Wallenstein BX62 Comments

[nopost]

In case someone desires to know my experience w/ the BX62, here are some thoughts (and questions for those who have a BX62). If this thread gets good comments, it may help others who are shopping for a chipper. I read all the old threads about chippers and found I still was not well informed. I'm familiar with a Vemeer 12" chipper and now have a BX62s; its well made, but I think hydraulic feed would be more practical.

Many ppl ask whether to get a 42 or 62; the most common answer is get a BX62 due to it's larger throat (allows crooked limbs to pass easier). I agree, but take note that you still have insert the limb carefully to get it to feed. Generally I have to force small ones in and stay clear of large ones. I just chipped pine and pin oak limbs that were cut about three months ago. If I had it to do over, I would definitely buy a hydraulic feed 62. It may cost more, but over time it would be worth it. Any comments from other BX62 owners?

I kept breaking the 'shear bolts' that the previous owner gave me. OEM? Doubt it. They were 3/8" grade 8 and had free play between the 3/8 bolt and the metric hole in the Binacchi pto. I tried M10 Class 8.8 from Lowe's and they broke, too. I ordered M10x1.5x50 Class 10.9 (Grainger part number 6AU16) and haven't broken any yet. Grainger's website says Class 10.9 is equivalent to Grade 8 and Class 8.8 is ~ Grade 5. M10's fill the hole better than the 3/8 bolts. (btw, the furnished Binacchi pto's plastic housing is better quality than those on pto's of my other attachments.)

Some folks on this forum said if a chipper feeds too fast then the blades are set too far from the anvil (big stuff feeds too fast, stick it in and get outta the way). My chipper is used (thus I don't know if it's common); there is over 1/16" variance in how close the blades come to the anvil blade. i.e. If my closest blade is <1/32, the farthest blade is over 1/16, about 5/64, maybe more. I made shims out of sheet metal but so far have not gotten all four blades the same distance because I only had two different thicknesses. Any comments from other owners? Do you see a variance on your unit and does a large gap feed too quickly?

Some folks asked whether a tractor w/ less than a 30hp pto will work. Some answers to those questions suggest the 62's 200 lb flywheel overcomes a lower pto hp. I disagree; large limbs feed fast enough to stall an LS 4041 w/ 35 pto hp (basically this is the same tractor as a NH Boomer w/ 41 bhp). Maybe its the blade to anvil spacing but I think 35 hp is not enough for large stuff (not everyone holds everything over 3" for firewood and I don't burn pine). Large limbs slow the flywheel with every blade impact; the longer the limb, the more likely a stall. It slows considerably with 3 month old 5" yellow pine and killed the tractor on 6" stuff if I didn't keep it about 3' long. (It ran short lengths of 3~4" pin oak well. And you can run 3" pine all day long.) It helps to set the pto faster than 540. Sharp blades help also.

Please comment if you actually have experience w/ a BX62 or 62 hydraulic; I'd like to see others' experience. Some old threads had comments from recent purchasers. I was impressed at first too, but now I wish I had hydraulic feed to slow down the large stuff and pull in the small. Maybe it's Vemeer's fault.

 

[diaedy]

I own a bx60 which has 3 blades and i set the blades at 1/16 for top of blade and 1/8 for the bottom of blade . I run exactly at 540 and have NEVER had a jam or slowdown running up to 6 inch oak or pine ect. My tractor is kioto ck35 with 34 hp. Have no experience with a bx62 with the 4 blade set. Mine is NOT hyd and works, chips, an shreds flawlessly. However, I follow leafy tree tops with butt end of next tree faith
fullly thus elimanating any clogs. Hope it helps

 

[Baby Grand]

<snip>

Some folks on this forum said if a chipper feeds too fast then the blades are set too far from the anvil (big stuff feeds too fast, stick it in and get outta the way). My chipper is used (thus I don't know if it's common); there is over 1/16" variance in how close the blades come to the anvil blade. i.e. If my closest blade is <1/32, the farthest blade is over 1/16, about 5/64, maybe more. I made shims out of sheet metal but so far have not gotten all four blades the same distance because I only had two different thicknesses. Any comments from other owners? Do you see a variance on your unit and does a large gap feed too quickly?

<snip>

Welcome to TBN!

I think you have identified a good part of the problem. The blades should be evenly gapped to the anvil so each blade takes an equal cut from the wood. If one blade is set with a larger gap, it will take a bigger bite, requiring more torque from the drive system to execute. This will result in a large, alternating torque being transmitted thru your PTO shaft at about 540 RPM/32400 Hertz. This is generally not good for machinery and may be why you are shearing bolts.

 

[murphy1244]

do they really use grade 8 bolts for a shear bolt?

 

[s219]

Everything you describe sounds like it's feeding too fast. I'd investigate why the blades are so non-uniform in terms of spacing, and see if that can be corrected. You really want to get them much closer in terms of spacing.

I still have the stock shear bolts that came with my unit, and will look and see what the grade is next time I am out back.

One thing that jumped out at me is that you said you are chipping hardwood limbs that were cut 3 months ago. Those will be tougher than chipping fresh-cut, and I think they mention this in the manual (they suggest alternating green wood in with dry wood).

Finally, when is the last time the blades were sharpened? That has a big effect. If the answer is "I don't know" or "I did them myself" then you probably need to send the blades out to get professionally sharpened.

There's no doubt that blade spacing and blade sharpness will help you dial in the machine to an optimal operating envelope where it feeds and cuts well, and I think you're outside of that envelope right now. My Wallenstein sucks limbs in like spagetti and chips them smoothly and evenly.

 

[lwalsh]

If the blade gap is different blade to blade the blades are not sharpened to the same length. The blades are mounted at an angle to the anvil so the length from the mounting holes to the edge must be the same. They must also be sharpened square or the gap will vary top to bottom.

 

[diaedy]

let me add another note to my reply on the bx60. I only have 3 blades and manual says to set different thickness so it has a taper to bottom thus making it self feed. !/16 0n top and 1/8 on bottom for the bx60 with 3 blades. Not in your case that I'm adhere of. Honestly don't know on yours
Diaedy

 

[s219]

The shear bolts that came with my Wallenstein are JDF 10.9, which has similar strength specs to a Grade 8 bolt.

 

[nopost]

Thank you guys for your posts, I knew I would learn from you. The previous owner said the blades were never sharpened and he had never turned them around. Compared to units that I see for sell now, this unit looks worn; however it does not seem abused nor does the flywheel appear to wobble. I may set up a micrometer on it to see if it has been slightly bent.

Baby Grand: I concur. The blade 'pops' when the 62 is empty is faster than the 'chunking' of large wood when it's hit. I think the close blade is slicing and the farthest blade is grabbing. I'll call EMB this coming week to see what they suggest.

Lwalsh: As far as the blades being sharpened wrong, probably not. When I took them off to install the shims I saw the previous owner truly had never reversed them. These appear to be factory blades/edges (I have a spare set to compare). The used edge of the blades still felt sharp, but the fresh edges definitely cut better. Typing this reminded me that I did not turn the anvil blade over, nor check it's condition. That may be causing some of the problem. I agree that improper sharpening would cause a major problem.

s219: I probably need to read the manual again, I've slept since then. Let me tell you one big thing. I've ONLY used this chipper for deadwood and the three month old pine, sweet gum and oak. It was three months of drought, which must have made a difference. (I was at the mercy of the guy who came when he wanted to climb, top and drop the trees. I had other work to finish when he showed up.) No doubt it would be better chipping green limbs. Further these trees were cut at full sap. Today I went and chipped some dead trees (planted too high and the burlap had not been removed, they had no chance). They decided to take out some of the trees that weren't as dead yet. Here's the big thing; the green wood chipped great. It was about 4~5" max. The almost dead maple was really hard, but 3~4 limbs that still had leaves fed so smooth I put them aside to empty the chute with. I can see why people are so thrilled with their unit. As stated in the original post, this is a well built unit, I respect EMB Mfg for their quality.

murphy: "do they really use grade 8 bolts for a shear bolt?" Don't know, but I haven't broken the grade 8 (10.9) M10 with partially unthreaded shanks whereas I broke a number of 3/8 unthreaded shank Grade 8 and M10 full thread Grade 5 (8.8)

s219:As you suggested, I agree the different spacings seem to be causing overspeed feeding, whacking and grabbing the wood rather than pulling it in.

diaedy: I'll look at the manual again about having greater spacing at the bottom.

s219: I understand 10.9 but what do you mean JDF? Brand name?

Thanks for your responses.

 

[Stonehaller]

I have BX62 that I usually use with my 45HP Case DX45. I have never broken a shear bolt. The shear bolts are M8.8. I have been impressed with how well it self feeds but I did run out of power on stuff about 4 inch diameter and above and have stalled the tractor several times. I suspected that it was feeding too fast. I just recently adjusted my chipper blades for the first time. The manual states the gap should be 1/32 inch. I found it hard to measuring looking in the in feed so I opened the chipper and went from the top down. I first used a dial indicator as shown in the picture to check the relative height of the blades to one another. There were all within about 0.010 inches which I thought was pretty good. I checked at both ends and the middle of the blades. I marked the high blade and used that to check the gap. I found a 1/16 inch welding rod fit snug along the whole blade edge. Then I need a long gage that was 1/32 inch thick. I found an old broken band saw blade that was 0.030 thick to use as a gage to adjust the anvil (my wife wonders why I keep all that old junk :laughing. I have not used the chipper since adjusting the gap, but I will be the week after next and will report back.