On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Jimmie Mayfield
<mayfield+shoptalk@sackheads.org> wrote:
> 2) If you have a small gas chipper, how big is the engine? I've seen a
> couple on Craigslist with smallish 3.5hp engines though most seem to be in
> the 8-11hp range. Roughly, what's the storage footprint?
This is similar to the one I have:
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-leafwacker-trade-3-way-chipper-shredder-50-states/p-07177605000P
Mine doesn't have the bag for the discharge.
I have a lot of trees on my property...3 acres of oak, mostly. When
we moved in, we spent hours every fall moving fallen leaves around -
even worse, because the previous owner apparently never owned a rake.
I thought a shredder was just what I needed...found this one at Sears.
It said it was used, but you couldn't tell the difference between it
and the new one sitting next to it, except the price was half of the
new one.
It's heavy - and I think the flywheel is heavier than the motor. That
may be the key to a good chipper - one that has enough inertia to keep
going when it hits a hard spot. As long as leaves are dry, it's
great. Drop the chute, and rake the piles right into the machine and
poof! they disappear. Small limbs are no problem, larger ones take a
little more time, but still get eaten. And yes, I chewed up a rake
handle clearing clogs. The major design flaw is the limb chute - it's
long and has a kink in it (probably so you don't stick an arm down it)
but that makes it difficult to put some stuff down it. I've thought
about removing this "feature", but the safety aspect worries me. I've
had bad experience with missing safety features...
What I found, though, is that once I dealt with the backlog of leaves,
I only run the thing three or four hours a year to keep up. Our
county has a leaf and limb service, so what limbs we don't drag off
into the woods or grind up while I'm running the machine get put on
the curb for pickup. Now that I've got the thing, I'll use it. But I
don't know that I'd replace it.
Dimension wise, it's maybe 3 to 3.5 feet wide, and 4 or 5 feet long.
Not tiny...
Jeff Scarbrough
Corrosion Acres, Ga.
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