# Chipper Repair



## MrWhoopee (Jun 15, 2020)

Last summer, in an attempt to keep up with the wildfire fuel accumulation on my property, I bought an old (1978) Might Mac chipper for $200.



This year, because I regularly feed it things it was never intended to handle, the output screen failed completely. It was a piece of 10 ga. perforated with 1 in. holes. It fatigued and broke into several pieces. A replacement would have cost $135, but would have been no better than the original. The solution was obvious. I picked a piece of 1/4 x 10 HR flat that was big enough, then sat down and drew it up on Acad.

A couple of  days (and a mistake or two) later, I had all the holes drilled.



After welding the mounting tubes to both ends, I had to form the radius. Lacking a press-brake, I had to improvise.


Yes, that's a wide-5 VW bus rim and a come-along. That got me close,  but I still had to close it up a couple of inches to get the mounting tube spacing right. Back to the table vise on the mill to squeeze it tighter. Of course, it wanted to concentrate the bend in the middle. A tie-down stud solved that problem.


Fortunately, the "radius" was not critical, as long as the spacing between the tubes was right, it would work.
And it does.



It only took me about 12 hours.


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## Dhal22 (Jun 15, 2020)

12 / $135 = $11ish an hr.  That's premium wages in these parts......


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## chips&more (Jun 15, 2020)

Nice job/save! Does your chipper have like ¼” x 1” flat bar for blades that just flop around on shafts? And it just beats the stuff to death. I had one of those chippers decades ago. Then I got a chipper that had spinning knifes that actually cut the stuff instead of beating it to death. Sorry, but I don’t miss that flat bar design at all. It’s like a night and day difference…Dave


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## MrWhoopee (Jun 15, 2020)

Dhal22 said:


> 12 / $135 = $11ish an hr.  That's premium wages in these parts......


Less the steel and argon. Under $10/hr., but who's counting?


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## MrWhoopee (Jun 15, 2020)

chips&more said:


> Nice job/save! Does your chipper have like ¼” x 1” flat bar for blades that just flop around on shafts? And it just beats the stuff to death. I had one of those chippers decades ago. Then I got a chipper that had spinning knifes that actually cut the stuff instead of beating it to death. Sorry, but I don’t miss that flat bar design at all. It’s like a night and day difference…Dave



Yep, brute force, crude as it gets. Appropriately called a hammer mill.


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## Nutfarmer (Jun 15, 2020)

At that pay rate i could find lots of work for you. My farm help starts at 13.50 and it's hard to find.


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