Good afternoon, on first instincts, the notion sounds silly, but here is my line of thinking. On my kid's farm in Rustenburg, South Africa, the farm is densely wooded with little grass as fodder. So, with the TLB, when pushing over some trees or digging them out with the homemade ripper, it is a challenge to keep the sheep away from the downed tree in order to work. The sheep seem to love these pushed-over trees, as they can now get to the leaves and branches, otherwise out of their reach.
The normal practice is then to cut out the bigger branches and stumps as firewood, the balance is thrown onto a pile and once dry, burnt. This seems very wasteful and since the sheep love the trees, the thinking is: Why not chip this otherwise wasted small branches into small bits, mix it with other feed and some molasses and so utilize the whole tree?
So, the research began on YouTube, and I came across a video by a Russian chap who build such a woodchipper. Powered by a small tractor, this appears to fit the bill perfectly. It in mounted on the hitch, powered by the PTO, mobile and discharge the chips into bags, for distribution. He had offered plans, which seemed the way to go, until I by chance, found a broken woodchipper in a local scrap metal yard. The machine was already halfway cut with a cutting torch but the flywheel with its integrated blades were untouched. The diameter is 650mm or 25 inches with 8 blades, rather than 4 blades at 24 inches, as per the YouTube video.
I added pictures taken from the YouTube video, as rough guidance. So, the planning began and eventually building the frame with 6mm stainless steel plate, I had around. The shaft was drawn up, and I had it custom made from EN19 steel... The build continues....
The normal practice is then to cut out the bigger branches and stumps as firewood, the balance is thrown onto a pile and once dry, burnt. This seems very wasteful and since the sheep love the trees, the thinking is: Why not chip this otherwise wasted small branches into small bits, mix it with other feed and some molasses and so utilize the whole tree?
So, the research began on YouTube, and I came across a video by a Russian chap who build such a woodchipper. Powered by a small tractor, this appears to fit the bill perfectly. It in mounted on the hitch, powered by the PTO, mobile and discharge the chips into bags, for distribution. He had offered plans, which seemed the way to go, until I by chance, found a broken woodchipper in a local scrap metal yard. The machine was already halfway cut with a cutting torch but the flywheel with its integrated blades were untouched. The diameter is 650mm or 25 inches with 8 blades, rather than 4 blades at 24 inches, as per the YouTube video.
I added pictures taken from the YouTube video, as rough guidance. So, the planning began and eventually building the frame with 6mm stainless steel plate, I had around. The shaft was drawn up, and I had it custom made from EN19 steel... The build continues....
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