Attempting to build my own mini-skid steer stump grinding attachment

[Repairman Jim]

Question: When you screw that cone into the wood, is it in so tight that you have to reverse it out or just pull it out? A drill bit gets rid if excess cuttings whereas the cone spreads the wood.
How about smaller pilot blades ahead of the main blades. I wish we could see a tube of the "FECON" doing a not so punky stump. Like a Locust or even an fresh Aspen. Aspens are actually surprisingly well put together. I could never spend my dollars based on the limited view "Fecon" gives us:

In this video the appears to be a hydraulic motor(smaller unit) mounted on top of a gear reducer (large bottom unit) which produces massive torque.

This one is on a stump without side roots. Anyway, it is still a good idea to make a usable one for TomTom to do all you can do.

 

[kellytrimming]

Jim, I think you have to reverse it out after you are finished. When I first used my attachment, I had forgotten to full weld the shaft to the collar (I had only tacked). It broke when the cone was 3/4 of the way into a piece. I had to get a 6 foot cheater bar and pound on it with a sledge hammer to reverse it back out. It this doesn't work, I like the idea of a couple small pilot blades. They would be easy to install and I could just make them out of mild steel.

ClimbHighTree, I think you are S.O.L. on the butt roots and surface roots with this attachment. I could build a smaller attachment to try to get more flexibility. This is probably why they only show perfectly sized stumps in the promotional videos.

 

[kellytrimming]

Here is another picture of the mounted grinder attachment:

So, the first grind was with an 8 inch aspen stump. The grinder actually cracked the stump prior to grinding, but then ground it out pretty good. My calculations of chips at about 2-3 mm thick was about right. The following video shows it. Towards the end, the stump stops the grinder at about 4 inches below the soil. I went in again (off camera) and ground it another 4 inches deep. I think the back corner of the knives are also getting caught on the stump. Sorry about the camera work, I was operating the machine as well as trying to film.

Then I moved up to a russian olive at 20 inches or so in the backyard. The grinder cracked the stump again and pushed a corner up, which stopped the grinder. I came in at a different angle and had the same result. I think I need to alter the design in 3 ways: steeper knife angles (in bite and flair away from the cone), attached lower down, with the back corners cut off.

The chips are quite a bit bigger than those from a conventional grinder.


I will be taking this back to the drawing board, though with better weather now I need to start working off my backlog.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Whoa wait a minute, you're gonna throw us over just because you need to earn some money? It looked suprisingly good in the vid for an early attempt. Promising.

Be sure to keep us posted what chipper knives will fit.

 

[JakeAllegar]

I love the innovation! Probably one of the best things about our industry.

 

[RajElectric]

That's just plain crazy trying to build your own stump grinder!!