Is there a device available reasonably cheaply for chewing up shrub and small tree cuttings?
I see tree surgeons have these large machines for chewing up trees; I'm looking for something similar on a small scale.
One used to burn this stuff, but that seems to be verboten nowadays.
Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.
I just went to Homebase or somewhere like that and bought a `garden shredder' a couple of years ago. Great fun, and does an exceedingly good job.
I've been known to have the occasional little bonfire for the bits in between `what the shredder won't handle' and `that's a log, that is'. No-one's complained yet; I guess it depends on where you are.
You can hire a chipper or a shredder from any hire shop. A chipper will take tree branches and is a large & fearsome beast, a shredder will take up to about an inch/inch and a half diameter.
You can buy garden shredders
Dave
I would recommend one of the Bosch "quiet" garden shredders. These are powered by an indiction motor, an are self feeding with a worm screw. You offer it the branch / cutting, it sucks it through a spits it out as mulch!
(With soft green leafy stuff, I find it is best to leave it laying on the ground for a couple of days to dry out a bit before shredding).
Yes, I bought a Bosch 2000 after the recent discussion in this NG. A good buy, very efficient. Probably only use it half a dozen times a year, but it will still pay it's ground rent.
There's a sort of trick to use, which is to keep strong stems going through, so that they also pull the soft stuff through at the same time.
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I had one of those and it lasted a year. It worked well but now it just gets clogged up and I could see no way of fixing it. I then went out and brought the sort with two blades that just bash whatever you put there to bits. Crude and noisy but it works and you can sharpen it. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix the bosh I would be interested, and probably so would the neighbours, as I still have it sitting in the back of the shed.
Simon
Or you could gently drop a petrol mower over it. When I was a lad we had a plate that fitted in the grass exhaust chute to keep mulchings in until they were done. Never used it though.
Mine developed the same problem after I shredded five trees with it... (I also lent it to a friend who then fed it a bit of angle iron by mistake and that just about finished it off).
I got in contact with:
To fix, you take the screws out under the top lip and remove the black funnel part. Now undo all of the screws that hold the casing together. Torx or Allen screws IIRC. This will reveal the main body of the mechanism which is the motor and gear/helix case. Undo all the bolts that hold the motor to the shredding mechanism, and then remove that.
You should see the planetary gear box at the motor end has the base of the helix engaged in it. The helix is held in position by a circlip. Take this off and you can then remove the gear, scraper and washers from the end of the helix. Once these are off the helix simply slides out of the case.
As the Haynes manuals say, reassembly is the reverse of the above process!
Ah so the truth is you didn't really take the thing apart like you claimed to and just looked at the manufacturers exploded diagram and guessed? ;-)
Henry (who has, for about fifteen years, taken a word of a Haynes manual with about as much credence as a political party election manifesto)
Thanks for the info. I have had mine to bits and the screw did look worn and also the scraper. So that is probably the problem I could not see a way to sharpen it, which seemed a bad design for a part that is bound to get worn. Just had a look on the website and the helix is EXPENSIVE, £64.08 including P&P. As I have now bought another one, would anybody who is willing to travel to North Essex like a Bosh Shredder, perfect working order apart from the needing a new helix cutter and scraper.
I took it apart as I described, but I will admit it was after I had ordered the bits!
(you could tell the helix was knackerd by the big dent in its screw thread, the scraper was a guess, and there is not much else going on in there!)
You could do what I did... lend it to a mate to feed angle iron through and then he can pay something toward the new bits ;-))
If I did not already have one, I might have taken you up on that...
I bought a Mountfield 2200w (£170 B&Q). Powerful noisy bugger tha chomps through 40mm diameter banches in no time. Tis self-feeding lik most these days, but I advise going for the more powerful ones as the are less likely to block. The quiet ones are not as efficient or fast
-- Part P Avoider
I bought a Mountfield 2200w (£170 B&Q).
Powerful noisy bugger that chomps through 40mm diameter banches in n time. Tis self-feeding like most these days, but I advise going for th more powerful ones as they are less likely to block.
The quiet ones are not as efficient or fast, but all are great fun an make you feel POWERFULL!! (especially when sodding rose bushes have cu you to shreds and you then feed them into your machine, for them to b mulched to oblivion!!
-- Part P Avoider
Ditto, bought one of them too. Great machines
-- Cordless Crazy
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