Mike Gibb’s chunker

I did a lot of shopping trying to find a large truck rear end but just too expensive. I have studied your videos and seen some of your evolutions.
Really like the auto feed you have.
Most important tips I have seen are to stay away from dry hard wood and too large diameter
Mr Tesolonian broke a large truck axel learning that lesson

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Hi Michael , i think i could cut probley. Two inch branch if i had your wheel blade slittly tapered, Or about the size of an 1-1/2"pvc pipe,when i finish a cut i can hear the ring and pinion clashing, so i need too. Reeset the ring and pinion after the oil flush thats in it rinces the bearing good. It serprized me i got two full barrels of wood just trimming my newbers pine tree away from his roof and the low ground branchs.

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I agree! That dry wood chunks hard! Had to sharpen my roll over edge. Waiting for the new cherry pruning that will come off in February all the old wood will be thrown into the retort.
Looking good on what you are doing. Agree, The fly wheel will take the shock out of the motor when cutting.
Bob

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Been working 6+ hours every day on this white elephant! Why is it that Wayne can knock out an entire gasified truck in a week and I am still not done with the chunker in 2 weeks.

Oh well, I do enjoy the fabrication work
So I have it mounted on a 3 point stance, the 2 hp 1780 rpm motor mounted, a Ford serpentine belt, spring tensioner and 2 1/2” pulley installed.
As it was getting dark today , plugged it in and measured 34 rpm on the cutting wheel.

Now just mount the cutter anvil and rustle up some 2” to 4” green wood stock to test with.

I have a 230 v 10 amp emergency stop switch and waterproof box coming from China, and will make some safety shields for the moving parts.

Pictures and video soon

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After you have build your 12th wood chunker you will be able to build one in a week or less. You are building it a lot faster then I built mine. Good job.
Bob

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With Bob Mackey’s help here is a 26 sec video

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I like it Mike! I can’t wait for the video of it gobbling up some wood.

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Looks good mike a few more bars and plates around the cutting wheel supports you will have a nice quite running chunking tool.whare my wheel bottoms out i have a 1/2" plate ground too a point on one side too help cut as it chunks. Hard too explain but you will have too see witch side too grind a point on , and i left some jagged edges on the stationary cutting plate, may be yours i can learn something new.Thanks posting the build, it looks well made.

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What Bill said. I guess this one was just a teaser.

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The two big unknowns at this point are:

Is the 4 - 1 1/4” pipe frame stout enough to resist the flexing and bending forces?

Is the little 2 HP motor stout enough for up to 4” green wood?

Will know soon and modifications will follow!

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I like those 26 second videos! Nice engine work!

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Here is a fun calculator to play with.

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Thank you
But the loads required to cut a 4” limb with a 45 degree sharpened blade are hard to measure.

I am now wishing I had used 2” pipe as I will need to reinforce to cut over 3” stuff

Finally it works!
Here is a video with some details

and Next will be cutting up to 3”

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It works great
Way faster than a bandsaw and hatchet
Shatters the chunks
Cut up 2 - 5 gallon buckets of chunks in about 5 min.

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Nice seems to be real smooth. A real time saver for sure

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Looks good! All these designs use light gage knifes, but curved, and the knives hold up. So I bet there is not a crazy amount of force needed. Looks like most of the force would be in tension anyhow.

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Very nice Mike! I didn’t see it flex at all. It’s nice to know 2hp is enough.

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It was getting about 1/2” flex when cutting 3” stuff
But I think I can add a couple of doubler pipes and try for 4”
The motor and flywheel did not seem to slow at all when cutting 3”
Actually at 3” is about as big as I have ever fed my gasifier.

I tried it out without the WK slot at the anvil backstop and it kicked and would not complete the cuts.
Thanks again Wayne.

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Very smooth operation, I like it and a lot less hp. to operate than other chunkers.
Bob

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