Branch shredder

[bc.gold 3,403]

Go big or go home, I need a shredder to mulch the material being distilled into essential oils after watching a few tube videos of those small gasoline engine powered shredders and how the guys were having to fight with them to get a larger branches fed into the chipper decided to source out the owner of this gem.

 

The Gehl silage chopper was resting on a piece of vacant land along with some other junk several miles from the first house, turns out that house was the owner. Struck a deal, I now own the silage chopper.

 

Pulled it out of the weeds then hitched it up to the truck, a mile or so later the hitch broke loose. Heading over tomorrow with that new trailer that I built from that old RV.

 

There's a conveyor that feeds a pair of rollers that pull the material into the knives, if by chance something jams you can put the feeder transmission into neutral.

 

The drive rollers that do the feed float to match the height of the material being fed into the chopper.

 

I have a 28 horse power Mitsubishi diesel to power this monster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,403]

The same Gehl model B40 silage chopper from 1925, I'm impressed.

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,279]

This could be interesting....

[Burnerman 758]

Essential green chop oils. 

[bc.gold 3,403]

23 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

This could be interesting....

 

The farmers Shepherd wanted to tear my face off, never seen a beard before.

 

The pieces are coming together, noticed in the tube that JD 60 was struggling a bit at times belt pto is rated at 41.57 hp . My little diesel may not have the mustard.

 

I know where there's a New Holland swather with a Ford Industrial 172 CID gasoline engine these are rated at 172G is 68 @2800 and the engine has a clutch attached.

 

 

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

Just remembered another swather ( barn kept ) that has a Wisconsin VH4D, that would be my last choice. Excellent engines but hard on fuel.

 

When I go back in the morning will have to look and see what is in the self propelled combine has for an engine, this farmer is easy to deal with.

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,403]

Do you guys think this silage chopper will mulch branches, or have I wasted $100.00

[ebinmaine 67,279]

38 minutes ago, bcgold said:

Do you guys think this silage chopper will mulch branches, or have I wasted $100.00

I don't know anything about silage choppers but others have built them.

 

[Stormin 9,981]

 

6 hours ago, bcgold said:

Do you guys think this silage chopper will mulch branches, or have I wasted $100.00

 

Depends on how thick the branches are I suppose. Silage choppers are designed for chopping grass after all. Don't know what was being put through the one in the video, but looked quite thick and heavy.

[bc.gold 3,403]

12 hours ago, bcgold said:

Do you guys think this silage chopper will mulch branches, or have I wasted $100.00

 

Regardless of brand the 5/10 horse power Wood chipper / shredders use two blades that produce a coarser output, the corn copper uses four blades to make a much finer chop.

 

 

 

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

Is it possible to remove two of the blades to make it a two blade chopper?  Or would that throw it out of balance? 

[bc.gold 3,403]

29 minutes ago, The Tool Crib said:

Is it possible to remove two of the blades to make it a two blade chopper?  Or would that throw it out of balance? 

 

You could remove corresponding blades 180 degrees apart, for my application want a really fine shred to break up cell structure but not so fine as to block the passage of steam.

 

Kinda like when the big boys do well fracking to get more oil previously locked up.

[bc.gold 3,403]

Does this look familiar. used Price:USD $7,750

 

Engine
Make/Model: Kohler Command Pro 27
Gross hp: 27 hp (20 kW) @ 3600 rpm
Max. torque: 42.7 ft-lb (54 Nm) @ 3000 rpm
Type of fuel: Gas
Number of cylinders: 2

 

Cutting System
Disc size: 24" dia. x 1.25" width
(61 cm x 3.2 cm)
Speed: 1835 rpm
Knives: Two 5/8" x 3.5" x 8"
(1.6 cm x 8.9 cm x 20 cm)
Bedknife: 4-edge, 3/4" x 5" x 6.6" A8 steel

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,403]

What an interesting way to make up for the lack of horse power, intermittent feed.

[ebinmaine 67,279]

13 minutes ago, bcgold said:

What an interesting way to make up for the lack of horse power, intermittent feed.

Agreed, Interesting...

[bc.gold 3,403]

Type and size of the branches I need to mulch.

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

Trailer built to haul garden tractors, had to remove a wheel, uses roller bearings similar to Henry Fords Model T

 

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

My alternative power options, the Wisconsin was thought the be seized but the mice built a nest inside the air cowling.

 

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

The other combine on the property from which the silage chopper was is a pull behind tractor type and does not have an engine

 

But the One from this Case combine is available but there's a hitch, have to take the whole thing. Owner is concerned  the building is going to fall down soon and wants all the junk gone before this happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

The silage chopper relocated, I'm thinking that I may remove the conveyor to lesson the horse power required to run the chopper head.

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

On 9/1/2019 at 10:10 AM, bcgold said:

What an interesting way to make up for the lack of horse power, intermittent feed.

 

I'm curious what the life expectancy is on that Kohler Command Pro 27 being abused as it is.

 

Energy stored in the rotating mass is nearly totally consumed with that larger log being chipped and the engine has very little time to recover that spent energy before the log is automatically forwarded into the chipping blades.

Edited September 2, 2019 by bcgold

[bc.gold 3,403]

Some good news with some bad, which I'll give ya first.

 

My Mitsubishi L3E only has 19.5 hp at 3,000 rpm this engine has very low hours it was removed from a Toro 223D that I had purchased a few years ago.

 

I was hoping to attached this 6 inch diameter centrifugal clutch onto the flywheel to drive the 17 inch pulley which would have brought the rpm into the range needed.

 

The corn shredder turned by hand show that everything is operational and that it does not require much effort to turn it over, the feed chain is on perfect condition and just needs the wood parts replaced.

 

Hopefully by the end of this upcoming week I'll know which engine I end up buying.

 

Which engine would you guys go for, the V4 Wisconsin missing carburetor, Case combine engine or the Ford Industrial.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by bcgold

[ebinmaine 67,279]

3 minutes ago, bcgold said:

Which engine

Can any be heard to run before purchase?

That's the one I'd go for.

They'd all do well enough I'm thinking...

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

16 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Can any be heard to run before purchase?

That's the one I'd go for.

They'd all do well enough I'm thinking...

 

 

Wisconsin engine parts are really expensive, the engine used in the Case 600 combine, piston and sleeve kits nowhere to be found while  the Ford industrial piston and sleeve kits are available and reasonably priced.

 

If the Ford Industrial engine is older than 1962/64 it will be sleeved.

 

My buddy was fighting a dry sleeve in a Perkins diesel for weeks trying to remove it, then I showed up for a visit. Told Nick to fire up the welder then spiral a few gobs of weld on the way up from the bottom of the sleeve.

 

When the gobs of weld cool down they shrink the sleeve and it dam near falls out.

 

[bc.gold 3,403]

On 8/31/2019 at 7:18 PM, bcgold said:

 

The farmers Shepherd wanted to tear my face off, never seen a beard before.

 

The pieces are coming together, noticed in the tube that JD 60 was struggling a bit at times belt pto is rated at 41.57 hp . My little diesel may not have the mustard.

 

I know where there's a New Holland swather with a Ford Industrial 172 CID gasoline engine these are rated at 172G is 68 @2800 and the engine has a clutch attached.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just got off of the phone with Terry asking him if he knew who owned the property this swather sits on, well the land is currently rented and the owner lives in the big city and there's a local guy married to his wife's sister.

 

This is way more information than I would have acquired from the lands and tittles office.

 

Wait there's more, Terry used to own this swather the engine runs good and the old guy who had purchased it just used it to cut a bit of hay around the perimeter of the farm land.

 

The original owner passed away, Terry then bought the swather from the estate, got the engine running then sold it to another guy who passed away a few years ago. Hopefully every second owner gets a free pass as I maybe the fourth Oops make that fifth.

 

Terry also offered me a large copper coil made from 1" copper that came out of a pool heater. If I had any doubts about my condenser being large enough this coil is sure to handle the volume coming from the still.

 

Ya just have to love it when the pieces fall into place.

Edited September 3, 2019 by bcgold