Chipper Advice on PTO Chipper

[Jofang]

Bucket forks are very useful additions. Mine are 32 inches long (80cm), which I made myself from 4 inch steel channel. They fit a european pallet perfectly but you do lose a lot of lifting power with such an extension. I find them very useful for moving piles of branches around the forest after trimming fallen trees.

 

[norshud]

N80, As an owner of a WC88 and a HM130MAX stationary site setup with 23 feet of cutting capacity (2 extra bed section) you made a wise choice in Woodland Mills. I also have the blade Sharpener from them. The WC88 amazes me every time I use it. I also use a handheld V type sharpener to to pull across my WC88 chipper knifes periodically. I have never flipped them to the other side yet doing this. With the HM130MAX we lost the first two blades because they came off. The factory blade torque belvel washer setting from WM is not exact. It was too tight flush as prescribed. I now use a torque wrench set to 23 foot lbs and we have adjusted our follower wheel tracking a little and never had another problem. WM even replaced my two trashed blades after discussing my problem with them and they suggested that I use a torque wrench. No sound as disheartening as hearing a metal blade come off and trash itself before cutting wood. I call that a rocky start but now I am loving every day with my HM130MAX sawmill. I started with an Alaskan chainsaw mill and now I use it to process the large logs to get them on the 30 inch limit of the sawmill. Here is a link to the knife sharpener I use on my chipper blades in place on the disk. Takes about 10 minutes to do and really helps them stay sharp. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051OYT2U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[N80]

@norshud . The manual on the mill now suggests using the torque wrench as the preferred method and to only use the belville washer system if you've calibrated and shimmed them based on the proper torque spec. What I'd heard was the original belville washer system worked well but later down the road they had to get a different manufacturer and they didn't have the same properties.

After watching tons of videos it looks like the initial setup/ learning curve can be steep. Hopefully

Thanks for the link to the blade sharpener. Looks handy.

 

[N80]

Bucket forks are very useful additions. Mine are 32 inches long (80cm), which I made myself from 4 inch steel channel. They fit a european pallet perfectly but you do lose a lot of lifting power with such an extension. I find them very useful for moving piles of branches around the forest after trimming fallen trees.

They are indeed handy moving brush around. And they'll be great for loading the saw mill.

 

[norshud]

N80, The learning curve is steep, but worth it. My mill has 24 leveling feet and until I purchased a self leveling green laser the setup was difficult with string. Not as bad with a 12 inch square sitting on the bunk to read the laser line from side to side. I messed with the magnetic scales for a while. Now I setup my blade under tension 3 inches off the bunk and then slid my yellow actual scale to 3 inches to match the actual inches off the bunk to the blade. I then took a sharpie and marked the position of scale to the metal guide it resides in so I can easily move back to "actual inches off the bunk". I took both sets of back log stops and started with the long diagonal cut ones measuring from the peak (top) and labeled them 1 - 9 inches down with lines. That way when I set my log stops at say 6 inches I use a small magnet (one of the hook magnets I had around) I put that on 6.5 inches on my yellow scale. That way when I get carried away making board and get close to my log stop settings I get close to my magnet hook as an indicator on my scale. This will stop you from sawing your backstops unless you run over your magnet with your scale pointer. Another pointer is if you are trying to make exact boards buy you a 6 inch small square. If you are trying to make an exact 3 inch slab you can preset your square to 3 inches and lock it (reverse the way it comes so it reads inches from the bottom) set it on the top of the cant and raise your blade to touch the square. Most precision way I have encountered to insure an exact cut. Also I always go below my target lowering my blade and raise up to insure the mill has settled in the down stroke. Here is a link to the square I use to insure precise cut boards from the top of the blade to the level of the cant. It also shows you the level of the cant. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XUHI98/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[N80]

Great pointers, thanks. Mine is on a trailer. I understand that initial set up is difficult but that once done the trailer is pretty rigid. We will see. Fortunately my son-in-law is a surveyor. He has a good mind for this stuff!

 

[bdhsfz6]

A few years ago, my father in law got several loads of chips from a commercial tree trimming company. He spread them around a half acre of pine seedlings. Within a year, the area was covered with vines and unwanted weeds, including poison ivy. In addition, a few of the seedlings contracted a fungus which eventually killed them. It was a failed experiment at best.

Lesson learned. You just don't know where these chips came from and what seeds & diseases they contain.

The same problem can occur when making your own chips. Make sure the material you feed into your chipper is "clean".

 

[oosik]

Just a thought. N80 says he wants mulch. My Wallenstein chipper and most others produce chips. Not mulch. The chip size varies - based upon how dry the trees are. From - 1"x2" to 1 1/2" x 2 1/2".

 

[plowhog]

Mine is on a trailer. I understand that initial set up is difficult but that once done the trailer is pretty rigid.

It took two of us longer than a weekend to assemble my sawmill and trailer. But I could now do a 2nd one in half the time, of course. I installed the trailer tongue but I intend to remove it-- to prevent someone from towing my sawmill away.

Remember-- the bed needs to be flat, not necessarily level. (Although level is good.) If it's a little out of level, that's just an upslope/downslope thing that won't affect cutting accuracy. But the bed must be flat to accurately cut boards.

Finally, avoid the rookie mistake I did. Silly me, I cut 2x6 lumber at ... 2 inch by 6 inch. You want to add a little for shrinkage as it dries-- so cut at maybe 2 1/8 by 6 1/8.

 

[plowhog]

You just don't know where these chips came from and what seeds & diseases they contain.

I have some pine trees with gall rust. I was advised to cut them down and burn them. Chipping them would only propagate the disease further ...