Is it possible to swap out disc of Morbark Storm 12"?

[Willber]

The Morbark 12" Storm's disc has staggered placement of the 4 separate knives. It seems the staggering makes, the chipper more finicky when chipping large diameter logs, if the anvil is slightly gapped from the knives. It also seems, staggering is more likely to abruptly chew too much of a big log causing the engine RPMs to fall rapidly, even if one is trying to carefully control the chewing with the feed bar.
The old 1985 WoodChuck disc chipper has 2 inline knives (like one long knife) on one side of the disc, but it will chip a 10in log smoothly, while being easy to control the chewing of the log, with the feed bar.
And, some of the Bandit have symmetrical placement of 2 knives on each opposing side of the disc. Simple layout, and they chip smoothly and consistently, like the 85 WoodChuck.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a Morbark disc that has a simple non-staggered, opposing knife placement, and swap it out with this unfortunately designed staggered knife disc? Or, if not Morbark, a compatible disc?

 

[VenasNursery]

Call Morbark and ask but sounds like to me you need to adjust your anvil or maybe needs to be flipped or replaced
Just my .02

 

[Reach]

I’ll second what @VenasNursery says. I think something is probably out of order, I doubt the problem is the design of the machine. Make sure your knives have not been sharpened down past their minimums, and are as sharp as they should be.

Also, make sure the edge of your anvil is fresh enough and is properly adjusted.

 

[Willber]

@VenasNursery @Reach
We have adjusted the "not new anvil", to a credit card tolerance from the knives. It did improve the abrupt chewing, but needs adjustment much more than the WoodChuck (very old anvil), even though they chip the same quantity.
It just appears the simple apposing layout is simplistically better. It also produces more desirable chips, with minimal to no "stringy" chips. We get a lot of "stringy" chips from the Storm. And, even after anvil adjustment and new knives, the chips are still a bit less desirable than the WoodChuck's.

The 2005 Storm (Catapillar engine) is very diesel efficient, it sips diesel, yet is much more powerful, than the more guzzling 1985 WoodChuck (Cummins 3.0 4cylinder), both non-turbo.

I might look into getting a simple opposing layout disc, for the Storm. The Morbark website doesn't seem to sell discs, maybe it's not an option. I'll have to call them.
I like the chips, the non-staggered discs produce, looks like they're more uniform, and the pine needles seem more like they're cut in a consistent pattern with scissors.

Have you ever seen this Storm staggered style knife layout?
Do all your disc chippers have just 2set of parallel knives, on the opposing radii of the disc?
Thanks.

 

[Reach]

@VenasNursery @Reach
We have adjusted the "not new anvil", to a credit card tolerance from the knives. It did improve the abrupt chewing, but needs adjustment much more than the WoodChuck (very old anvil), even though they chip the same quantity.
It just appears the simple apposing layout is simplistically better. It also produces more desirable chips, with minimal to no "stringy" chips. We get a lot of "stringy" chips from the Storm. And, even after anvil adjustment and new knives, the chips are still a bit less desirable than the WoodChuck's.

The 2005 Storm (Catapillar engine) is very diesel efficient, it sips diesel, yet is much more powerful than the less sipping diesel 1985 WoodChuck (Cummins 3.0 4cylinder), both non-turbo.

I might look into getting a simple opposing layout disc, for the Storm. The Morbark website doesn't seem to sell discs, maybe it's not an option. I'll have to call them.
I like the chips, the non-staggered discs produce, looks like they're more uniform, and the pine needles seem more like they're cut in a consistent pattern with scissors.

Have you ever seen this Storm staggered style knife layout?
Do all your disc chippers have just 2set of parallel knives, on each radius of the disc?

It seems to me like the anvil might need to be a machined or replaced. If it does not have a nice, sharp edge on it, that is probably your problem. It should not have a rounded edge.

I don’t think the knife layout will make a difference in the quality of chips like that, if anything, a staggered knife layout will actually make the machine chip more efficiently with less horsepower.

Stringy chips are usually caused by one of the following: improper anvil adjustment, worn anvil, dull knives, worn out knives. Figure out which one of those is the problem and you will have your solution.

We do not run disc chippers, we only run drum chippers, because they chip much faster, and you can buy them in larger sizes. I have not run a 12 inch chipper in a long time, it’s just plain too small for us. Drum chippers have staggered knives, and the design works great.

 

[Willber]

@Reach Thanks. I think I like the disc chipper, and we're not big enough to justify a drum chipper.
Would you say the drum chippers make as desirable chips as the disc chippers?
Because when the WoodChuck chips an 8in log it makes nice "park like" chips, very desirable chips.

 

[Reach]

@Reach Thanks. I think I like the disc chipper, and we're not big enough to justify a drum chipper.
Would you say the drum chippers make as desirable chips as the disc chippers?
Because when the WoodChuck chips an 8in log it makes nice "park like" chips, very desirable chips.

If a drum chipper is set up properly, yes, it will make chips that are just as nice. If it is not properly adjusted, it will not.

Bandit even has an option on their big chippers to install a different drum and screen that will allow you to make very small chips.

 

[VenasNursery]

@VenasNursery @Reach
We have adjusted the "not new anvil", to a credit card tolerance from the knives. It did improve the abrupt chewing, but needs adjustment much more than the WoodChuck (very old anvil), even though they chip the same quantity.
It just appears the simple apposing layout is simplistically better. It also produces more desirable chips, with minimal to no "stringy" chips. We get a lot of "stringy" chips from the Storm. And, even after anvil adjustment and new knives, the chips are still a bit less desirable than the WoodChuck's.

The 2005 Storm (Catapillar engine) is very diesel efficient, it sips diesel, yet is much more powerful, than the more guzzling 1985 WoodChuck (Cummins 3.0 4cylinder), both non-turbo.

I might look into getting a simple opposing layout disc, for the Storm. The Morbark website doesn't seem to sell discs, maybe it's not an option. I'll have to call them.
I like the chips, the non-staggered discs produce, looks like they're more uniform, and the pine needles seem more like they're cut in a consistent pattern with scissors.

Have you ever seen this Storm staggered style knife layout?
Do all your disc chippers have just 2set of parallel knives, on the opposing radii of the disc?
Thanks.

I don’t own a disc only drum chippers but I would think it’s the same concept

 

[Vicente]

Probably need to do something about your anvil, my chip quality is noticeably better on my 95xp with a somewhat new edge than an older one, the orientation of the disc 90⁰ to the infeed chute help with not getting to much stringy chips anyways though, assuming we're not chipping small green live oak.

 

[Jehinten]

Bigger wood always produces nicer chips. I'd buy new knives and anvil. The anvil will still be used even if you find a replacement disc, but rereplacing them may solve all of your issues. Possibly the knives too.





They are all maintenance items that are designed to wear and replace.

 

[Vicente]

I'll add I wish my 95xp had 4 off set knives it would probably cut bigger stuff better but also almost all the wear happens on the bottom 4ish inches of the blade I could swap out the inside set half as often as the outside and get better blade life.