Adjusting wood chip size?

nomad · May 9, 2004

I bought a Chinese 6" wood chipper that has a long thread about it here. A great tool. But I have a small problem; How are we adjusting chipped wood size on it? It's chipping the woods into about 1/4" (?) and would like to adjust it to smaller sizes. How to do? Maybe, I misunderstood and it doesn't have such a feature.

Tom_W · May 9, 2004

We had a bandit chipper at work. Chip size depends on how close the blades are to the anvil. On the bandit, the anvil is adjustable not the blades. My question is why do you want to reduce the size? Is your engine bogging down? You should have an adjustment for when your blades are sharpened. Find the anvil and look for at least 2 adjustment bolts. Be sure to be very careful when adjusting. Too close is no good.

nomad · May 10, 2004

Thank you for the answer. Actually, reducing the chip size is not my need. One of my farmers friends will use chipped tree branches as organic fertilizer and he claims that big size chips (chipped from tree branchs) will not mix/melt? in the soil quickly and he adviced me to make the size smaller. Maybe, he is wrong. Thanks again.

markie61 · May 10, 2004

I just bought this chipper last week. The owner's manual does not speak of an adjustment for chip size. I guess because it is a chipper, not a shredder. It makes sense that smaller chips will decompose faster than larger ones, but all will in time.

I love this chipper - it's truly the most bang for the buck!

Mark

Junkman · May 11, 2004

I just read about using wood chips as a fertilizer and the thread was common with the advise that wood chips will deplete the soil of nitrogen. I don't remember what forum it was on because I visit many. You might want to look into this further..

beenthere · May 11, 2004

Smaller chips will naturally break down faster, and as mentioned, nitrogen will be needed to help that process along. Do you have any idea how he adds nitrogen to his soil?

If there is a way to change (slow down) the feed rate of material going into the chipper, that will make a smaller chip too. If there is no feed on it, then the knife anvil (as mentioned) will need to be adjusted relative to the knife(s).

markie61 · May 11, 2004

( change (slow down) the feed rate)

The feed rate on this chipper is fixed. A belt pulls power of the flywheel shaft and drives a feed roller through a single-speed gearbox. If you slow the engine down to slow the feed rate, then the flywheel slows down too. The ratio remains the same.

Still, this is a GREAT chipper for $1200-1400!

Mark

Bird · May 11, 2004

( It makes sense that smaller chips will decompose faster than larger ones, but all will in time )

Being one of those who tilled in large quantities of wood chips in the vegetable garden, I got a fair amount of experience with that. I had a little 5hp Craftsman chipper/shredder that saw a lot of use and did a very good job, but of course it was slow. Two different years, when the power company was trimming trees in the area to clear them away from power lines, I got them to dump several big truckloads of chips for me. Once I put one load on the garden just as it was. It did eventually decompose, but I was not happy with that because the chips were too large. However, taking those big chips and feeding them through that little chipper/shredder went pretty fast and they came out in great shape. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

beenthere · May 11, 2004

So you just need to change the belt pulley size(s) to change the feed rate in relation to the flywheel rotation. That should work okay if the chip size is important enough to go to that much work.

GregJ · May 11, 2004

I have been mulching and composting wood chips for a couple of years now. They will deplete nitrogen from the soil if they are not broken down before tilling into the soil. I have been trying to stay ahead and compost them for at least 6 months and then spread them on as a topping. My chipper makes very small chips, so in 6 months they are well on their way to being completely broken down. Mother Earth News just recently had an article about using mulch and refered to this as the "Ruth Stout" method. The next year, when they are broken down further, I turn them into the soil and it looks great. No problems so far.

Greg

markie61 · May 11, 2004

Good point - that would work. It would probably be easiest to mess with the gearbox pulley if you can find the correct shaft size or can machine one yourself.

Mark

nomad · May 12, 2004

( I just read about using wood chips as a fertilizer )

Wood chips (from trimmed tree branches) are true natural "organic" fertilizer. Tree, say cherry or vegetable, farmers must know this well. When it's said "organic fertilizer" to an average farmer he/she thinks only it's a fertilizer like feather meal (made of chicken feathers, etc). But these are animal related fertilizers. Although protein in such fertilizers is much percentage (60-80%) they aren't real organic fertilizers. Real organic fertilizers are made from the plants (trees, vegetables, etc) themselves. So, wood chip we obtain from our wood chipper is real organic fertilizer. This is why I purchased this wood chipper from a long distance, China.

Indeed, this is a great tool and the price is very good.
However, I have another small problem. In our fruit (cherry, strawbery, etc) town, we only try to get rid of small diameter trimmed branches (less than 1" diameter) and the size of this chipper (6") is unnecessarily too big for my need. Now, I am working on a home-built project for my need and designing a smaller machine with a smaller cast disc, with a different feeding mechanism. Will take 1 month to complete it - (modelling, casting, etc) - Will show you the picture when it's complete. Now, some of you may claim smaller (say 1") disc won't cut the wood. Why do you think so? Villengineer, I know you like/enjoy to talk/discuss/debate with me and guess you are one of those who think so?

Egon · May 12, 2004

Ah Nomad; why spend a month designing a chipper when they be all kinds out on the market that have proven themselves. Attached is a picture of a quick adjust infinetlyvariable size/rate chipper that will probably outlast the forest.

Egon

Villengineer · May 12, 2004

( Now, some of you may claim smaller (say 1") disc won't cut the wood. Why do you think so? Villengineer, I know you like/enjoy to talk/discuss/debate with me and guess you are one of those who think so?

)
I've got no idea what will or will not work. Using wood chips for fertilizer is unheard around here except maybe in some homeowners garden. Simply isn't cost effective or beneficial enough to use on a large scale. Brush normally is either turned into mulch, burned, or landfilled. I have seen wood chips used to help fill swampy areas and in small areas I've seen them tilled in to help aerate our clay sub-soil.
I would say that another form of plant matter is used far more commonly as fertilizer, manure. It doesn't get much more organic than that.
Here are my suggestions to get smaller chips: First, try feeding the chips back through the machine. Even the large industrial chippers will accept small pieces and chew them up. Second, send you chipper back and buy a smaller size that you really need.
However, I don't think you want practical advice because as far as your chipper is concerned, personally I think you are mis-leading the members of the forum a little. I think you bought the chipper to reverse-engineer it. My hypothesis is that you are free-lancing again and using the forum for a little free R & D. Why else would you be talking about castings? A weldment would be the far more economical way to produce a single unit.

nomad · May 13, 2004

( My hypothesis is that you are free-lancing again and using the forum for a little free R & D. Why else would you be talking about castings? A weldment would be the far more economical way to produce a single unit. )

My new flywheel design is going to be different, smaller size and faster speed. Current weight of the flywheel of that 6" chipper is about 30LB. This is too much for my need. 10-15LB will be enough for me. So, casting this smaller disc won't be a big cost as I can also make my own casting pattern, etc (using the tools of furniture workshop of my friend here.) Ps: Villengineer, btw, I see you have 60-70 posts only and half of these posts are a reply to my posts. Wondering why so. Are you really from Village or really Engineer?

markie61 · May 13, 2004

( Current weight of the flywheel of that 6" chipper is about 30LB )

Try 150-200+lbs for the flywheel! The disc is easily 2+feet in diameter and 2 inches thick. 50lb barbell weights are about 1 foot in diameter and an inch thick for reference.

Mark

nomad · May 13, 2004

Sorry - I made a mistake. We use SI measurement systems here and I sometimes convert units from SI to LB-IN by multiplying KG by 2 to find LB approximately. Above, I "divided" and this is my mistake. True weight of flywheel is about 60 kg and this corresponds to more than 120 LB. Mine will be 50-60 LB with about 1" think and 1' diameter instead of 1 1/4" thickness 2' diameter. So, my flywheel speed should be doubled if I need to cut the "same" woods. But I am planning to cut smaller diameter woods.

Villengineer · May 13, 2004

The reason so many of my posts follow yours is because yours tend to be full of mis-information. Including suggestions that could result in people getting hurt or killed.

nomad · May 13, 2004

None of my posts has even a little mis-information.
Mines are very informative, enlightening, educational, and of course dangerous - especially for those like you liking going offff-topic. Back to topic.

Taylortractornut · May 13, 2004

Village Engineer I often cast single parts in my home shop to avoid time consuming milling and other machine works and a heck of a lot of welding. We also compost tree chips to make our own topsoil at a landfill we operate We do add manure to the mix as well.