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Chipping brush with the Ford

M

Mike St. Martin

Member
I purchased this used PTO drum chipper for $1,500 a couple of weeks ago in order to chip the pruned brush from an olive orchard instead of burning it.

It is a Mitts & Merrill BX-800 PTO drum chipper made in 1981. It has a 1:4 gear box to increase the PTO rpm from 540 to 2160. The drum is a solid steel cylinder (8? wide x 16? diameter) with 6 blades and weighs almost 500 lbs. I believe the overall weight of the implement is at least 1,500 lbs since the Ford loader would not lift it off the trailer alone.

I have been watching YouTube videos on the safe operation of drum chippers. The key points seem to be: 1. Wear eye and hearing protection, 2. Avoid loose fitting clothes or gloves which could get caught on the brush and, 3. Toss brush in from the side of the opening.

The chipper did not come with a manual so I will be attempting to find one. I would appreciate any additional input or advice you may have, thanks.
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Yeah that's pretty much it especially with those old chuck and duck style ones, I recently saw this safety demo that made me realize a hazard I never thought of, we often use ropes in tree work and when one gets sucked in it could be disastrous if you were in the bight of it.
Chipper safety demo
 
Just my opinion, but from the looks of those chippers, you are going to need a lot more HP on the PTO to do much chipping.
 
On the the chippers I maintained , a gap of .016 between your knives and the shear anvil works best. Most called for .010 but with bearing wear it was to close. With the right gap it will feed well and give you nice chips. Find a sawmill and they will give you the name of a guy who sharpens their chipper knives. Our guy poured lead babbitt on ours so we did not have to run out the sets.
 

I worked on one years ago while working for a tree service. All modern ones have brakes to stop them instantly should anyone lean against one of the safety bars. I would suggest installing a bar or pan to extend your protection zone out a foot or two.
 
I've been a tree man for over 33 years. The M&M was and is a good chipper. It has the easy access door to replace the knives. The setup of the knives and anvil is critical on any drum chipper, as was already mentioned. To close and it will not feed. To open and it will string the smaller twigs cutting every third or forth turn. Set up just right it will chip 4 inch limbs 4 feet long no problem. Any longer it will bog down or spit the limb back out.
Keeping blades sharp is essential to operation. Never chip rakings, ever! Get a maintenance manual for the setup, knives can be sharpened more than once, the manual will tell you the angle also. The anvil can get worn also and may be able to be flipped.
 
Check out Karl Kuemmerling in Massillon Ohio for parts and info. They are the maker I believe for the chipper, and stock parts. They have been providing quality tree gear for many decades,
 
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