What’s Your SMALLER Equipment Setup?

treebing said:
Yeah that triggered my ptsd from my tiny chipper era. Made my knuckles hurt watching that.
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Reg's comments on YT in response to my inquiry:
Well the feed shoot is obviously long and steep to maximize the gravity and so worked cant reach the blades when reaching down. But it seems like as soon as a branch reaches the blade its gonna get so sucked through, unless it has a thick sturdy crotch. Put it this way, its very difficult to pull a limb back out once the drum has it. So I would think orchard cuttings, normally long and straight will breeze through in a heartbeat.









I wonder if introducing the next piece will sometimes pull the smaller bits into the blades. People sometimes want to completely clear the feed tray before putting the next one in.
 
Ya you kind of learn how to feed it. I tend to just thin out the tops on bushy pieces. Wood will also bounce around a little so keeping some long pieces of brush to this side works well to pull the wood through.
 
southsoundtree said:
Last night, I asked Reg, via YT, how it self-fed.

It looked to me like it did well.
How did others see it?
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It will self feed long branches without much branchy material pretty well. Will not self feed super branchy stuff like callery pear, boxelder, northern red oak, etc. for example. They do have a 12”x6” opening at the bottom of that chute.

Also for bigger branches I found it would often leave a chunk at the end that would hop and skip around in there. Often these pieces would be ejected out of the chute. I modified a push broom by cutting off the worn out bristles and cutting it down to size so that it would stop just above the drum opening. This tool was used to push branchy material/chunks through the chipper. The chute really isn’t designed all that well. Had I kept the chipper I would have cut about 12”-18” off the chute to make it easier to use. I also would have mounted a 25 hp engine on it so it didn’t bog down so easily.
 
Barc Buster said:
It will self feed long branches without much branchy material pretty well. Will not self feed super branchy stuff like callery pear, boxelder, northern red oak, etc. for example. They do have a 12”x6” opening at the bottom of that chute.
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I sometimes reduce width a bit with a whack from a Swedish Brush Axe - skins stems with one swoop for small stuff.
 
I would really want some kind of feed wheels. The Dr chipper would suck in a straight piece of silver maple. But you still had to hold on to every piece long enough to get a good rattling. My next mini chipper would have feed wheels as a mandatory feature.
 
ghostice said:
Have you seen this? Feeds pretty well, not sure with what species but bet it'd work with stuff like willow. Cheers
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They are nice little machines and you can get an upgraded 18hp version and also an electric or hydraulic powered assist wheel. Still gravity feed though...

@treebing have you seen the Eliet shredders? These are sold in North America.

www.elietusa.com

Eliet News

Eliet garden machines
www.elietusa.com www.elietusa.com
 
treebing said:
I actually reached out to them and they said they wouldn't sell me one or send it to the USA for some reason.
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On a trip to UK a couple of years before COVID I chatted with a UK equipment dealer about differences between EU specs for some stuff and N America. One diffrence that struck me was that small four strokes were made to run on I think it was 94 octane minimum which we don’t have here so there might be warranty issues. Also some N American sales need UL stickers etc. and the EU guys cant be bothered with this stuff for a small market (N. America). Shame cuz some of the stuff we talked about would be really cool to see over here.
 
ghostice said:
On a trip to UK a couple of years before COVID I chatted with a UK equipment dealer about differences between EU specs for some stuff and N America. One diffrence that struck me was that small four strokes were made to run on I think it was 94 octane minimum which we don’t have here so there might be warranty issues. Also some N American sales need UL stickers etc. and the EU guys cant be bothered with this stuff for a small market (N. America). Shame cuz some of the stuff we talked about would be really cool to see over here.
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I’ve wondered how much of it is from US regulations and how much of it is that the US market is more geared towards farming and logging and less evolved in urban arboriculture compared to the Euro market?

Whatever it is, I think there’s a niche waiting in the US.

Just like some of the battery chainsaws come stock with the 1/4” pitch bar & chain over there and here they comes 3/8”. It really doesn’t make any sense.
 
Barc Buster said:
Now those are some Mini chippers I could definitely see using!
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Hadn't seen these - they look really neat. However a showstopper for me is that the Prof6 specs come in at just under 800 lbs weight - that's way more than I want to muscle up and down sideyards here (often hills/ walkouts) and it makes a hitch based rack like Reg showed (usually rated at only about 500 lbs max) probably out of the question - it would be trailerable though. Hecksler had a wheel drive option on some of their models pre COVID, not sure about now. But weight is my enemy to a point.
 
macrocarpa said:
I’ve wondered how much of it is from US regulations and how much of it is that the US market is more geared towards farming and logging and less evolved in urban arboriculture compared to the Euro market?

Whatever it is, I think there’s a niche waiting in the US.

Just like some of the battery chainsaws come stock with the 1/4” pitch bar & chain over there and here they comes 3/8”. It really doesn’t make any sense.
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I think a decent amount is regulations, too get a new motor for my chipper the only option in that size range available in gas in the US was the kohler ch1000, all the Hondas etc aren't imported to the US due to regulations, I was hoping to re-power with a honda.
 
I always think you Americans make top notch big chippers, but terrible small ones in comparison to here (Europe) where manufacturers have had to work to weight limits for a long time.
This is my small chipper, a 1650 pound Timberwolf with a 35 HP kubota diesel.
You can push it around like a pram, great performance imo, this is black locust (as you call it)


 
ghostice said:
Hadn't seen these - they look really neat. However a showstopper for me is that the Prof6 specs come in at just under 800 lbs weight - that's way more than I want to muscle up and down sideyards here (often hills/ walkouts) and it makes a hitch based rack like Reg showed (usually rated at only about 500 lbs max) probably out of the question - it would be trailerable though. Hecksler had a wheel drive option on some of their models pre COVID, not sure about now. But weight is my enemy to a point.
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Uh, it’s self propelled. Both of those chippers are. In fact many of their other chippers offer that option as well.
 
Barc Buster said:
Uh, it’s self propelled. Both of those chippers are. In fact many of their other chippers offer that option as well.
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So's the Heckler but it's still more weight than I want to play with in 4' sideyards around windows and window wells and steps and such. Some of the yards are really tight - which is why dragging brush is such a pain. Our City "Planners" here have all gone to the Holy School of Urban Densification which means the lots are only going to get smaller and smaller (if that's possible) and the "yards" tighter and harder to work around in (think a 3500 sq ft house with fences and 8' between houses and no lanes or back yard access). There's an arborist on YouTube from Holland who actually takes his chipper through a HO's house from time to time to get the rear yard. Not there yet but it's probably our Urban Planners dream to get everybody packed in that tightly in the future. On the plus side this means there'll always be the need for tree climbers and rigging skills to get rear yard trees down (unless you have a 50 ton crane I suppose). Cheers
 
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Yes, the Eliet's are bigger machines. They, along with the JoBeau chippers are on the larger end of what most would qualify as a wee chipper. Anything with an auto feed function and self-propelled will be larger and heavier it seems like. The Eliets are also not chippers, they're shredders. This makes them a bit slower than a gravity feed machine much more controlled and easier on the body.

I priced out a Prof 6 from the Canadian dealer and it came out to just under $20000CAD. I've seen them used in Montreal and the Niagara Botanical gardens and they are legit professional grade machines with a professional grade price.

I spoke with the Haecksler owner and from what I remember it was engine regulations that prevented him from exporting. I found this odd as Greenmech was happy to ship me a Greenmech CS100. However, he did mention he was overhauling the machine and looking to enter the NA market.

My hope is to build a little more awareness around these machines and inspire others to think outside the box when it comes to the tree business model.
 
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