home made chipper

[BLIND REF]

Now that is one nice looking chipper Wally!

[maltesefarmer]

thanks

will go the 15 1/2 inch plate on a 2 inch or perhaps thicker shaft and a housing of 16 inches and 12inch or 10 inch long.

the 2 blades and 2 anvils, i am ordering and hopefully paying for will be in malta in few weeks time are 14cm long (5 1/2 inch long) the matching anvils are 11cm long. taking up much of the 15 1/2 plate so i think i will stay with 1 blade and keep an anvil and blade for spare. the blades are double sided.

i have some lathe work booked for the new set of rims/wheels for the kubota when they are sorted i try start on the chipper.

joe

[maltesefarmer]

some more thoughts about the outer casing

i am leaning to the idea of using a U shaped housing round the hammer mill and chipper. exposing the chipper blade too when shredding twigs and straw. the U has to be at a slightly slanting angle. with a hopper that is hinged to the lower end like big industrial chippers so that when chipping i can close it to avoid debris getting out of that point and to have a good access for repairs and maintenance from that side.

as regards to the hammers i was thinking of using 4 inch flatbars that are 2 inches wide and 1/4" thick if not more. would these be ok or i am over ? i am not going to harden them or sharpen them. just leave them blunt
is there a need to get a pourous bronze bush between them and the rod? it would raise the expense but would be ok. further more i could still spray oil in there after every use and avoid the ordeal of buying bushes and preparing holes for them etc.

i was thinking about another use for the shredder.

shredding and bagging of dried sheep poo. . . as it is removed by hand and due to left over grass it dries in lumps and so on. i could break it with the rotovator and have a fine finish but i tought if i design the output to take on bags and clip them i could spade it in and as it shredds it goes in the bag ready for carrying to the trees etc. thoughts?

joe

just realised it is April's fool today . . .about time. . . goes on to tell how worried i am about metal and tools rather than usual social routine . i need a psychiatrist. . . .

[wally2q]

i was thinking of using 4 inch flatbars that are 2 inches wide and 1/4" thick if not more.
that's spot on. the McKissic bars have a hole pre-drilled at both ends, that way, when the edges get dulled after a few seasons of use, you just flip them around to get a fresh blade edge. In fact, doing this, you can use all 4 leading-edges.

not sure what you mean by a bronze brush between them, but there is no brush in my McKissic. just bars, and spacer tubes.

further more i could still spray oil in there after every use and avoid the ordeal of buying bushes and preparing holes for them
no idea what you;re talking about.... the 4" flatbars sit on the rods, spaced out with sections of metal tube. No oil required - they don't rust because they get used frequently enough - like mowing-deck blades.

[maltesefarmer]

i was talking of bronze bushings not brushes (sorry mistype i get carried away with touch typing ) i dont know if i use them so much (january february period and august only) so i might spray oil like i did once to the tiller to keep it from covering in rust.

to aid the shredder area i was thinking of slitting the housing just 3 inches down the circumference from the input side and inserting some flat bar towards the rotor to act as anchors. thinking thinking and more idle thinking

thanks for the input.

joe

[maltesefarmer]

pictures of progress so far.

4 bearing (i guess heavy duty ones for the 2" shaft and 1 1/4" lay shaft) they summed up to around 50+ euros

the big disc (chipper flywheel) in the middle.

the blades that just arrived from UK. (:S very very sharp ) there are also the anvils too. around 60 euros

i also visited the regular metal/machine shop and asked the owner if i could handle the band saw and do the sawing .. i have cut 4"x2"x1/4" pieces 30 of, plus the spacers at 1 inch all of them from scrap pipe that was at home. they have a bore of 20mm all i require is four rods that are 20mm thick to ride in. at the mo i am drilling pilot holes in the flat bars . . .since i dont have a bench drill i am doing it slowly by hand using one of them as a guide/template for the others in a vice.

there is also the splined end that recieves the pto shaft at 9 euros.

in the mean time i am waiting for another machine shop to prepare the two shafts, work includes stepping them down from 50 mm to 40mm to 35mm + key slot and 3" pulley on the flywheel shaft. the lay shaft just needs a key slot cut.

there is also the 8 1/4" pulley that will be used on the lay shaft and the idler pulley that will act as a tensioner on the belt.

should be all at the mo.

joe

my main worry is balancing the whole thing.

[wally2q]

Cool!

[maltesefarmer]

. . . hi wally thanks ... it feels nice at times but. . . i dont know how cool can that be

i am very low about it. . . i love using machinery, i love making, or i love repairing it . . . i used to think i might do contract work with the tiller/baler/chipper and mower that will come soon just to encourage myself to move on in enjoying this silly hobby . but whats the point?


when money is the only relevant thing nowadays. . nobody cares a d+++n F+++ about farming or that kind of life . . . and makes me so empty.... i'd better be out there in some bar and sipping some drink with someone and wasting time away that way.

i am very upset. .

joe

[7sleeper]

Originally Posted by maltesefarmer

. . . hi wally thanks ... it feels nice at times but. . . i dont know how cool can that be

i am very low about it. . . i love using machinery, i love making, or i love repairing it . . . i used to think i might do contract work with the tiller/baler/chipper and mower that will come soon just to encourage myself to move on in enjoying this silly hobby . but whats the point?


when money is the only relevant thing nowadays. . nobody cares a d+++n F+++ about farming or that kind of life . . . and makes me so empty.... i'd better be out there in some bar and sipping some drink with someone and wasting time away that way.

i am very upset. .

joe

Sounds like someone has the blues... Don't worry, it is not criteria of others that count for us it is our own. When we choose, we choose and don't subordinate ourselves to the criteria of a large profitable industry, who tries to tell us what we need to buy to feel good.
Just think about it. Isn't that insane. You have to go out to that certain pub and buy that certain drink and smoke that certain cigar and be with those certain people just to feel good!?!?! I mean I can sit outside in the grass and look at the nature around me and feel just as well, if not even better without spending a single cent! And at the end of the day looking at my work makes me feel even better!

7

[wally2q]

i have a regular job... spend way too much time on it... then I come home and enjoy my hobbies... which are: making stuff, using stuff, using [tractor] stuff to make other stuff like vegetables, and then I enjoy cooking and eating stuff (the vegetables)...
i'm not a farmer, but I like to play with it... it's fun!...

but then again i travel for work, and sit in some bar drinking drinks, thinking "why am I here"... but as soon as I get back home, all that other time is ancient history, and I focus on what I enjoy doing!

gotta make time for what you like, and what you have to do... and they don't have to be the same thing. if they are the same thing, consider yourself very lucky!

[maltesefarmer]

hi,

been a long way on this post/forum and also on the chipper work but got some pictures of recent progress

> had the hammer bars drilled

> had the main shaft machined

>also had discs that hold on the shafts of the hammer mill

> presently working the chipper disc (locating the blade and cutting the slot soon)
i am concerned on where to place the blade - blade edge on the radius? or the centre line of bald on radius?

joseph

[maltesefarmer]

hi again

chipper is 97 % ready gone through its first testing process,

chipped nicely and shredded finely.

need to adapt to top input chute make it slanting towards the output side sort of the mighty mac.

also need to widen the output. compared to the mighty mac i am using only half its output area and it is clogging. so hopefully in the coming weekend should sort them

also need to work a shear pin on its shaft to drive the main pulley as a safety for tractor gearing :O

oh by the way it is too HEAVY!!!!!!!!!!!! but it spins smoothly, the balancing turned out fine i am just proud of that

joseph

[maltesefarmer]

hi

some pictures of the end product. still needs proper testing - tomorrow if weather is warmer and drier

joseph

[wally2q]

that looks really good!

[maltesefarmer]

hi
thanks wally,

still need to get to do some more work on it but it functioned well in clearing pomgrenate tree branches

here is a poor vid of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0cjqEObbkE

cheers
joseph