// March 4th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized
The Twister was designed in such a way so that two machines can be placed back-to-back and used in tandem. In terms of operation, this setup acts exactly like a single machine would: You feed the material in one end via the hopper, and it will gently tumble all the way through until it falls into a collection bin at the opposite end of the second machine.
The main difference between having one machine and two is, of course, speed. Instead of feeding the hopper a handful every 5 seconds, for example, you can feed it every 2.5 seconds. For those of you who are trimming for several days straight even with a Twister, this performance boost can make a big difference.
But this begs the question: Wouldn’t simply placing two Twisters side-by-side and running them separately be the same as placing them back-to-back? Yes and no. Technically, anytime you’re using two Twisters, you’re going to be trimming at a much faster rate, regardless of the setup. However, by placing the machines back-to-back you still only need the one operator who’s feeding the hopper (and possibly another at the output doing Quality Control). With two (or three or four) machines operating on their own, you’re gonna need one or two workers for each of those machines. So placing two machines back-to-back gives you significant performance increases without having to hire additional labor.
Here’s another piece of anecdotal evidence in favor of the back-to-back setup. Because the Twister’s tumbler sits level to the ground, material is pushed through only as fast as the worker feeds the hopper; that is, the faster the hopper is fed, the faster material passes through the tumbler and out the other end. So the worker really controls both the speed at which the Twister trims, and the overall quality of the finished product. The longer the material stays in the tumbler, the more opportunity it has to get as close a shave as possible. Push it through too fast, and it may come out the other end a bit too shaggy, and you might need to run it through again (or at least touch it up a bit by hand).
We’ve generally noticed that people have a tendency to feed the hopper too fast. Look, we’re all impatient; we all want to trim our material as fast as possible – heck, that’s why you bought a Twister in the first place – but there is such a thing as ‘too fast’. And we’ve found that, more often than not, the material is pushed through a bit too quickly and tends not to come out as perfect as it could have if the operator had a little more patience. If you have two machines operating side-by-side, you will be able to trim twice as fast, but you’re still at risk of feeding each of the machines too fast and not getting optimal results.
But with two machines end-to-end, you can feed the hopper as fast as you want because the material has enough time (passing through two tumblers consecutively) to get the necessary trim. With this setup, it’s almost impossible not to get the tightest and most uniform cut possible.
In sum: For most people, one machine is plenty and will do a better job than you ever imagined a machine could. For a select few who have already experienced the benefits of the Twister and are looking to take things to the next level this year… contact your dealer 
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