TonyC
Platinum Member
Thanks for the reply, Shifty. Can you advise on the best way to find the closest dealer(s) to me for this product?
Chipper Chinese Chipper Review
- Thread starter DIYGuy
- Start date
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mountain_man
Gold Member
Thanks mucho for the chipper review. A couple of questions.
Does the mechanical feed have a reverse (to get something unstuck)? If not, do you need to shut it down and take it apart? How difficult is it to sharpen (or change) the cutting blades? Any other issues with the chipper beside the support mechanism? Thanks,
Does the mechanical feed have a reverse (to get something unstuck)? If not, do you need to shut it down and take it apart? How difficult is it to sharpen (or change) the cutting blades? Any other issues with the chipper beside the support mechanism? Thanks,
TonyC
Platinum Member
It may seem obvious but can you elaborate on the difference between mechanical feed and manual feed?
mountain_man
Gold Member
Mechanical (or hydraulic) feed makes a big difference in chipper operation. Basically the mechanical feed mechanism (DIY has a good picture of the feed roller above), pushes/shoves the brush into the chipper blades once it grabs the limb. Manual feed means YOU PUSH the brush manually into the chipper blades. With manual you may need to keep pushing until the chipper starts swallowing the brush. However even with mechanical, things sometimes get stuck and you need to reverse it once in a while. Also reverse is a safety mechanism in case YOU get stuck in the brush.
There is a safety lever on top that releases the drive mechanism and you can pull anything that's stuck back out. I've had to use it a couple of times. There's also a bar to manually lift the feed roller should something bind it up.
Blade access is through a removeable plate with each blade held on with 4 nyloc nuts (17mm deep socket required).
I have 8 hours runtime on it with no issues.
The flywheel is a BIG piece of iron. Even in an "emergency" shutdown, it takes a good minute to stop spinning.
DIYGuy
Blade access is through a removeable plate with each blade held on with 4 nyloc nuts (17mm deep socket required).
I have 8 hours runtime on it with no issues.
The flywheel is a BIG piece of iron. Even in an "emergency" shutdown, it takes a good minute to stop spinning.
DIYGuy
I agree that assessing the total socio-economic package involved in trade with China is difficult. Personally, I think it is impossible based on the complexity of the trade interconnections. That is why I my my decision in the matter on principle. I don't do business with slave masters because enslaving people is wrong. And believe me, it gets harder and harder every day to find things that are not made in China at any price.
Don't mean to get off on a political rant or anything but certainly business ethics is germane to decisions about what implements to buy. For instance, I expect that most people here would not buy implements even at a rediculously low price if they knew the implements were stolen.
My problem is that with current labeling laws I can't tell what goods that come from China were made with stolen labor, so I don't buy any of them.
Steve Wells
Don't mean to get off on a political rant or anything but certainly business ethics is germane to decisions about what implements to buy. For instance, I expect that most people here would not buy implements even at a rediculously low price if they knew the implements were stolen.
My problem is that with current labeling laws I can't tell what goods that come from China were made with stolen labor, so I don't buy any of them.
Steve Wells
JTC
Bronze Member
I don't think the average person working in a Chinese tractor factory is anymore a slave than an American is in his job. They have career and economic descision to make just like you and I.
They are free to leave employment and can leave the country fairly easily. For a working class Chinese person, the limiting factor would not be the ability to leave the country but the ability to get into an industrialized nation.
I agree that their society is not as free and open as our's, but neither is France's, Germany or Saudi Arabia for that matter.
Jim
They are free to leave employment and can leave the country fairly easily. For a working class Chinese person, the limiting factor would not be the ability to leave the country but the ability to get into an industrialized nation.
I agree that their society is not as free and open as our's, but neither is France's, Germany or Saudi Arabia for that matter.
Jim
I wasn't talking about the average working class person in China. If I could be sure I was only buying products produced exclusively by average working class people, then I would have no qualms whatsoever about buying products made in China.
I am worried about buying products produced, to some degree or other, with slave labor extracted by force from the couple of million political prisoners in China and in the gulags in North Korea. I'm pretty sure that in fact, almost every, if not every, product made in China has some "piece" of such labor in it.
Heck, I like a bargain as much as the next guy. I have no problem with buying products made in Mexico or India or Pakistan or wherever, as long as people are free to choose where, when and why they labor. The tractor I have was made in Japan. Some of my computers were made in Taiwan.
But, the political prisoner slaves in China do not choose where, when and why they labor. They are slaves. It's even worse in N. Korea.
If other people want to support the enslavement of their fellow human beings in exchange for paying less for what they buy, then that is their choice. They are free people and as such they can choose to do so.
On the other hand, it's probably a good idea if it is made explicit that that is what they are doing and when a person buys things made in China they are, in fact, patronizing a system that enslaves a lot of people.
Sometimes I think people want the "bargain" without the responsibility that goes along with the freedom they exercised in order to obtain it.
If people want to buy Chinese products despite the fact that doing so subsidizes and encourages a system that extracts slave labor they should at least be straightforward about what they are doing.
I am worried about buying products produced, to some degree or other, with slave labor extracted by force from the couple of million political prisoners in China and in the gulags in North Korea. I'm pretty sure that in fact, almost every, if not every, product made in China has some "piece" of such labor in it.
Heck, I like a bargain as much as the next guy. I have no problem with buying products made in Mexico or India or Pakistan or wherever, as long as people are free to choose where, when and why they labor. The tractor I have was made in Japan. Some of my computers were made in Taiwan.
But, the political prisoner slaves in China do not choose where, when and why they labor. They are slaves. It's even worse in N. Korea.
If other people want to support the enslavement of their fellow human beings in exchange for paying less for what they buy, then that is their choice. They are free people and as such they can choose to do so.
On the other hand, it's probably a good idea if it is made explicit that that is what they are doing and when a person buys things made in China they are, in fact, patronizing a system that enslaves a lot of people.
Sometimes I think people want the "bargain" without the responsibility that goes along with the freedom they exercised in order to obtain it.
If people want to buy Chinese products despite the fact that doing so subsidizes and encourages a system that extracts slave labor they should at least be straightforward about what they are doing.
JohnS
Platinum Member
I don't doubt that there is some prison labor still being used somewhere in China. I doubt that any is being used in these tractors. Saying that you can't tell what is and what is not prison labor, so don't buy anything from there, doesn't make sense to me. Sweat shops still are found in many of our major cities, where illegal imigrants and others, slave to survive. Child labor is a problem in many countries, including India. I am sure, that in every country we can find someone, somewhere being exploited. I guess we have to make everything ourselves /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
mountain_man
Gold Member
I try to buy American made whenever possible. Not out of "social consciousness" but to support U.S. suppliers-manufacturers-distributors-retailers.
However the quandry (for me), using the Chinese Chipper example: Assuming similar features (6" capacity w/mechanical feed), can I find an equivalent US manufactured unit without paying 2 or 3 times the price of the Chinese unit? I realize the quality may be inferior, but for my occasional homeowner use, the Chinese unit is certainly useable.
Or is the Chinese competition (keeping in mind added overseas shipping costs/import duties) helpful to induce US manufacturers to closely look at supply, manufacturing and distribution costs?
Beside the obvious difference in labor costs, the US liability/litigation costs (especially for a chipper), must be astronomical. I know a well-respected OB/GYN that recently quit her practice due to impossible malpractice insurance costs.
And even if I cough up the additional bucks to buy the US manufactured unit, how much of it was REALLY made in the US?
That's by 2 cents... (This should get lively...)
However the quandry (for me), using the Chinese Chipper example: Assuming similar features (6" capacity w/mechanical feed), can I find an equivalent US manufactured unit without paying 2 or 3 times the price of the Chinese unit? I realize the quality may be inferior, but for my occasional homeowner use, the Chinese unit is certainly useable.
Or is the Chinese competition (keeping in mind added overseas shipping costs/import duties) helpful to induce US manufacturers to closely look at supply, manufacturing and distribution costs?
Beside the obvious difference in labor costs, the US liability/litigation costs (especially for a chipper), must be astronomical. I know a well-respected OB/GYN that recently quit her practice due to impossible malpractice insurance costs.
And even if I cough up the additional bucks to buy the US manufactured unit, how much of it was REALLY made in the US?
That's by 2 cents... (This should get lively...)