Chipper pto driven wood chippers

[5030]

I have tons of chips and don' t have a use for them. Do they become nutrient rich at some point -- or just as a weed barrier?

I find your comment humorous in as much as so do I. In spades. All my trees, shrubs, around the house and my tree lines are all landscaped with chips. The mailbox has a chip ring. Under the deck there are chips. I put chips on the edges of the ditch out front. I give my neighbors wood chips too and I still have chips. Good thing is, they do compost slowly so I keep adding. I need to come up with a way to dye them and sell them cheap to landscapers....

I have some chips as well. I really amassed a bunch this year from 4 very large populars that came down. The trunks were 30 inches across with big tops and while I give all my wood away (I cut it to 19" long sections and I have a guy who takes it all to sell to campers (who have no idea what good wood is from punk wood, so long as it burns and they can drink beer), he takes every bit but the under 2" stuff goes through the chipper and makes....you guessed it...chips and lots of them.

I'll trade you a ton for a half ton.....:laughing:

 

[TSO]

It really all depends on the tree you're chipping. Chipping straight, soft wood like poplar is a treat. Get some nappy English oak, and you're fighting the entire branch.

I'm debating selling mine and buying the bx62-hydraulic feed because of that

 

[Sprinklerman]

I had the DR chipper . The key word was " had " If I need wood chips tree companies are glad to dump for free . If I have branches and brush as long as my old brush hog can chop it up thats what I do . bigger stuff i burn in the woodstove

 

[5030]

When I was shopping a few years back, Wallenstein emerged as the "Cadillac" of chippers, and I have been real happy with mine. Bought it, put into service immediately, and 4 years later I have not done a thing to it other than greasing the bearings. I have never had an issue with the self-feed chute. Due to the way they angle the chute and the size of the throat (rectangular) it sucks in wood like an Italian sucking in spaghetti. The Wallenstein was slightly more expensive than the other brands, but it had the most/best features and I do think you get what you pay for.

I briefly looked at Jinma units (guy in my area imported them) but they looked like a total POS. The seller took the time to go over the units to correct manufacturing issues, and rebuild a couple parts that they knew were weak, but I was not comfortable with the situation despite the big cost savings. Again, you get what you pay for.

Never had issue one with mine and I've abused it plenty. More than once I've chucked an 8" diameter hardwood log in it. It barks a bit but it gobbles it right up. Like I said early on, the trick to keeping a chipper happy is keeping the knives razor sharp and the included angle at 27 degrees (and the anvil to knife space about 0.030)..... and of course not chipping anything but wood. No rocks, nails, barbed wire, stray tools or your limbs, they are inherently dangerous.

The welding on a Jinma is cobbly and the paint job sucks but thats cosmetic. The bones of the unit are on par with the Woodmax or the Wallenstein and I don't much care aboiutmpaint jobs and if a weld does let go (never has), thats a trip to the shop and out comes a welder, I own 3.

My big dislike and something I addressed a few tears back, was the excessive opening around the infeed drive end of the chipper, where the stub shaft of the flywheel sticks through the outer case and a drive pulley is fitted to drive the gearbox that powers the infeed rollers. The excessive opening allowed viney wood like grapevines and Russian Olive bushes that I was chipping (I chip everything btw), to wrap around the shaft and come out and jump the belt on the pulley which was a pita, not only putting the belt back on but digging the viney wood off the shaft with needle nose pliers... and lots of cussing, so I cut a steel disc about 20 thousands larger than the shaft diameter and spot welded it to the back sheet and eliminated the large hole. No more pulley issues. No more viney wood coming out, no more cussing.

I also drilled vent holes in the front knife access cover to allow more air flow to the flywheel and now I don't have to run it at 540 to eject chips well. I run it at half PTO speed, Thats plenty fast. I have a huge (100 pto) ag tractor I run it on so I don't need the speed, I have the torque and way more power than the chipper could ever use.

An 8" hardwood log don't even bring my tractor up on the turbo....lol

 

[5030]

It really all depends on the tree you're chipping. Chipping straight, soft wood like poplar is a treat. Get some nappy English oak, and you're fighting the entire branch.

I'm debating selling mine and buying the bx62-hydraulic feed because of that

I chip red oak, white oak, popple, Russian Olive, sugar maple, tulip maple, walnut, apple, hickory and cherry, whatever comes down in my woods gets chipped and I agree, some stuff is more more more a fight than other stuff, but it all goes in, eventually. I've learned (I'm 66) not to rush it. I just let it feed itself. Forgot spruce and aspen. I hate the pitch on evergreen branches. Smells good though.

Tell you what, put in on CL and it wont last a day and it will be gone. PTO chippers rarely go up for sale.

 

[brown40]

I have a "Value Leader" which is a knock-off of the Jinma knock-off... it ate four belts before I tacked the intake pulley into position. It has a habit of backing out bolts, and dropping the roller shaft on larger branches. You can access the blades, but it is not easy. The mechanical feed works great so long as the blades are sharp, but once they dull it is a struggle, until you sharpen the blades. I think I spent about one hour working on the unit for every two it operated, before I tweaked everything. Now it will keep running so long as I keep the chipping to branches. It still wants to roll belts and drop the shaft on large limbs. Mine is an 8" model and eats anything it can sink its teeth into--so long as the teeth are sharp and keep getting fed. In hindsight I wish I'd have shopped around and looked at/knew what to look for. A hydraulic feed would have saved me hours of running around, re-aligning pulleys, torquing and retorquing set screws and replacing belts.

 

[TerryR]

I have tons of chips and don' t have a use for them. Do they become nutrient rich at some point -- or just as a weed barrier?

They become a great soil builder if you let them age two or three years. We made wonderful garden soil out of worthless sand using them over a number of years. If you work them in too soon you need to add a lot of nitrogen to make up what they consume as they decompose. They are also a good week barrier and great for the paths between rows even when fresh.

 

[5030]

I have a "Value Leader" which is a knock-off of the Jinma knock-off... it ate four belts before I tacked the intake pulley into position. It has a habit of backing out bolts, and dropping the roller shaft on larger branches. You can access the blades, but it is not easy. The mechanical feed works great so long as the blades are sharp, but once they dull it is a struggle, until you sharpen the blades. I think I spent about one hour working on the unit for every two it operated, before I tweaked everything. Now it will keep running so long as I keep the chipping to branches. It still wants to roll belts and drop the shaft on large limbs. Mine is an 8" model and eats anything it can sink its teeth into--so long as the teeth are sharp and keep getting fed. In hindsight I wish I'd have shopped around and looked at/knew what to look for. A hydraulic feed would have saved me hours of running around, re-aligning pulleys, torquing and retorquing set screws and replacing belts.

I locktite all mine (bolts) or use aircraft nylon insert nuts, nothing comes loose and the hydraulic infeed model also vibrates, thats a result of the cutting action, not the mechanics of the machine itself. Far as drive belts go, they all drive the came way no matter how much you pay, PTO to layshaft stub with a 4 groove pulley driving the flywheel input shaft via another 4 groove pulley and belts. You need to align the upper and lower sheaves very carefully, using a straight edge and bubble level and they have to run fiddle string tight, That applies across the board, Woodmax, Jinnma, any horizontial infeed chipper.

I never expected my Jinma to be without issues, heck it was cheap compared to the rest, like half of a Woodmax, you get what you pay for and I've had to make some 'modifications', but nothing serious. My wife's comment was, that was the best grand you ever spent on anything and I agree. Mine was 1000 bucks delivered years ago. I'm not into pretty and the Jinma isn't. it is sturdy (heavy) and it does the job for me and had for many years now, plus, parts are available from many sources, always a good thing.

We live in a plug and play society and people expect everything to be without issues and if an issue does surface, they immediately get pizzed. I never expected the Jinma to be issue free but it's actually suprised me how well it performs and how little issues it's had. It's not going anywhere and I expect to use it for many more years.

 

[TSO]

I locktite all mine (bolts) or use aircraft nylon insert nuts, nothing comes loose and the hydraulic infeed model also vibrates, thats a result of the cutting action, not the mechanics of the machine itself. Far as drive belts go, they all drive the came way no matter how much you pay, PTO to layshaft stub with a 4 groove pulley driving the flywheel input shaft via another 4 groove pulley and belts. You need to align the upper and lower sheaves very carefully, using a straight edge and bubble level and they have to run fiddle string tight, That applies across the board, Woodmax, Jinnma, any horizontial infeed chipper.

I never expected my Jinma to be without issues, heck it was cheap compared to the rest, like half of a Woodmax, you get what you pay for and I've had to make some 'modifications', but nothing serious. My wife's comment was, that was the best grand you ever spent on anything and I agree. Mine was 1000 bucks delivered years ago. I'm not into pretty and the Jinma isn't. it is sturdy (heavy) and it does the job for me and had for many years now, plus, parts are available from many sources, always a good thing.

We live in a plug and play society and people expect everything to be without issues and if an issue does surface, they immediately get pizzed. I never expected the Jinma to be issue free but it's actually suprised me how well it performs and how little issues it's had. It's not going anywhere and I expect to use it for many more years.

In contrast, I've never had to make a single modification or repair to my Wallenstein chipper. Took me about an hour originally to remove from the along pallet, bolt on the intake chute and output chute, and then it was ready to go.

I've never actually tracked it, but I would say I've probably used it for near 100 hrs and it's never needed anything.

When I shopped, I avoided the Jinma and Woodmaxx units and paid the little extra money on the Wallenstein, based on the reviews and complaints. It also seems like, from the vids I've watched, that the Wallenstein "eats" material faster than the belt units.

 

[Code54]

Far as drive belts go, they all drive the came way no matter how much you pay, PTO to layshaft stub with a 4 groove pulley driving the flywheel input shaft via another 4 groove pulley and belts.
.

That is the bad thing about the cheaper chippers - they use belts. The Wallenstien chipper is direct drive with no belts or pulley which is part of the reason why they are known for having better reliability.

The Woodmaxx chippers I am familiar with seem to have much better quality control standards and if you research them it appears they do a GREAT job standing behind their product if there is a problem. Personally if I spend a bunch of money on something I do expect it to work correctly and without issue. I know my employer does not expect me to make mistakes and leave people with a product that needs repaired. To me if the fixes are simple, why not spend the extra $5 and use locking nuts and such. At that point I doubt the company will lose a lot of sales charging the extra $5 on the product and will have a lot more people happy with the product. I understand for 5030 he is pleased with his chipper and don't mind the extra time it takes and in his case that works out. In my case I rather spend a little more and have a product that works the first time, every time because I am often limited on time so a break down will cause me to not be able to complete a job.
Nothing wrong with either way, just a different way of looking at it.