Advice building large wood processor

[difflock]

Bingo!

I even mulled over the chipping option, but since I was fixated on also selling firewood, I went down the billiting route.

The only downside from my perspective (10 years or more ago) was that whilst it would be desireable to store the roundwood unchipped (to prevent the fresh chip heating in a heap) it was not a good idea to regularly chip dryish wood.

And nor did I want to start drying the chip.

Perhaps I was wrong.

m

[briquette_seller]

Bingo!

I even mulled over the chipping option, but since I was fixated on also selling firewood, I went down the billiting route.

The only downside from my perspective (10 years or more ago) was that whilst it would be desireable to store the roundwood unchipped (to prevent the fresh chip heating in a heap) it was not a good idea to regularly chip dryish wood.

And nor did I want to start drying the chip.

Perhaps I was wrong.

m

 

 

Why was it not a good idea to regularly chip dryish wood?

[drythropple]

I think you will build a processor a lot cheaper, I would go for a circular saw blade instead of a chainsaw, will cost a fraction of the price of a saw motor alone and wont need sharpening half as much!

Good luck with your project and dont worry about the negative comments you will get, no doubt someone will be along soon to warn you of CE marks, health and safety, kite marks and whatever other reason they can find to put your plan down!

[difflock]

I think you will build a processor a lot cheaper, I would go for a circular saw blade instead of a chainsaw, will cost a fraction of the price of a saw motor alone and wont need sharpening half as much!

Good luck with your project and dont worry about the negative comments you will get, no doubt someone will be along soon to warn you of CE marks, health and safety, kite marks and whatever other reason they can find to put your plan down!

:001_tt2:

Not in the slightest, I understood any of the comments above were simply to attempt to prevent a continuance of a less than ideal approach:lol:

 

PS

Re the chipping dry wood.

Simply that I always thought/figgered fresh wet wood with sap therein was much kinder on the chipper blades, and that semi-seasoned or seasoned wood would be "chougher" and probably grittier forby

cheers

M

[drythropple]

:001_tt2:

Not in the slightest, I understood any of the comments above were simply to attempt to prevent a continuance of a less than ideal approach:lol:

 

PS

Re the chipping dry wood.

Simply that I always thought/figgered fresh wet wood with sap therein was much kinder on the chipper blades, and that semi-seasoned or seasoned wood would be "chougher" and probably grittier forby

cheers

M

Hi difflock, just to clarify, I wasn't pointing any fingers at previous comments only that the poo pooers will have a field day with this topic and I understand your point!

[codlasher]

I have been chopping my own firewood for nearly a decade using my elderly Posch 300 processor. I had about 75 tons in store at any one time but I'm running this down now as I am going down the insulation and solar route and this will require much less physical input. This year I will probably only have 25 tons ahead so quite a considerable drop. It is hard work and I'm glad not to have to do so much.

 

A friend and I have been working together to power his farmhouse and business using chip and I did quite a lot of the research from the forestry side as this is where the big machines lurk.

 

I looked at chipper hire and timber availability and we did some experiments with dry and wet timber. The decision not to use wet timber was quite a leap of faith and four years on this was certainly the right decision. There were quite a lot of 'inventions' along the way but chipping wet and then drying has been more eeconomical in the long run.

 

The other thing was to try and let others do the chipping hence my 'arb waste' comment. If you have a facility where this waste can be easily tipped your burning material really just arrives on your doorstep and only requires minimal input to process into a usable material.

 

The two pictures show one machine I looked at to process the timber pile and the other was what we did eventually use and please note the biggest downside of this operation......The DUST! The poor operator had to wear BA to work and it covered everything plus it was hard work on the chipper even with 250HP!

 

If you are still going down the billet route I'd look at self loading splitter, a tipped circular saw blade and how posch put their machines together. You won't need anything too big as the splitter will be doing the primary break down. I'd also look at some kind of ram feed into the fire-box to save using any wheeled machinery.

codlasher

[briquette_seller]

Nice looking 1680, is it yours?

[difflock]

Thanks Cod, I had forgot about the dust!

Right about the "bad" idea mind!

cheers

m

[Billhook]

My father in laws building me a processor so I'm just after any advice any of you have. It will be similar to this http://youtu.be/jit-ZLJetk8. The reason we're building one is because there isn't really an affordable machine that cuts and splits into 5 feet lengths for my biomass boiler. He's already bought an old 3 tonne digger which the user wil sit in to work all parts of the machine. One of the tracks will work a chain conveyor which brings logs towards saw. We're going to use a hydraulic saw. Whole thing will be mounted on a large trailer. Diggers engine and hydraulics will hopefully power everything. I need as much advice as I can get and if anyone's selling any parts which may be of use like saws then let me know!

 

If you build a machine like the one in the video, you are still going to have to pick up the split/cut timber and put it in the furnace.

 

Would you not be better investing in a second hand processor like a Palax Combi with a circular saw and conveyor which you could arrange to feed the boiler perhaps with the whole processor mounted on a sliding track. You could open the furnace doors and slide the whole thing forward so the conveyor feeds the oven.

I would not bother splitting it, just cut up to 12" diameter 2' 6" foot logs.

Then invest in a decent roller table(or build one) to present the five foot logs easily to the processor.

Use your mini digger only for loading the roller table and the initial stacking.

 

I find that with my trusty old Palax 600 combi which I bought from Jas Wilson in 1996 for £2500 I can process a large amount of timber in a short time and load it as long as it is presented to the processor constantly.

 

Apart from blade sharpening I have never had a problem with it in nearly 20 years. It was pto but I fitted a 3 phase motor which was really easy as all the pulleys were already there, so now I can use either electric or pto.

 

The electric motor makes it quiet and slightly safer to turn on and off.

[Chipy]

This is what I had in mind for loading the split wood but with a bigger grab