Small PTO chipper options - Woodland Mills WC46/68/88 or MDL Powerup TH100?

[Harry Tate]

1 hour ago, PeteB said:

Not sure how the branch logger would fair with your hp tbh. GreenMech Eco150TMP is away past your budget but I think we have one CS100 TMP left which would be closer. 

I'm definitely open to being convinced otherwise, however so far I've got to the point where I'm wary of gravity feed machines because of two things: 1) jarring on hands and wrists when feeding in branches that don't get instantly pulled through on first attempt and 2) repetitive lifting of longer limbs to an angle and height to be able to insert them into the hopper.

It seems like a well designed, well maintained gravity feed machine works pretty well, however only if the blades are sharpened to precisely the right bevel, the gap between the anvil and the rotating blade is precisely correct and there aren't too many side branches resisting progress into the hopper?

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

9 minutes ago, Harry Tate said:

Thanks for the extra info!

Is the distance between feed-in roller and flywheel a problem because the wood flops about and shreds instead of getting cut cleanly, or is it something else?  Trying to figure out what you mean here...

I agree two rollers would be better, clearly this was a cost saving design decision.  In videos it looks like it works ok if the spring tension is set right for the diameter of the stuff you're feeding in, but if it is set tight enough to grip small stuff it looks like a massive pain to force anything big through without slackening off the spring first?

I am bad at explaining ,but I try my best:

if you put lets say ash or lime or beech branch true it , it’s no problem this chipper can do 70-80 mm with 25 hp tractor no problem ,cause those woods are rigid enough to push everything true 12 cm neck but once you put soft conifers they just go around roller and it’s over ,very hard to clean  I even cut the opening on the top of the roller to clean it faster but stil it’s a nightmare even small laylandii branches or Lawson cypress or even Fir will clog that mulcher easy it possible to do work but god damn very slow by very I mean it’s easier to stuff branches in the truck and make extra runs to dumpsite,however for hardwood trees it’s …… ok , but no for making money.

[Harry Tate]

26 minutes ago, Sviatoslav Tulin said:

I am bad at explaining ,but I try my best:

if you put lets say ash or lime or beech branch true it , it’s no problem this chipper can do 70-80 mm with 25 hp tractor no problem ,cause those woods are rigid enough to push everything true 12 cm neck but once you put soft conifers they just go around roller and it’s over ,very hard to clean  I even cut the opening on the top of the roller to clean it faster but stil it’s a nightmare even small laylandii branches or Lawson cypress or even Fir will clog that mulcher easy it possible to do work but god damn very slow by very I mean it’s easier to stuff branches in the truck and make extra runs to dumpsite,however for hardwood trees it’s …… ok , but no for making money.

Ah I see, so the soft ends of the conifer stuff just curls up and around and gets wrapped around the roller until the roller jams up?  Thanks for explaining - that makes sense!

So maybe the larger mouthed WC68 might still suit me ok given that I can't foresee ever needing to put conifers through it... and whilst I can't afford to have a machine that wastes days of my time unnecessarily on this task every year, I'm also not bothered about an extra few hours on the job if it saves me thousands compared to purchasing a faster machine.  For me this isn't a money-making operation, more a money-saving one.

 

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

2 minutes ago, Harry Tate said:

Ah I see, so the soft ends of the conifer stuff just curls up and around and gets wrapped around the roller until the roller jams up?  Thanks for explaining - that makes sense!

So maybe the larger mouthed WC68 might still suit me ok given that I can't foresee ever needing to put conifers through it... and whilst I can't afford to have a machine that wastes days of my time unnecessarily on this task every year, I'm also not bothered about an extra few hours on the job if it saves me thousands compared to purchasing a faster machine.  For me this isn't a money-making operation, more a money-saving one.

 

That’s correct! Well at least you know what to expect,if time is no issue and money not at stake as I said you are the boss😎!

[Harry Tate]

If it wasn't for Brexit I might have taken you up on the offer of coming over to give your secondhand machine a try! Probably isn't worth the travel time and hassle now with the risk of getting nailed with bureaucracy, paperwork and import costs...

[GarethM]

And where is the Woodland mills machine coming from, Sweden ?.

 

If it's an export from Sweden, you'll have to pay import duty at 20% plus paperwork say £50 and maybe even need a EORI.

[Harry Tate]

1 minute ago, GarethM said:

And where is the Woodland mills machine coming from, Sweden ?.

 

If it's an export from Sweden, you'll have to pay import duty at 20% plus paperwork say £50 and maybe even need a EORI.

Yeah, but I believe WM takes care of all that cost and faff, much like purchasing from an EU Amazon website...? Good point though - I'll have to confirm that is definitely the case!

[Ty Korrigan]

On 18/11/2023 at 11:35, GarethM said:

And where is the Woodland mills machine coming from, Sweden ?.

 

If it's an export from Sweden, you'll have to pay import duty at 20% plus paperwork say £50 and maybe even need a EORI.

 

If you are self employed then with an EORI number you can buy from an E.U dealer vat free.

The vat is then payable upon entry to the U.K before the goods are released.

Then, there is the question of import tax itself and perhaps the commission of an import agent should the paperwork put you off.

[GarethM]

9 minutes ago, Ty Korrigan said:

If you are self employed then with an EORI number you can buy from an E.U dealer vat free.

The vat is then payable upon entry to the U.K before the goods are released.

Then, there is the question of import tax itself and perhaps the commission of an import agent should the paperwork put you off.

I import quite regularly with my own EORI and know the score, but it's certainly something to keep in mind for anyone as VAT has to be paid somewhere and atleast the import duty is payed to the UK.

[Ty Korrigan]

8 minutes ago, GarethM said:

I import quite regularly with my own EORI and know the score, but it's certainly something to keep in mind for anyone as VAT has to be paid somewhere and atleast the import duty is payed to the UK.

 

My experience.

I imported my chipper from the UK to France in August 2021 transporting it myself.

EORI number is my business registration preceded by FR do a VAT free purchase.

As the machine is made in the UK there was no import duty payable.

Only an importers fee of around €250 

If the machine was originally from another country there would have been duty payable.

The toughest part was finding a French import agent willing to undertake a small transaction which I failed to do in time.

They tie up the goods leaving the U.K with an export agent and pay the vat for you upon their arrival.

However the customs were kind and allowed me to pay the 'tva' at the port and release my chipper straight away.

I now have an import agent sorted.

So much easier pre-Brexit...