'85 Whisper Chipper, new bearings and gapped but still not feeding well

[hellpcangel911]

Hi All,
I've been going through the forums while rebuilding a recently purchased 12" drum Asplundh whisper chipper. I picked it up last year and it worked well, but often would have to throw the same branch in a few times to get it to disappear. I used it around the farm quite a bit but at one point I was just getting too frustrated having to keep putting the same branch in before it would chip part of it, then again...and again.
Based on the research here I figured it was the knives or the gap. One bearing was howling so I decided to replace both and start from scratch.
I got the new bearings in, and set the cutter bar 7/32" from the rotor. Then I installed the blades to be about .030 from the bar. After I torqued everything down I found the gap between the knife and bar was .026 so I moved the cutter bar down to get .028 which from other posts on here makes for an aggressive cut. I am the only one that uses this machine and its just for our property so if it doesnt get much use.
After all that work I fired it up in anticipation and it was disappointing to see some improvement but not much. The chips are about half the size of what they were before, the Ford 300 doesnt bog down at all as it ripped some 5" red oak, but it also only got through half of the 7' long bare branch.

What did I do wrong? I flipped the cutter bar to a new side, the blades all looked good and quite sharp (they were replaced a while before I bought the machine), a few little nicks but all and all a good edge.

I'd like to get it to the point where i can toss the branch in and it disappears while i go get the next one...chuck and duck. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
George

 

[hellpcangel911]

added some photos to better illustrate the chips im getting. Any help?

 

[hellpcangel911]

bump for help?

 

[agvg]

Sure you have the right angle on the blades? If the angle is wrong it will not feed it self.

Sent fra min Nexus 5X via Tapatalk

 

[nk14zp]

Knives sharp? Dull knives are worse than a dull chain.

 

[hellpcangel911]

Unfortunately, yes. they have a 40 degree face. But good question. They havent been resharpened since they were bought new and seen little use. I'm seeing like $140 to buy new ones from Baileys which is about what it would cost to sharpen these locally. I might just buy new ones and rule that out.
Is there anything else to check?

 

[hellpcangel911]

knives are sharp, not enough to shave hairs but no burrs or chips, comes to a fine edge.

 

[agvg]

If they are sharp and still doesn't feed I would have checked that the angle you have is correct for the chipper.

Sent fra min Nexus 5X via Tapatalk

 

[nk14zp]

This help any?
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/asplundh-chipper-knive-gaps.75791/

 

[nk14zp]

knives are sharp, not enough to shave hairs but no burrs or chips, comes to a fine edge.

In a disk chipper you want them sharp enough to shave if you are selling high grade chips. Not sure on a drum.

 

[nk14zp]

Unfortunately, yes. they have a 40 degree face. But good question. They havent been resharpened since they were bought new and seen little use. I'm seeing like $140 to buy new ones from Baileys which is about what it would cost to sharpen these locally. I might just buy new ones and rule that out.
Is there anything else to check?

You car sharpen your own with a drill press.

 

[hellpcangel911]

nk14zp, thanks for the link, that was actually the thread I found before that led me to leave it as a .028 gap even though the manual calls for .030-.035
can you elaborate on how to sharpen them on the drill press? where would you recommend getting a new set?

 

[nk14zp]

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/grind-your-own-knives/

 

[nk14zp]

The critical part is the angle the knife is ground to for it to self feed.

 

[hellpcangel911]

Pulled the blades and dropped them off for a sharpening...

 

[Diy mechanic mike]

I was having a similar deal with my 12" drum whisper chipper as well... my knifes seemed sharp as well but had some Knicks hear and there and well i took them to a trusty amish metal worker guy i know and his 12 yr old son got them sharpened for me for 20bucks a knife and i put them back on flipped cutter bar to last good edge and set knifes with a business card on each side in between knife and bar. My chipper is back to chuck n duck stage as long as u have rpm set about 2kish it will eat 5" logs 6' long anything longer that diameter and the engine slows down by about 6' mark and will usually spit the rest of log back out of chipper mouth to ground for another munchie session lol. But where did you source your bearings from i havnt had to change mine yet but would like to get a set before i need them and before they become exstinct cuz it appears apslundh equiptment parts are like finding a dinosour bone. Not impossible but you gotta really dig deep in your search. And fyi keep your clutch in good shape you dont wanna have to replace the pto gizmos in there for it cuz i had to due to previous owner neglect and well the new pto parts cost me 900bucks and about 3 months of time searching for them..

 

[hellpcangel911]

Hey Mike,
I got the knives sharpened (took about two weeks for them to finally get to them after I dropped them off). I set them in and did about a .030 thickness, maybe even a little less. And we are back in business - same as you said, anything longer than about 8' and 6" thick will bog it down. I'm using the chips around my house so I like the smaller size, but if I was using it to clear branches in bulk or professionally I would have set them to .032 to get larger, faster chips and being easier on the motor.
I actually bought the bearings off Amazon, they showed up and they were the right size, but missing the metal shield. I ended up sourcing the correct ones on eBay for $310 for the pair. Found new old stock belts for $60 for the 4 as well.
The bearings were SKF 6316 2RS1/C3 Deep Groove Ball Bearings the 2rs1 is the metal sheilds on both sides and the C3 is the grease they are packed with. There are other variations including one that has a wider heat range, but I wasnt about to spend $450 per bearing...
Not only does she chuck and duck now but she also whispers. I just have to figure out a new exhaust as the original one rusted out so its just a 4" header sticking out. Any suggestions on that?

A note on getting the fly wheel off....WOW. I used chains to secure a 30 ton bottle jack against the fly wheel to pump against the shaft. Heated the hell out of it then as it cooled it went POP. I also welded up a bracket to be able to move the massive weight away. If anyone wants to buy it let me know...will trade for an exhaust...

 

[lone wolf]

Th

Unfortunately, yes. they have a 40 degree face. But good question. They havent been resharpened since they were bought new and seen little use. I'm seeing like $140 to buy new ones from Baileys which is about what it would cost to sharpen these locally. I might just buy new ones and rule that out.
Is there anything else to check?

Could be it!

 

[Diy mechanic mike]

Here is my whisperer take note on how that exhaust runs. I hope mine last a while. Now my manifold is in pretty rough shape, not sure if ill even be able to take it off cuz of how rusty it is. I did have a exhaust gasket rust out on the end of manigold where exhaust bolt on but bolts are so rusted i just used some woodstove gasket mortar/cement 2000° rated and sealed the busted gasket and she is back to whispering lol so keep that trick in mind for all your exhaust leaks that bug your ears.

 

[Diy mechanic mike]

And btw that bead of woodstove mortar has been on there for 2 years now and hasnt cracked yet from vibration so i think it was a great cheat code haha