Chipper Can't get new chipper to work...

[Jason977]

First of all, thanks for all the input. I'm not sure what kind of chipper it is, or where my friend go it, but it looks just like the Jinma and is green and yellow and has a Chinese name plate.

The PTO is definately turning the right direction. The blades come down onto the anvil, and the feed roller turns the right direction. I haven't paid much attention to the wood chips, but from what I remember they look like clean cuts, not smashed up pulp.

Pretty much everything I feed it, it chews up a couple inches then stops. If I get it started again by pushing really hard, it will do a couple inches (up to about 6" at a time) then stop again. By this time, the limb is pushed over to the left hand side due to the knife angle, and it's no longer at a 90deg to the feed roller.

Since I got it, the feed roller's serrated plates have been covered with bark/ pulp from slipping. I haven't bothered to clean it off because I figured it would just clog up again. I took the fact that it was removing bark and cutting into the limb as sufficient evidence that it was pushing as hard as it could. In hindsight though, it's not that hard to yank the limb out without lifting or disengaging the feed roller.

I will definitely pull the feed roller and cut deeper/ sharper teeth into it. Also, if I can find some light sheetmetal, I may make a plate to cover the sharp edges on the bottom of the chute up to the end of the anvil.

Hopefully I'll come back with a report after the weekend. This time with pics

 

[wedge40]

First of all, thanks for all the input. I'm not sure what kind of chipper it is, or where my friend go it, but it looks just like the Jinma and is green and yellow and has a Chinese name plate.

The PTO is definately turning the right direction. The blades come down onto the anvil, and the feed roller turns the right direction. I haven't paid much attention to the wood chips, but from what I remember they look like clean cuts, not smashed up pulp.

Pretty much everything I feed it, it chews up a couple inches then stops. If I get it started again by pushing really hard, it will do a couple inches (up to about 6" at a time) then stop again. By this time, the limb is pushed over to the left hand side due to the knife angle, and it's no longer at a 90deg to the feed roller.

Since I got it, the feed roller's serrated plates have been covered with bark/ pulp from slipping. I haven't bothered to clean it off because I figured it would just clog up again. I took the fact that it was removing bark and cutting into the limb as sufficient evidence that it was pushing as hard as it could. In hindsight though, it's not that hard to yank the limb out without lifting or disengaging the feed roller.

I will definitely pull the feed roller and cut deeper/ sharper teeth into it. Also, if I can find some light sheetmetal, I may make a plate to cover the sharp edges on the bottom of the chute up to the end of the anvil.

Hopefully I'll come back with a report after the weekend. This time with pics

There should be two pretty heavy duty springs on each side of the roller to provide tension of the wood being pulled in.
As the wood stops does the feed roller keep moving?

Wedge

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Yes the pictures are worth a thousand words. I have a Vermeer 6" chipper that the feed roller is compressed down on the wood with 4 big springs. The teeth on the feed roller are fairly sharp. You can't pull wood out once the feed roller has gotten ahold of it. The feed roller is Hydraulic operated. That is on a speed controller to speed up or slow down the feed rate into the wood knives. That really helps on fluffy branches or hardwoods. There is also a electric governor that senses when the Kohler motor is slowing down trying to chip large stuff. It will stop the feed roller until the RPM's pick back up.
The fact that your wood is ending up over to the left side of the chute is interesting. The wood should be pretty much pulled straight into the wood knives and sliced against the anvil.....

 

[Jason977]

The springs on this machine are actually pretty light. I can easily unhook the springs by hand to service the blades/anvil. However, I have tried putting downward pressure on the bar as the feed drum is spinning against a limb, and it didn't seem to help any, so I determined that was not an issue and heavier springs wouldn't help. The feed drum works fine, never stops unless the clutch is disengaged. Right now, it looks like I need more traction on the feed drum, and possibly less drag on the bottom of the chute.

Treemonkey,
The way this machine is designed, the knives are (I believe) in line with each other, across the diameter of the disk which is rotating clockwise. The feed chute is in the bottom right quadrant of that disk, so as the knives pass through the chute opening they start at the top right and move towards the bottom left. This way, the knives and anvil are not parallel to each other, with the right hand side contacting first. This makes the shearing motion much like a pair of scissors. Have you ever tried to cut a pencil with scissors (why was i doing that??)? Anyway, it has a similar tendency to push the material away from the initial contact point.

Hope that makes sense, Like I said, next time I'll have pictures

 

[srjones]

I have similar problem that I've been meaning to fix the next time my JM-6 is parked near my MIG welder.

Basically, there's a slight gap in the sheet metal under the feed roller where the chute meets housing for the anvil/chipper. If you're chipping knotty or irregular branches they tend to get stuck on this gap especially now that the sheet metal has 'flexed' a bit.

My fix, which I haven't done yet, is to weld a 6" x 1" x .065 flat bar to the intake chute and grind smooth the edge that faces the incoming branches (so they don't get stuck there either.

 

[Affordable]

What is the bedding knife and blades set at,? I heard something about 1/4" if so thats way too much it should be the width of a Quarter.I would also check the belt tension on the feed roller.

Tommy
Affordable Tractor Sale Co.
Bellville,Texas
Home of compact Jinma, Foton, and Koyker Tractors and Parts, Wood Chippers, Backhoes - Affordable Tractor Sales Company

 

[BigE_]

The width of a quarter is a tad bit too much, unless you have side play in the main bearing for the chipper head. But, it's a nice safe starting point.

On my chipper, I can advance the bedding knife with set screws. The easiest way I've found to get it adjusted right is to get close and tighten down the blade pretty good, but not too much.

CAVEAT:
Now, make your own judgments on the next part -- it might not be the best thing for your equipment, and may just be downright dangerous on your chipper. On mine I have a standalone chipper and it works.

OK, so once I get the blade close and partially snugged down, I start up the chipper and let it come to full speed. Then I *very slowly* advance each of screws about 1/16th of a turn, going back and forth between the two. When I hear the blades hit I back off 1/8th of a turn. The next "knock" when the blades hit will kick the blade back against the screw again.

You'd think this would damage the blades or at least make them dull, but I can't tell the difference before / after.

I stumbled upon this method accidentally -- thought I had the blades adjusted, and they started knocking when I was using the chipper with the chute pointed downhill, meaning the flywheel was putting pressure on the side of the bearing nearest the bed knife. My chipper takes a few minutes to wind down, and in that timeframe I was able to just barely loosen the knife and back off the set screws enough to keep it from knocking. Had it done before the flywheel came to a stop.

Once again, this may not work on your chipper, and do this at your own risk.

-Steve

 

[BigE_]

I do need to take my roller feed out and grind on the feed teeth a bit myself. I tried grinding when it was on the machine, but that ain't easy to do. I figure if I grind too much off, I can always run a hard weld bead across and regrind.

My feed roller is hydraulic fed, and rather than having springs to provide tension, its got a huge weight -- my guess is over 100lbs, because I can't lift it without a pry bar.

 

[moeh1]

I have to work at getting my feed roller up off a piece of wood to prevent overfeeding on a large diameter piece of wood and I'm a tad over 200 lbs.... well maybe two tads.
I'm wondering if the springs really are correct or attached properly. I've blocked mine up to set blade gap and it was really under some tension. Pics that you indicated are coming will help us figure this out.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

BigE your adjustment method sounds a bit too scary. There is no way I would adjust mine if the machine is running. They just had an incident where a knife came off a chipper and went a few hundred yards away through someone's roof. The Vermeer that I have has a knife gauge to set the gap between the anvil and the blades. My chipper is like yours that has the threaded adjustments for that gap. I spin the flywheel around and check both knives for gap. The gauge is .100"(2.5mm). The knives are sharpened as sets so that they maintain the same overall length. About every 40 hours of run time I change knives.
Moehl is your feed roller adjustable for speed at all so that it doesn't shove big wood in too quickly? Or are your knives good and sharp?
I am really particular about making sure the wood doesn't have rocks and grit or pieces of metal like nails in them. Very hard on the knives.
Jason the way my chipper is set up the knives are coming straight down onto the wood and shearing it that way. Not like a scissors action which would sort of pull the wood towards the corner like yours.