chuck and duck

[simplypete]

I would like to say something for this awesome machine I got at a reasonable price. It sure tears through wood (and gloves) in no time. I like the way I only have to grease the main bearings and check the vitals of the engine. No break downs as of yet.
I did not like the way that some wood, like dry walnut just disintegrates on impact with the knives. Nor did I like the whipping that I got from live willow branches. I quickly learned to javelin them into the in-feed from afar. Nothing quite like getting whipped about the head, shoulders and arms by willow whips. I like the way it eats large wood in no time and it is very easy to back the wood out if you are a little to long for the machine to digest in one gulp. I have also learned to use a push stick almost all the time as my hands can not handle branches being pulled away at 100 miles an hour. All in all I am very happy with my new old machine, I think it was originally built in the early 80s and rebuilt on a new trailer in the 90s. I think that for 2000 dollars my money was well spent and now I just need to make enough to pay for a better machine that will have safety features and better on fuel.
I would like any input as to any other tips and tricks when using one of these machines. It is a 9 inch drum made by asplund? Does that sound right? It's the only thing that is left of the placards. That and a semi readable maintenance schedule.

Pete

 

[squisher]

CnD cheap and simple. My first chipper(I still have it)is a Wayne 12" CnD........1966 vintage. Flathead chrysler in it and it still chips for a hot damn. Somedays I like to think of the stories that machine could tell.

 

[Burnham]

"Chips for a hot damn"...how many places on the interweb can you make a post like that and get an intelligent reply?

'Course, we havn't see one yet...perhaps I am overly optimistic.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Oh ye of little faith!

 

[squisher]

I've noticed you americans don't say 'hot damn!' much?

 

[simplypete]

here is some pictures of the little beastie

 

[Old Monkey]

I don't feel nostalgic for chuck and ducks. At $2000, that baby should pay for itself in no time.

 

[simplypete]

its actually already starting to pay for its replacement. sssshhhhh! I wonder what it would think if it knew it was working itself out of a job.

 

[Stumper]

Lovely. CnDs have no equal in raw volume ops like ROW clearing.

 

[sotc]

willow? wait till you run some pin oak through it, that will draw blood!

 

[simplypete]

I forgot to mention the Russian olive, the kind with the 3 inch spikes. That's when I learned to fashion a push stick at least 4 ft. long with a little fork on the end. Crikey......

 

[Bodean]

2000 for a chipper sounds like a bargain, and chip up to 9 inches.

 

[Jamin Mayer]

I used a chuck-n-duck for many months when I did line clearance in the mountains. They are fun to park near the side of a cliff and send the wood chips over the edge.

I kinda wish I had a chuck-n-duck early on in the business. But, I just hauled and burned the brush on my property. (I'm zoned Agriculture).

But, no more of that. I got me a Bandit Model 90 and I am pleased.

 

[simplypete]

2000 for a chipper sounds like a bargain, and chip up to 9 inches.

it was just a old rusty chipper. I had to go through it pretty extensively. The rust was so bad it took a while to even know that there was allen heads in the adjustment holes. It was just solid rust and old debris. I don't think the thing had any movement for at least a full year and who knows how long the knives had been in place, they were pretty rounded off. The clearance between the knives and the cutter bar was probably about a whole inch. I spent the better part of a week and a half going through the darn thing.

 

[Bodean]

I'm sure it was worth it.

seems just about anything worth something, took some work getting it.

 

[rbtree]

it is very easy to back the wood out if you are a little to long for the machine to digest in one gulp.

I don't understand how you do that with a hand fed c&d.....as I recall, throwing too much or too long of a piece in would bog the drum down and clog the chute.

It is a 9 inch drum made by asplund? Does that sound right?

I have seen a couple of 9 inch wide drums, but most are 12-16 inch. Most old style hand feds don't like anything over 6 inches.

A little 9 incher would need a big flywheel to provide weight for momentum. That looks like a fairly small flywheel. Easy to tell, just measure the drum width.

How large of a chip does it produce? You can slow down the chip rate a little by offsetting the knives less. You then have to raise the cutter bar, and if possible, the feed table as well to compensate, so that the cutter bar is only a bit above the feed table so that the wood is fed smoothly into the knives. The less the knives protrude from the drum surface, the smaller the chip, and the slower the feed rate.

 

[NickfromWI]

I never used CnDs until about 3 years into my tree career. That took a quick 5 minutes of learning before you realized to stand way the hell back! I hated that machine.

In los angeles one company I worked for had one that they only used when we had palms to chip up. That thing could chip up palm fronds like nothing else I've seen. It was like it was MEANT for palm fronds.

Cool machine. Sounds like it's serving you well, especially for the money you got!

love
nick

 

[Kman]

As I recall Asplundh made a 9" chipper called the "Chipmonk" .

 

[Greenhorn]

I've got alot of threads on here about my beast.

Its a love/hate relationship. Material is green I love it - dead material....

Saving up for a Morbark.

 

[Bounce]

I learned to hate the old C&D at the first tree service I ever worked for. That thing would tear your gloves, hat, and shirt off if the branch was long enough and had a curved tip. I remember having to finish 1 job half naked because it ate 2 of my shirts. By the end of that day I looked like I had been caught steeling in China. I didn't ever appreciate it until I used a new Vermeer with the infeed rollers. It was so slow at first I thought it must be broken. On the other hand, it didn't shoot firewood chunks back at me like a pitching machine either.

 

[simplypete]

I don't understand how you do that with a hand fed c&d.....as I recall, throwing too much or too long of a piece in would bog the drum down and clog the chute.


I have seen a couple of 9 inch wide drums, but most are 12-16 inch. Most old style hand feds don't like anything over 6 inches.

A little 9 incher would need a big flywheel to provide weight for momentum. That looks like a fairly small flywheel. Easy to tell, just measure the drum width.

How large of a chip does it produce? You can slow down the chip rate a little by offsetting the knives less. You then have to raise the cutter bar, and if possible, the feed table as well to compensate, so that the cutter bar is only a bit above the feed table so that the wood is fed smoothly into the knives. The less the knives protrude from the drum surface, the smaller the chip, and the slower the feed rate.

sounds like your the man when it comes to my chipper. The knives are 12 inches wide. Are you saying it is a 12 inch drum chipper. I was thinking that it was the size of the material that I was able to chip. Nine inches is pretty much it on the size of material becouse the height of the opening. The knives are pretty extended and the size to the chip is pretty big. anywhere between a few inches and about 5 or 6 inches. Your saying that I can narrow that down more by adjusting the knives closer to the drum and raising the cutter bar? This would also slow the rate of the intake. I think I would like that. On the thing getting clogged, it just hasn't happened yet. Yes when I was talking about getting the wood to back out I was talking about after the drum stopped and the motor died. My experience with a disk chipper with feed rollers was very hard to get the wood out after the motor died. Thanks for any feed back you have already helped me.

Pete

 

[squisher]

If you're stuffing nine inch stuff through your CnD, I'd say it's set-up better than mine's ever been. No way I'd get mine to eat nine inch.

 

[simplypete]

If you're stuffing nine inch stuff through your CnD, I'd say it's set-up better than mine's ever been. No way I'd get mine to eat nine inch.

maybe 8 inch is not so far fetched. I just measured a piece that I was thinking was 9 inch. I think maybe it had something to do with my danger being so small.

 

[squisher]

Cool, nothing wrong a CnD at that price espescially. It'll earn it's keep for sure.

 

[rbtree]

sounds like your the man when it comes to my chipper. The knives are 12 inches wide. Are you saying it is a 12 inch drum chipper. I was thinking that it was the size of the material that I was able to chip. Nine inches is pretty much it on the size of material becouse the height of the opening. The knives are pretty extended and the size to the chip is pretty big. anywhere between a few inches and about 5 or 6 inches. Your saying that I can narrow that down more by adjusting the knives closer to the drum and raising the cutter bar? This would also slow the rate of the intake. I think I would like that. On the thing getting clogged, it just hasn't happened yet. Yes when I was talking about getting the wood to back out I was talking about after the drum stopped and the motor died. My experience with a disk chipper with feed rollers was very hard to get the wood out after the motor died. Thanks for any feed back you have already helped me.

Pete

I've never run your machine...Wayne, Woodchuck, Fitchburg, yes....and Mitts and Merrill, arguably the best hand fed made, and still on the market. All hand feds size is based on the drum width. My 900 pound rotor 16 inch M&M would take 8 inch wood, with sharp knives. But its feed rate is slow, mainly due to the position of the cutter bar, and it makes a very fine chip. All other hand feds have their cutter bar near the bottom of the drum's arc, so the material is literally sucked through the chipper, and is why they are called "whipper chippers", "chuck and duck", and the like. Hated them! And they make a lousy chip, typically. But if the gap between the feed plate (not the cutter bar) and the drum, is reduced (by offsetting the knives less and moving the feed table) the feed rate and chip size are reduced somewhat. Key, the feed table must be adjustable. The old Fitchburg had a spring loaded feed table which kind of controlled the feed rate. Had to have sharp knives or the material had to be forced through.

Contact Asplundh for a manual for your chipper.