Wood Chipper - selfmade

[cabu]

Hello,

even it is not connected to a tractor, I would like to show some pic's about my last project: 3" chipper.

I started with a 6mm steel plate and a circle to cut it with my plasma cutter.

I like the plasma cutter it's like going through warm butter...

I cutted 5 discs which will be the rotating disc. Thickness will be 30mm!

To get them in the shape of a real circle I used the sand belt and rotated the discs.

After and before.

Cutting the windows for the chips

I used a chainwheel with a tapper as the center to fix the disc to the axle.
The chainwheel was shaped at the lathe to get rid of the "chain"

I think this is a good and stable fixing of the ~80 pounds at 2000 rpm.

continued next post

 

[cabu]

Next thing are the 4 blades of the fan.

I balanced it with small bearings and grinding mass off.

This is the frame of my chipper.

Shaping the case. Also with 6mm steel. Safety!!

Cutting the case with the help of a wire and a washer.

Sandblasting was done in my trailer.

Prepared to be painted.

2 layers of kubota-frame-blue.

2 extra layers of Kubota-orange.

continued next post

 

[cabu]

Making the knives out of C45-Steel.

Shaping the knives.

Two rotating and one stationary knives.

Tempering with my little oven and Laser Temp measure.

Assambling the parts together.

Can't wait to test. Axle need to be shorten...

It's my first chipper. When the 13HP-motor power up, the flywheel will clutch and it sounds like a helicopter starts. I am very happy to have the 80 pound heavy disc at 2000 rpm in a strong steel body, just in case.
The knives are 5mm thick and it looks like this is to thin, because the chips are very small.
The feeding funnel is a little bit to low and it needs a curtain to protect you agains flyback wood pieces.
The fan is great, blows the chips really fare away.
Last thing to fit is the handle to pull the chipper around.
At the end the chipper is a little bit long but heavy enough to handel thick wood up to 4", but the main idea of the feeding capacity was to get curvy branches in the chipper...

First short video at Youtube.

Looking forward for comments...

carl

 

[Kytim]

Hey folks, I think some serious "know-how" has been exported to the rest of us! He's got skills but more importantly cool tools to play with!

Good looking project cabu!

 

[HickoryNut]

Holy Moley Cabu! Nice Job!

 

[cabu]

After some more chipping, I have figured out that the input is to small. It is 4"x4", but when I want to chip fir-trees with a size of 1-2" the branches are blocking the feed.
The power of the 13HP is good enough to chip 3" really fast.

It's not perfect, but better then the ebay stuff for ~750-1500$. And some others I have seen on youtube.

carl

 

[284 International]

This was a terrific post! Excellent quality photographs, good step by step walkthrough, and excellent fabrication quality and skill. Thanks, Cabu!

What is that oven originally intended to do? Using it to temper high-alloy steel means it gets extremely warm.

I really like the combination of good quality tools blended with do-it-yourself ingenuity, like bending 1/4" strap with ratcheting tie-downs around plywood forms. Outstanding, thanks again!

 

[Kytim]

I'm just venturing a guess but, I think it's and annealing oven. So...did I win??
It kinda looks like what glass craftsmen use. 900-1200^F.

What disappoints me about this whole thing is Carl AND his tools don't live next door to me!

Carl what has also occurred to me is that angle of attack of the knives on the workpiece. I know that opening size appears to be a problem but, I think it is only a function of the angle. So my question is, do the knives "cut" on the same plane as the opening is pointed? Some commercial manufactured chippers have an angled opening. that may be so it gets more shave to the chips and less like a hammermill chip. I'm sure you have but, have you thought about that and examined the chips closely for cues?

 

[cabu]

Regarding the oven Kytim is right, its for glass craftsmen. It get hot enough to temper nearly every steel. 120$ at ebay some years ago. Good buy to make some tools tor the lathe or mill.

The knives are flat on the disc, so the cut is max 5mm thick. When I push the branch strong enough the chips get bigger. Maybe I just get thicker steel to make new knives. But until now its good enough because I use the chips as fertilizer, feeding the forest with it's trees...
I got the size of the angle by checking out other knives at professional chippers.
Some weeks ago I saw a big open chipper and that one has something like 1" thick knives. Not so sharp so the "cut" is more like hammering the wood off.

Ah, and bending the 1/4" steel with ratcheting tie-downs is mutch more easier if you use some magnets to hold the band in place. Otherwise it drives you crazy with only two hands and two feet to operate the setup...

carl

 

[cmorningstar01]

Very nice job, Just a few questions just out of curiousity, Does the engine have a built in gear reduction or is it running direct(1:1), If direct what is the drive ratio of the engine shaft versus the chipper shaft, It looks like it would be around 1.5:1 or 1.75:1(engine:Chipper)just based on what the size of the 2 pulleys are.

Was there a reason you opted for 2 chipper knives, Many of the commercially made units I have seen only use 1, Having 2 knives theoretically make cutting faster because you are cutting with each 1/2 turn of the rotor but does this reduce the efficiency of the momentum of the rotor.

One thing you will never have to worry about is getting parts for your beast

 

[cabu]

Very nice job, Just a few questions just out of curiousity, Does the engine have a built in gear reduction or is it running direct(1:1), If direct what is the drive ratio of the engine shaft versus the chipper shaft, It looks like it would be around 1.5:1 or 1.75:1(engine:Chipper)just based on what the size of the 2 pulleys are.

One thing you will never have to worry about is getting parts for your beast

Hello,

no gear only the pully's. The speed of the engine is ~3600rpm and the disc is at 2000rpm.

carl

 

[cmorningstar01]

The speed of the engine is ~3600rpm and the disc is at 2000rpm.

That would be 1.8:1

 

[B7100]

Well done Carl thats a super job you have done there. Having done quite a bit of work on different chippers I have a couple of thoughts on yours.
I can see why you have made the chute that large to overcome horrible shape branches, I have a chipper running off the pto of my countax that is supposed to chip 2 1/2 inches which it would if they were as straight as broom handles but branches seldom are.
TBH I think and it has been mentioned earlier, the angle of attack could do with being more acute. If the angle that is at the top of your cute was at the bottom then the blades might drag ,with the aid of a little gravity the branches in a little faster which would increase chip size, its much easier and less stress if the blade slices an oval rather than a circle.
Chippers with self feed rollers usually have a flatter base to the chute because they don't need the blades to drag in the branch.
I once had a bollens chipper that that had more aggressive blades and angles which would drag the branch in so fast it would rip it out of your hand or stall the motor if it was seasoned wood which was no good at all and had to go!
Are the square holes in the FW chip exits behind each blade the same width as the blades ,doesthe third blade act as a stationary anvil bolted to the main channel in line with the bottom of the chute?
dave

 

[cabu]

...
Are the square holes in the FW chip exits behind each blade the same width as the blades ,doesthe third blade act as a stationary anvil bolted to the main channel in line with the bottom of the chute?
dave

The knives have nearly same length as the hole behind, but the feeding is smaller.
Knives 13cm, Hole 12.5cm, Input 10cmx10cm.
The anvil is on an extra steelblock and fixed on the frame. The cutting knive is passing the stationary knive at one time. Not like a sissor, a cutting point runnig along the knive. It's more a cutting line cutting at once.
I checked the chips today and most of them are 3mm thick. And after I thought about the cutting speed I came to this:
2000rpm -> 33rpsec -> 66 cut's/sec -> with 5mm knive, max 330mm/sec feeding. Not to bad...

carl

 

[Kubota_Man]

I have only one two part question. When are you going to be one the west coast of the U.S., and can you visit me for a month or two?

WOW.....Nice job Buddy

 

[Deneh]

Excellent photos and great step by step
Congrats on a job well done Mr. Craftsman

 

[cabu]

I have only one two part question. When are you going to be one the west coast of the U.S., and can you visit me for a month or two?

WOW.....Nice job Buddy

Do you have so much work to do? Need a hand? Next time!!


Here are some chips:

In the end they are good for their job to fertilize.
Looks like the knives are still sharp, so the tempering had worked...

Yesterday I figured out, that I have forgotten to fix the flywheel-clutch. The screw was missing, because it is a special thread. I have allready the tool to make one, but I am old and forgot to do so...
Lucky it did not jump off and away. And lucky it is on the other side of the chipper...

carl

 

[Rustbucket]

Beautiful work, Carl! I've just checked, and I can get a flight to Bremen for about €30. Can I call over and we'll make a few implements for me?

 

[cabu]

Beautiful work, Carl! I've just checked, and I can get a flight to Bremen for about €30. Can I call over and we'll make a few implements for me?

Ryanair !!!

And how to get it back to the Green Island??

carl

 

[Kubota_Man]

Do you have so much work to do? Need a hand? Next time!!

carl

Nope just want the mind and skills that created something like this from scratch