PTO driven chipper shredders

[Wheyibuggermair]

Need one for the winter months as I have a lot of trees to cut back, looking at one of these, http://farm.autotrader.co.uk/used-f...orestry-and-hedging/subcategory/wood-chippers
Anybody know if they are any good? need to shred/ chip stuff from lightweight branches to up to about three inches ( owt bigger goes into the log pile)

 

[Lincs Lass]

One of our tree surgens uses one but his will take up to 8inches ,makes mince meat of anything

 

[Lincs Lass]

Make a big pile of chippings and sell it as garden mulch ,,soon get your money back

 

[Goweresque]

Forget a chipper, get a decent muck fork and grab for the telehandler or tractor loader and push the brushwood up into piles and burn it. You'll clear more brushwood in an hour than you can feed through a chipper in a day, and you'll have burnt a lot less diesel as well.

I've been clearing overgrown hedges on my place for the last 5 winters and the first year I chipped all the brushwood after the firewood had been taken out, it took ages. Then I got a grab for my muck fork and that was a revelation - the fork on its own was ok-ish, but you couldn't carry that much, and it dropped material everywhere, with the grab you could squeeze some serious amounts of brushwood, and carry it without dropping it all. Plus chipping it during the winter means driving around at the wettest time of year, making a right mess. I leave it to the spring, wait til the ground is dry enough to drive on without cutting up, but the grass hasn't started to grow, and then its bonfire city!

 

[Goweresque]

Just looked at the link, avoid that like the plague, there's no roller feed, you have to push everything in by hand, it would be 2 or 3 times slower than a roller feed model. There's a reason its done no work - the owner never had enough time to ever get it to do much!

Incidentally, if anyone is looking for a decent PTO chipper there's one in a retirement sale local to me on the 18th Sept:

http://www.voycepullin.co.uk/salesandmarkets/documents/VJVinesCardCatalogue.pdf

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

Just looked at the link, avoid that like the plague, there's no roller feed, you have to push everything in by hand, it would be 2 or 3 times slower than a roller feed model. There's a reason its done no work - the owner never had enough time to ever get it to do much!

Incidentally, if anyone is looking for a decent PTO chipper there's one in a retirement sale local to me on the 18th Sept:

http://www.voycepullin.co.uk/salesandmarkets/documents/VJVinesCardCatalogue.pdf

But if I have the time and inclination to do it by hand, will it produce decent chippings?
I have a lot of 'died back' larch it want to chip for the log burner.

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

Make a big pile of chippings and sell it as garden mulch ,,soon get your money back

What I don't burn on the log burner at home will be used as mulch on me own bit.
It's what I like about this place, sound advice and different alternatives, saved me quite a few bob in the short time I have been here.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

I've got a Linddana TP230 PTO chipper - nicknamed "the great dane" as it will eat most anything.

Still nothing beats a good spark up...most satisfying!

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

I've got a Linddana TP230 PTO chipper - nicknamed "the great dane" as it will eat most anything.

Still nothing beats a good spark up...most satisfying!

View attachment 204112

Aye, but the only stuff I will burn in the open is stuff that can't be recycled or put in me log store.
Just had a quick squint at the prices for your kit, might be the whisky that has me eyes watering?

 

[Goweresque]

But if I have the time and inclination to do it by hand, will it produce decent chippings?
I have a lot of 'died back' larch it want to chip for the log burner.

The actual chipping mechanism will be the same as a roller feed machine, so if you can get the wood in it should make decent chips.

The problem is that you will struggle to get anything but the straightest branches into the chipper - anything a bit crooked, or with sticking out side branches will have to be manually forced into the opening, breaking all the side bits by hand. A roller feed snaps off side branches as it drags the wood in, plus is reversible, so if something gets jammed, you just reverse the rollers, and represent the branch at a different angle and in it goes. On that machine you'd have to stop the tractor and put your arm in the chute to free things up, which is far from ideal

Seriously, if you have any amount of stuff to chip, don't get a manual feed chipper, you'll be p*ssed off with it inside 10 minutes.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Aye, but the only stuff I will burn in the open is stuff that can't be recycled or put in me log store.
Just had a quick squint at the prices for your kit, might be the whisky that has me eyes watering?

I've got several ton of stuff waiting to be done, hopefully get a chance later in the week to clear it through the chipper. Might be able to get a video up of it going. The feed in rollers do all the work once you've lifted the branch into the hopper. Stress feed system automatically slows or speeds up the rollers to suit load going in, so it doesn't bring the tractor to its knees. Reverse out if necessary.

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

The actual chipping mechanism will be the same as a roller feed machine, so if you can get the wood in it should make decent chips.

The problem is that you will struggle to get anything but the straightest branches into the chipper - anything a bit crooked, or with sticking out side branches will have to be manually forced into the opening, breaking all the side bits by hand. A roller feed snaps off side branches as it drags the wood in, plus is reversible, so if something gets jammed, you just reverse the rollers, and represent the branch at a different angle and in it goes. On that machine you'd have to stop the tractor and put your arm in the chute to free things up, which is far from ideal

Seriously, if you have any amount of stuff to chip, don't get a manual feed chipper, you'll be p*ssed off with it inside 10 minutes.

Ta, like I have said elsewhere I appreciate the advice, the price I have been quoted for the kit in the advert is around 2k delivered, the problem I have, is that, we own and manage 40 acres of mixed woodland and meadow, and anything We spend on the bugger comes out of our own pockets, we have no access to grants or subsidies ( though we get capital relief on agricultural machinery, but none on personal transport vehicles, as a care provider I can't really make much sense of that)
But basically anything we buy has to pay for itself, my recent enquires re; post knockers, weights, etc led me to look at alternatives and saved me a packet( thanks to all for your advice)
So here I am again, though trawling through aborist sites suggests a small petrol engined machine would be more cost effective? On the negative side, the problem of them being very mobile and therefore very attractive to the pikey community is also highlighted,

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

^^^

Best to hire one and see how you get on. You will learn a lot more first hand that way and what does and doesn't work for you in your situation. You don't of course need Heizohack price/quality necessarily but I'd steer clear of the bargain basement chinese shite too.

Horses for courses.

 

[Goweresque]

There was a similar thread a while back, where the same issues were discussed:

http://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/pto-chipper.35220/

 

[renewablejohn]

But if I have the time and inclination to do it by hand, will it produce decent chippings?
I have a lot of 'died back' larch it want to chip for the log burner.

Wood chip on the log burner always good for a laugh. Chip smothers the fire gases build up suddenly ignites and k boom you have your home made bomb.

As for chipper I doubt whether it will comply with current regulations hence the reason its cheap and unused. For biomass you need a specialist chipper with a screen to meet the boiler manufacturers specification normal chippers produce to many shards which jam the auger and can cause bridgeing in the hopper. If your going to burn on a log burner you would be far better looking at a branch logger rather than a chipper.

 

[Alf]

make sure it's got roller feed and anti stress . You will wish you bought one with anti stress if you dont

 

[exmoor dave]

Got a 4" capacity chipper for sale........ but no feed rollers! Hence selling as it's much easier to just burn stuff we don't log up.


Chipping stuff is rediculously fun but not as fun as a good fire