DIY garden shredder - more than reality! Garden shredder - a solution to the problem with waste in the country Shredder do-it-yourself drawings.

The twig shredder is one of the gardener's essential tools. After all, everyone who cares for the territory has to regularly cut trees, resulting in waste. It is problematic to burn such garbage in the oven without first crushing it with an ax, and making a huge fire in the garden is also impractical. The solution could be an electric garden shredder. After being crushed, the branches turn into solid fuel or compost.

Currently, wood shredders are called differently: wood chipper, wood chipper, shredder, wood chipper, wood chipper, knot crusher, device for processing plastic, paper and sawdust, etc. The device consists of the following units:

As for homemade choppers, they differ only in the design of the cutting mechanism, and the rest of the parts in them may have different sizes. If you are planning to make a wood chipper with your own hands, drawings and diagrams will be the first thing you need. They can be found on the Internet. Here are the most popular solutions:

To improve the performance of the grinder, a flywheel is often installed that fits on the free end of the shaft. In disk models, this part is replaced by a heavy metal circle with knives.

A wood chipper is a very handy tool. However, not everyone can afford such a purchase, so most gardeners prefer homemade solutions. But is it possible to create a device without the appropriate metalwork and welding skills and tools? Unfortunately no. Even a simple wood chipper based on circular saws is created subject to strict instructions. In addition, for the creation of shafts and housings for bearings, you need to turn to professional craftsmen. The whole process can be divided into the following steps:

When creating, you should be guided by the following rules:

1. If the priority is to obtain small wood chips with minimal resources, give preference to models from circular saws.
2. If you are going to grind small diameter branches into a larger fraction, a cutting mechanism, such as a jointer, will be the ideal solution.
3. If you want to cut branches in large quantities, equip disc crushers.

By the way, small chips and wood chips are often used to make compost and mulch. In addition, fuel briquettes are created on its basis, which are then used to heat private houses.

If you have decided with choice of chippers, start harvesting parts, materials and equipment. Before that, however, there are a few key tasks that need to be completed.

Engine selection and belt drive definition

An indicator such as drive power indicates the thickness of the branches that a home-made device can process:

However, the number of revolutions of the electric motor practically does not play a role, since the required speed of rotation of the cutting elements is provided by a V-belt drive.

To wood shredder coped with his duties with a bang, the knife shaft should operate at a speed of no more than 1500 rpm. Such indicators can be achieved by choosing the appropriate diameter of the driving and driven pulleys. It is not the speed of the blades that is decisive, but the resulting torque or force. . It also makes no sense to give special attention to the distance between the pulleys and the length of the belt, with the exception of too long belts, which significantly reduce the efficiency of the transmission.

As an example, we can choose the following calculation: we take an electric motor at 2800 rpm, which will be installed on the crusher. The ideal solution would be to reduce the speed on the shaft by half, to 1400 rpm. In this case, the pulley diameters will be two times different. For example, the size of the driving pulley is 100 millimeters, and the diameter of the driven pulley reaches 200 mm.

When ordering pulleys for V-belt transmission in a lathe, please note: it is better to give preference to pulleys for 3 or 4 streams, so that later you can change the speed on the working shaft by shifting the belt. In this case, it will be possible to adjust chopper for different working conditions, for example, for processing corn stalks, sunflowers or grass.

Preparation of materials

To assemble the chopper frame, the following types of rolled metal are used:

The power plant is fixed on a steel sheet 10 millimeters thick (dimensions are determined by the distance between the mounting holes). The following options are used as a belt tensioner:

1. The holes in the plate for mounting the motor are made oblong, which allows you to push it back and fix it with bolts.
2. The plate is mounted with one end on a hinge, as a result of which the belt is pulled up by the weight of the electric motor. On the other side, it is fixed with stud nuts.

To create a simple design shredder, you need to purchase 20-25 carbide-tipped saw blades and a similar number of spacer washers with a diameter of 20 millimeters. As a result, a working part is created with a width of about 80 millimeters, which can be increased by adding saws.

The thickness of the teeth of a circular saw is greater than the steel base, so it is forbidden to fix the tools close to each other. To compensate for the width of the teeth, it is customary to use washers that are placed between the saws.

The shaft, driven by a belt, is turned on a lathe from a steel rod. However, before manufacturing the part, 2 bearings should be made, under whose seat size the shaft will be machined.

In addition, bearing housings with mounting flanges should be equipped. Often they are bought ready-made in the secondary market or in specialized stores.

A good alternative can be rear axle bearings with a diameter of 25 mm - from the classic Zhiguli. In this case, the role of the shaft will be performed by a finished stud with nuts.

To fix the circular saws on the shaft, threads are cut.

Frame manufacturing features

Regardless of the type of crushing equipment chosen, it must be equipped with a key element - a bed, where a drive and a chipping mechanism will soon be installed. It is customary to cook the device from corners or pipes, following the following step-by-step guide.

Remember to think about where you will install the electric motor. For homemade crushers, the best solution may be to install the motor in the frame alignment so that it does not stick out beyond its dimensions. A similar rule applies to other types of crushers.

Chopper assembly

To assemble a wood chipper from a package of circular saws, follow the instructions:

Lubricate the bearing cages immediately prior to assembly. Install the saw blades so that the tooth profiles do not match.

To fix the counter knife, it is better to use bolts rather than welding, threading them through oval-shaped holes.

An inevitable companion of the garden plot is plant debris in the form of grass and branches. It is not advisable to throw away or burn such waste, because natural fertilizer can be obtained from it. It is enough to grind it to the state of chips. A garden shredder can easily handle this task. However, if there is no financial opportunity to purchase it, then you can make a garden shredder with your own hands. How to do this - this article will tell you in detail.

The choice of device according to technical indicators. How to make a shredder from improvised materials yourself.

As can be seen from the presented list, the design of the chopper with a disk mechanism is the simplest and most affordable. However, such a shredder can shred branches with a diameter of only 20 mm. But the chipper with two shafts can easily cope with large wood with a diameter of up to 80 mm.

Shredder Assembly

Having all the necessary elements, you can safely proceed to create the design of a garden shredder with your own hands based on the completed drawing. The assembly of a garden shredder, regardless of the type of mechanism design, consists of several successive stages:

1. Frame installation.
2. Building a bunker.
3. Assembly of the grinding mechanism.
4. Installation of the engine and the grinding device on the frame.

Creation of a chopper with a stackable package of circular saws

The chopping mechanism of such shredders consists of circular saws, which are alternately mounted on the shaft with separating washers. Each disc has many teeth that can even handle hard wood. Therefore, he will process soft grass, tops and leaves in a matter of minutes. When saw teeth become dull, they can be easily replaced with new ones.

The shaft for the chopper can be machined on a lathe or used ready-made from the gearbox of an old car. The distance between adjacent saws should be about 10 mm. If the gap is smaller, this will reduce the working area of ​​​​the chopper. If you make a larger gap, this will contribute to the jamming of small branches.

Useful advice! Do not place saw teeth on the same line, fixing them on the shaft. It is better to install them randomly. This reduces the load on the shaft and the shredder motor.

It is better to use an electric motor, which during operation is almost silent and does not emit harmful substances into the atmosphere. For crushing coarse material, you can use it, which has great power. The engine should be placed on a movable support so that the drive tension can be adjusted.

The frame for the shredder can be welded using channels, corners or profiled metal pipes. A metal profile thrust bar can be welded to the base of the structure, which will become a support for the stems and branches during crushing. When creating pedestals for bearings, it is important not to skew. The motor and shaft axes must be in parallel planes.

The design of the bunker deserves special attention. It can be made from sheet metal. The container must be strong enough to withstand the impact of flying chips from the branches. With the help of a movable base plate in the body of the hopper, it is possible to create the possibility of adjusting the size of the chips. So, smaller fragments are suitable for fertilizer, and larger chips are suitable for kindling.

The size of the receiving bell should be larger than the length of the arms to protect them from damage. This also contributes to the ability to guide branches into the shredder at a comfortable angle.

Such a do-it-yourself garden shredder of branches and grass is able to cope with both soft waste and hard thick wood. However, its main problem is the clogging of the space between the saws, which needs regular cleaning.

Creating a shredder with a knife disc

You can create such a grass chopper with your own hands from improvised materials. Since it is designed to grind soft debris, its design will be very simple, but it will not have a high strength index. You can weld a sheet metal hopper, or you can take an ordinary metal bucket. A case from an old fan is also suitable.

To create a cutting system on a metal disk, knives are inserted into special slots, which can be pre-made from a spring sheet from a car. The disc is mounted on the shaft. Next is the receiving box. For such a shredder, a low-power motor of 1 kW is suitable. All the details of creating a garden electric grass chopper with your own hands can be viewed in the videos offered on the Internet.

Instructions for assembling a two-roll shredder

Work begins with the creation of a frame. To do this, using an angle grinder, two blanks 80 cm long and four parts 40 cm long are cut from a profile pipe. Next, short sections are welded between two long blanks at a right angle. The two internal parts must be placed at such a distance relative to each other to ensure reliable installation of the chopping drum.

Useful advice! For the device to be mobile, the design must have wheels for movement. To do this, two racks are welded to the frame, on which an axle with wheels is attached.

The next step is to create shafts for the chopping drum. If you plan to install four knives on one shaft, then we use a square metal blank. We make both ends of it round so that they can enter the bearings. For three knives, you will need a round blank in which the central part is honed. Three flat cuts are made in it for the subsequent installation of knives.

To create knives, you can take a small piece of Kamaz spring leaf. Holes for bolts are made in the knives. Then it should be done on a grinding machine, where the angle of the cutting edge is selected with a value of 35-45 degrees. Next, the sharpened knives are applied to the shaft and the places of their attachment are marked, in which holes are created, and the thread is cut.

Next, we proceed to the creation of a grinding mechanism. Round holes are made in two metal walls using a welding machine for installing bearings. Using special pads and bolts, we install bearings inside the metal walls. We insert the shafts into the bearings, securely fixing them. They should be located at a sufficient distance to exclude the possibility of their contact. Next, the walls of the drum are connected using metal threaded studs and nuts.

Now let's start creating a receiving bunker. To do this, four parallelepipeds are cut out of thin sheet metal. Then each edge is bent 4 cm. A short section in one direction, a long section in the opposite direction. With the help of self-tightening rivets or welding, we connect all the parts. On the bent edges at the base of the box, holes are made for fasteners.

Now gears are put on the shafts to synchronize the movement, and the whole structure is installed on the frame and secured with bolts. Then the engine is installed, which is connected to the shaft by a belt drive or chain. The engine is better to take high power, but with a low number of revolutions. At the end, a receiving hopper is installed and fixed. Then a protective cover is put on all the rotating parts of the shredder to prevent foreign objects from entering the shredder.

The main advantages of such a unit are high power and technical ability to chop thick branches with a diameter of 20 to 80 mm. This will depend on the number of knives and the number of revolutions. Numerous sites on the Internet provide detailed recommendations on how to make a branch chopper with your own hands. Video examples more clearly display the entire process of assembling and installing a home-made device.

How to make a chopper from improvised materials

Many thrifty and thrifty owners are in no hurry to throw away old tools and household appliances. They find new uses for them. It is worth showing a little imagination, including logic and ingenuity, and from improvised tools and old parts you can create a real helper in the household. Consider some simple options for making a homemade twig and grass shredder from simple and affordable materials.

Shredder from a grinder and a vacuum cleaner

One of these home-made designs is a do-it-yourself garden chopper made from a grinder, an old vacuum cleaner and lawn mower knives. One well-known inventor, Vladimir Belyaev, offered his own do-it-yourself branch chopper, the creation video of which inspired many to modernize this idea and offer their vision when creating a country assistant. Next, consider one of the interesting and popular options.

To create a simple but productive design, you will need an old working vacuum cleaner, a 3.2 kW Makita grinder, lawn mower knives, a stable wooden base, a receiving funnel and a metal table with a vertically welded sheet of metal.

The receiving funnel is horizontally mounted on a vertical metal sheet welded to the table. This sheet must be thick in order to hold the grinder attached with bolts and the knives mounted on it. If the seat of the three-blade blades from the lawn mower is not compatible with the angle grinder, then they need to be sharpened so that the blades sit securely. In order for the crushed mass not to get stuck between the knives, a pipe from an old vacuum cleaner is attached to the metal sheet, which supplies air. It is desirable that the grinder and the vacuum cleaner turn on at the same time.

The metal table is located on a wooden stationary basis. You should also install a protective cover that will prevent the reverse movement of chopped branches.

Such a simple version of a do-it-yourself garden chopper, a video proof of this, can be easily created at your dacha, without complicated work steps and the purchase of additional materials.

Washing machine shredder

A garden shredder can be created from an old washing machine. To do this, you will need a body and an engine from equipment, an old saw, a bucket and other parts, and tools for attaching the structure.

A side hole is made in the body of an old washing machine for the exit of recycled raw materials. Knives are attached to the bottom of the container using a special sleeve, which can be made from pieces of an old saw. An existing engine built into an old washing machine is used as an engine. The receiving container for shredded waste is installed near the side opening.

Drill Shredder

Another elementary invention is a homemade shredder using an electric drill. The principle of operation of such a mechanism resembles a vegetable cutter.

To create a design, you need to take an old stool. Drill a hole with a diameter of 12 mm in it. A housing with a bearing is attached to the back of the stool. A bucket with a hole of the same diameter is installed and fixed with self-tapping screws on the stool. A bearing is inserted into the hole, on which a shaft is mounted with high-speed steel knives fixed on it. A two-mode drill is attached to the end of the shaft from the bottom of the stool through a keyless chuck.

Soft raw materials are thrown into the bucket and an electric drill is started. After thorough grinding to the desired state, the mulch is removed. This design is designed for a small amount of recyclable waste.

The process of making and sharpening a knife deserves special attention. One-sided sharpening should be done. The sharpened plane is located below. For chopping freshly cut grass, a diamond-shaped knife is ideal, in which the blades can be rounded. This allows the grass to slide freely along the cutting edge of the chopping knife without wrapping around it.

From the proposed options, we can conclude that you can create a garden shredder with your own hands from any material at hand. It is enough to have an electric motor adapted for a 220V network, any round container of sufficient size, a steel sheet, a wood saw or saws from an old lawn mower to create a cutting mechanism.

Subtleties when choosing an engine for a shredder

A certain engine power provides the necessary performance of the chopper. When choosing an engine, you should be guided by some important rules:

1. For small branches, you should choose an engine with a power of at least 2 kW. The higher the power rating, the greater the performance and technical capability of the shredder.
2. For grinding soft waste in the form of grass and leaves, a 1.5 kW engine will be enough.
3. The power of the gasoline engine must not be less than 6 hp.
4. Too powerful motors over 3.5 kW should not be used. They consume a lot of electricity, but the maximum performance of the unit is not achieved.
5. The number of engine revolutions does not have a big effect on the performance of the grinder. Here, the frequency of revolution of the knives is important, which is ensured by the V-belt drive.
6. For reliable chopping of branches, the speed of the knife shaft should not exceed 1500 rpm. This is due to the correct selection of the diameters of the driving and driven pulleys.

Useful advice! Pulleys for a belt drive are best done for 3-4 streams. This will allow you to change the speed on the shaft by shifting the belt, which is necessary for different operating conditions of the chopper.

The main advantages of homemade garden shredders

Homemade shredder does not require too careful attitude. It can be used not only for chopping grass, leaves and branches. It will ideally recycle any household waste. It can be used to grind fruits of fruit trees for subsequent preparation of puree, jam or homemade wine.

Homemade shredders will cope with branches up to 100 mm in diameter, while factory units simply will not miss such large plants. Also, there is no need to monitor the moisture content of raw materials for processing. And for factory shredders, such negligence is unacceptable. Since in most models the engine is located at the bottom of the structure, the possibility of moisture getting on it must be excluded, which will inevitably lead to breakage.

An important argument in favor of a home-made device is the cost of the entire structure, which will be much lower than the price of a finished chopper. This also applies to replacing a failed part, which will not be expensive.

In addition, a homemade garden chipper is distinguished by its degree of performance. All garden waste that enters the shredding mechanism is instantly processed into small chips.

As can be seen from the foregoing, a reliable and faithful assistant for shredding garden debris can be created with your own hands from improvised materials. It is enough to have some skills in locksmithing, to have in your garage parts of old equipment, the necessary tools and materials. Next, choosing the most acceptable way for yourself, sketch out a drawing of a branch chopper with your own hands. Videos of various options for the execution of a homemade shredder can be viewed on the Internet. Based on the drawing, prepare all the necessary elements and proceed to the collection of the chopper.

If you are not confident in your own abilities, at the present time you can buy a homemade branch shredder from the proposed options, which will meet all the requirements and satisfy your wishes at an affordable cost.

Branches left after pruning trees are rather inconvenient waste. Heaped in a heap, they take up a lot of space, and you can’t immediately put branches into the oven, you have to chop them with an ax for a long time. To make a fire and just burn it in the garden is a pity. A suitable option for a zealous owner is to make a do-it-yourself branch chopper to process them into chips. And there is a use for it - at least burn it in a boiler, at least use it for compost. We are interested in the designs of home-made crushers, since the prices of factory units are not comparable with the volumes of wood processing in an ordinary private household.

Varieties of garden shredders

As soon as they do not name the chippers used for crushing wood waste. Chip cutter, wood chipper, shredder, wood chipper - this is not a complete list of names. Despite such a variety of terms, the device of various units is almost the same. Any crusher consists of the following elements:

• steel frame, where all parts and mechanisms are attached;
• the main drive is an electric motor or a gasoline (diesel) engine with a power take-off shaft;
• cutting mechanism;
• main gear (usually belt);
• protective cover;
• 2 bunkers - for supplying wooden sticks and unloading wood chips.

Choppers: from circular saws (left) and with a knife shaft (photo on the right)

In fact, homemade branch shredders are divided into varieties only by the device of the cutting mechanism, the rest of the elements differ only in size. If you carefully look at the drawings of the crushing part published on the Internet, the following popular solutions can be distinguished:

1. In the middle of the shaft, 2-3 dozen circular saws are attached, equipped with hard alloy teeth.
2. A design that repeats the jointer device on a circular machine. 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 shredding at an angle of 90° to the knives.
3. Disc crusher for wood, where the knives are attached to the plane of a steel circle mounted on a shaft. Here the branches must be fed at an angle of 30-45° to the surface of the disk, which is ensured by the design of the loading hopper.
4. Chipper with two shafts that rotate synchronously. The cutting edges of the knives mounted on the shafts converge at one point during rotation. Due to this, not only crushing occurs, but also self-tightening of branches after capture. Feed wood - perpendicular to the rotating knives.

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

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

Next, we will look at how to make the first three types of garden shredders on your own. A twin-shaft chip cutter is a rather complicated unit to manufacture, requiring investments and labor costs, which is not always justified. Hammer and other original do-it-yourself wood shredders are shown in the video:

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

Manufacturing guide

First of all, you need to understand that without the skills of plumbing and welding and the appropriate tool, you will not be able to make even a simple chopper from circular saws. In addition, for the manufacture of shafts and housings for bearings, you will have to contact a turning workshop, unless you manage to find a finished assembly from an old machine. The whole process is conditionally divided into the following stages:

1. Choice of shredder design.
2. Selection of the engine for the drive and calculation of the main gear.
3. Preparation of metal and parts that need to be machined on a lathe.
4. Frame assembly.
5. Installation of the drive, cutting mechanism and belt drive.
6. Installation of the protective casing and bunker.

Note. We are talking about a belt drive, as the easiest to manufacture and safe to use. In the event of some kind of accident or overload, the belt will slip or come off without any consequences. What cannot be said about a rigid connection through a chain (reducer).

The design of a disc crusher with removable knives

As for the choice of the design of a homemade branch chopper, the recommendations here are simple:

• a circular saw unit is the best option when you need to get small wood chips at minimal cost;
• if you plan to grind branches of small diameter into a larger fraction, then a jointer-type cutting mechanism will do;
• when it is necessary to cut branches up to 5 cm in size in large quantities, it is better to make a disc crusher.

For reference. Small shavings and wood chips are often used by gardeners to make compost and mulch. It can also be used for heating a country house.

Knife shaft and its principle of operation (like a jointer on a circular saw)

When the type of chip cutter is selected, you can start harvesting parts, materials and equipment. But first of all, you need to…

Engine selection and belt drive calculation

Drive power is an indicator that determines how thick a branch you can process on a do-it-yourself crusher. Here are some tips for choosing an engine:

1. For your purpose, an electric motor with a power of 2.5-3.5 kW, at least 2 kW, is ideal. The 1.5 kW motor can be used to assemble a grass and small branch shredder.
2. The power of a gasoline or diesel engine should be 5-6 liters. With. These are placed on household walk-behind tractors and mini-tractors.
3. Buying an electric motor with too much power is pointless, except that one is lying idle in your barn. It will consume an amount of electricity that does not correspond to the work done.

Note. The number of revolutions of the electric motor does not play a big role, since we will get the required speed of rotation of the knives due to the V-belt drive.

In order for your wood shredder to confidently shred branches, the knife shaft must be driven at a speed of no more than 1500 rpm by selecting the diameter of the driving and driven pulleys. Crucial here is not the speed of rotation of the knives, but the developed torque (force). The distance between the pulleys and the length of the belt also does not play a big role. Unless a belt that is too long reduces the transmission efficiency and lends itself worse to stretching.

Calculation example. There is a 2800 rpm electric motor that needs to be put on the crusher. The optimal solution is to reduce the speed on the shaft by half, to 1400 rpm. Then the diameters of the pulleys will differ by 2 times. For example, the size of the drive pulley is 100 mm, then the diameter of the driven pulley (standing on the working shaft) will be 200 mm.

Advice. When ordering pulleys for a V-belt drive to a turner, it does not hurt to think about the future. It is better to make pulleys for 3 or 4 streams so that the revolutions on the working shaft can be changed by rearranging the belt. Then the chopper can be adjusted to different working conditions, for example, for crushing corn stalks, sunflowers, grass.

Pulleys for several streams are more convenient to use, you can change the speed of rotation and effort

Preparation of materials

The best way to save money on making a wood chipper is to find suitable materials in the household. The following types of rolled metal are suitable for assembling the frame:

• single equal-shelf corner with a width of 50 to 63 mm;
• 2 corners of 35 mm, welded in a "box";
• profile pipe 40x40 mm in size;
• channel No. 6.5-10;
• pipes are round with a diameter of 32-48 mm.

The motor is mounted on a steel sheet with a thickness of 10 mm and dimensions corresponding to the distance between the mounting holes on its flange (with a margin of 30-50 mm on each side). To tension the belt, 2 types of devices are used:

1. The holes in the engine mounting plate are made oblong so that it can be pushed back and fixed with bolts.
2. The plate is installed with one end on a hinge, then the belt is pulled up due to the weight of the electric motor. On the other hand, it is fixed with stud nuts, as shown below in the photo of a homemade chopper.

Here the tension occurs under the weight of the electric motor

To make the simplest shredder design, buy 20-25 carbide-tipped circular saw blades and the same number of 20 mm spacer washers. This will give you a working section about 80 mm wide, which you can increase or decrease as desired by adding or removing saws.

Note. The thickness of the teeth of a circular saw is greater than the steel base, so it is impossible to mount the tools close to each other. Washers are used to compensate for the width of the teeth, which are placed between the saws.

The shaft, driven by a belt, must be machined on a lathe from a steel rod. But before you make this part, find 2 bearings, under whose seat size the shaft will be machined. You will also have to make housings for bearings with mounting flanges. Sometimes they can be bought ready-made in the secondary market or in specialized stores.

Advice. As an option, you can use rear axle bearings with a bore diameter of 25 mm from the classic Zhiguli models, and use a ready-made stud with nuts as a shaft.

To install circular saws on the shaft, you need to cut the thread. As a flywheel, use a circle of steel with a thickness of 10 mm or more, or a large pulley from some kind of agricultural machinery. You will also need a steel base plate for the branches, which acts as a counter knife. Cut it out of a sheet with a thickness of at least 10 mm.

Dimensioned cutterbar drawing - front view

If you have chosen the design of a branch chopper with chopping knives, then you can take the drawing of a knife shaft for a jointer as a basis. Just change the diameters of the axles in it, where you need to press the selected bearings. It is better to reduce the width of the working part to 100 mm, because you are not going to put whole logs into the crusher. Chip knives are usually made on a milling machine from car springs.

Shaft drawing for 3 knives - end view with groove dimensions

To assemble a disc-type chipper, in addition to a shaft with bearings and knives, you will need:

• a steel circle 15-20 mm thick with a diameter of 40-50 cm (depending on the power of the electric motor);
• sheet metal of at least 5 mm on the casing, whose front wall serves as a counter knife;
• the same, 1-2 mm thick for welding the bunker;
• M12-16 bolts with nuts for fastening.

The cutting device of the disc grinder with the attachment of knives is shown in the drawing:

The number of knives can be changed (put 2 or 4 pcs.)

Frame manufacturing

Regardless of what type of crusher you have chosen, you need to make a base for it - a frame, where the drive and the chipping mechanism will subsequently be installed. Weld it from corners or pipes, using the following recommendations:

1. Adjust the height to suit your height so that it is convenient to lay branches in the bunker.
2. The structure must be stable. Therefore, make the width of the frame at least 500 mm, the length is arbitrary.
3. Give the bed rigidity by welding crossbars between the uprights.
4. For convenient movement of the unit to the frame, it is desirable to attach a pair of wheels and weld the handle.

Methods for installing an electric motor - under the tabletop and on the side of the frame (photo on the right)

Think about where you are going to put the electric motor. For a chopper made with your own hands from circular saws, the recommendation is this: put the motor in the alignment of the frame so that it does not protrude beyond its dimensions. The same applies to other types of crushers.

Chopper assembly

To begin with, we will assemble a chip cutter from a package of circular saws, observing the following order:

1. Assemble the saws on the shaft by laying washers between them and tightening nuts on both sides.
2. Press the bearings onto the shaft and then into the outer housings. Bolt the latter to the frame, after making holes in it.
3. Slide the pulley and flywheel onto the ends of the shaft, fasten them securely.
4. Close to the teeth of the saws, install a steel plate - counter knife.
5. Install the electric motor and final drive, tighten the belt well.

Advice. Before assembly, do not forget to lubricate the bearing cages by removing the plastic covers. Position the saw blades so that the tooth profiles do not match.

It is better to fasten the counter knife not by welding, but by bolts through oval-shaped holes. The point is to adjust the gap between the edge of the plate and the working teeth, which allows you to change the size of the chips within a small range. The direction of rotation of the saws is “towards you”, that is, the teeth should “run into” the counter-knife.

After mounting the parts, fabricate and install a protective cover made of thin metal, and a receiving hopper in front. The dimensions of these elements are arbitrary, the main thing is ease of use and safety. Finally, connect the unit to the mains with a power cable through a 25 A circuit breaker.

The assembly of the knife crusher is carried out in the same order, only first you need to install and secure the knives in the grooves of the shaft. There is one subtlety here: the more the cutting edges protrude beyond the surface of the shaft, the larger the chips will be at the exit. The bunker is welded in such a way that the branches are fed at an angle of 90° to the cutting mechanism. How to do it right is shown in the video:

Advice. The unit can be improved by making an additional tightening device. It is necessary to make a second shaft of smaller dimensions, weld metal strips along it and connect it to the main mechanism through a belt or chain drive. The speed of the tightening shaft must be lowered, otherwise the branches will beat on the hands during loading.

Homemade mechanized drive pushing branches to chopper knives

There are also no special tricks in the manufacture of a disk chopper of branches, it is enough to follow the drawings and securely fasten all the nodes. The only point: when making the outer casing, try to make the front wall along which the knives rotate thicker, and the gap between them smaller. Otherwise, the mechanism will tighten the flexible thin sticks inward and wind them onto the shaft.

Assembly drawing of direct drive crusher

The rear wall of the casing must be well attached to the frame at least 4 points, for which additional brackets will need to be welded, as shown in the assembly drawing.

Conclusion

The most difficult operation in the manufacture of a garden shredder is turning the shaft and milling the knives from the spring, which you cannot do yourself. You will have to pay for this service, unless there are a couple of metalworking machines in the household. The task will be simplified if you can find a drive assembly, for example, from an old circular saw.

Another option is to use the circular saw itself to crush the branches by installing a cutting mechanism on its drive. Again, the shredder can also function from the engine of a walk-behind tractor, you just need to make the belt drive correctly.

Owners of suburban areas know that caring for trees and shrubs requires constant pruning of unnecessary, withered and old branches. Most often, a pile of brushwood is burned, polluting the entire area with smoke and small soot particles. But twigs recycled for compost are an excellent organic fertilizer! The only disadvantage is the decay process that is extended over time and an unaesthetic pile of garden wood growing in breadth and height. An electric garden shredder (shredder or chitter) will help reduce the mountain of branches dozens of times and speed up the transformation of brushwood into humus. Today, there are many models of crushing devices on the market for these purposes, however, the price of such units is quite high. We propose to make the machine yourself, especially since a significant part of the materials will be found in everyone in the garage or on a pile of old scrap metal.

The device and principle of operation of the electric garden shredder

A garden shredder can help you get rid of branches and other organic debris.

For self-production of an electric wood shredder, you need to know its device and principle of operation. In the future, this will help in designing your own design and assembling the unit.

The garden shredder (chitter), regardless of the features of the work, is simple and consists of the following parts and assemblies:

• engine;
• metal frame;
• working shaft (shafts);
• cutting block;
• receiving box;
• flexible or gear transmission;
• protective cover.

For convenience, wheels are installed on the unit, which makes it easier to move the structure around the garden plot.

Scheme of a garden shredder

Works shredder branches as follows. The torque from the electric motor is transmitted to the working shaft by means of a V-belt, chain or gear drive. The ratio of pulleys, sprockets or gears is chosen in such a way that the gear ratio can provide a rotation speed of the main axle of at least 1500 rpm. The crushing of the branches fed into the receiving box is carried out by knives rigidly fixed on the working shaft.

There are designs of a crushing plant with the use of two working shafts moving in the opposite direction. This scheme allows you to increase the productivity of the unit and makes it possible to process oversized branches.

Due to the high speed of rotation, intensive grinding of wood takes place, which, after grinding, is sent to the compost heap. If we consider the design of the shredder through the prism of similar mechanisms, then its principle of operation is similar to the operation of a meat grinder or blender. Despite the rather primitive design, when using a durable knife block and an electric motor with a power of 3–5 kW, the unit can process not only rods into chips, but also cuttings of trees more than 5 cm thick. There are also garden cheaters that grind ten-centimeter branches, however, their design much more complicated, and the principle of operation is more perfect.

Branch shredder classification

When planning the creation of a garden cheater, it is imperative to have an idea of ​​​​how thick wood waste you will have to deal with. Since all organic waste shredders can be divided according to the power of the electric motor and the principle of operation of the knife block, the maximum diameter of wood chips affects the choice of design, operating parameters and technical characteristics of the unit.

By type of power plant used

Garden shredders can use both electric motors and internal combustion engines. The advantages of the first are simplicity, compactness, ease of use. However, with the help of a gasoline or diesel power unit, you can create a truly mobile unit, and their power allows you to process branches more than 10 cm thick.

Combustion engine shredders are more powerful and more mobile than electric machines

In a homemade design, it is easier to use an electric motor. At the same time, there is no need to use additional components to ensure the start and warm-up of the engine, the final cost of the mechanism is reduced, and the installation and operation of equipment is simplified.

When choosing an electric power unit, the following factors must be taken into account:

It should be noted that powerful electric motors require connection to three phases. If a conventional two-phase network with a voltage of 220 V is used, then the best way out of the situation is a gasoline or diesel power plant. Its capacity is 5 - 6 liters. With. will suffice in most cases.

According to the design of the knife block

The design of the blade block of the garden shredder determines the diameter of the branches that can be chopped, and what size of the processed wood chips will be obtained at the outlet of the unit. For example, the simplest devices can only process thin branches, cutting them into lengths of 2 to 10 cm, while more complex devices can crush thick branches, grinding them into dust or producing 10 - 15 cm lengths.

The design of factory knives is most often presented in three versions:

• disk-knife block, which is used for grass and twigs with a thickness of not more than 2 cm;

  The garden shredder with disc-knife unit has a simple design, but is unable to process thick branches

• cutting system of milling type, which can easily cope with thick branches up to 8 cm. The only condition is that the raw materials must be dry, otherwise the cutters become clogged with wood fibers and require constant cleaning;

  The use of cutters allows you to work with any organic debris

• screw and turbine-milling cutting units are the most productive and versatile - they can equally easily process raw and dry branches of a rather large size into chips.

  The use of combined turbine-milling or screw cutting units provides the device with high performance

In home-made designs, it is difficult to repeat the screw or turbine-milling design, so the craftsmen take as a basis one of the following cutting block schemes:

• two-shaft system with several knives;
• disk-knife unit;
• typesetting package of circular saws or cutters.

All three options are available for repetition at home and require a minimum of costs, since in their manufacture parts and assemblies from old automotive and agricultural equipment, pieces of corners, pipes, etc. are used. As for purchased items, you can’t do without them . If there is no electric motor, circular saws or cutters, as well as other parts in stock, then they will have to be bought.

Video: Homemade disc-knife type chopper

Advantages and disadvantages of a homemade device

There are a lot of advantages of a garden shredder made by one's own hands:

• low cost compared to factory-made equipment;
• the ability to create designs for specific purposes. For example, often recycled branches are used as fuel, which requires special adjustment of the machine to obtain oversized cuts;
• in a home-made design, you can use parts that can be easily found in any garage or workshop;
• a do-it-yourself shredder can be used not only for crushing branches, but also for chopping grass, vegetables and fruits - as pet food or for recycling purposes;
• with the independent manufacture of equipment, it becomes possible to use your mind and erudition, apply your own skills and abilities. A successfully working design will serve as proof of your viability as an owner, increase self-esteem, and raise authority among neighbors and acquaintances.

As for the shortcomings, there are practically none. The only thing I would like to note is that equipment of this type belongs to the category of hazardous, therefore, in the manufacture of the unit, structural elements should be provided that ensure risk reduction, and during operation, adhere to the rules for handling such mechanisms.

We make a garden crusher at home with our own hands

To make a wood waste utilizer, you will need the ability to handle a welding machine plus a little experience in plumbing. Creating a garden cheat takes place in several stages. At the first stage, the structure is designed based on their own requirements and the availability of materials. On others, they begin to manufacture individual parts, assemble, configure and test the unit.

Necessary materials and tools

To build a wood waste chopper you will need:

The tool will need the most common one, which any master owner will always have:

• welding machine;
• electric drill with a set of drills for metal;
• angle grinder (colloquially "grinder");
• grinder (emery);
• set of wrenches;
• a hammer;
• metal ruler, tape measure;
• metal marker (scriber).

In addition, the finished product must be painted for weather protection and aesthetics, so you will need a rust converter, primer, and any exterior enamel.

Preparatory work, drawings

As mentioned earlier, the design of a garden shredder includes a frame, an electric motor, a housing, a working shaft (one or more) with installed knives and a receiving hopper. The final form of the finished product directly depends on the chosen scheme and the features of its implementation.

The most important parameter that is taken into account in the design and manufacture of drawings is the location of the working shaft and the type of knives used.

A drawing of a garden shredder using two shafts looks like this: a pair of steel plates with a thickness of at least 10 mm are taken as a body, in which holes for ball bearings are milled. The knives are fixed with an offset relative to each axis of the mechanism. The synchronism of the rotation of the shafts is ensured by the gears fixed on them, to which the torque is transmitted from the electric motor. The design can be used both chain and belt. The calculation of the interaxal clearance is based on the dimensions of the knives, which, in turn, determine the maximum thickness of the processed wood.

For a mechanism with two shafts, it is not so much the speed of rotation that is important, but the magnitude of the torque. Therefore, it is better to take an electric motor with a power of at least 4 kW and 3000 rpm and, due to the gear ratio, reduce the rotational speed to an acceptable value.

In the manufacture of a knife disc cheater, fewer parts will be required, but the size of the branches that it can crush will be smaller. A multi-ribbed pulley is used to change the rotation speed, and the chopping quality can be adjusted by installing knives of different widths. It is not necessary to install a disk with fixed knives strictly vertically - it can be at any angle. It all depends on the imagination of the designer and considerations of convenience and personal preferences.

Drawing disc-knife chopper

To manufacture a shredder with a knife block of two dozen circular saws, you will need one shaft, a pair of bearings in housings and a belt drive. I must say that the performance of this design depends on the speed of rotation of the cutting package, so a high-speed electric motor and a pair of pulleys of the same diameter are best suited for it.

Drawing shredder from circular saws

Scheme of a grinder from circular saws

It is possible to significantly improve the performance of the design by replacing circular discs with cutters of various sizes from metal-cutting machines. In this case, the speed of the mechanism is reduced, while increasing the amount of torque.

Instructions for the manufacture of a wood chipper with two working shafts

The work on creating a shredder for a suburban area is divided into several steps, which include the manufacture of a frame, assembly of the cutting block, welding of a receiving funnel and a protective casing, as well as installation of parts and assemblies on the base.

Parts for making a twin-shaft garden shredder

1. Two blanks 40 cm long and four 80 cm each are cut from a profile pipe or a metal corner. They will be used to weld the base of the structure - the frame, or, in professional terms, the frame.
2. A rectangular frame is welded from two long and two short sections, after which the internal crossbars are welded to it in such a way as to install a knife block on them.
   

   If it is planned to install wheels on the chopper, then racks are additionally mounted on the frame to install the axle.

3. The manufacture of working shafts is ordered from a turner. When installing four knives, square blanks are used, on which seats for bearings and pulleys are machined. If there are three pieces of cutting elements, then the blanks are machined along the entire length, after which three flats (flat cuts) are made on them and holes are drilled for attaching the blades.

   Good knives can be made from car springs

4. Shredder knives are made from springs from trucks or minibuses (such as Gazelle). To do this, cut the sheet into segments of the desired length, heat it in a furnace and level it with a hammer. Next, the mounting holes are drilled and the wedge edge is formed. Knocking down excess metal on the emery, achieve cutting edge angles from 35 to 45 degrees on each blade. After that, the knives are hardened and finely sharpened on a grinding machine.
5. In the metal plates used as the body of the cutting block, holes are cut out for the installation of bearings. It is best, of course, to use a laser cutting machine at some enterprise or, at worst, a plasma cutter. If there is no access to such equipment, then you can resort to using a gas cutter or welding machine. The disadvantage of the latter method is that the resulting holes will be uneven, so their edges will have to be polished for a long time and carefully.
6. Bearings are mounted, after which they are fixed from longitudinal displacement with round washers, which are attached to the outer surface of the housing.
   

   The work of the garden chitter is associated with the formation of dirt and dust, therefore, closed-type ball bearings are used in its design.

7. Shafts are installed, after which the side walls of the housing are pulled together with studs and nuts.

   Assembly of the cutting drum body

8. Start manufacturing the receiving bunker. To do this, four trapezoid-shaped blanks are cut out of a 2-mm steel sheet, which are interconnected by welding or rivets. In the tapering part of the box, 4–5 cm bends are made with holes for fasteners.
   

   For safety reasons, the length of the receiving hopper is increased so as to prevent the operator's hands from getting into the zone of action of the cutting elements.

9. The grinding drum is attached to the frame, after which the drive gears are mounted on the shafts.

   Gears provide the shafts with the opposite direction of movement

10. Attach the electric motor and install a chain or belt drive.
11. A protective cover is constructed from thin sheet metal to cover the rotating parts of the drive.
12. A feed box is mounted on the grinder.

    Installation of the receiving box

    
    

    The method of fastening the receiving box should provide the possibility of removing it for extracting large, non-recyclable wood residues, cleaning the mechanism, sharpening knives, etc.

13. Make electrical connections.

    Complete garden shredder

In order to protect the chitter from corrosion, all its parts are cleaned with a wire brush and treated with a rust converter or other protective agent. After that, the unit is primed and painted with a spray gun or manually.

Shredding branches for heating purposes

The operation of an electric garden shredder, manufactured in compliance with all safety requirements, is not difficult. However, during the operation of the installation, a few simple rules and regulations should be followed.

1. You should start chopping branches only in goggles or a mask, in a headdress and high shoes. It is best to serve branches with bare hands, or, at worst, in tight-fitting gloves.
2. It is forbidden to lower your hands below the opening of the loading hopper. If necessary, brushwood can be pushed through with the next portion of rods or a special stick with a fork at the end.
3. The size of the branches should not exceed half the center distance between the shafts. When choosing wood waste for disposal, the width of the knives used must be taken into account.
4. It is necessary to exclude the possibility of pieces of glass, stones, metal and plastic debris getting into the receiving hopper both during the operation of the unit and during storage.
5. Raw branches lend themselves best to chopping on a twin-shaft plant. If it is necessary to dispose of parts of the rhizomes, then they must be cleared of the ground.
6. When jamming wood residues in the working drum, the device is immediately disconnected from the network. Further removal of stuck debris is carried out only when the equipment is completely de-energized.
7. During operation, special attention should be paid to the place where the power cable is laid - it should not fall into the zone of crushing products.

Reliable and durable operation of the wood chipper depends not only on proper operation, but also on storage conditions. Therefore, after each use, the shredder must be cleaned of residues of processed products and put away in a barn or under a canopy. In addition, you will need to monitor the sharpness of the cutting edges. Well-sharpened knives will make the work enjoyable and reduce the load on the machine components. If you follow the rules of operation, the garden shredder will delight you with safe and trouble-free operation for many years, facilitating the care of the site, bringing benefits and pleasure.

Thanks to my versatile hobbies, I write on various topics, but my favorite ones are engineering, technology and construction. Perhaps because I know a lot of nuances in these areas, not only theoretically, as a result of studying at a technical university and graduate school, but also from the practical side, since I try to do everything with my own hands.

Grass chopper to help the gardener. A beautiful and fruitful garden, where it is always pleasant to relax and enjoy its magnificence, is the result of the owner's painstaking work. We all know that in order to have a good result - green vegetation, juicy fruits and vegetables - you need to fertilize the soil, providing it with all the necessary organic substances.

grass grinder

The ideal food for the soil is compost. Composting is the introduction into the soil of decomposed organic compounds obtained as a result of decay of materials: leaves, stems, tops, cuttings, various plant and animal waste.

Having your own garden, every gardener can prepare such garden compost. If earlier the material for compost was prepared manually, now there are choppers of various functions on sale. A garden shredder will save time on grass processing, reduce the period of vegetation decomposition, providing additional space in the compost barrel. Since the prices for such devices are quite high, and not everyone can afford this equipment, you can make a garden grass chopper with your own hands.

Necessary parts for its manufacture:

• motor;
• knives or discs;
• shaft;
• bolts, nuts;
• container;
• protective frame;
• auxiliary materials: screwdriver, grinder, hammer.

Such a device works close to the action of a food processor. The voltage from the motor goes to a shaft with knives that grind incoming branches or grass, and then the processed material exits through a special hole in the box and enters the compost, animal and bird feed.

Homemade chopper

This unit can be easily made with the help of improvised materials that every owner has in his house, and the missing parts can be purchased on the market. On the net you can find a video with a step-by-step assembly of shredders. The main thing is to decide on the type of device, draw drawings and prepare the necessary parts for assembly.

Types of grinders

Consider what are the types of grass grinders:

Petrol

Devices with a gasoline engine have a higher power, allow you to grind not only grass, but also larger branches anywhere in the garden, regardless of the presence of the mains. Suitable for large areas and vegetation of large diameter.

Electrical

Work only from the network, less powerful. They are easy to use due to their compactness and light weight. Great option for gardeners. For chopping grass and branches of small diameter, a garden unit with a power of no more than 1.5 kW is suitable. However, such devices do not withstand long-term continuous loads. For a longer amount of work, it is better to choose motors with a power of up to 4 kW. This garden unit is very handy.

Homemade grass chopper can be made using:

• Drills

Suitable for cutting grass of small volumes (mainly for feeding birds and cattle).

Required materials:

• Drill with power up to 1 kW;
• knives;
• bolts and nuts;
• container for grass (bucket).

Assembly is quite simple, the only task is sharpening knives. They should be diamond-shaped with one-sided sharpening pointing down. This shape will protect the knife from the accumulation and winding of grass on its surface. After assembly, you need to place the grass in a bucket, connect the device to the mains and chop the vegetation.

• cultivator

This method is close to the first option. It differs in that it makes it possible to process much larger volumes of vegetation.

The choice of materials for the manufacture of grass chopper

Assembly materials:

• a cultivator that can be used as a drive;
• a steel knife cut from a canvas and sharply sharpened;
• self-tapping screws;
• a plastic container where grinding will take place;
• square top and legs.

To assemble the design of the garden shredder, you need to attach the drive to the table, after making a hole in the table top. Then, using staples and self-tapping screws, tighten the casing of the machine to a wooden block. For a bell, make a funnel from improvised materials (for example, a sleeve from a drain) and fix it so that it does not interfere with the installation of the cultivator. Fix the bar itself with self-tapping screws to the table. At the end, you need to install limiters with the help of legs to prevent the tabletop from sliding.

• Soviet vacuum cleaner

For this version of the manufacture of the chopper, a case from a vacuum cleaner from the times of the USSR is suitable, which has a convenient opening for loading grass. This device differs from the previous ones by the presence of a second hole through which chopped grass passes.

To assemble this design you need:

• powerful motor about 180 watts;
• vacuum cleaner body;
• knives, bolts and nuts;
• metal legs;
• bucket for receiving the product.

First you need to prepare a sleeve for attaching the knives and connecting the engine to the body. Pre-cut the knives and sharpen them well, making a hole in them for the bushing. Using bolts, we fasten the engine to the body. To exit the silo, we make a hole in the side of the body itself. We weld a protective cover around the slot so that the exit product does not scatter.

We weld the platform under the structure. The platform should be in the form of a truncated pyramid with a wide base at the bottom and a narrower one at the top. This form ensures the stability of the unit during operation. Having made holes for the bolts, we attach the bottom of the engine to the platform. As you can see, all the details are easily found on the farm. The problem can only arise with the sleeve, which can be made on the machine.

• washing machine

Such a device operates on the same principle, but allows you to grind not only grass, but also branches.

DIY chopper

Handy materials:

• engine and cylindrical body from an old washing machine;
• knives or an outdated hacksaw blade;
• fasteners, nuts and bolts;
• bushings;
• grinder, screwdrivers;
• waste material container;
• furniture legs.

In the container from the washing machine - you can replace it with a pan, bucket or barrels - make a hole and cover it with a sheet of thin metal. It is better to make such a passage at the bottom of the container, but if it does not work out, then it should be on the side and always below the blades. Following the example of the previous option, you need to make a sleeve to which the knives are attached, and fix the knives at the bottom of the container.

Based on the dimensions of the motor shaft, make holes for the bushing and motor mount. Attach the machine engine to the container using the installed clamps. As a container for collecting chopped grass, you can use both a bucket, a barrel, and a homemade container made of metal and attached with bolts.

After reviewing the above options, you can easily make a garden shredder at home. At the same time, the videos and drawings provided on the network will help you in the precise assembly of specific units. Depending on what improvised means you have, the amount of work, you can choose a manufacturing method that is more suitable for you. The main tools that are needed to assemble a garden shredder are a grinder, a screwdriver and a welding machine.

Do not forget to follow the safety precautions when working with electrical types of units. Sharp knives and discs pose a serious danger to your life and health, as well as to people in the environment. Be especially careful with the tool if there are children in the house. From the foregoing, we can conclude that the grass chopper can be made by hand or purchased ready-made.