Chipper Wallenstein Chipper

   / Wallenstein Chipper #1  

RPK

Silver Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
119
Location
Eastern CT
Tractor
Kubota L3130 Cub Cadet 1554
I am looking at a BX960 6" Wallenstein manual feed chipper. I don't plan on chipping to much except maybe pine that wood be be 6". I burn everything else. I thought the 6" instead of 4" wood be better to feed branches into. I am wondering if my L3130 will be enough power for this chipper? Does anybody out there have one and if so, is it a lot of work to feed? I am debating wether to pay big bucks and get a hydraulic feed or not. Thanks for any help that anyone may have.

RPK
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #2  
Don't buy a manual feed.

I started with a 4-5" manual feed small trailer mount with
a 16hp engine. The vibration on your hands/arms is incredible.
I'd use it for twenty minutes and my hand and arm would be
numb. My wife watched one time for about 10 minutes and
insisted I get rid of it and buy a hydraulic feed. With only
8 hours on it, I sold it for a $1000 loss (1/3) and bought
a 25hp 7" Gravely hydraulic feed. Still a trailer mount but that was
before I had a tractor. Yes, the hydros are 2-3x the price but
your arm is worth something over the next few years. Research
high-vibration induced medical effects like whitefinger disease.

A 6" is really only good to about 4" without stopping/starting the
feed to keep the engine from bogging/stalling.

I'd debated last year whether to sell the Gravely and
replace it with a PTO hydro feed (likely Wallenstein) to eliminate
yet another engine but decided I'd about even out $$ wise.
Other reason is that chippers (maybe humans?) run for 45 minutes
to an hour straight during chipping sessions and over the long haul, I'd
rather replace a 25hp Kohler than my tractor's diesel.

If I had to start from scratch, I'd buy the Wallenstein. I think
it may come with only one feed roller but could be increased to
two? If so, get two. I started with one and two (upper/lower
vs. just an upper) eliminate most cases of the branch slipping.
We run all hardwood oak so softwoods may be a different story.

I'm like you, anything over 3-4" (depending on my mood)
goes for firewood. Still leaves a lot of branches. You'll
find hydraulic feed speeds up things doubly. First, it can
stick 'er in with more force than you can so that part is
quicker, but most importantly, you start a feed and then
walk to the pile to struggle to ready the next candidate
while the previous is being ingested. That part is HUGE!
Pulling the darn sticks out takes the most time and certainly
is the most frustrating part. They fight back!

When the Gravely dealer dropped ours off as a demo in 1998
I had a test pile of branches that would have taken me an
hour with the manual feed. Granted, the machines weren't
the same capacity but the 7" took about 9 minutes even
when it was still equipped with a single infeed roller.

Sorry for the long post, just a BTDT response to save you
the trouble.

My $0.03 -- Mark
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Mark,

Thanks for all of that valuable experience. I didn't think about vibration in the system. I am going to get prices from the local dealers on hydraulic feed units.

RPK
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #4  
There is a video at the Wallenstein EmB site showing the BX62 in use. There is also a thread in the Kubota section (I think) by a guy that has one on a Kubota B3030, and that seems to be working for him. I've heard that if the knives are kept sharp, they self feed quite well, and the video supports that. Hope this helps some. http://www.embmfg.com/images/videos/bx6224_blue.html
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #5  
I have a BX62 on my Mahindra 3510 and the big stuff will bog it down depending how long it is. Don't waste your money on a hydraulic feed-it doesn't need one. All I have to do is get the branch to the chipper and it sucks it through (it's self feeding). Do a search there's been quite a bit of threads about these chippers. Best of Luck!!
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #6  
I suspect how well a gravity feed works depends on what you're
putting in there. The video clearly shows good success with that
appears to be softwood.

Can tell you though that oak didn't take well to gravity feed though
I didn't have a Wallenstein. The branches bounce up and down
as they contact the knives. They do lose a little each trip
however :)

(editing to add one thing I forgot) hydraulic feed allows you to meter
the input speed to prevent engine bogging.
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #7  
I have a BX62 with the hydraulic feed. I think the hydraulic feed is a safety feature. The In - Off - Out switch for the hydraulic motors that turn the jaws is a bar that runs around both sides and over the top of the hopper. Pull and it feeds. Middle position is off. Push and it reverses. If a branch is pulling you into the hopper you can turn it off or reverse it with one hand. In fact, you will probably turn it off by bracing yourself before you think of turning it off.
It added $3k to the cost. Even my wife thinks I'm worth it, and I know she is. :)

Also I have heard that the manual feeds pull too fast when the blades are sharp, and when they are dull you have to push. If it feeds too fast you're going to get hit by branches. If it feeds to slowly you're going to work too hard.

By the way, I only have about 4 hours on the chipper so take my advice for what it's worth.
Greg
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #8  
I have used (rented) smaller manual feed units and hated them. Didn't self feed worth a crap. Very frustrating, extreme hand/arm vibration, and lots of work to force feed them. But I'll acknowledge that the blades were probably in poor condition.

Bought a used commercial-grade Morbark PTO 6" unit with single hydraulic feed roller. Absolutely LOVE it, as have all others who have used it. Feed will pull in most branches so you don't need to trim at every crotch, so it's way less effort. Once in a while with very stiff branches that branch a lot at right angles (cedar mostly), we have to back one out (simply reverse the feed roller) and trim it.

Hydraulic feed is worth the substantial extra cost to me.
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #9  
I have a unit that is almost an exact copy of the Wallenstein but I don't know who the Mfg is as its french candian built. However its manual feed and WOW! All you need to do is throw the branch in and in a second its gone. No hand pushing at all. Incredible feed rate. Can't see needing a power feed except to maybe slow it down a little. Take branches of all types really well.
 
   / Wallenstein Chipper #10  
I have a BX62 manual feed chipper on my 27 HP (at the PTO) Kubota. I've been very happy with it. The manual feed does require looking behind you to make sure you don't get hit in the back of the head, but once you get used to it it's not a big deal. I chip a lot of maple and some pine and have not had any problems with vibrations. I do make it a point to push larger pieces and let go of them before they reach the blades.

I can chip 4" maple and 5" pine with my tractor.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

dbk123
 
 
 
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