Frozen feed wheels

Bucknut said:
Had this happen a few years ago. I also had to leave a job. Tried the propane torch. Was stunned at how slowly fire melts ice! And of course I discovered that propane cylinders will quickly freeze up.

I resorted to an electric heat gun and chisel. What a pain. One idea we came up with later was to route some metal ductwork from a truck exhaust to the iced up area, and maybe surround it with a blanket or something to retain heat.

Another time we had a soaking rain at night and then the cold came in quickly thereafter. The rain had somehow made its way into one of the chip pockets under a knife on the drum. Filled it up and froze. So we go to chip at the job, throttle up and the whole machine starts vibrating. Bad. Like it’s about to start bouncing. Just that bit of water weight was enough to throw the drum out of balance and turn the chipper into a paperweight for the day.

I love winter.
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I've never heard of the second one. That's crazy! What do you do to prevent it??

I'm now a fan of the air hammer with a chisel bit. Made fairly quick work of it (under an hour).

Thanks for sharing! I'd never thought about ice getting under the knives like that. Wild
 
We don’t really do anything to prevent it. Requires a fairly rare weather pattern (lots of rain followed quickly by a huge temp drop) and I’d imagine the drum happened to stop in exactly the wrong place for the pocket to fill up like that. I think that was 2019. Never happened since.

I like the air hammer idea. They make electric ones too (I think called demolition hammers). Bosch and Hilti are good. Have used both with chisels to remove girdling roots.
 
southsoundtree said:
I believe some people leave those door open while chipping to let rocks drop out. There's clean-up afterward. If chipping on one spot for a while, a weighted-down tarp would make for easy cleanup.
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Standard procedure wherever I have worked.. like others have said, I have come to understand this as the purpose of the opening.
Matias said:
I'm told that OSHA will write a guy up for even running with it open, but I hate the door most of the time.
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I have no idea what OSHA standard that would apply to.
 
@southsoundtree on my ole gravely someone took a cutting torch and cut out the belly under the lower feed wheel. Same with the only other gravely I’ve seen which was a good few years older. I can only assume they did so because of chronic jamming issues.
The feed wheels would jam eventually with all the crumbs dribbling out if chipping in one spot with volume. After a while I would just taco a 5x8 tarp pulling it a foot every so often.
With the new chipper and a closing hatch we will tarp about half the time when we open it for chipping.
 
Yeah that might help. I think water was running down the back of the chute and under the lid to the drum. But after a long day it’s just one more thing, ya know?
 
Good thread, I've had both problems (frozen trap door and ice in knife pocket).

As noted above, clean out at end of day (even if you're too busy!) is the trapdoor cure, and rotating the drum after a rain storm and before the freezing weather hits to empty out the pocket water.

Or.....inside,heated storage. Oh i wish.
 
I mean, if you have an enclosed structure, and you're not towards the end of your career, I can't see how it wouldn't be worth it to figure out a heated space solution. It doesn't have to be comfortable enough to hang out in to mean that all fluids will be fluid. Just gotta keep it over freezing. There's some benefits to being a bit warmer, but the returns drop off well before you get to trying to have a comfy shop to work in in shorts and t-shirt in winter. I installed a $200 US made direct vent heater in a carport with fabric walls, and it's cozy in there if I want, but my climate is warm. Even just letting a propane burner run near your equipment in an enclosed space- even a carport tent- may not be healthy to breathe, but to just run it when nobody is in there overnight... seems like it'd be worth the time savings in the morning and possible lower equipment maintenance costs.
 
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Bucknut said:
We don’t really do anything to prevent it. Requires a fairly rare weather pattern (lots of rain followed quickly by a huge temp drop) and I’d imagine the drum happened to stop in exactly the wrong place for the pocket to fill up like that. I think that was 2019. Never happened since.

I like the air hammer idea. They make electric ones too (I think called demolition hammers). Bosch and Hilti are good. Have used both with chisels to remove girdling roots.
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An air hammer is significantly smaller than the electric/battery hammer.

Before I had a shop my old bc1400 would freeze up often until I realized cleaning it out after chipping was the answer.
 
cory said:
Good thread, I've had both problems (frozen trap door and ice in knife pocket).

As noted above, clean out at end of day (even if you're too busy!) is the trapdoor cure, and rotating the drum after a rain storm and before the freezing weather hits to empty out the pocket water.

Or.....inside,heated storage. Oh i wish.
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What chipper did the knife pocket freezing?
 
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