Asplundh chipper won't fee and chip

[Crowderfam]

Hello. I bought what the guy says is a late 70s to early 80s Asplundh chipper 12 inch. Experienced friend in the industry says this is a "whisper chipper". I'm told that this is a Ford 9N engine if that helps. There is no information on the machine at all. The guy demoed the chipper and it seemed to chip fine throwing out 50 cent size shavings, but an occasional strip of wood - which he said means that the blades needed changing and sharpened. But it pulled branches in and chipped them pretty good and shot them out 20 feet. Long story short I took it home and put some re-sharpened blades in it that came with it. I'm having trouble though figuring out what is the correct way to put blades in this machine and I have switched them in and out 5 or 6 times now adjusting different stuff. When I put the blades in with the beveled side facing down/out (bevel facing out from the drum) the chipper will not pull and chip regardless of adjustments that we make to the gap and cutting bar height, etc... You pretty much can't even force a branch through. It just digs a few chips out of the end of the branch, hollowing out the end of the branch - but noticeably leaving a lengthy bottom "shard" sticking out. The guy I bought it from insists that the bevel side of the blades is supposed to face in towards the drum - and when we reversed the blades in this manner (as the seller said was correct) the machine cut reasonably well this way for about 1.5 hours and then stopped pulling and chipping again. When we went back in one blade was mostly shattered into 5 or 6 pieces and all four blades had chunks missing from the beveled edge (maybe from where the one blade broke up). Every YouTube video and diagram I have seen seems to indicate that the blades are correctly installed with the bevel down/out and away from the drum (opposite of what the seller says is correct). (1) I critically need to know which way these blades are supposed to go in. (2) It at least chips awhile when the bevel is up/in, facing the drum. Did ANY of these chippers call for that? But it shattered one blade and made the other three useless when we did that. That is the way that the seller says is correct though. 3. If the bevel is supposed to face down/out, why will it not pull the branches in and cut? We are setting the gap at about 1/32nd, but I do notice that the cutter bar does appear to have some rounded edges. But would this prevent even being able to force branches in altogether? Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks! Also does anyone know the best source for parts, knives, etc....?

 

[Matt Coolen]

Any chance you picked up a rock while chipping. Those tool steel blades will not stand up to that, sounds to me like what could have happened. Could have been something in the tree as well. I'm not familiar with those chippers, but have worked on both Bandit and Vermeer, drum and disc style. On both types, the narrowest part of the parallelogram bolts to the drum, does that make sense?
Have a look at this diagram, see if this is how yours looks

 

[Crowderfam]

Any chance you picked up a rock while chipping. Those tool steel blades will not stand up to that, sounds to me like what could have happened. Could have been something in the tree as well. I'm not familiar with those chippers, but have worked on both Bandit and Vermeer, drum and disc style. On both types, the narrowest part of the parallelogram bolts to the drum, does that make sense?
Have a look at this diagram, see if this is how yours looks

Matt thanks so much for your reply. By your diagram the seller is definitely saying that the blades should go in backwards and I had them in backwards. I think that the damage to the three blades may have come when the one blade broke up into pieces. I'm thinking that maybe the adjusters need adjusting out to bring the blades out farther and that the seller didn't know that (or maybe he did). In any case I have a new set of blades ordered and will try adjusting the screws out to bring the blades out a bit farther and put them in correctly (according to what I had read and the diagram you provided) and see what happens. It actually does work with the blades in backwards, but destroyed a blade. He said he has been chipping for 3 years. But although the machine worked well for a day we broke that blade. I'm going to try to get it right. So bottom line is that every chipper you have worked on had the blades in according to the diagram you provided right?

 

[Matt Coolen]

Yes, they would be installed in the same manner, but would looke differently. You need to adjust your anvil, which is in the lower right of the diagram, fig 3. This is what determines chip size, etc.

 

[Crowderfam]

Yes, they would be installed in the same manner, but would looke differently. You need to adjust your anvil, which is in the lower right of the diagram, fig 3. This is what determines chip size, etc.

Thanks again. I could see that at least two edges of the anvil are rounded so I ordered a new anvil a couple days ago. I am hoping that by installing a new anvil, putting new blades in correctly, and adjusting the blades out a bit from the screws that are under the blades and the blocks that lock the blades in, that it will then chip correctly and for longer without need for service. A sign that I don't think that the blades were adjusted properly is that I was 99% maxing out the raising of the anvil (99% raised on one side and fully raised on the other) to get the tiny clearance gap between blades and anvil. Also edge of anvil was worn too so that also maybe affected the gap as well. But also the blades go down into their slot to the beginning of the bevel when put in correctly and in most diagrams (including yours) it clearly shows that they should have maybe 3 mils from bottom of bevel to the slot. Maybe final question. Do you loctite your bolts in? Maybe the medium loctite plus I'm seeing torque most of them to 120? I have impact wrench to get them back out when needed.

 

[Matt Coolen]

I wouldn't suggest loctite, unless you find the threads quite sloppy. Also, when you adjust your anvil, make sure you do not make it super close, a good, simple gauge is the thickness of a dime, almost a nickel. You should be able to slide the dime freely all along the knife/anvil. Check all 4.

 

[Crowderfam]

I wouldn't suggest loctite, unless you find the threads quite sloppy. Also, when you adjust your anvil, make sure you do not make it super close, a good, simple gauge is the thickness of a dime, almost a nickel. You should be able to slide the dime freely all along the knife/anvil. Check all 4.

Thanks so much for the advice!

 

[Matt Coolen]

No problem, hope it all works out well for you!