Rotating Chipper Chute Clogging?

[whirly]

Does anyone who has a rotating chute on a 3PH chipper similar to the WoodMaxx WM-8, i.e. - any chipper that feeds directly into the flywheel @ 90°, have a problem with the chute clogging?

If so, what do you think the issue is?

Mine clogs when I feed anything over 3".

I just am looking to see if it is just me and my material or if the issue is more wide spread.

 

[jeff9366]

Unfortunately, all chippers that exhaust chips clog.

Gravity drop chippers clog less but require moving the chips or the rig.

 

[whirly]

Unfortunately, all chippers that exhaust chips clog.

Gravity drop chippers clog less but require moving the chips or the rig.

Correct.

However, my old Jinma WC6 chipper with a straight square chute never clogged up unless I ran a bunch of wet Podocarpus needles through it in the 5 years I had it. The new chipper clogs up when chipping relatively dry (nothing really gets dry here) 4" branches which I routinely chipped with the Jinma. Same material Podocarpus and Fiddle Wood. Cut then wait a week or so until the leaves will shake off the branches.

I know what the problem is. Changes were made in the design to facilitate the chute to rotate. Those changes cause the pressure inside the chute to lower then raise again which, if it was just air, would not be a problem. However, the air is transporting suspended particles and the response of those particles to the pressure changes is the problem.

This thread is to see if others with practice experience are having the same problem with the rotating chute.

If YOU have a chipper with a rotating chute LMK your experience.

 

[JRobyn]

My chute rotates (Morbark Busy Beaver 125). It has clogged only when I try to chip large volumes of wet, punky wood. That doesn't really "chip" into nice air-floatable pieces, it is more like wet sawdust. The airflow is just not enough to vigorously blow that out of the chute.

 

[whirly]

JRobyn -

Your chute design is different/better than the WC-8/WM-8 economy chippers.

Wet and/or rotted (punky) wood is always a problem as is large volumes of green leafy vegetation.

 

[ericm979]

My WM-8's chute hasn't clogged yet. Not even when the feed chute is nearly choking on fir tops. I do try to chip wood every once in a while when I'm chipping leafy stuff.

 

[oosik]

I've owned two pto driven Wallenstein chippers - BX42S & BX62S. The ONLY thing I chip is small - 6" butt diameter or less - green Ponderosa pine. The BX42 would tend to clog because the chute would get coated with pine pitch. I've never had a clogging problem with the BX62S. I attribute this to larger tractor with 2X the horse power and a much higher air flow thru the unit. The solution for the clogging of the BX42 was to fall & stack the pines in the spring, as I normally do, and then chip them the following spring. Thereby giving them a year to dry. I use the BX62S now because it will chip 6" trees.

I fell, stack and chip between 750 to 900 of these small pines every spring. This usually represents thinning 15 to 20 stands of young trees. I chip all my pines whole - butt first, limbs and all.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I run my Wallenstein BX62 on a smaller tractor and found that I can't reliably put anything bigger than about 4" through it without making the tractor's internal PTO clutch slip (not a good thing). Although I have managed to jamb up the chipper mechanism with leaves and needles a time or two, I have never yet had a jamb in the discharge chute.

 

[ericm979]

How can you tell the PTO clutch is slipping? Not questioning you, I want to know myself.

It seems to me that the load from a 4" branch shouldn't be enough to make the PTO clutch slip. Could yours be out of adjustment?

 

[JRobyn]

On mine, the fan force is delivered just by two (maybe 4?) pieces of about 3" x 3" angle iron maybe 6" long bolted to the edge of the cutter wheel to make radial vanes. I wonder if adding a couple to yours would fix your issue. It should certainly increase airflow and should consume little of your input power.

 

[oosik]

Having owned and extensively used the Wallenstein BX42S and now the BX62S - I know for a fact that airflow is a MAJOR factor in the discharge chute plugging. The '62 is not only a bigger chipper but has substantially greater air flow. And for reasons that I do not understand - the pine pitch does not "clobber up" the chute on the '62 like it did on the '42.

The pine pitch would get so thick & gooey on the '42 that I would stop every two hours or so and douche it out with diesel fuel and a cotton mop. Otherwise it would be 15 minuets between plug ups. The answer for this problem with the plugging chute on the '42 - stack the felled trees into piles and let them sit and dry for a year.

I got the BX62S for many reasons - it would chip larger trees, higher air flow has meant the chute has never plugged and the larger tractor could easily handle the bigger chipper.

Any pine tree that survives to 6", on the butt, will not be chipped and might even make it to become a large pine - nature willing.

 

[vsteel]

I have never had my woodmaxx tm-86 plug up. Though I can't say I have ever seen as much pitch either as Oosik. My chute stays pretty clean but I do pine, cherry, locus, cottonwood, baswood, and elm so maybe all of my pine pitch gets cleaned out.

 

[747driver]

I only get plugged on my WM-8H when i chip limbs that are green and still have the leaves on it. I usually cut and stack so the trees and limbs can dry out. I pull my JD Gator up below the chute so it can blow the chips into the Gator box that i can dump where i want them. Now...it has been plugging up since i started doing this last week. Usually i just blow the chips farther out onto the ground and scoop up the pile with the FEL. I am thinking that the reason it is plugging up when i use the Gator is that i have the deflector flap more closed so it lets the chips go down into the dump bed. That i would think is slowing down the air flow for the chips to exit ?

 

[oosik]

747driver - your assumption is probably correct. Flap more closed = reduced air flow = reduced ability to move chips. I've never fooled with the adjustable flap on my Wally. Just wide open and let the chips pile up - way out there.

 

[rd_macgregor]

How can you tell the PTO clutch is slipping? Not questioning you, I want to know myself.

It seems to me that the load from a 4" branch shouldn't be enough to make the PTO clutch slip. Could yours be out of adjustment?

When it encounters too big a load, the tractor RPMs drop a bunch, but it doesn't die, nor does the shear pin break. I figure that if the PTO is engaged, but the shaft isn't turning and the tractor is still running, something is slipping.

 

[CincyFlyer]

On mine, the fan force is delivered just by two (maybe 4?) pieces of about 3" x 3" angle iron maybe 6" long bolted to the edge of the cutter wheel to make radial vanes. I wonder if adding a couple to yours would fix your issue. It should certainly increase airflow and should consume little of your input power.

It would likely consume a lot more than you'd think; doubling the air flow will double the power drain. Still worth trying.

 

[747driver]

747driver - your assumption is probably correct. Flap more closed = reduced air flow = reduced ability to move chips. I've never fooled with the adjustable flap on my Wally. Just wide open and let the chips pile up - way out there.

Thanks....will have to put the Gator further away from the chute so i can open the deflector flap more !

 

[ericm979]

When it encounters too big a load, the tractor RPMs drop a bunch, but it doesn't die, nor does the shear pin break. I figure that if the PTO is engaged, but the shaft isn't turning and the tractor is still running, something is slipping.

Whoa, the chipper was stalled and the tractor still running? Could well be the PTO clutch isn't getting enough pressure and is slipping. Or the chipper's belts were slipping but you'd hear and smell that.

The one time I stalled my chipper it stalled the tractor but the shear pin didn't break. I've had the shear pin dissappear but I think the nut backed off and the pin came out as it wasn't under much load at the time. I loctited the replacement.

When I load up the chipper the tractor slows some. Usually a few hundred rpm unless it's a big log, then it'll slow it more. Then I have to stop the feed to let the tractor bring the chipper back up to speed. Every once in a while I wish I'd gotten a few more hp.

 

[oosik]

I've got a Polaris ATP - all terrain pickup. Its an ATV with a small tilt able bed. I tried "shooting" the chips into the bed - kind of a mess. The chips completely covered the ATP. Then I had a brain storm - stood a 4' x 4' chunk of plywood up in the bed - like a backstop. Still had some chips going everywhere but about 80% to 90% landed in the bed.

 

[747driver]

I've got a Polaris ATP - all terrain pickup. Its an ATV with a small tilt able bed. I tried "shooting" the chips into the bed - kind of a mess. The chips completely covered the ATP. Then I had a brain storm - stood a 4' x 4' chunk of plywood up in the bed - like a backstop. Still had some chips going everywhere but about 80% to 90% landed in the bed.

I put higher side boards on 4 sides of the Gator....works great. But from now on i will put a tarp over the cab area to keep the chips and dust out !