Chipper - pig in a poke?

[pantheraba]

Good tips, Kirk, on feeding the beast...and on metal fatigue, AL. Alex has alrlealdy welded some places...we'll see how they do.

Crazy, Tucker, on the tire going bye-bye...that happened to my son in his 1967 Bronco a few years back...the tire passed him on driver's side, crossed incoming traffic, went down a hill, thru a parking lot at a park, hit a dirt bank in a field and went airborne and got lost in a 3 acre patch of kudzu. I looked for hours and never did find the thing.

A few months later it happened again..axle broke this time. We found an old crack in the axle that must have happened when the first wheel got fed to the kudzu...replacing the axle took care of that madness.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

I don't think that I mentioned, I don't mind feeding my chuck and duck at all, and I duck, while wearing my ear muffs and face screen. I always chip with long sleeves, so as not to get scratched to heck dragging/ feeding big limbs.

 

[NeTree]

Like I said, if you set the knives properly, they aren't bad to feed at all. But you shouldn't be standing there watching any machine, anyways. Throw the brush in, and be on your way to grab more.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'll usually do a rotating pivot to put my back to the brush. I always forearm block my face.

 

[pantheraba]

OK, I might officially need some help. I found out today (it has taken weeks to get this far with Vermeer) that my chipper is a BC1200...it was one of the prototypes Vermeer made (the local Vermeer dealer has been talking to Vermeer in Iowa...as have I). It was built on a 16" frame, like the 1600's but scaled down to a 12" feed and drum. Apparently there are not any anvils (bed knives is another term) available from Vermeer. They only have 16" anvils.

Anybody have any ideas where to get one (or several if I can find them)?

If I can't find one I'll have to get one fabricated (chipper needs four anvils, only has three).

The knives I can find but the bed knife is tough so far.

 

[lumberjack]

Just get a piece of mild steel cut to the proper size and drill the holes. I'm sure hardened steel would last longer, but a piece of 2" flat bar of the proper thickness should be nearly free. A piece of T1 or AR400 would be better (harder/ longer life) but it may require more looking. How thick is the bed knife/ anvil?

ETA: Wait, do these hold the blade to the drum and control chip length/ size, or do they mount to the floor of the throat? Saying you need 4 leads me to think it's the former rather than the latter.

 

[pantheraba]

They hold the blade to the drum...Alex actually removed that one (the other two have to be heated to get them off) but they are on the drum. I think you must use them to squeeze the blades down to control the depth of the cutting surface.

I am pretty sure the thickness is 3/8 inch. I figure they need to be a pretty tough steel, probably grade 8 bolts, too?

 

[lumberjack]

I would agree on the gr 8 bolts, but without seeing how it mounts I don't know if it's under that much stress. I would think regular mild should be fine.

 

[pantheraba]

I'll check with Alex...he did the hands-on and will have a good feel for it. Thanks for chiming in. BED time for me, mister.

 

[bonner1040]

Wait. I run a BC1200 at work. It has 4 knives. 1 anvil/bedknife. And its a disc chipper not a drum. in your pics above (post 55) I see 2 chipper knives and 1 bed knife.

Our BC1200 looks like this:

 

[pantheraba]

They told me my chipper is one of only a few (maybe the only?) prototype...Per Josh at Vermeer Corporate, we have a BC1200 (older) model...probably ser. no. 109 or 122 (eventually found I have SN 122). There were only 262 BC1200's made and only two sold in GA. SN 109 was sold to Trescon Corp. in Smyrna, GA SN 122 was sold to Browns Tree Svc. in Dublin, GA Somehow a Dublin, GA, chipper made it to Douglasville (Dublin is 3 hours away in the boonies of middle GA)

He said the 1200 type we have was eventually modified into the BC1220 which uses a 14" knife. So it seems we have a drum chipper, 12" feed/throat/drum that needs at least one bed knife. Our 1200 was built on a 16" frame is what I was told. If the drum ever goes bad I'll have to change to a 16" drum (and modify lots of stuff).

I think I might have a pig in a poke.

And there you go. It would be great if there was an old derelict BC1200 like mine sitting around that I could buy for parts.

There are a lot of pictures at the link below if you want to take the time to look:

http://garylayton.smugmug.com/Tree-stuff/Tree-chipper/20848825_T2HZt4#!i=1676051393&k=q9FcPK8

 

[stehansen]

It looks like a fun project. Carl we used to sometimes use stuff we called "plow steel". Stronger than mild steel but still able to drill holes in it without much trouble. I remember the ends of the pieces were painted red.

 

[Al Smith]

An option could also be 4140 steel which in pre heat treat or annealed is pretty tough stuff but can still be drilled with a good quality high speed drill bit if it's sharp .


You'll want to "step drill " it .In other words start with a smaller drill bit then progressively increase the drill size using several sizes until the final diameter is reached .

The bottom knife,bed plate or whatever you want to call can be refurbished usually by having it surface ground .


When you reassemble the thing it's not a bad idea to install new cap screws and "never seeze" them if you ever want to remove them again .The juice in the tree sap especially oak will react with the high carbon steel content of the cap screws and make them very difficult if not impossible to remove if some type anti galling compound is not used .

They are a bitch to drill out ,that I can tell you from experiance .

 

[pantheraba]

Thanks for the tips on the metal and anit-sieze. There are two anvils now that have to be heated to get them out.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Check into the size of some steels stakes for concrete forms. They are flat stock, look to be about the right size.... pretty cheap at the lumber yard. I use them for repairs around here as I don't have many options for buying steel up here. I don't know the hardness, but they are pretty sturdy. The skids I use them for on the DR last at least a couple of years drug on the ground.

 

[NeTree]

Thanks for the tips on the metal and anit-sieze. There are two anvils now that have to be heated to get them out.

Huh? Did you mean two drum knives?

 

[pantheraba]

I took pictures to explain...I'll DL them soon.

 

[pantheraba]

So it seems my prototype chipper (per Vermeer) is a bit of a pig in a poke. No anvils/bed knives are available. I had the machine shop next door use the one good anvil as a guide and we now have a full set of four. The knife blades came in yesterday so we are ready to assemble and try it out.

Alex ran the unit with no knife apparati recently and it was very smooth; so we expect it to be smooth with the new anvils and knives, too. Update soon I hope.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Good move on the machine shop

 

[MasterBlaster]

That's some crappy news. Lordy...

 

[pantheraba]

OK...my original chipper IS a pig in a poke.

Last year my brother in law borrowed it...he's good with machinery so I didn't mind loaning it to him. He noticed the drum bearing starting to glow as the sun set and shut down the chipper. Alex and I started the process of replacing them and decided it was not something we wanted to get into. I took it to Vermeer a few weeks ago to let them do it.

They told me I do NOT have a Vermeer chipper...that it is an Asplundh or Whisper chipper. Seems it is some kind of hybrid cobbled together at some point. One side of the bearing housing is welded to the chipper and apparently is not supposed to be welded there.

I called a local eqpt dealer looking for a chipper under $10K and he couldn't help me...but he did steer me to a company 4 miles away that might be able to help fix my hybrid. Long story short...they said it would probably take $3-4K to fix and it would still be a mess of a chipper. Then they said they have a Vermeer BC935 from 1993...owned by a landscaping company, only used for the brush they generated...only 925 hours on it. It is supposed to be the original hour meter and still works. They had found it for a customer that wanted it and then when they located it and got it he backed out of the deal. These guys deal mostly in BIG chippers so this one has been just waiting for me to show up. They had serviced it (oil change, new blades, adjustments, etc.) to get it ready for the sale that didn't happen.

They encouraged me to try it for a few days to see how we like it. Alex and I used it today...Wow...hugely different from my screaming, maniacal chuck and duck. This one is a disk chipper with a feed roller. I learned today that I love feed rollers...and the reversible feed bar....what a great touch.

My only other chipper experience was in the 70's with those screaming drum chippers that rip limbs thru them at warp speed. What a relief today to see 20 foot limbs of sweetgum slowly pulled into the chipper and coming out as good chip. If it continues to impress me over the next few days I will be buying it. Here are a few pictures..some rust but the metal is very sound overall:

 

[MasterBlaster]

Kick it to the curb.

 

[FireFighterZero]

I take it that the lights dont work?

What sorta engine does it have?

Glad that it will help your company Gary.

 

[pantheraba]

I'll probably Craiglist my pig chipper...maybe someone wants the engine...or something.

 

[pantheraba]

Jim...good eye. Supposedly the lights do work...but it is a small cylindrical plug like I have not seen before. Alex plans to convert it to the round 6 blade we normally use..

Engine is diesel, Deutz, 3 cylinder. Cranks right up, seems to run strong.