Chipper shredder CLOGS

[CalG]

I've run substantial amounts of material through a MacKissic 3TPH Chipper shreader over the past 10 years or more.
Lately it has started to clog/choke it's self on fresh stringy branches and vines. The difficulty appears to be located at the discharge opening where the chipped material is transferred to the hammer mill shredder chamber. Of course, that is the only visible port to evaluate the condition. The binding on choked material becomes so severe that the rotor is stopped and the tripple V drive belt just squeals. A pry bar, to reverse the chipper wheel rotation, along with hand removal of the offending material is needed to clear difficulty.

I thought this condition may be due to dulling knives, so I pulled them and restored the sharpness, as I have done on several occaisions previously (I am not unfamiliar with a sharp edge) Setting the anvil gap as well. (pass a dime, stop a nickel)
The machine is an absolute HOG on big wood with sharp knives!
However, this sharpening has not prevented the binding when the brushy hardwood tops are pulled in. Conifir tops and brush is even worse! That really got my frustration up during a clean up session around the place yesterday.

It appears there is room enough for inadequatly processed (chipped) material to collect in the perfery of the rotor chamber. The front cover and support bearing was pulled to facilitate knife removal for sharpening, and it appears that there is as much as 3/8" clearance between the rotor and it's housing.
I browsed a few internet videos showing similar rotory chippers and observed that some versions have small "nubbs" on the rotor perphery, perhaps to clear such material collection.

I'm thinking to add a couple of nubbs to the perphery of the rotor with hard facing rod using my "buzz box" welder. Just to leave a nasty sharp edged "boil" to keep the vegetive matter in a state of agitation.

Pulling the 80# rotor from the main shaft is a real work! I've done it once, and would prefer not to do so again. Though I have thought to mill a pocket, drill and tap for a carbide insert.
My luck would have such effort rewarded with a cut through chamber due to "something" I had not considered.

Anyone got any better ideas? I'm all ears!

 

[mikester]

Solution - Don't chip stringy things like vines and certain shrubs

Even big commercial chippers will get bunged up feeding them too much stringy cr@p

If you have to chip them do only small amounts at a time and slow the infeed rate

 

[oldballs]

CalG.....you have a depth of knowledge about the MacKissic. I have the 1650 model for 16years. Some stringy things just don't shred well. I guess one could feed such material slowly with some dry stuff to go with it. Otherwise it goes into the compost or burn pile.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Captain Dirty]

Solution - Don't chip stringy things like vines and certain shrubs
Even big commercial chippers will get bunged up feeding them too much stringy cr@p
If you have to chip them do only small amounts at a time and slow the infeed rate

Good advice. My chipper-shredder has the knife on the end of the drum that macerates finer stuff. Vines get wrapped around the axle, and wet leaves will clog the chamber enough to stop rotation. I keep a supply of dry sticks to chip when clogging starts; the larger chips seem to scour the wet leaf debris.

When I had innumerable clogs of pliant, springy twigs in the chute of a 4" Wallenstein chipper, and I tired of opening the clamshell, I beat the end of a 3/8" rod flat and filed a harpoon-like-barb so I could pull the jam out. I am not familiar with the MadKissic. The OP description sounds like there is a separate chipping flywheel ahead of the hammer mill. Perhaps OP could fashion some sort of tool to clear jams without disassembly (after stopping the machine, of course). I have used 12" needle-nose pliers to grab parts of the wrapped vines.

 

[stevem5215]

My McKassic also has issues with stringy material. Enough I just throw it on the burn pile instead.

 

[Sonny580]

sounds like it needs some nubs to help move the stuff along. if everything is sharp and set that would be my next try. nothing to lose. I used to weld up the cylinder bars on dads old combine and it made a world of difference on draggin stuff thru.

 

[CalG]

Just to add information.

The material I CHIP is branches of both deciduous and conifers. Fresh cut and from piles usually less than a year old.

The branches have a big end, which I cut to firewood even in small diameters. (Small fires are nice on chilly autumn evenings ;-)

When the stick is reduced to about 2 1/2 inch diameter, I start it into the chipper chute. Sharp knives auto feed aggressively, and often I am required to hold back on the feeding (There is NO mechanical feed mechanism on a Mackissic chipper / shredder)
As the limb is consumed into the chipper, the stick and all it's branches get smaller and smaller in diameter. I try to hold back everything smaller around than my small finger to be dropped into the shredder hopper . I don't have any desire to get hands pulled in through the feed chute.

Shredded limbs are not as useful for garden and landscaping as are straight chips. If I did not intend to USE the processed material, I would burn it. And I have an 8 foot tall pile of that. But then I would need to first seperate the fine stuff (lopper or top handle chian saw) and I do that, then haul those discards over to the burn pile from where ever the tree was topped and the limbs were piled. Additional work!

As stated in the original post, this condition is a RECENT aggrivation. Sure there has always been some "clogging", but recently it's become a bother. Perhaps it is just due to the condition of the recently processed materials. Heck wet material won't pass through the shredder for beans and I only use the most OPEN screen.

What triggered this post is the observation on internet videos that show some type of "tooth" on the chipper flyweel. I did not get any definition of that feature, however.

Posting here, The hope was to get additional insight into what might work if tried.

Not chipping stringy or stick like material solves one issue, but creates another.

Note to add, For gardening applications, the shredder get much more use than the chipper, but chips are chips, and the wife likes them!

 

[Captain Dirty]

My Kemp chipper-shredder has 2 outputs: small (3/8") chips and stringy, various sized shreddings that are mixed together in the chamber. If I want chips alone, I will feed branches to the chipping blade, and instead of feeding the 1/2" and smaller remnants into the shredder hopper, set them aside. Once finished chipping and having collected the chips, I will shred the remnants, obviously requiring more "bend overs."

In the 30+ years I have had the chipper-shredder, the chamber, especially the screen through which products pass, has been well battered with the result that there are larger clearances between moving parts.

The "warts" that you proposed welding on the flywheel rim sound like a possible solution if there is enough clearance. There may be positions allowing you to spot weld the periphery without pulling the flywheel.