TM-Southern Div Chipper Development

jim1nz

Tree Machine and me have come up with a few ideas of mods on smaller chippers around 6 inch

I reckon if ya got to use chippers big chippers are great, plenty of grunt, powerful hydraulics, they will real in plenty and spit it out fast.

But what if you want a light, maneuverable around by hand, cost effective chipper to chip brush not fire wood then lets put a few things together...here

This is a few ideas TM was kicking around

Onboard splitter, throttle control at the back, adjustable engine cover, third knife in the disc (or four?), flow-control for the infeed speed, what else.... autofeed Plus, vise posts front and back, 14" turf tires, swiveling front caster wheel jack, some other jack mounts to make the chipper jackable and a pull-outable, retractable tarp system for under the back underside of the chipper. Brakes...

Eric Frei

You two really need to stop going to that pub together.

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jim1nz

Na couple more months yet, have to get me VISA sorted , with it was as easy as Aussie! Hey i might cruz over there some time this summer, be able to have a beer then cher

Eric Frei

I think you gotta sign one of those orifice inspection forms to enter the US Jim.

But, we been getting hammered here all night by storms, hail, wind etc ... might be the breaking of the drought?

Any time ya round we'll catch up, glad to here all is good over there, no bikini groundies here mate!

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Tree Machine

I was watching the world news this morning, and saw that Coastal Australia was getting hammered by a tropical doozie. Tornadoes being spawned, all kinds of havoc with power and roads, and trees, lots of tree damage shown. The news really crams a lot into twenty seconds.

I hope you weathered the storm, Ekka.

Yes, this thread could be titled The Personal Industrial Chipper.

Do you mind if I comment on this?

Eric Frei

I was in the centre of that storm, it was bad but not that bad.

I really would like to get one of those scanners the media people have coz I didn't find many downed trees at all, in fact, it was rather dissapointing ... they must tap into the SES or cops or something.

Guys, you gonna need a full blown factory soon, stuff the trees lets build gear.

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shaggs

Onboard splitter, throttle control at the back, adjustable engine cover, third knife in the disc (or four?), flow-control for the infeed speed, what else.... autofeed Plus, vise posts front and back, 14" turf tires, swiveling front caster wheel jack, some other jack mounts to make the chipper jackable and a pull-outable, retractable tarp system for under the back underside of the chipper. Brakes...

make it a four way splitter with small conveyor next to feed chute....hydraulic drive to both wheels so it can drive on its own and pivot on the large jockey wheel (like a zero turn ride on)......esky......have i thought about this too much???

TrevMcRev

Now ya talking

Jeff Darby

And hydraulic self feeding arms,...and a chair to sit on..LOL.. No serious..LOL!

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Tree Machine

I'm liking it so far.

The purpose of this is not a 'concept' chipper. My 6" is 10 years old. I have better than half the features listed above and love them all. A few were part of the build at the factory. A few were welded on or installed here at the northern hemisphere division.

At 10 years old, it's days are numbered, even though its been running like a dream, almost better than new.

Running like a dream, but I feel if I put it in someone elses hands, they could kill it, or if I tried to recruit an Arborist team and we split the chipper betwen ourselves, we would kill it. The little bugger has thousands of hours of brush munching and it's the main pillar on the cleanup side of things, well, between the chipper and the list of firewood people, the backpack blower does the rest. Losing firewood people, or the blower, I can keep working. Having the chipper go defunct, that would drop The Tree Machine, Northern Hemisphere Division, to its knees.

Our goal here is to put together a LEGITIMATE list of features that could be submitted as an order, by any one of us. The problem, with these small chippers is they are generally constructed for the rental industry. They are stripped down, bare bones, but loaded with safety switches, stickers and additional features that contribute nothing to the performance, or ease of maintenence.

Way back before I owned a chipper, I rented all different sizes, and chose the 6". Since then I have operated bigger chippers owned by other operators. Now it's time to order a new one. I plan to order another 6". I've had a decade to mull this over. There must be a reason.

The intent is not to tout the small machine over bigger ones because you could get a bigger chipper with any of the features we'll describe...... except for the smallness that allows you to move and roll the chipper about by hand. That's a feature that truly divides the 6" from the bigger brothers.

If we, collectively, create the 6" Personal Industrial Chipper, a 6" designed for the 1-3 man Arborist team and NOT for the rental yards, we will create a benefit for those looking into a purchase. Generally, the 6" is not even considered by big tree companies, but we're directing at the larger base, companies and men who are small Tree Care Companies, or large companies who would benefit from having a smaller, efficient unit that focusses on certain sectors of their overall work. Face it, who wants to send out the big truck and a 12" chipper to do an ornamental prune job, or finish a cleanup from yesterday's crew?

Tree Machine

My gut instinct is to invite a manufacturer into the discussion. I'll make a call and see if we can summon an authority, someone who can field our questions and suggestions so we're not just mixing it up amongst ourselves.

Eric Frei

Jim

We dont want this place looking like your garage with half finished gear laying around for years and ya Mrs nagging us.

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Tree Machine

Ouch, that hurts, however I'm not going to let this thread derail.

We are talking about the 6" Personal Industrial Chipper.




(and not my garage).

jim1nz

I really think hydraulic feed rollers must have a powerful lift and crush to smash branches up and drag them through

Jeff Darby

Firstly make sure your engine has enough grunt to chip at a production speed maybe up to 60 hp, I allways believe it's better have more than you need then if you need extra it's waiting, Then I would re inforce the impact bed under the anvil.this where they seem to fracture and it's a hassle to fix up in position, I know because I cut our's out and fitted a thicker section, Definately a strong lift and crush,scrap three knives and keep it balanced have four since now we power to run them,hydraulic drive to the wheels would blow the project out of the water but if you have the money make it an option, The pull out tarp a good idea but seriouly how long would last, Fit a winch to it and you can use this to pull it around a yard for position and anything else that comes to mind and provision for a brake device/tag line
so you can manipulate your sections coming down, How many times have you had to bust a gut pulling the sectioned just lowered away from a target below?, Kill switches at all four corners of the machine and more storage room. This is all I can think of at the moment.

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Member: Australian Tree Association

Join the Australian Tree Association...Have your voice heard !

Arboriculture, A life long study for some, a passing phase for others

© Jeffrey J Darby 2011

shaggs

Good hp a must as jay d said. lift and crush. Room for toolbox with proper spares and a spare wheel.
what size infeed 6" x 12" sounds good.
drum or disk....has anyone had any experience with 6" drums?? i have a 6" which is disk that I love as it chews stringy's and fronds perfectly with no wrap ups. the disk is at 90degrees not offset.
have to keep it sizeable to tow with a standard ute.
cheers

soutz

we run an old 6er, but shes a goody, but there are times......

at least 50hp, winch, hand winch attached to front of draw bar...for those little derailments or pulling up a slight bank or mud. wide and i mean wide in feed. often the machine has the grunt but gets stuck with the branches being in fed. floatation tires. gear carrier, we have a sliding draw bar, this is awesome. we have also thought of a hydrostatic control to wheels so no pushing. inflatable groundie compartment, a time to go fishing indicator, low beer alert, surfs up sounder....... heh heh.
oh stainless insert for chute, we have that and nothing sticks in there, wet or not. we can even chip ponga.(treefern)
table for loading with the dingo,must have rollers

hows that

JohN Dee

How do the dual infeed rollers go compared to single rollers on the 6 inches? Vertical or horizontal, which would work better?

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shaggs

john
haven't used dual feed rollers on our six inch (single), but have used them heaps on the bandit 250xp. works great, heaps of crushing and pulling power. they are horizontal. haven't had much to do with vertical feed rollers, but maybe arg could tell us. he seems to have a few of them?

Eric Frei

Having fed both I find the vertical rollers like the Vermeer easier to feed.

Downside is no lift and crush.

With vertical rollers when you get a piece that's coming into the hopper at an angle it's a lot easier to get the butt end to catch on a roller and the roller just rotates it to the centre and thru, much easier to feed.

With horizontal rollers like Bandit has you dont get that benefit.

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TrevMcRev

Ive ran bandit & vermeer. The vert rollers on the vermeer are by far the easiest to take material. You dont need lift & crush as a result. When i demo'd a larger bandit what i realised is you virtually need a man on the liftncrush the whole time while others feed it to get the best out of it. Buggered if i'm gonna pay an extra bloke just because of inferior equipment design.

I'd like to see how dual vert rollers would work on a 6inch.

I reckon a mini BC1800 would be awesome.

So basically, a 6" drum chipper with dual vertical feed rollers.
Then instead of fixed on a trailer, make it on tracks.
Leave it on the trailer wherever suitable, but when close access to a tree in a backyard with mulch staying onsite, just unload n drive it right on in.

Ace Master

Rollers which way?
have used bandit,vermeer,rayco,chipstar,telcore,woodsman,chipmaster,rivett,disc and drum,they all have good points, but all chipper perform well when new........!
i think you need strong pulling power which crushes the branches when pulling in and 2 rollers.A big winch that rotates 360 deg and a big powerful motor and get rid of the electric switchers, the dust and vibrations kill the switchers, thicker steel in the shoots,surprised how the timber wears away at the steel but all of this adds to the weight and size.(The Tank Chipper)
Have seen a chipper with horizontal rollers that was coned towards the centre of the rollers it had lift and crush,don't see it chipping but thought it was a good idea.might paid to look into it ? best of both worlds i think.

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Eric Frei

Oh one other thing ....


Man, like what branch doesn't have a fork or knob that's gonna bump that! Let alone me banging it with the kanga.

Oh, that's another point, the protruding winch thingo over the feed tray, make it so it can swing out of the bloody way so I can load with kanga/bobcat!

And hey, no stupid lights where branches break and poke them like ABOVE THE FEED TRAY!

There ya go ARG, that's why they're always busted!

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Tree Machine

You guys are amazing. I knew we could get some excellent suggestions, and we have.

We'll have to sort through and choose what's do-able. Bandit may not be interested in a major redesign. When I asked for a special options list when I ordered mine (1997) they were very accomodating.


Some time later, after having been suprisingly thrilled with the machine, I began installing options, not expensive things, just conveniences. These would serve immediate benefit and foster thought toward other conveniences that would make the chipper even more of a pleasure to live with day to day.

There was a point where I went to Bandit, actually went there to the factory, multiple times over the course of a year to develop what it is we're talking about here in this thread. The goal was to bring our community a small chipper that will offer big results and advantages in spite of it's compact size.

Results in places other than specifically chipping. Those are then 'options' we are talking about. Bandit really seemed to have the chipping aspect down tight on the 6" model, but a series of features is needed to seperate the rental yard units from the units that Arborist-owners would have and use every working day.

I'm very glad we have some small-chipper owners piping in. Keep it coming and I'll collect a working list.

Bandit has been called. They know this thread exists and I offered an invitation for them to step in and be part of this discussion.

Eric Frei

I'm working on Bandit here in Sydney too, but for other things.

I tell ya, when it comes to the internet most Aussie businesses are way behind and their internet knowledge is woeful. To think that there's even arb shops who dont have a website in this day and age is frightening!

They want to sell product to us arborists but they dont participate in the community ... and that is free.

Being involved, sharing and caring will open doors.

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jim1nz

Aussies know their chippers alright! Yea really good stuff and the experience with different machines shared is great.

Anyone used a side feed chipper, what are they like? I have seen one here but not working.

shaggs

hi jim
can't say i have used a side feed chipper. although a local guy has an old 1230? vermeer with with the chipper rotating on the chassis. it looks handy as he can park it on the street but feed from the driveway. no working on the road. i'm not sure if it was standard, an option or aftermarket.
bandit have their chipper/box combo with the chipper rotating as well.

TrevMcRev

I fed 1 once many years ago. It was hired in for the day. Absolutely ridiculous machine. Useless. It was a chipstar i think. Fully enclosed, ex council machine.

Would have been quiker to stack branches on a trailer.

Tree Machine

That's one of the beauties of the 6" model. You uncouple, swing the machine 90 degrees one way, rotate the discharge chute back 90 degrees the other way to the truck. I do this all the time. It's either rotate the machine once, or turn every single limb.

I find this most useful in certain driveways lined with a fence. Back in, turn the machine so the infeed pan faces the open gate instead of you and the brush coming through the gate, and then turning all the brush a quarter turn to feed it. Side-feed machine, no need for a turntable, plus it allows you to pass between the chipper and the back of the truck without having to repetitively step over the tongue. Significant on jobs where you're parked for extended periods.

It's a small chipper. You need to extract all the benefits it has to offer in terms of efficiency to make up for the diminished capacity. Pointing the infeed at the drop zone can save significant effort in some instances.

I can't express enough, the importance of the front rolling caster wheel jack. It was one of my first modifications, one that I use just about every day. It's one of those features that's uniquely 6" as any bigger chipper is too heavy to move about by hand. This was the primary reason I chose a 6" model.

Here's a couple random images from a number of years ago expressing that.

Tree Machine

That's one of the beauties of the 6" model. You uncouple, swing the machine 90 (or more) degrees one way, rotate the discharge chute back the other way to the truck. I do this all the time. It's either rotate the machine once, or turn every single limb.

I find this most useful in certain driveways lined with a fence. Back in, turn the machine so the infeed pan faces the open gate instead of you and the brush coming through the gate, and then turning all the brush a quarter turn to feed it. Side-feed machine, no need for a turntable, plus it allows you to pass between the chipper and the back of the truck without having to repetitively step over the tongue. Significant on jobs where you're parked for extended periods.

It's a small chipper. You need to extract all the benefits it has to offer in terms of efficiency to make up for the diminished capacity. Pointing the infeed at the drop zone can save significant effort in some instances.

I can't express enough, the importance of the front rolling caster wheel jack. It was one of my first modifications, one that I use just about every day. It's one of those features that's uniquely 6" as any bigger chipper is too heavy to move about by hand. This was the primary reason I chose a 6" model.

Here's a couple random images from a number of years ago expressing that.

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