Types of wood chippers
Shredders and crushers come in several types. Their classification is based on the type of material they can process and shred.
For example, they can work with:
- Stones;
- Plastic;
- Metals;
- Wood;
- Garbage.
They are also divided into large-sized (30 cm), medium (10 cm) and small crushing (2 cm).
Types of engines
A homemade branch chopper has one basic design. The difference may be in the power of the electric motor. For more powerful devices, a gasoline engine is used; it can be used to chop trees with trunks with a diameter of more than 100 mm. Gasoline cars are distinguished by their mobility due to their independence and independence from power sources.
Electric drives for garden wood chippers are divided into three main types based on power:
- To process waste in small areas, an engine with an operating power of up to 1.5 kW is used; it is capable of grinding branches with a diameter of up to 2 cm.
- When chopping branches up to 4 cm, a drive with a power of up to 4 kW is used on a personal plot.
- A value of 6 kW or more is used when working on wood waste collection in large areas.
Torque is transmitted using a chain or belt drive, or by installing shredder blades on the engine shaft itself.
Operating principle of a wood chipper
Of course, I would like to know what the operating principle of a homemade device is, how it functions, what sets it in motion and causes it to crush its contents.
In fact, everything is much simpler than it might seem at first glance: the chopper works on the principle of a regular meat grinder.
After the material gets inside, it moves to the part of the device where the cutters and cutters are located. And already there it is crushed.
The power rating influences how much raw material a crusher can process in one go. The main thing is that this figure does not exceed 2600 W.
How to make a crusher yourself?
To produce a stone crusher, you don’t need anything special or specific, since it will be enough to know certain rules and recommendations.
- A homemade crushing apparatus must be designed, so drawings that describe all the main technical and structural features of the unit.
- You need to purchase a motor, thanks to which you can power the device and cope with crushing the stone in order to obtain its homogeneous mass.
- A container where all crushed stone will be collected to prevent loss of material.
- Also an important device in the design will be special knives for cutting material.
- Wrenches and screwdrivers for assembling the structure for its reliable operation.
Accessories and materials for self-assembly
To assemble a wood chipper with your own hands, you will need the following:
- Metal profiles - the body will be formed from them;
- About 20 saws up to 10 cm thick. The more saws you use, the better the raw materials will be processed and crushed;
- Welding apparatus;
- Fixing pins;
- Galvanized casing;
- Washers and nuts;
- Motor. Experts advise using an electric motor. They justify their choice by the fact that it does not make unnecessary noise during operation. The electric motor is not that powerful, it cannot process many branches at a time, however, it does not emit harmful substances into the atmosphere, being a harmless and completely environmentally friendly device.
The device is suitable for indoor and outdoor use. A necessary condition is that the wire must reach the source of electricity.
Do-it-yourself wood chipper - features of the work process. Making a disc
All photos from the article
If you have a garden plot, then there is often a need to dispose of branches and small pieces of wood.
It is not always possible to burn fires, and it can also be unsafe, so building a mini wood chipper can be an excellent solution to the problem.
Of course, it will not be possible to make a structure at home that processes entire trunks, but it is quite possible to assemble a plant for working with branches and wood chips.
In the photo: the system is quite simple, but has high performance
Tools needed for the job
To make a crusher, you will need a certain set of devices; if you don’t have them, you will have to rent or hire a specialist to do the work. Of course, the list may vary, but the main components are always the same:
Welding machine | It is difficult to imagine the construction of any metal structure without welding. When you do not have the skills to carry out such work, it is better to hire a professional; he will do it in half an hour if you prepare everything in advance, and the price for performing this service will not be too high. If you know how to cook, you can rent equipment |
Grinder on wood | You will have to cut quite a lot of metal elements, and an angle grinder is the best option. It will require several cutting and grinding wheels, so don’t skimp on consumables. The better quality they are, the faster you will get it done. |
Drilling machine | It will be necessary to drill quite a lot of holes, so make sure in advance that you have both the equipment and a set of drills of the required diameters. You can get by with a drill, but using it to make perpendicular holes can be very difficult |
Brush and paint | In order to refine the finished installation and protect the metal from corrosion, it is necessary to paint the surface; any metal paint will do for this. |
Important! For high-quality and accurate drilling, you can use a drill mounted on the frame. This will ensure the system remains stationary and eliminates displacement during operation.
The stand makes the drill an equivalent replacement for a compact drill press
The working process
The design is often made from what is on hand, sometimes you may need to purchase a piece of metal, but most often you can find something suitable.
In order for you to imagine what the end result should look like, it is recommended to make a drawing of how to make a wood chipper with your own hands, this will simplify the work and allow you to clearly imagine the amount of work ahead.
This is a factory version, which is very similar to the modification that we will consider
Making a disc
The wood chipper disk is the main working unit, due to which the wood will be crushed, so this element should be given the closest attention and made of the highest quality and using reliable materials.
The work is done as follows:
- First you need to find a steel disk with a thickness of at least 16 mm, although this figure may be greater. It will perform the function of a flywheel, and the greater its inertia, the easier it will be for all other components to work, because when hard pieces of wood hit, they will be crushed due to the force created by the large weight of the disk.
The thicker the disc, the better, remember this
- The diameter of the product should be about 30 centimeters, this parameter may differ, but as practice has shown, the option proposed above is the most optimal for small installations. For this product, any available products with the appropriate parameters are used, this can be a clutch, a car flywheel and much more.
- If there is no hole in the center, then it must be drilled; its size must correspond to the diameter of the shaft on which it will be located. In addition, you need to make a cutout for the key, due to which the element will be fixed on the shaft; you choose its size arbitrarily.
- Next, cuts are made, the number of which must correspond to the number of knives used in the design. The slots are usually equal in depth to 2/3 of the diameter, but this value can also vary; they should run perpendicular to the end, their width is usually about 2-3 centimeters. These cutouts will allow the ground mixture to come out, so don't make them too narrow.
- Holes are drilled along the slots for bolts that will hold the knives on one side and the blades for throwing out the mass on the other. The diameter must correspond to the diameter of the fastener used; usually the 10 mm thick option is chosen as the most versatile and affordable.
Cutting attachments
For homemade devices, various attachments with a cutting function are used. Which cutting tool to choose is influenced by both the power of the crusher itself and the design features.
Among the most commonly used removable cutting parts are:
- Mills;
- Discs;
- Milling cutters with turbines.
The simplest crushing devices are equipped with disk attachments with numerous flat blades. When they move and begin to rotate, all the debris that gets inside turns into small chips. Moreover, they can even handle leaves and grass.
Milling attachments resemble gear-shaped knives. They are equipped with circular saws that easily process even grass. The only condition is that you must monitor the humidity level.
You only need to load dried branches and grass into the bowl, otherwise there is a high probability of clogging the cutters. This will entail the need to hide the body and clean the blades.
The last type of attachment can be called universal. They are great for both large and small items. The only negative is that it is hardly possible to build such attachments yourself.
Disc crusher for roundwood chips
Disc crushers have proven themselves well when crushing stationary round timber of large diameters and when crushing small lump waste and branches mobile. When crushing stationary round timber of large diameters, this type of equipment competes with drum crushers and has the following advantages over them:
- A disk chip crusher occupies a much smaller area than a similar drum crusher. But at the same time the height of the crusher is greater. This advantage is advantageous to use in workshops with a small area.
- The quality of wood chips is higher than that obtained from drum crushers. This makes it possible to obtain higher quality chips from such chips in the future.
- Disc crushers do not have a separate mechanism for feeding raw materials to the cutting part, since specially positioned knives and feeding raw materials at an angle allow the wood to be pulled in without additional devices. We would also consider this criterion a plus, since there is no need to maintain an additional unit.
Specially made blades allow you to throw wood chips at a distance of 3 - 10 meters.
The advantage of small disc crushers is their low price and long service life. For example, here you can buy a disc crusher quite inexpensively.
Chopper made from improvised means
It will be very convenient to take ready-made devices as a basis for the future crusher, which will only need to be slightly supplemented with the necessary parts. The engines can be replaced with a grinder or drill.
You can use the following available tools:
- Washing machine: why not use a washing machine as the basis for a future device. You will have to get rid of the activator, and also build a knife into it, the size of which will be smaller than the diameter of the tank itself. The knife here will work like the blade in a coffee grinder. The bottom of the tank should have an opening with an outlet casing attached to it. It is through this that the chips will pass. This type of design is one of the simplest, but no less reliable. Time-tested quality. The engine power is small and does not allow processing branches;
- Grinder: for such a shredder, take a metal vessel and place a knife in the center on the axis of the grinder. The tool must be fixed motionless so that the knife does not touch the walls. The tool rotates at high speed, which is why it needs to be set at minimum speed. Otherwise, you risk getting not chips, but dust. The power of the grinder should be more than 3000 W;
- Drill: To use this tool to create a new one, you will need to make a special stand. Often, a simple wooden chair will be enough for this. A hole with a diameter of 12 mm should be made in the central part of the seat. A bucket with exactly the same hole in the bottom is attached to the chair using self-tapping screws. The diameter of the attached knife should be smaller than the diameter of the bucket itself. The blade must be attached to an axle, which, in turn, is inserted into a special bushing on a bearing. Such a device is unable to process large volumes of raw materials at a time.
A wood chipper can streamline the process of shredding material before it can be put into a compost bin or simply used in place of firewood to heat the stove.
Creating such a shredder is much cheaper than buying a ready-made shredder. Moreover, thanks to the ability to independently choose the design for the device, you can always create the most suitable option for you.
Shredder assembly
Before starting assembly, it is advisable to lubricate the bearings. Saws must be installed so that the teeth are out of alignment. The first step is to assemble the saw package.
Manufacturing procedure:
- You need to assemble all the saws on the shaft. Place a washer between each and secure the cutting elements on both sides with nuts.
- Press in the bearings.
- Attach the flywheel and pulley at the ends.
- Attach the counter knife a few millimeters from the saw set.
- Install the motor and transmission mechanism.
- Pull the belt.
Upon completion of the installation of all necessary elements, you need to make a protective casing. You can use thin sheet metal for it. The dimensions of the casing may vary. The main thing is that it is convenient and safe to work. The electric motor should be connected to the network via a 25 A circuit breaker.
You can assemble a knife crusher in the same way as a disk crusher, but first you need to install the knives on the shaft. To make larger chips, you need to extend the cutting edges of the knives beyond the shaft.
Removal, processing and disposal of waste from hazard classes 1 to 5
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In spring and autumn, a lot of debris from trees, as well as dried plants, appears on personal plots. Basically, gardeners use overgrown tops as fertilizers, and it is necessary that the remains of grass and branches rot. To speed up the decomposition process, it is necessary to chop up the remains; therefore, a branch chopper is used. This device will help you complete the task easily and safely.
Photo of a wood chipper
Homemade brick crusher
According to the degree of grinding (that is, by fraction), crushers can be made small, medium and large . In the first case, the brick is crushed to fragments of 5–25 mm, in the second – 26–100 mm, in the third – 101–300 mm. One of the most popular options for brick crushers are jaw crushers ; they are based on the action of two sharp plates, the jaws. These cheeks put pressure on the raw material, which causes it to bend and become deformed in every possible way.
There are also shaft crushers: two cylindrical shafts rotate at equal speed towards each other.
Finally, they get down to business with a grinder with a hammer mechanism - the brick is destroyed with a hammer.
Let us list the design nuances of a homemade brick crusher.
- Probably the simplest system would be a chopper with one movable jaw. The stationary one can be made from a cast iron sheet installed on a solid base with an angle. The slope is needed to create an upper hole where the material will flow. As the angle of inclination changes, the crushing gap is also adjusted.
- The movable cheek can be a metal shaft, always of large diameter. It will be started by an electric motor using a belt drive. This is necessary to reduce the number of revolutions and increase the load characteristics of the engine. If overloads occur, the belt drive will prevent jamming.
- The shaft should rotate towards the brick filling . The crushing parameters will change when the lower point of the cheek that will be stationary is shifted.
- It is better to place the entire mechanism in one housing , on top of which there is a loading hopper.
Taking these fundamental points into account, you can make a crusher yourself. This is a container with a shaft on bearings, on legs. An alternative can be a cone crusher: these are two large cones located opposite each other.
Power units used
There are two types of devices for chopping branches:
- driven by an electric motor;
- powered by internal combustion engines.
For low-power homemade wood waste crushers, an electric motor is mainly used. This is explained by the fact that an engine running on gasoline or diesel fuel most often has more power than an electric one. For example, a scooter engine with a volume of 50 cm³ produces approximately 5 liters. With. or about 3.7 kW.
For infrequent grinding of garden waste, such a power unit is simply not necessary.
The design of a garden shredder - we will determine the most important parts of the unit
Crushing of material in a garden shredder is carried out using knives. In finished models, the knife is most often a metal disk with 2-3 cutting surfaces. A large amount of work quickly renders the teeth unusable and they have to be sharpened periodically - you must admit, this is not very convenient, and it also takes up your time. If you decide to make a garden shredder with your own hands, then you can avoid repeating these design flaws, but assemble a reliable, high-performance and, most importantly, durable knife.
We suggest using circular saws with carbide tips for this. You will need not one disk, but several, to assemble a system from them - a package. In ready-made garden shredders, the knife, as a rule, has a thickness of 3 cm, but we can make a package of any thickness - everything will depend on the number of saws purchased. On average, for a high-quality knife 6-10cm thick you will need 15-25 pieces. Each blade has many teeth, originally designed for sawing hard wood. Therefore, grass stems, leaves and branches will be the same to them as seeds. In extreme cases, if the teeth on your saw become dull, nothing will stop you from going to the nearest tool store and purchasing a replacement.
Circular saws can be successfully used as shredder knives
However, the knife is not everything. In order to set it in motion we need an engine. To quickly chop branches in small volumes, it is easier to use an electric motor. Its use may seem somewhat inconvenient due to the cable and the need to connect to an outlet, but it operates almost silently and does not emit exhaust gases. The walk-behind tractor has more power, so it is ideal for those cases where you need to crush coarse material often and for a long time.