Wood Chipper question

[gporonsk]

Hi,
I'm a new member looking for a little expert info/opinions.
I just bought an older Mitts Merrill Wood chipper. It's of the old school variety, (toss the branches/ log in and stand clear) It runs fine and devours almost anything but seems to have a bit of a problem ejecting the chips. the ejection chute seems to plug up easily. Anyone got any ideas. I have noticed that it could probably use some sealing at a few spots at seams in the chute. Does it rely on air pressure or just velocity of the chips to eject the chips. Any ideas, opinions or comments are welcomed with appreciation.

Thanks,

Jerry P.

[yellowdogsvc]

Not sure about your exact chipper but if the material isn't being sized well that could cause that. There should be a shear bar that the blades cut against. The tolerance between blades and bar should be miniscule.

I have a 200 hp chipper that takes 20" logs and can really throw chips out with force. Even with material smaller than the max diameter, some species of trees can come apart and block my chute. I have a trap door on the chute especially for clog removal. While it is not an everyday thing, there can be instances where I have to clean it out more than once on a job due to the type of tree that I'm chipping. Very stringy material or poor tolerances between blades and shear bar or a piece missing from a blade cause this to happen more often.

[gporonsk]

Thanks, I'll have a peek at that. It' a 12" drum with a Ford 6 cyl engine. Not sure of the HP rating. The chips do't seem too large or stringy though. In fact if anything maybe smaller than I would expect. Thanks for your input.

Jerry.

[tractchores]

If you are chipping leafy or small material putting a bigger piece through once in a while will help keep it from clogging. Sometimes light stuff an clog if thats all that you're runnibg through

[Depmandog]

I have NO experience in which that I speak, but my left brain tells me it would be logical to reduce the friction in the ejection chute.

Use some solvent to remove any tree pitch / sap / organic matter, then apply a wax or silicon spray to reduce friction.

[tonyoz]

Jerry, check the inside of the shute. A mate of mine has had the same problem with a fairly new chipper, had the agent out checking it over and couldn't find anything wrong and the shute continued to plug. Then others came and went and put spanners here and there, still no difference. In desperation he called in a bloke whom I won't do business with, took him 5 mins to find the problem. Inside the shute a peace of steel had bent inwards and was slowing the draft. 15 mins with a hammer and heat it's fixed.
Moral of the story, look for the simple things first.