Building a chipper

[Crofter]

Hydro Axe is one brand. Takes a skidder with lots of horses and a pressurised cab cause its a dirty job. Different flails available from chain to ridgid flails. Watch it from a distance for sure!

Frank

 

[glens]

Somebody posted pictures or links to them of some wicked trimmers for rail lines a while ago, I think here at AS.  Is that what you're talking about OW?

Glen

 

[Reed]

I'm not sure glens, these were engineered in secret not too many days before the Normandy invasion - the task was to rip thru the concertina wire and other barriers to get the infantry up the beach head. They were hit and miss engineering, prototypes went in first and got nailed by artillery. Were mounted on Sherman tanks. We gave them to the British and Canadian landing forces who met with less than what we faced at Omaha Beach but they enabled troops to filtrate up to the pill boxes and take them out.

I've seen some great old machinery at county and private tourist trap museums, old thresher reunions, and historical societies. The railroads made some ominous equipment to blast their way thru the rockies and stuff. Usually when the job was done the equipment went into silent mothballs or was melted down for the needed iron.

Look at the price of a new hydro axe. $500,000 for something effective. Think a beefed-up skidder and some iron surpluse with a welder plus a few hydraulic supplies could replicate it? I do.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

check ebay under brush chippers, its a little far but theres a drum chipper without engine for sale, could be a good start

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=63924&item=3831595116&rd=1

 

[John Stewart]

Originally posted by RockyJSquirrel
And how would you know that you can build a chipper better/ cheaper than what is available on the market when you have not even researched what is available? To automatically assume that you can build a better chipper than the companies that have been doing it for 50 years is amazing. You must have incredible insight to bypass all those years of research and testing, tearing down old units to find the weak areas and improving them, etc. You must be the most gifted manufacturer on earth. So why would you be asking if you already know so much?

Why can't I be as subtle as Justin? He also told you that your idea is crazy, but he did it in such a way as to make you smile and thank him. I'm not subtle, I'll just come out and tell you that you are building an idea on insufficient research. Spend a week or two researching and looking at chippers already on the market, new and used. If you shopped chippers for 2 months and THEN decided to build your own, others here might think your idea a tad bit more plausible.

You are basing your entire idea on looking at one chipper at one dealer, and you admit that you have no idea how a chipper works! I think you might wish to take a fresh look at your proposal and you might see the blindness that we see.

Rocky you kill me sometimes
But you are so bang on!
John

 

[MasterBlaster]

So, how is this homemade chipper coming along?

 

[TimberMcPherson]

A mate spent 4 grand on a new 30hp kohler engine for his 6 inch chippper, man for that money I would have sold him a Suzuki GSXR750 engine which is about 100hp. I wonder how well it would power a small chipper (lots of gears and oil cooled...)

 

[futbalfantic]

http://bedair.org/Projects/chipper2.html