options. The unit on display at the show was equipped with a Cummings 350-hp engine. “Those two models on display got a lot of attention and are great for land clearing operations and logging applications that CBI displayed the third iteration of its 6800 horizontal grinder, the 6800CT, at CONEXPO-CON/AGG in Las Vegas in March. want a tracked unit instead of a tow-behind machine,” Morey says. “We were glad we had those two units there. It was nice to be able to show both units at the show.” Both chippers featured Bandit’s patent-ed slide box feed system, originally creat-ed by the company’s founder. “The slide box feed system provides a substantial amount of pulling and com-pression power making the units easier to feed, reducing repositioning, and making the operator’s life easier,” Morey says. All tracked units offered by Bandit are built using Caterpillar manufactured tracks. “Another unique feature on all Bandit whole tree chippers is we have a five-year ‘GUTS’ warranty covering the Bandit fab-ricated components on the drum, disc, or feed system,” Morey adds. ROTOCHOPPER Rotochopper had a new prototype version of its B-66 L-Series Horizontal Grinder on display at the show. “We’ve made this one for orchards and land clearing,” says David Wood, sales manager for Western and Central Canada. “It has a shorter infeed table. It has the chain infeed instead of our slatted floor, and we’ve dropped the floor, so it has more exposed rotor. It’s increased our grinding time and capacity to the point we had to double the speed of the discharge belt to get rid of the product.” Wood says the company is very excited about this latest version of the grinder, es-pecially the traction it offers to help push product in past the infeed roller and into the rotor. SPRING 2023 12 Canadian BIOMASS
Canadian Biomass Spring 2023: Page 12
