Baby chipper won’t chip!…Fixed!

ClimbingTN

ClimbingTN

Branched out member
Location
Columbia
Yeah I know it’s really not a real chipper. Drum style. I figured since y’all understand the operation that maybe you can figure this out. I have called Northern Tool store and corporate support with the Powerhorse Or PrincessAuto Powerfist 5” chipper. They don’t have and I can’t find a repair manual model 115061. Here’s the problem! It won’t self feed or chip much anymore. I put new blades in today, anvil good and gap reset. Gap was set at 1mm with a feeler gauge. Engine RPM sounds correct and belts are not slipping. It only has about 22 hours. I have to push material into the blades. It feels like the branches are bouncing off the knifes. IDK…I’ve been building engines and hot rods for 50 years and I’m stumped! Any suggestions? Craig
 
Any pictures? Are you sure the knife gap is correct for that machine? 1 mm sounds pretty close to me, but I’m used to big chippers. Are the knives in the right direction, so the cutting edge contacts at the right angle, and without the heel sitting higher than the edge? How is the edge of the anvil, nice and sharp, or is it rounded over at all?
 
May want to give this a read also. :

chipper knife gap setting

I have a Pro Mark 210 chipper that has two cutting edge blades. One side was dull so I wanted to flip them over to the sharp side. I pulled the side covers and chute off to see the bed knife and was a little shocked at what I saw, there was almost 1/2'' clearance between knife and bed. The...
www.arboristsite.com www.arboristsite.com
 
Have a small PA chipper a la Reg Coates. Maybe check your belts - I now use cog belts (Timken BX 40's or BX 39's) rather than the ones that came with it. I drilled out a hole pattern on the belt cover to allow more air in - the belts get quite warm on a hot day chipping for a couple of hours. This helped. Adjust belt tension by sliding the engine. And down below, there's a bunch of bolts that let you adjust the anvil position forward or back (watch - mine had a spacer plate underneath that slipped down when I was doing some rainy day exploring and it was a devil to get out again). A crisp anvil edge is important to these things apparently. PA in Canada may also be able to help - they have help line to their folks in Toronto I think it is.
Other weird thing, I've wondered the drum coulda moved around a bit from original position if the chipper ever jammed suddenly - the side drum axles are held in position by four bolts on the side bearings. I never thought to check these for tight/ torque when I first got the thing. Possible they moved? The ladies at the church really got into feeding branches into this thing when we ere finishing up some pruning.
Some thoughts for this morning. Cheers and good luck.
 
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ghostice said:
Have a small PA chipper a la Reg Coates. Maybe check your belts - I now use cog belts (Timken BX 40's or BX 39's) rather than the ones that came with it. I drilled out a hole pattern on the belt cover to allow more air in - the belts get quite warm on a hot day chipping for a couple of hours. This helped. Adjust belt tension by sliding the engine. And down below, there's a bunch bolts that let you adjust the anvil position forward or back (watch - mine had a spacer plate underneath that slipped down when I was doing some rainy day exploring and it was a devil to get out again). A crisp anvil edge is important to these things apparently. PA in Canada may also be able to help - they have help line to their folks in Toronto I think it is.
Other weird thing, I've wondered the drum coulda moved around a bit from original position if the chipper ever jammed suddenly - the side drum axles are held in position by four bolts on the side bearings. I never thought to check these for tight/ torque when I first got the thing. Possible they moved?
Some thoughts for this morning. Cheers and good luck.
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Yeah I saw Regs and that’s where I got the idea. Are your blades facing with the bevel to drum or to anvil like this photo? It’s been suggested that this is incorrect and that NT support doesn’t know.
 

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I got it back together with sharp blades with bevel facing outwards. I’ve seen them this way in several photos. I have the gap set at 1.5mm. It chips 2 inches under but struggles with anything larger. It won’t pull it in and the bigger stuff bounces on the blade/drum. I’m going to play with the gap. When it was new it would chip 4-5 inches pretty easily.
 
1.5 mm is about 0.05 inches.

Mine says 0.035.

I set my large chipper at a tight as possible. There are ridges on the blades and clamps, so I have finite choices.
 
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southsoundtree said:
1.5 mm is about 0.05 inches.

Mine says 0.035.

I set my large chipper at a tight as possible . There are ridges on the blades and clamps, so so I have
Click to expand...
Yeah that’s a pretty narrow gap
southsoundtree said:
How is the belt deflection and at what pressure? How many times have you retensioned it?
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I checked it when I put the blades back on. It’s probably less than 1/2 inch deflection. I didn’t see any glazing like it was slipping. Thanks for trying to help!
 
Idk.

Come to think of it, that's the factory sticker. There wasan idler pulley removal/ deletion and change to cog belts on mine (older, not sure of the year, recently bought with 9 hours).

Newer models of Woodmaxx1260 had 3 belts.


I moved my engine to tension my belts by feel. Worked well. I'm very a belt pusher guage tool thingy on it sometime, maybe. They were not glazed but definitely loose.
 
southsoundtree said:
At what pressure are you getting less than 1/2"? Measured or eyeballed?


Idk...i Think my infant chipper says 3/8" deflection at 10 pounds.
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Just pushing with fingers. I’ve been wrenching and hot rodding for 50 years. I’m pretty sure belts are not slipping. I’ll pull the cover, mark, check or put a timing light on it if needed.
 
A point to ponder - how sharp is sharp? A spanking new chain self feeds like butter and motors through tough wood. An "apparently" sharp chain, less so. (?) Any chance it's degree of sharpness?

edit - same principle applies to single point cutters and twist drills, particularly in steel
 
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Bart_ said:
A point to ponder - how sharp is sharp? A spanking new chain self feeds like butter and motors through tough wood. An "apparently" sharp chain, less so. (?) Any chance it's degree of sharpness?

edit - same principle applies to single point cutters and twist drills, particularly in steel
Click to expand...
I thought about that and wondering if the resharpened blade angle is off. I have a new set of blades and anvil coming. I’m trying to exhaust my options. I’m going to reset the gap as similar small drum chippers state .9 to 1mm. If that doesn’t work I’ve read some folks set them up to 1/8 or about 3mm. Since I can’t get any answers from Northern Tool I’ll just have to mess around with it. Thanks again for the suggestions.
 
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