Rotating Chipper Chute Clogging?

[whirly]

Does anyone who has a rotating chute on a 3PH chipper similar to the WoodMaxx WM-8, i.e. - any chipper that feeds directly into the flywheel @ 90°, have a problem with the chute clogging?

If so, what do you think the issue is?

Mine clogs when I feed anything over 3".

I just am looking to see if it is just me and my material or if the issue is more wide spread.

 

[jeff9366]

Unfortunately, all chippers that exhaust chips clog.

Gravity drop chippers clog less but require moving the chips or the rig.

 

[whirly]

Unfortunately, all chippers that exhaust chips clog.

Gravity drop chippers clog less but require moving the chips or the rig.

Correct.

However, my old Jinma WC6 chipper with a straight square chute never clogged up unless I ran a bunch of wet Podocarpus needles through it in the 5 years I had it. The new chipper clogs up when chipping relatively dry (nothing really gets dry here) 4" branches which I routinely chipped with the Jinma. Same material Podocarpus and Fiddle Wood. Cut then wait a week or so until the leaves will shake off the branches.

I know what the problem is. Changes were made in the design to facilitate the chute to rotate. Those changes cause the pressure inside the chute to lower then raise again which, if it was just air, would not be a problem. However, the air is transporting suspended particles and the response of those particles to the pressure changes is the problem.

This thread is to see if others with practice experience are having the same problem with the rotating chute.

If YOU have a chipper with a rotating chute LMK your experience.

 

[JRobyn]

My chute rotates (Morbark Busy Beaver 125). It has clogged only when I try to chip large volumes of wet, punky wood. That doesn't really "chip" into nice air-floatable pieces, it is more like wet sawdust. The airflow is just not enough to vigorously blow that out of the chute.

 

[whirly]

JRobyn -

Your chute design is different/better than the WC-8/WM-8 economy chippers.

Wet and/or rotted (punky) wood is always a problem as is large volumes of green leafy vegetation.

 

[ericm979]

My WM-8's chute hasn't clogged yet. Not even when the feed chute is nearly choking on fir tops. I do try to chip wood every once in a while when I'm chipping leafy stuff.

 

[oosik]

I've owned two pto driven Wallenstein chippers - BX42S & BX62S. The ONLY thing I chip is small - 6" butt diameter or less - green Ponderosa pine. The BX42 would tend to clog because the chute would get coated with pine pitch. I've never had a clogging problem with the BX62S. I attribute this to larger tractor with 2X the horse power and a much higher air flow thru the unit. The solution for the clogging of the BX42 was to fall & stack the pines in the spring, as I normally do, and then chip them the following spring. Thereby giving them a year to dry. I use the BX62S now because it will chip 6" trees.

I fell, stack and chip between 750 to 900 of these small pines every spring. This usually represents thinning 15 to 20 stands of young trees. I chip all my pines whole - butt first, limbs and all.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I run my Wallenstein BX62 on a smaller tractor and found that I can't reliably put anything bigger than about 4" through it without making the tractor's internal PTO clutch slip (not a good thing). Although I have managed to jamb up the chipper mechanism with leaves and needles a time or two, I have never yet had a jamb in the discharge chute.

 

[ericm979]

How can you tell the PTO clutch is slipping? Not questioning you, I want to know myself.

It seems to me that the load from a 4" branch shouldn't be enough to make the PTO clutch slip. Could yours be out of adjustment?

 

[JRobyn]

On mine, the fan force is delivered just by two (maybe 4?) pieces of about 3" x 3" angle iron maybe 6" long bolted to the edge of the cutter wheel to make radial vanes. I wonder if adding a couple to yours would fix your issue. It should certainly increase airflow and should consume little of your input power.