winch cable gets pulled into chipper

[frashdog]

70 feet up in a white pine, I hear my chipper instantly stop. '96 Bandit 90xp with the 65 hp aircooled wisconsin. I look down and see white smoke shoot out the chute. My stomach drops. Someone, not me, left the free spool open on the winch. I've read stories of chippers getting totaled due to such a thing.

Got out of the tree and opened it up, the blades were still on and really not that bad considering. The hook never made it passed the blades. We found the hook, it got lodged by the anvil and took about a dozen whacks. Those blades are impressive when you compare the shape of the blades versus the steel hook. The cable got wrapped up on the shaft and made a break against the shroud, not the bearings. Took in about 10 feet or so. I started by removing the chute and top disk covers. Cut what cable could be reached with a disk cutter. Pulled out cable with a pry bay and cut it. Some one inside the feed chute with the feed rollers open was pulling loose cable. Once down to the tight winds, a really sharp chisle and good size hammer made progress. Soon the wheel was moving nice and smooth, no side play. Engine started up fine and everthing worked the way it should as we finished up the job.
Totaled a bit over 3 hours back to working, including flipping the blades. We got a new hook on it too, its red.

What a job. I love it.

 

[lawson's tree s]

guy i used to work for had a bandit 1890 and it chipped his winch cable up.i just heard one of his ground men through a branch that had the climbers rope in it it pulled the rope tight while he was in the tree he cut it with his saw . heard it pulled a muscle or two. but he's alright. i always like to wait till im done climbing before the guys start chipping.

 

[pbtree]

:jawdrop:

 

[pbtree]

i always like to wait till im done climbing before the guys start chipping.

Amen to that - the chipper stays off til all are on the ground...

 

[turnkey4099]

Cleared the ?Red Feather? sawmill in Kamiah Idaho back in 1953. I was feeding the chipper from the slash chain coming off the headsaw and trim saws. Chipper stood on 1st floor, I was on second throwing into the chute behind me. A 2'x3' chunk of 1/8" iron from the chute came loose and into the chipper. Everyone up there bailed out. All but one tiny piece from one corner of that sheet when through and landed on the screen in curled up shavings.

Harry K.

 

[frashdog]

Amen to that - the chipper stays off til all are on the ground...

Always?

That's always nice when possible, small trees and /or big yards? With a two man operation, limited lz and staging area for brush, and a huge white pine, ain't going to happen. Would spend more time stacking brush, removing the big wood from the top of the pile, then unstacking a brush pile the size of a garage to chip. About 12yards of chips resulted from this pine.

When we do white pines we try to have all the brush chipped before the climber starts sending logs from the sky on his way down.

Lessons learned, partner thought he bought a chipper. Till I flexed my mechanical prowess and realized how lucky we were.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

What I'll do is carry the tail of my rope in a rope bag, right up the tree, for those times the chipper is close.
The bull rope is also very dangerous to have any where near the chipper.

As for that winch line, I really like rope instead of wire rope or cable.
Perhaps there should be a safety switch that doesn't allow the feed wheel to move while the winch is in free spool.
The real problem is, about the time they make something idiot proof, along comes a bigger idiot.

 

[booboo]

I'm super uptight about my groundies keeping my ropes out of the brush and away from the chipper, it's one of the few things I'll yell about on a job. The thought of my rope going into the chipper with me on the other end puts a knot in my stomach.

 

[kennertree]

Almost had my rope go into the chipper once. It was tangled in a piece of brush and I noticed it so I stated pulling my rope trying to free it up. I was yelling like crazy, didn't do any good, no one could hear me. The groundie watched for a second and instead of reversing the feed wheels he just started pulling the rope. It lacked about a half inch before it would have been pulled in. I was lucky that day.

 

[LarryTheCableGuy]

Efficient but dead?

If that is the case then you guys don't do much serious tree work......or do it inefficiently, at best.

Or does it as safe as possible, "at best".

.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Safe as possible might be to stay home in bed, depending on how safe your home is of course.

You just need to keep the chipper at a safe distance. I have several climbing ropes, and try to use shorter ones. This is easier in the event I need to pull the tail through the tree, and allows the chipper to be closer to the tree I'm in, without the tail reaching the chipper.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I want to add that if you routinely climb with your tail laying around in close proximity to the chipper, it's only a matter of time before it kills you.

 

[Adkpk]

Safe as possible might be to stay home in bed, depending on how safe your home is of course.

:monkey:

 

[beowulf343]

i always like to wait till im done climbing before the guys start chipping.

Hmm, interesting. I guess that's what i've been doing wrong all these years. Now, i just need to figure out where i can stack all that brush till i'm done with the removal.

As for that winch line, I really like rope instead of wire rope or cable.

Ditto!!

 

[Xtra]

I make it a policy for the ground guys to leave the chipper drive wheels in neutral (or reverse) and idled down when not actively feeding the chipper. That way nothing can be sucked in by accident.

 

[Can-Do-It]

Talk about scary. I never thought about my climbing rope ending up in my chipper. I've got a 'chuck and duck' without feed rollers but I guess it could happen. It's not like we don't have enough to worry about.