How to make a garden branch shredder with your own hands. How to make a grass and twig chopper for your garden with your own hands

What is a crusher and why is it needed?

During the planned deforestation and removal of round timber, a huge number of branches of all sizes remain in the cleared area.

Burning them on site is dangerous and irrational. Exporting them in their natural form is expensive and inconvenient - having a fairly small mass, they take up an unreasonably large volume.

It is also impossible to leave them: the tree, rotting, turns into a breeding ground for forest pests.

We should not forget that wood in any form is a valuable source of cellulose. Every recycled branch, every twig is a new newspaper, book page, notebook for a schoolchild.

A crusher will help to significantly facilitate the processing of wood waste. Wood crushed directly at the felling site takes up little space, is easy to transport, and is completely ready for further processing.

Types of wood crushers

There are crushers:

standard;
universal.

Standard ones process wood from one meter in length, and universal ones are used for processing small branches and bars.

According to the type of motor, crushers are:

electrical;
autonomous (diesel or gasoline).

Electric ones, as a rule, are light in weight, they operate at a low rated power, two kilowatts is enough, but maybe more.
In such models, a person puts wood into the equipment independently, and the main element that is used in the operation of the mechanism is a cutting disk. Semi-professional and professional wood crushers usually run on liquid fuel, although among professional ones there are machines with an electric motor. They have large dimensions and weight, cutting speed.

What is a herb grinder

Owners of their own cottages or gardens need to prepare garden compost. Previously, grass was chopped by hand, but now there are electric and gasoline grinders for this purpose. Such a device can significantly save time for the summer resident, allowing him to place more material in the compost barrel.

If your financial situation allows you to purchase such a device, this is good, since its prices are quite high. If the summer resident does not have extra money, do not be upset, as you can make a machine for grinding grass with your own hands. Its design is very simple. It includes:

engine;
shaft;
discs or knives;
bolts and nuts;
receiving container;
protective casing.

The operating principle of this device is very similar to a food processor. The engine transmits speed to a shaft with sharp knives that grind suitable raw materials, after which it is passed through a hole into the box.

Grinders that run on gasoline are considered the most powerful. They can cut not only grass, but also quite large branches. A significant advantage over electric shredders is their mobility and independence from the electrical network, which allows the use of gasoline units anywhere in the garden.

Less powerful are the so-called electric grass cutters. They work exclusively from the network, so they do not have good mobility. The advantages of such grinders are their light weight and small dimensions, which add ease of use. To chop grass and branches of small diameter, a device with a motor of up to 1.5 kilowatts is suitable.

Important! A motor with such power is not suitable for long-term loads. For continuous loads, you should choose a motor up to 4 kilowatts.

Classification

Crushers are classified according to grinding/crushing technology:

Cheek. They consist of a movable and a fixed jaw, located to each other in a wedge-shape, and the narrow part of the wedge must correspond to the parameters of semi-finished wood products that are planned to be manufactured. The moving jaw puts pressure on the wood, which is poured into the crusher from above, bringing it closer to the jaw, which is stationary during operation. Under pressure, the wood collapses to the same size as the narrow part of the cheek, after which it crumbles.
Impact roller. In such machines, wood is poured into the receiving compartment, hits the rollers rotating towards each other during operation, is destroyed and spills out of the outlet.
Conical. They consist of a glass and a moving cone-shaped finger. The wood is poured into a glass, a cone-shaped finger enters the glass, breaks the raw material, and upon exiting, destroys it to the required size and crumbles it.
Drums. The equipment consists of a drum into which wood is supplied. When the equipment is turned on, the raw materials are destroyed by hitting each other when the drum is brought to the required speed.
Roller. They consist of a roller and a bowl, the roller unwinds, gradually approaching the bowl, the raw material is crushed, falling between the bowl and the roller.
Hammer. They consist of hammers attached to the rotor. Raw materials are poured on top while the rotor rotates, broken into small pieces with hammers and crumbled.

Wood chipper can be classified according to the size of wood crushing:

Technological chips. There is a state standard for process chips that reflects the requirements for the final result, namely the size of the chips, quality, mass fraction of residues as a percentage on sieves with different diameters and trays.
Special shavings. The settings of the machine are important, because the size of the chips used in the manufacture of particle boards depends on this.
Wood crushed fraction. This includes wood flour, wood dust and other crushed wood fractions, which are used in the production of linoleum, linkcrust, glass and other finished products.

Technical characteristics of the mechanism

A feature of the market economy is a wide range of offers of such equipment from foreign and domestic manufacturers, so the buyer must know the main technical characteristics of the mechanism, which he should pay attention to when purchasing:

Installation power. This is the basis of productivity.
Purpose of the unit. Some are necessary for chopping branches and grass, others for crushing logs and trees.
Type of fuel. Some run on electricity only, while others run on both electricity and gasoline or diesel.
Installation mobility. The dimensions of the crusher, weight, and speed of operation depend on this.
Functionality. Universal devices are used, as a rule, in everyday life and have a simple design; in such mechanisms, as a rule, there is one grinding mode; in professional ones, the level of crushing can be adjusted.

If we look at the manufacturers of industrial equipment such as crushers, one of the leading places is occupied by:

German, "Hombak", "Maier";
Chinese "Kefid";
Russian and BioSphere.

Features of homemade models

Any shredder (both homemade and purchased) must be composed of several basic components:

a steel frame on which all components are fixed;
electric or gasoline engine;
cutting mechanism;
protective casing;
main gear.

In addition, you can’t do without a couple of containers: the first will contain the waste being processed, and the second will store the resulting wood chips. Homemade models differ in the cutting mechanism, and the remaining elements are the same (only with different sizes). The chopping of branches can be carried out using 20 or 30 circular saws, which are equipped with carbide teeth. This could then be a combination of sharpened carbon steel blades mounted on a shaft. The garbage will be placed at right angles and chopped with knives, of which there are from 2 to 6 pieces.

The next option for a shredder is a disc crusher, in which the branches are placed at an angle of 30 to 45 degrees. In this case, the knives are mounted on a steel circle fixed to the shaft. More complex variations have two shafts rotating synchronously. The knives converge at one point and crush the waste. In this case, the wood should be folded at right angles. Circular saws are recommended for quickly and easily producing miniature wood chips from waste. A unit like a jointer is relevant when processing thin branches to obtain a larger fraction. Finally, a disc chipper is suitable for cutting branches larger than 5 centimeters in diameter.

Types of garden shredders

There are different names for chippers used for crushing wood waste. Wood chipper, branch chopper, shredder, wood chipper - this is not a complete list of names. Despite such a variety of terms, the structure of various units is almost the same. Any crusher consists of the following elements:

steel frame into which all parts and mechanisms are attached;
main drive – electric motor or gasoline (diesel) engine with power take-off shaft;
cutting mechanism;
main drive (usually belt);
protective casing;
2 bunkers - for feeding wooden sticks and unloading wood chips.

Shredders: from circular saws (on the left) and with a knife shaft (photo on the right)
In fact, homemade branch shredders are divided into varieties only by the design of the cutting mechanism, the remaining elements differ only in size. If you carefully review the crushing section drawings published on the Internet, you can identify the following popular solutions:

In the middle of the shaft, 2-3 dozen circular saws equipped with carbide teeth are attached.
A design that replicates the structure of a jointer on a circular saw. Longitudinal grooves are made on the shaft (from 2 to 6 pieces depending on the engine power), where chopping knives made of carbon steel are fixed. The branches are fed for chopping at an angle of 90° to the knives.
A disc crusher for wood, where the knives are attached to the plane of a steel circle mounted on a shaft. Here the branches need to be fed at an angle of 30-45° to the surface of the disk, which is ensured by the design of the loading hopper.
A chipper with two shafts that rotate synchronously. The cutting edges of the knives mounted on the shafts converge at one point when rotating. Due to this, not only crushing occurs, but also self-tightening of the branches after capture. Wood feeding is perpendicular to the rotating knives.

Crushers: disc (left) and twin-shaft (right)

Note. To increase torque and cutting force, garden shredders use a flywheel mounted on the free end of the shaft. An exception is the disc chipper for branches, where the flywheel is a heavy metal circle with attached knives.

Next we will look at how to make the first three types of garden shredders yourself. A twin-shaft wood chipper is a rather complex unit to manufacture, requiring investment and labor, which is not always justified. Do-it-yourself hammer and other original wood chippers are shown in the video:

To process thick twigs and branches into firewood, you can make a mechanized cleaver. Options and drawings of the machine are presented in our other instructions.

Power units used

There are two types of devices for chopping branches:

driven by an electric motor;
powered by internal combustion engines.

For low-power homemade wood waste crushers, an electric motor is mainly used. This is explained by the fact that an engine running on gasoline or diesel fuel most often has more power than an electric one. For example, a scooter engine with a volume of 50 cm³ produces approximately 5 liters. With. or about 3.7 kW.

For infrequent grinding of garden waste, such a power unit is simply not necessary.

What else can a chopper be made from?

There are many different options for creating garden shredders with your own hands: from the simplest ones, which only allow you to grind grass, to more structurally complex, powerful units designed for wood up to 10 cm thick. Accordingly, the practical implementation of the plan will require different details, different amounts of time and money.

To assemble equipment for processing plant waste, in addition to the considered options for old or unnecessary tools or equipment, you can use the following devices:

drill or hammer drill;
an old working vacuum cleaner;
unnecessary electric saw;
motor from the pump;
gasoline or electric walk-behind tractor;
any electric motor of suitable power.

A drill with a hammer drill, if you use them to chop grass, you don’t need to redo it at all. It is enough to make only a nozzle with blades. The created device will work like a blender, grinding soft plant stems into a container in small portions.

Materials and tools

Most of the components of the shredder can be selected from supplies available in the household. For example, the frame is perfectly assembled from metal corners, channels and pipes. An electric motor is usually purchased or taken from a mini-tractor. The cutter used must necessarily have large teeth, and the circular saws must have a diameter of 100 to 200 millimeters. If the work is done on a shaft, then gears are purchased in quantities of a couple of pieces, the same applies to the pulley, as well as to the shaft itself - there should be two of them. Knives can be made from car springs if you have a milling machine.

The tools you should prepare are a hammer drill, wrenches, a grinder, as well as a welding device and a set of fasteners.

We make a wood chipper with our own hands

The manufacture of such a device, if there is an appropriate circuit, is not particularly difficult. You just need to choose a working electric motor, the power of which will allow you to easily grind branches, grass and leaves in the future.

Composition and use of the preparation zircon: instructions

Scheme using a washing machine

Homemade garden shredders for leaves and wood chips, which are made from an old washing machine, are popular. You can use not only an electric motor, but also a housing with a frame, which greatly simplifies the manufacture of equipment. It is possible to make a branch chopper for a walk-behind tractor with your own hands, which will be mounted on a cultivator and other mechanized equipment.

Tools you will need:

electric drill;
pliers;
Grinder;
wrench and screwdriver.

The electric motor power in old Soviet washing machines usually does not exceed 1 kW, so the shredder can only be used for chopping grass and fallen leaves. Cutting knives can be made from scraps of metal, which are sharpened and fixed on the electric motor shaft. You can also use factory attachments, which are distinguished by their quality and greatly simplify the manufacture of a homemade shredder.

The work algorithm will be as follows:

The body of the washing machine is cut to height.
At the bottom side, cut out a hole approximately 20 cm wide and 8 cm high with a grinder. The resulting hole will be needed for throwing out ground plant waste. A casing is made near the slot or guides are attached to secure the plastic bucket.
The legs are welded to the trimmed body.
Two holes with a diameter of 6-7 mm are drilled on the electric motor shaft. Install a threaded bushing into the drive, securing it with bolts.
An electric motor is mounted at the bottom of the box, using nuts and studs for fixation. Knives are attached to the sleeve inside the casing, which are located 10-15 cm above the hole for ejecting the ground grass.
The body is fastened by welding or made dismountable with bolts and other fastenings.
All that remains is to connect the power cable and mount the start button. You can use a standard start from the washing machine, taking care only of the required length of the power cable.

The design of a garden shredder - we will determine the most important parts of the unit

Crushing of material in a garden shredder is carried out using knives. In finished models, the knife is most often a metal disk with 2-3 cutting surfaces. A large amount of work quickly renders the teeth unusable and they have to be sharpened periodically - you must admit, this is not very convenient, and it also takes up your time. If you decide to make a garden shredder with your own hands, then you can avoid repeating these design flaws, but assemble a reliable, high-performance and, most importantly, durable knife.

We suggest using circular saws with carbide tips for this. You will need not one disk, but several, to assemble a system from them - a package. In ready-made garden shredders, the knife, as a rule, has a thickness of 3 cm, but we can make a package of any thickness - everything will depend on the number of saws purchased. On average, for a high-quality knife 6-10cm thick you will need 15-25 pieces. Each blade has many teeth, originally designed for sawing hard wood. Therefore, grass stems, leaves and branches will be the same to them as seeds. In extreme cases, if the teeth on your saw become dull, nothing will stop you from going to the nearest tool store and purchasing a replacement.

Circular saws can be successfully used as shredder knives

However, the knife is not everything. In order to set it in motion we need an engine. To quickly chop branches in small volumes, it is easier to use an electric motor. Its use may seem somewhat inconvenient due to the cable and the need to connect to an outlet, but it operates almost silently and does not emit exhaust gases. The walk-behind tractor has more power, so it is ideal for those cases where you need to crush coarse material often and for a long time.

Poultry grass grinder

Any farmer who owns a farm needs to prepare feed for livestock by cutting the grass into small fractions. Most of these shredders have high power and are designed for large volumes of grass. The question arises: how can you chop grass for a small livestock? For this purpose, you can find and purchase a special chopper designed for small volumes, but its price will be very high. It’s easier and cheaper to make a grass cutter using the methods described in the previous sections or using other available materials.

To prepare grass feed in small quantities, it is more advisable to use a manual grass chopper, which can be easily mounted to the table with screws and bolts. Grass, as well as small dry stems, are gradually fed to the knife through the inlet guide hole. When assembled correctly, the knife will be pressed tightly against the hole, which will allow you to chop the grass into the desired fraction. When the knife is fully lowered, it rests against a wooden bar, which allows you to cut the grass and also prevents the knife from becoming dull quickly.

Manual grass cutter model

How to start making a wood chipper

Starting work on creating a wood chipper with your own hands involves choosing the design of the equipment. After all, installations are divided into three main classes:

Disc shredder.
Drum - for obtaining larger fractions of material.
Double-drum crusher - allows you to produce large-sized wood material, which can be used as a heating raw material.

The next step is to select a suitable drive device. Electric motors or internal combustion engines are used as such. The use of a gasoline engine allows you to get not only a highly productive, but also a mobile unit. However, finding an internal combustion engine of sufficient power is quite problematic, which cannot be said about electric units. If you can’t find one on the farm, you can always buy used ones at an affordable price.

The thickness of the branches that can be chopped depends on the electric motor used. The greater its power, the correspondingly higher the capabilities and service life. When choosing an electric motor for making a wood chipper, you need to consider the following:

If the power of the unit is up to 1.5 kW, then it is capable of handling sticks with a diameter of up to 20 mm.
If a more powerful unit up to 3-4 kW is used, then it is capable of crushing branches up to 40 mm thick.
To crush workpieces from 70 to 150 mm, electric motors with a power of 4 kW are used.

It is worth considering that the more powerful the unit, the greater the electricity consumption. If you are wondering how to make a branch chopper with your own hands for your home and garden, then choosing an engine with a power of more than 2 kW does not make sense. Logs with a diameter of 40 mm or more can be cut with a chainsaw and used as heating material.

This is interesting! When choosing an electric motor for a shredder, consider how it is connected to the electrical network. When connected to a single-phase network, the power is reduced by 1.5 times.

When the design of the shredder and the electric drive of the appropriate power have been selected, you can begin to prepare the necessary parts. Usually, to obtain these, you cannot do without the help of a turner, but it all depends on the selected device configuration. The final stage in the production of a garden shredder is the preparation of the frame on which the drive and shredding mechanism will be placed.

Manufacturing plan

Let's look at how to assemble a wood chipper with your own hands. Need to consider:

What motor is needed and how to calculate the belt drive.
How to make a frame so that there are no backlashes and it is safe.
Assembly order.

Selection of engine and calculation of belt drive

You need to know 2 indicators about the engine: shaft rotation speed and power. It is indicated on the motor housing or they can be found by the marked number. With that in mind, here are a few tips you'll need to make a wood chipper:

Motors of 2.5-4 kilowatts are suitable for such purposes. With these parameters, we can say that it will work without breaking down and will crush any type of wood. The minimum threshold is 2 kilowatts. Motors with less power are, in principle, unable to cope with wood and are only good for straw. There is also no need to take engines of 4.5 or more kilowatts. Efficiency and energy consumption will be incommensurable. Only use it if it is lying around.
In some cases, power is indicated in horsepower. Wood chopping requires 6-7 HP. This marking can be found on old-type Soviet engines. 1 horsepower equals 735 watts.

In general, a wood chipper requires you to know how much torque the engine has, but this information is not always available. Therefore, if you do not know it, then you will only need speed. For a power of 2.4-4 kilowatts, 1500 rpm is enough. This will give you good torque.

Now you need to calculate the belt drive. Here you have to resort to physics. As a basis, we will take a poly-V-belt of the RK type with a neutral layer of 1.5 millimeters and a minimum radius of 45 millimeters. The engine will be at 2970 rpm, power is not important. For a homemade wood chipper to be more effective, the speed needs to be reduced to 1800. Here are the formulas:

It is necessary to determine the gear ratio: i = n1/ 1800 (shaft revolutions) = D1/D2 (pulley diameter). We get a value of 1.55.
Now you need to find the pulley diameter at which the wood shredder will work more efficiently: D1 x I + 2 x h0 x (i-1) = 45 (minimum radius) x 1.55 + 2 x 1.5 x (1.55 - 1) = 71.4 millimeters.

In order for your DIY garden wood chipper to work correctly, you need to lower the engine speed using a second pulley of 71.4 millimeters. The length of the belt does not matter.

Otherwise, you can do it more primitively. To reduce the speed by 2 times, the driven pulley is doubled in size.

Preparing materials

For a shredder, the components may already be in the shed. As a last resort, you should go to your neighbors or even buy it at a metal collection center. It will be much cheaper than buying them at a plumbing store or hardware store.

So, to make a homemade branch chopper, you will need:

Steel corner 60 millimeters. You can do it a little more or less – it won’t change the essence.
A pair of 40 mm corners that need to be welded in a “box”.
Square pipe 45x45.
Channel with numbers 6 and 9.5.
Round pipes of 35 and 45 millimeters.

Homemade branch choppers allow slight deviations from the specified parameters.

It is more convenient to do installation on a metal plate with a thickness of at least 10 millimeters. Wood will not work - the vibrations will break it in just a couple of days. After assembly you should get a similar design.

To fix the crusher belt, you can use 2 technologies:

The grooves can be made oblong. To do this, 2 holes are drilled side by side in the sheet and the gap is removed with a needle file or angle grinder. In this case, the motor is simply pulled back and pressed with hardware.
The plate must be placed at one end on the shaft, and the other must be secured with nuts and studs. It turns out that under the weight of the motor the belt tensions on its own.

The homemade garden shredder is almost ready, all that remains is to develop the shredder. Processing branches into wood chips will be more efficient if you use commercial wood saws.

You need to choose those with victorious soldering. Firstly, they will last longer and will not dull, and secondly, they cope better with hard rocks.

You will need about 20 saws and the same number of washers. By the way, you can’t apply them closely. It is desirable that the distance be approximately 2-3 millimeters between the solderings. This “sandwich” will be approximately 8 centimeters thick.

It should be taken into account that the initial product depends on the number of saws and the distance between the saws. This amount and distance are necessary to process the branch into sawdust. To process wood into chips, you will need to increase the distance by 15 millimeters.

The shaft will have to be ordered from a turner. Still, it will move towards the bearing and even the slightest subsidence will make the structure non-rigid. Optimal - bearings from Zhiguli from the rear axle shafts.

To install the discs, a thread is cut on the shaft. You will also need a flywheel. It can be cut from thick steel from 10 millimeters or a pulley from garden equipment. You can refer to this drawing.

Frame making

Chopping branches is accompanied by strong vibration, so it must be firmly fixed. It is better to weld it from steel corners 50x50. Profile pipes or aluminum are not suitable - they are too soft and pliable. The frame can be cooked at your discretion, but you can follow the recommendations:

Height. It will take several hours to chop the branches. This kind of work can make your back hurt and your knees get tired. Therefore, the height should be comfortable specifically for you. This is easy to determine: the window for throwing branches can be at the level of your lowered palm. This way you won’t have to bend over to throw in a new portion. The height of the machine itself should reach the bent elbow.
Frame width from 50 centimeters. This way, the jaw crusher will not wobble on the ground, even if it is uneven.
To prevent the frame from folding like a construction set, add transverse stiffeners. It is best to weld them rather than screw them on.
If the unit is supposed to be moved, industrial wheels and handles will be needed.
The engine must not extend beyond the frame. You can hit it and the belt will fall off. It is advisable to make the body from plywood or sheet metal.

Build process

First, you need to assemble a block for recycling. It consists of a package of wood files that are mounted on a shaft. The “sandwich” spacers are placed between them and secured with nuts.

Next, the bearings are pressed onto the shaft and into the outer housing. Before this stage, you can remove the anthers and lubricate the balls with a thick layer of grease.

The shaft is fixed to the body using bolts. You also need to put a pulley on the end of the round timber. 2 counter knives are placed on the saw teeth. These are ordinary metal plates on which wood will be cut. It is better to get a jointer cutter as it is calibrated and made of high carbon steel. The distance between the tooth and the counter knife should be about 1-2 millimeters. It is better to fix it not with a weld, but with bolts. This will allow you to slightly adjust the height of the counter knife.

All that remains is to install the engine and tension the belt. The shredder block should look something like this.

A recycling casing can be placed on top of the structure. This is necessary so that wood chips do not fly into your face and you do not have to clean the entire area. A ready-made branch chopper, made by yourself, can be of this shape.

A cord is connected to the motor. If it is three-phase, you can use star or delta circuits. It is also worth providing a 25A circuit breaker, just in case.

For home and garden

For home use, a very powerful unit is unlikely to be needed. An electric crusher with average characteristics can easily cope with the work of disposing of gardening waste.

This useful device, installed in the country, will help solve a number of problems. Among other things:

will get rid of constantly accumulating debris in the form of branches and uprooted stumps;
will allow you to save significantly, wood chips are an excellent fuel that can replace the usual coal, firewood, gas;
will produce sawdust, which is one of the best materials for mulching plants;
will help you make money on the chips obtained as a result of crushing, because this is an excellent material for creating wood boards and producing paper.

Even if the amount of wood processed is not too large, the crusher is guaranteed to pay for itself, since waste that was previously burned or rotted can be recycled, thereby contributing to preserving the ecology of the planet.

Shredder design for branches and grass

The purpose of the unit is to quickly and safely grind plant debris. The main function is performed by the cutting block. The knives are driven by the engine directly or via a belt drive. The units are installed on a stable frame. The moving elements are covered with a casing. Two compartments are made for feeding branches and unloading chips.

Metal frame

A homemade shredder with a powerful electric or gasoline engine needs a stable, durable frame with space to install the engine and a rectangular support for the cutting unit.

To make the shredder frame use:

profile pipe 25;
corner at 30;
channel.

Fasteners:

ears for the engine,
nuts,
hairpins.

Engine

Full autonomy, work anywhere in the garden, independence from the outlet - the advantages of a gasoline engine. A homemade shredder for processing branches, tomato tops, and grass is equipped with a motor from a motor-cultivator or walk-behind tractor with a capacity of 6 liters. With. It is moved from one unit to another.

You need a gearbox that provides 90° rotation if the gasoline engine has a horizontal shaft and the chopper has a vertical shaft.

Electricity costs are lower than gasoline, so if there is a network on the site, an electric motor is installed on the unit. To chop branches 2-3 cm thick, a 3-phase electric motor of 2200-3500 W is sufficient. When making a low-power grass cutter, they take engines from household devices. They are removed from washing machines and vacuum cleaners.

Knives

The thickness of the branches processed by the shredder depends on the design of the cutting unit. In home-made designs, several options are implemented:

to grind branches with a diameter of 7-8 cm, several cutters are installed on the shaft;
hammer-type cutting block for grinding thin rods;
the universal cutting mechanism is made of 15-30 circular saws mounted on a shaft;
knives from factory garden equipment - brush cutters, lawn mowers;
chop grass - trimmer line;
stump crusher from a plane;
two shafts with 3-4 steel knives for cutting branches of bushes and trees.

Homemade knives are made from springs.

Protective cover

To prevent chips from flying around, you need a protective cover. It is made from sheet steel with a thickness of at least 1.5 mm. Tin is not suitable for this purpose. During active use of the shredder, it quickly becomes deformed from strong impacts of wood chips.

Container for receiving sawdust

Old shopping bags, boxes, buckets, and bins are used to collect small garbage. For powerful units, the bunker is welded from steel sheets and riveted from galvanized steel.

Electrical wires and start/stop button

To turn on and off a homemade unit, use a push-button station designed for the appropriate current. Its purpose:

turning off and turning on electrical equipment;
changing the direction of rotation (reverse).

To connect the engine to a three-phase network, you need a five-core flexible copper cable in double insulation; for a single-phase household network, a three-core cable is sufficient.

Operating principle and device of the grass cutter

If we compare grass shredders with other agricultural equipment, they are quite popular among gardeners. A wide range of products allows both professionals and amateurs to purchase equipment according to their needs and financial capabilities. The range includes compact household appliances and professional equipment designed for processing raw materials in large quantities. A simple grass cutter includes:

Working shaft with cutting knives.
Container for raw materials.
Protective shell.
Electric or gasoline motor, cable and pulley with belt.
Steel frame.

The device works on a simple principle: the raw material is placed in a container with knives, where it is ground into a crushed mass. The operation of the device is similar to a working food processor. The volume of raw materials becomes smaller, which makes it possible to add it to the feed mixture or use it for mulch. For small volumes, raw materials are loaded into the container manually.

Herb grinder from washing machine

Adhering to design features , you can make a grass cutter from a washing machine with your own hands. For assembly you will need:

180 Watt tank and motor. There is such a motor in a washing machine. In order for the device to be able to process not only grass, but also large branches, a powerful engine is needed. The greater its power, the better.
Disc knife.
Electrical cable with plug.
Start button.
Container for raw materials.
Steel corner.
Connecting elements: bolts, bushings and washers.

A gasoline engine has more power than a washing machine engine. By installing it in the device, you will get a “three in one” device that, together with grass and straw, can process branches over 5 mm thick.

Assembling the apparatus

First, we assemble the upper container for processing raw materials. For this:

We take and cut the body of the washing machine to height. This will create additional convenience when operating the equipment.
In the lower part of the body, at the same level with the legs or slightly higher, we make a hole (20x7 cm) of a rectangular shape.
To prevent the grass from scattering in different directions, the hole is covered with a casing. The casing is made of a metal plate and secured with bolts.
Then prepare the stand. Here you will need a welding machine and a metal corner. Depending on the size of the container in which the raw materials will be located, the height of the stand is calculated. A tall support is made for a bucket; a low stand is suitable for a basin.
Two holes with a diameter of 7 mm are made on the motor shaft. They order from a turner or make on a lathe a bushing about 50 mm long, which is put on the motor shaft. The finished part is secured with studs on the underside of the tank.
The cut and sharpened knives are put on the shaft so that they do not touch the walls of the container. The knives are securely fixed with plumbing nuts (32 mm).
A welding machine is used to weld the container with the motor to the stand.
The tester determines the starting and operating windings of the motor . Less resistance indicates that this is a working winding. Having correctly identified the contacts, the motor is connected to the electrical cable.
The connection is made as follows: on the one hand, the starting winding is connected to the starting button wiring, and on the other hand, it is connected to the working winding and cable. The second side of the working winding is connected to the start button and cable.

After connection, the stand for the device is additionally sheathed with steel sheet. This homemade DIY herb grinder from the washing machine is ready to go.

Other manufacturing options

For a small amount of work, a hand tool - a chopper - is suitable. The main part of the instrument is similar to a triangle. Alloy steel is used for its manufacture. How convenient and accurate the work will be depends on the sharpness of the blade. Therefore, before starting work, the lower edge is sharpened. Cutting grass will become much easier if the tool is equipped with a long handle that will prevent you from constantly bending over. A thin layer of grass and branches is laid on a soft surface and chopped. To prevent the sharpening from becoming dull, you should not cut on hard surfaces.

Drill grass cutter

The design of a simple dual-mode electric drill is intended for a small amount of work. But despite this, the drill will make a good grass chopper. The structure consists of a stool, a container for raw materials, knives, a shaft and a bearing with a housing. Assembly:

A 12 mm hole is made in the stool.
Under the hole, from the inside of the stool, a housing with a bearing .
A similar hole is made in the center of the bucket. The bucket is placed on a stool and secured with self-tapping screws.
A knife is prepared from high-speed steel R18. A diamond-shaped knife copes better with fresh grass. Its cutting edge is sharpened at an angle to the edges. If the blade is rounded, the grass will not wrap around the knife. It will slide along the cutting part of the knife right on the edge.
A shaft is installed in the bearing and a knife is secured to it.
A drill is connected to the bottom side of the stool. It is connected to the shaft shank using a clamping chuck. The device is ready, let's check its operation.

Powerful homemade shredder

The main element of such a device is a powerful electric motor. In order to work with branches 5-7 cm thick or more, without fear of burning the motor winding, its power must be at least 4 kW.

For manufacturing you will need the following tools and materials:

Bulgarian;
drill;
square, tape measure;
nuts (and keys for them), bolts, washers;
welding machine;
electric motor;
shaft (drum) of an electric planer;
springs for making knives;
pulleys;
BR type belt;
metal corner;

Stages of creating a chopper

Building a unit with your own hands is a difficult job that requires certain knowledge and skills:

the concept of designing mechanisms, calculating gears;
ability to construct and read drawings;
knowledge in electrical engineering for selecting and connecting an electric motor, starting and control circuits;
plumbing experience;
welding skills.

First of all, you should think over the design, prepare materials and tools, make calculations and a sketch drawing.

Drawings and calculations

The sketch can be done the old fashioned way, by hand, or using a CAD program. Today there are many free and shareware programs available, not much inferior to the well-known but very expensive products of AutoDesk, PTC, Dassault and others.

The main components of the created structure will be as follows:

supporting frame;
electric motor;
shaft with working body;
loading neck, or hopper;
frame.

Drawing of a two-roll shredder
Based on the type of shredding mechanism used, the shaft design may vary.

The simplest, but also the least powerful option would be a set of 15-30 circular saw blades mounted on a shaft. A cutting package is assembled on the shaft, placing washers of the same thickness and diameter almost to the base of the saw teeth between adjacent disks. The package is tightly attached to the shaft. The shaft and electric motor are equipped with pulleys, and the drive is carried out by a belt drive. This will be a productive (for thin branches) garden shredder.

If you need to chop branches of a significant diameter and thickness, then it is better to choose a knife design of the cutting drum.

Working shaft

1-3 knives are placed in the plane of the shaft axis or at an acute angle to it. Their number is increased if smaller branches need to be chopped.

For very thick branches, you should choose a two-roll cutter design. This mechanism is better balanced and places less load on the frame and walls of the bunker.

Ball bearings are installed in the side plates of the frame, ensuring rotation of the working shafts of the unit. The gears mesh and synchronize the rotation of the shafts. Rotation from the electric motor is transmitted by a chain or belt drive.

Crusher diagram: 1 - Neck 2 - frame, 3 - side support plate, 4 - working element, 5 - drive mechanism, 6 - belt drive, 7 - electric motor, 8 - motor base

If you need to quickly chop thin branches and grass, it is better to use a high-speed engine. For chopping wood of large diameters, a powerful low-speed motor with a high torque is suitable.

Tools and materials

For a single-shaft unit with a cutting body made of circular saw blades, you must:

electric motor 1.5-3 kW, 220 volts
pulley, 2 pcs.;
automobile drive belt;
bearing with fastening cage, 2 pcs.;
pipes for building a supporting frame;
metal sheet, 2 mm thick for the hopper and device body;
wires, switches.
wood discs with a diameter of 180 mm, from 15 to 30;
large diameter separating washers, 5mm thick, one less than disks
a shaft with a splined or keyed fastening for a pulley;

To make a single-shaft shredder with a knife drum, you will need the same according to paragraphs. 1-7, and in addition:

a shaft with machined shaped grooves and threaded holes for fastening knives, in accordance with the diagram shown;
knives made of high-strength tool steel;
hexagon bolts, with spring nuts, 12 pcs.

Working shaft: 1 - sleeve, 2 - shaft, 3 - knife, 4 - screw, 5 - washer, 6 - retaining ring, 7 - gear, 8 - bearing.
At one end of the shaft there must also be a splined or keyed fastening for a pulley or gear drive wheels.

For a two-roll scheme, in addition to paragraphs 1-7 and 11-13, you will need:

side metal plates, sheet 10 mm, 2 pcs.;
gears for synchronizing the rotation of shafts, 2 pcs.;
bearings with cages securing them, 5 pcs.,

Tools you will need

grinder for cutting blanks and cleaning seams;
welding machine;
set of hand tools
tester;
fingertip;
mounting knife;

Of course, you will need a workbench with a vice, clamps, sandpaper, enamel and paint brushes.

Shredder assembly

After calculations have been carried out and a sketch drawing has been constructed, all materials have been prepared, you can begin assembling the unit.

It should be carried out in the following sequence:

frame assembly
bunker production
assembling the working body and securing it to the frame;
installation of an electric motor;
wiring of the electrical circuit.

Before connecting the device to the network, you must turn it several full turns by hand to ensure the accuracy of the assembly and the normal functioning of all moving parts.

Manufacturing from various devices

In order to make a wood chipper, you can use household appliances that have served their purpose. A small modification will make it possible to use them for a new purpose: to make a grain crusher or a branch chopper.

The main element in these devices is the engine. If it is in working order, then it only needs to be supplemented with some details.

From the Bulgarian

The operating procedure consists of the following steps:

1. Capacity is selected.
2. A hole is made at the bottom.
3. The axis of the grinder is passed through it.
4. A knife is installed on top.
5. The tool is securely fastened.

When rotating, the knife should not touch the walls of the container. Branches are poured inside and the grinder is turned on at minimum speed.

From the washing machine

To make a shredder from a washing machine, you need to take the following steps:

1. The activator is removed from the machine.
2. A knife is installed on the motor shaft. Its size is chosen smaller than the internal diameter of the tank.
3. A hole is made on the side, in the lower part, through which the chopped branches will pour out.
4. The outlet casing is attached to the hole.

This unit works on the principle of a coffee grinder. The main thing is that the knife does not touch the walls of the car.

From a walk-behind tractor

To make a chopper from a walk-behind tractor, you will need the following materials and tools:

walk-behind tractor;
knives;
shaft;
bearing;
channel;
sheet material;
electric plane;
welding machine;
hammer;
Bulgarian;
drill;
a set of keys.

The base is formed from a channel. A shaft from an electric planer, a knife and a pulley are installed on it. From the walk-behind tractor, torque is supplied through a belt drive to the pulley and shaft.

A receiving hopper is formed.

All structural elements are placed on the walk-behind tractor.

Making your own wood chipper provides significant savings. Factory models are expensive. At home, improvised means are adapted for this. Even if you have to purchase some components or have them manufactured, it will still cost much less than a purchased product.

Photo

Types of cutting attachments used

Homemade products, like factory units, are equipped with cutting attachments of various types:

disc (with three blades);

milling-turbine (universal).

The first type is flat blades. When they rotate, they grind plant debris. If you have to process branches, then such blades quickly become dull. Milling knives are a cutting shaft in the form of gears from circular saws. They grind dry waste from branches and grass well, and clog the cutters with wet waste. Milling-turbine cutting attachments can cope with thick and undried branches, but making them yourself is difficult.

At home, knives from lawn mowers or made from wood saws are often used.

It should be taken into account that the degree of processing of plant waste directly depends on the installed cutting attachments. The output is pieces of branches from 10 cm long or shavings or dust.

Care

Before using the equipment, you must carefully study the technical documentation so as not to unknowingly damage the mechanism. You should pay attention to the following points:

The raw materials entering the machine must be the same size as specified in the instructions.
It is necessary to carefully monitor the raw materials that are poured into the crusher so that stones, glass, plastic and other material do not fall into it.
Try to avoid getting into the root mechanism with soil that is on the root system.
To increase the life of the shredder, wood waste must be fresh.

The nuances of operating homemade equipment

Any homemade product is not always equipped with all the devices according to safety requirements. During operation, in order to avoid accidents, the following rules must be observed:

When starting work, you should use tight-fitting gloves, glasses and a hat; It is strictly forbidden to push branches and debris with your hands; for this you can use the next batch of tops.
The diameter of the material to be crushed must not exceed that allowed by the engine power; Do not allow hard materials to enter the cutting blade hopper; they can damage the blades and damage the engine.
If branches get stuck in the drum, the unit is completely de-energized, and only then are the stuck pieces removed.
The power wires are laid in places where branches will not lie and wood chips will not fall.

Correct and long-term use of a hand-made branch chopper is possible not only if operating conditions are observed, but also with proper storage. After chopping, the knives are cleaned, and the device itself is put away in a shed or under a shed, and the knives are sharpened if necessary. Almost anyone can build a branch crusher with their own hands, the main thing is to have an engine and the necessary metal blanks.

Safety precautions

When working on a crusher, it is necessary to follow labor safety rules to avoid injury. During the crushing process of raw materials, chips can involuntarily fly in different directions, so it is necessary to work in a mask, special safety glasses and a hat. You need to dress so that parts of your clothing cannot get into the shredder. You must wear gloves on your hands that do not slip off your hands. The main thing is that under no circumstances should you correct or remove objects that are stuck in a working mechanism.

How to make your own herb grinder

Every summer resident wants to have a beautiful green lawn with perfect beds and luxurious flower beds on his plot. To get the desired result, you need not only desire, time and effort, but also special equipment. To maintain the soil in normal condition, many people prefer mulching with grass, since this method does not require special investments and is quite effective. Immediately after mowing, the grass is laid on the lawn, and during the decomposition process it releases the substances necessary for fertilization. To speed up the decomposition process, it is recommended to chop the grass and thick stems. This procedure requires a herb grinder.

Best models

Below is a short ranking of the six best wood chippers. It contains both professional equipment intended for use in logging and feed processing, as well as devices for a summer cottage or garden plot.

Atlas Copco PC1055J

This is a professional level crusher for logging work. It is a self-propelled tracked vehicle weighing one and a half tons, equipped with a SAT diesel engine with a capacity of 250 horsepower.

The crushing mechanism is jaw crushing with hydraulic adjustment of the compression force of the processed material. The entrance hole is rectangles, one side of which is 100 centimeters, and the other is 50 centimeters. This allows the unit to be used for chopping the trunks of young trees, shrubs, and pre-prepared large trunks.

Atlas Copco PC1055J weighs 33 tons, the length of the machine is 5.5 meters, the width is 2 meters. A new crusher costs about 8,000,000 rubles. However, used cars can be purchased at a price within 1,000,000 rubles.

DM-T

DM-T is an inexpensive stationary wood crusher of domestic production. Moving is not provided: the unit is fixed to the floor using screws or bolts.

This model is best suited for domestic use or for small wood processing enterprises (for example, a sawmill, a carpentry workshop).

The DM-T weighs half a ton, the length of the unit is 1.4 meters, the width is 0.7 meters. The operating mechanism is hammer.

It can be bought for 50,000 – 60,000 rubles. The device runs on electricity.

SKORPION 120 R

SKORPION 120 R is a universal mobile crusher. It can be transported as a trailer on a truck or as an attachment on a tractor (for this, the wheels are replaced with a special rack).

The SKORPION 120 R is powered by a Lambardini petrol engine with 28.5 horsepower. The grinding system is knife. In total, the design includes four knives: two main and two additional (they chop what the main ones couldn’t handle).

You can chop shrubs, medium-sized tree trunks, and pre-prepared wood material.

The average cost of SKORPION 120 R is 1,300,000 rubles.

RM-520

Domestic stationary wood crusher. Unlike the DM-T described above, the RM-520 is equipped with a gasoline engine from the Chinese company Lifan, as well as a special socket for discharging chopped wood.

The grinding system is auger. At the same time, the PM-250 auger shafts are equipped with special teeth, which make it possible to grind the processed material to a state close to sawdust.

Despite the fact that the RM-250 is a stationary device, it can be easily transported in the back of a truck. This makes the device very convenient for clearing bushes from power lines, railway embankments, and roadsides.

The crusher is one and a half meters long and 0.7 meters wide. The mass of the unit is 350 kilograms.

The cost of PM-250 on the Russian market varies greatly. A new device costs about 700,000 rubles. However, on the secondary market this model can be purchased for less than 100,000 rubles.

STIGA BIO SILENT 2500

STIGA BIO SILENT 2500 is a household wood chipper. Due to its size, it is perfect for a summer house or homestead. It cannot be used for professional purposes. This is due to the fact that the device can only process branches with a diameter of up to 40 mm.

STIGA BIO SILENT 2500 operates from a household power supply voltage of 220/230 V. The power of the device’s electric motor is 2,500 Watts. Weight – 27.5 kilograms. This makes it easier to transport the device. The set includes a special container for recycled wood with a capacity of 60 liters. The branch processing system is auger.

The average cost of STIGA BIO SILENT 2500 is 15,000 rubles.

CALIBER ESI-2400N

CALIBER ESI-2400N is an ultra-compact garden wood chipper of domestic production. It operates from an electrical network with a voltage of 220/230 V. The grinding system is knife-type. Thanks to its light weight and small dimensions, CALIBR ESI-2400N can be easily transported in a car and stored on the balcony of a city apartment.

Engine power CALIBER ESI-2400N – 2,400 Watts. The maximum diameter of processed branches is 40 mm. There is no waste container. For transportation within the personal plot, the device has two wheels. There is also a metal stop that is used during operation.

A distinctive feature of CALIBR ESI-2400N is its low price. It ranges from 7,000 to 8,000 rubles.

Do-it-yourself garden shredder: basic design elements

A garden shredder, also known as a shredder or chipper, greatly facilitates the process of caring for your summer cottage. With its help, you can easily clear the area of branches and grass. Recycled raw materials can be placed in a compost pit to obtain natural fertilizer. It is advisable to use the resulting small wood as firewood for heating the house. Shredded fruit tree chips are ideal for smoking meat.

A grass and twig shredder will help you deal with plant debris on your property.

The design of a garden shredder is quite simple. It consists of the following main parts:

bunker;
drive;
grinding mechanism;
metal frame with a protective casing.

Some models may be equipped with additional elements:

a hopper for crushed organic waste;
pusher;
a sieve to regulate the woodchip fraction.

The operating principle of any chopper is the same as that of a meat grinder and is as follows. When the shredder is turned on, the engine starts, which drives the working shaft equipped with a cutting mechanism. At this time, garden waste enters the receiving funnel and is crushed into fine chips using a cutting device.

Helpful advice! When carrying out work related to the processing of garden waste, you should use personal protective equipment - goggles, gloves, etc.

Chips from shredded branches can be used as compost for plants

Grinding mechanism

Before you start creating a homemade shredder, you need to clearly determine the type of waste that it will process. This directly depends on its design features and performance characteristics. Garden shredders are classified according to three main parameters: the type and power of the engine and the type of chopping mechanism.

The following options for the grinding mechanism are available:

milling, for processing hard wood;
universal knife;
roller, for grinding thin branches of trees and shrubs;
with rotating turbines for chopping thick branches;
hammer, for recycling thin branches;
trimmer, based on the use of fishing line, for soft debris.

When assembling a chopper yourself, preference is given to a knife system or a combination of circular saws. You can make a two-roll design, in which two or three knives are installed on a massive disk and rotate towards each other.

Various types of grinding mechanism: 1 - hammer, 2 - milling, 3 - blade milling-turbine, 4 - blade disk

Engine type and power

The shredder can be equipped with an electric or gasoline engine. Each of them has its own important advantages and some disadvantages. A garden shredder powered by gasoline is more mobile. Its operation does not depend on the power source. It is capable of processing thicker large branches. However, such chippers are more bulky and heavy. In addition, they emit harmful substances into the atmosphere during their activities.

Shredders with an electric motor are lighter and more convenient to use. However, they are inferior in terms of power and depend on energy resources.

The ability to process a certain type of garden waste depends on the engine power. For small volumes of waste, where the diameter of the branches does not exceed 20 mm, a 1.5 kW motor is sufficient. If it is necessary to grind branches 20-40 mm thick, then it is advisable to use a motor with a power of at least 3.5-4 kW. Shredders equipped with a 6 kW motor can cope with large wood 100-150 mm in diameter.

A high-performance shredder capable of grinding branches with a diameter of up to 100 mm

The next design feature of shredders is the type of drive. This function can be performed by a chain, belt or the motor shaft itself, on which the knife mechanism is fixed.