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Here's our index of machines relevant for preparing gasifier fuels.  Please add more that you find.   The below is all the options "other" than spending $50,000 on a Laimet spiral screw chipper. 

 

 

Shears: circle, cylinder and spiral varieties

 

APL / GEK 55gal drum top shear proposal

55gal drum top circle shear chunker 

 

Inside circle shear firewood processors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZq9OLLA0tI

http://www.sixfold.ee/?go=gallery&g=1

 

Self-feeding spiral cylinder shear

http://www.google.com/patents?id=HcssAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=4431039#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Wayne Keith's truck axle cylinder shear

http://www.youtube.com/kb8ooe#p/a/u/2/djaSTzDKb3k

 

Jussi Äystö cylinder shear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg37Ub9CYfg&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/user/quafka#p/a/u/1/BjOUk3Hh-1M 

 

Ed Burton's Spiral Shear

EdBurtonSpiralShear.pdf

 

USDA Teardrop Chunker

http://gekgasifier.pbworks.com/f/teardropchunker.pdf

 

 

Rotary Blade Choppers

 

Rojek chunker from Czeck Republic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEzwdKSIyoU&feature=related

 

Jenson Chopper via Rolf Uhle

JENSENCHOPPER.pdf

 

Manual wheel guillitine

http://www.fluidynenz.250x.com/_framed/250x/fluidynenz/simplechip.htm

 

Urban TR10 firewood chunker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjRqrfS3plc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

 

 

 

Saws

 

Indian gang saw with feeder video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV6ShmGQ4HM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhcz1fCHeLQ&NR=1

 

Wood Chippers

 

Wood chippers come in two main types: drum chippers and disk chippers.  Drum chippers tend to make a long curved slice.  Disk chippers make a more square chunk.  Disk chippers are highly preferred to drum chippers for gasification purposes.  Even with a disk chipper the fuel is not a thick symmetrical chunk as ideal, but it can be made to work.  The fuel still needs to be screened/sorted after chipping to remove the fines and too large pieces.

 

Greg Manning in Canada has built the most impressive DIY wood chipper and sorter i've seen to date.  Here's his photoset on the woodgas forum which shows the set up. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WoodGas/photos/album/560053423/pic/list?mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&&count=20&dir=asc

 

Greg's set up is based on the common low cost chinese disk chipper, and a rotating mesh cylinder to size separate the resulting chips.  These chinese disk chippers are available for around $1500-2000 new and are commonly driven off tractor pto's or 20hp and above engines.  These are the smallest disk chippers that will produce a reasonable fuel.  The common garden scale disk chippers, like the Troybuilt chippers, do not produce a chip of adequate size.  It is more of a shredded wood.

 

the low cost disk chippers are usually called 4" or 5" chippers.  here's one example http://www.libertychippers.com/model/liberty-5-pto-chipper.html#top  See other examples below.

 

 

Commercial Wood Chippers of Interest

 

Wallenstein BX42 Wood Chipper

http://www.woodwardcrossings.com/Pages/Pages_11-04/Farm/chipper_guide/bx42.html

 

Starchi chippers with embedded screening.  Directed at gasifier use

http://www.rsbiomass.com/rsstarchl.html

 

DR Power:

http://search.drpower.com/search?w=wood+chipper&p=Q

 

Mack Kissic:

http://www.mackissic.com/

 

 

 

Log Splitters

 

Redneck Axe Wheel Hand Remover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40sCGb678sQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bVAAx3mMKY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

 

Cone splitters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlpcnCsDBeo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Rypb1dcUE&NR=1

 

Small disk splitters from Sweedish Volvo Gasifier

http://www.vedbil.se/dagbok/bygge/films/vedtugg.wmv

 

 

 

 

V-8 Chain saw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwyMX7PLlcQ&feature=related

 

References

Analysis of Wood Chipper Chips, Particle Size Distribution, Moisture Content, etc:

http://www.woodenergy.ie/iopen24/pub/4_physical_analysis.pdf