CrookedClove
Treehouser
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2017
- Messages
- 13
Hello all,
I own a small garlic farm in CO and have a very large pile of wood chips to my disposal that I'd like to use to mulch my garlic.
The chips come from a few local trimming outfits and vary a bit in size. On average I'd say the smallest 80% of the chips are small enough for my mulching needs but the largest 20% is too coarse and can be quite random with large chunks as I'm sure you all know.
I need to process about 300 yards of this material per year. Not enough for a drum grinder (I've been quoted a minimum of $2500 after calling a dozen places and that guy never even showed up!).
So here's the idea;
What's to stop me from buying an older chipper like the ones you guys haul behind your trucks, adding a small conveyor belt to feed it from a pile (modified bale lift perhaps), then manually feeding the machine using the feed bar while also controlling the speed of my conveyor/input? I'd probably need to modify the feed shoot to the chipper as well so the chips slowly slide down into the chipper.
REMEMBER; if the smallest 80% of the chips just go right through, that's fine, so long this process reduces most of the largest 20% of the material into something a good bit more consistent.
If it actually reduces the average material size as a whole, that's fine too.
Would this work? Would a drum style chipper be better or a disk style?
I've heard that some chippers tend to be known for the consistency of material they put out over others?
Thanks all! Great forum!
I own a small garlic farm in CO and have a very large pile of wood chips to my disposal that I'd like to use to mulch my garlic.
The chips come from a few local trimming outfits and vary a bit in size. On average I'd say the smallest 80% of the chips are small enough for my mulching needs but the largest 20% is too coarse and can be quite random with large chunks as I'm sure you all know.
I need to process about 300 yards of this material per year. Not enough for a drum grinder (I've been quoted a minimum of $2500 after calling a dozen places and that guy never even showed up!).
So here's the idea;
What's to stop me from buying an older chipper like the ones you guys haul behind your trucks, adding a small conveyor belt to feed it from a pile (modified bale lift perhaps), then manually feeding the machine using the feed bar while also controlling the speed of my conveyor/input? I'd probably need to modify the feed shoot to the chipper as well so the chips slowly slide down into the chipper.
REMEMBER; if the smallest 80% of the chips just go right through, that's fine, so long this process reduces most of the largest 20% of the material into something a good bit more consistent.
If it actually reduces the average material size as a whole, that's fine too.
Would this work? Would a drum style chipper be better or a disk style?
I've heard that some chippers tend to be known for the consistency of material they put out over others?
Thanks all! Great forum!