Advice or recommendations on smaller chippers around 15-18hp

[GLynch]

Hi all, I currently have a 6.5hp loncin engine cobra gravity fed chipper 

It's alright tbf for very small jobs as I only currently do garden maintenance, but it takes a long time to feed the branches through one at a time, I'm hoping to move more into tree work but still very new to it so will only be starting off with smaller jobs until I gain more knowledge and experience.

Just wondered if anyone had any suggestions on a good larger but still small chipper if you know what I mean 

Thanks 

[GLynch]

Greenmech cs100 seems to be the best that I can see as far as quality but also a lot more than many others

[Will C]

The cs100 will also still be worth a premium when you step up to a bigger chipper in a few year time. Buy the best you can afford, it makes sense in the longer term.

[richyrich]

Maybe not as big as what you're looking for- Rock Machinery 13hp Venom. It chips pretty quick. I only put smaller stuff through it. Only jammed once - willow shoots that were too thin.

It will chip thicker stuff but i keep anything over 1 1/2 for firewood. I know this would be impractical for most through. 

[doobin]

You'll be fine with any 15hp drum unit, going to a drum unit with a wide infeed gets rid of the bottleneck of having to sned everything off a branch and feed them in one at a time- you can stuff bundles of brash into them. The increase in HP is useful too.

 

13/15/18hp is all much of a muchness- the Chinese engines that claim 15HP are probably not really, as they are copies of a 13hp Honda engine. It's not until you get up into the twin cylinder (much more expensive) variants that you get a useful increase in power. The nature of a wee chipper tends to be that it's intermittent, hand fed work, so the heavy drum unit and correct setting on the blade/anvil gap is all you need to keep things moving well enough. And sharp blades, of course- but that goes without saying for any chipper.

 

Chinese if you're on a budget will take some abuse, but you're on your own with maintenance and backup. Although not much to go wrong with them. Greenmech will hold a premium, it's whether you can stretch to that much at this stage in your business. Or whether you put the money into another tool. I've had no problems with my Chinese chipper and see no reason why I would- they're simple things.

 

I'd avoid the Rock machinery one- it's simply a Chinese unit with a Briggs engine. Loncin copies of Honda engines are far superior to any Briggs. Just this morning I've cleaned out the fuel system on a customers Rock log splitter. You should have seen the state of the rust inside the tank- and from a 'premium' brand. Briggs are shit.

[richyrich]

In defence of the Rock- it is a solid machine- touchwood😖. Re the B and S- i would prefer one to the Loncin on my powerwasher. Not saying other opinions are wrong... Just different.

[doobin]

43 minutes ago, richyrich said:

In defence of the Rock- it is a solid machine- touchwood😖. Re the B and S- i would prefer one to the Loncin on my powerwasher. Not saying other opinions are wrong... Just different.

Yes, the chipper itself is pretty solid. But I stand by my assertion regarding engines 😉

 

If you jammed yours on thin stuff, check the anvil gaps. I closed mine down to maybe 3/4mm, and it made a big difference.

[richyrich]

2 hours ago, doobin said:

Yes, the chipper itself is pretty solid. But I stand by my assertion regarding engines 😉

 

If you jammed yours on thin stuff, check the anvil gaps. I closed mine down to maybe 3/4mm, and it made a big difference.

Will do, thanks👍

[GLynch]

Has anyone tried the black tools chipper 15hp loncin engine? 

It looks an exact copy of the cs100, they go for around £1600 new

[GLynch]

Are these chippers easy enough to move around on your own?

My current one isn't too bad but it's only 90kg and I think the bigger ones are around 190kg