Earthquake (3") 206cc Chipper / Shredder With Briggs & Stratton Intek Engine - 9060300 Review

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(More customer reviews)The is a fabulous addition to the yard. I use it hard and even took it completely apart and got it back together again (although this is not recommended for the faint of heart). I have never had to have it repaired and will get a tune up for the first time in 2 years. Love it. One thing to watch out for is running sod through it...the wet dirt gathers in the bottom of the blade area - see sentence two for the result!! I can also say that I have ground up a number of trees and limbs which is an huge ecological saving for the dump.

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Briggs & Stratton Intek IC 206cc Engine Powerful enough to turn branches up to 3" int...

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Yard Machines 24A-452G700 205cc Briggs & Stratton 800 Series Gas-Powered Chipper Shredder Review

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(More customer reviews)I have owned a 1998 version of this shredder for 8 years, and finally gave it away. I plan to upgrade to a 8HP Bearcat or similar (more robust) shredder.
I have 1/2 acre with Douglas Fir trees which tend to drop branches in windstorms, like the one that hit Dec. 14. I have also had ivy and blackberry bushes to clear, so I knew that one blue yardwaste bin 2x a month would never cut it. I bought my shredder at the local Home Depot, mostly because I did not know what else was out there, and it seemed like a good product (at the time).
I found out over the years that it is really just a very light duty machine, and that actually using it will wear it out pretty easily. I only used mine 2-4 times per year, whenever I had a pile built up, but anything which could wear out did.
The axle for the two wheels runs through the base plate, which is just bent sheet metal with no bushings for the axle. As a result, vibrations elongated one of the axle holes such that it dropped right out of the plate.
The small feed chute is for branches up to 2" diameter. It works fine as long as you are pushing the branch down. Once the branch gets down to about 18" long, the blades just won't grab the stick and bite it, and itstead it sort of bounces up the chute. Eventually, it may get consumed in micro-bites, but you are probably better just pulling the remnant out and putting it in the firewood pile.
The big feed chute for leaves and small branches is a blow-molded piece of plastic. They wisely made both chutes just longer than a man's arm's length, to prevent idiots from sticking their fingers into the blade area. But the molded-in stresses on the big chute resulted in stress cracks at all four corners. I had one chute replaced for these cracks while it was still under warrantee, and the new chute quickly developed the same sort of cracks.
The discharge chute is stamped and spot-welded sheet metal, and it too developed stress cracks from the vibrations, and the welds eventually gave way. There are hand-knobs for unscrewing the bolts which hold that discharge chute in place, and I became well acquainted with them. The screen that stops the big chunks for rechopping is a set of four bars, through which the flails reach like 3 fingers in order to grab anything that was too big to fly through. Unfortunately, the metal used in the screen was so soft and ductile that it quickly went from convex to concave, so that debris piled up just out of the reach of the flails. That means I had to shut down, open the discharge chute (which does not stay open on its own, but instead falls down on your hands), then find a big bolt or pin to hammer out the two pins which hold in the screen. Once I pulled the accumulate debris away and got that screen out, I would flip it around 180 degrees so that the newly convex side faced the flails, and reassemble. I have gone through 3 screens in 8 years because metal does not like to be bent back and forth like that very many times (think about bending a wire coat hanger), and it eventually breaks. They need a beefier screen to stand up to the force of wood chips hitting it.
The shredder blades are not easily sharpened, and my attempts resulted in a horribly imbalanced machine. One must also entirely remove the big shredder chute to access those blades, involving taking nuts off of 6 lugs, which don't line back up again very well with the housing when I tried to reassemble. That housing also developed stress cracks in the plastic at the point where it joins the metal shredder wheel housing.
Vibrations also caused the gas tank mounting slots to break off, such that the plastic gas tank was barely held in place by the time I gave mine away. The engine still ran nicely, although I did have to replace the carburetor after the old one got clogged with some gunk and the rebuild kit failed to work. One other interesting vibrational behavior was that the machine liked to "walk", such that I had to dig a hole in the dirt for it to sit in just so that it would not wander away from where I was using it.
The unit came with a mesh bag for catching the chips, but it was so small that I never used it. The chips come flying out so fast that they will travel 30-40 feet unless you have some sort of back stop.
On the whole, this shredder does do what the advertising says it does, but it just does not do very much of it without a lot of attention, TLC, and swearing. Luckily, it makes so much noise that the swearing is not heard by others if done while it is running. If you just want to shred maple leaves once or twice a year, this may be okay, provided that you have some degree of mechanical aptitude. But for me, I am happy to leave that flimsy contraption behind as a regrettable chapter in my life.

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The Yard Machines 5.5-horsepower chipper shredder comes equipped with a 5.5-horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine, and features a 2-inch chipper capacity with a 10:1 reduction ratio. The unit also comes with a 3-way poly drop-down and rake-in hopper with a steel blade for added strength and durability. The chipper comes with a 2.5-bushel bag capacity for added convenience and is backed by a 2-year warranty.

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Patriot Products CSV-2515 14 Amp Electric Wood Chipper/Leaf Shredder Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, it is not a gasoline engine so it is not going to have the same power due to the limits of amperage typical households can supply. However, even with these power limits I was very impressed with the power this electric chipper has. I was able to chip wood up to 2 inches in diameter with no problem except that the chipper pulls the wood into the machine faster than the machine can handle. So when chipping thick branches it is important to grasp them firmly and pull back when the chipper starts to pull them in too quickly. Be prepared, it pulls hard! If you are patient and feed at the correct rate you should not have any problems with clogs.
If the unit does clog the engine pulls too much power and your breaker will trip, which did happen to me a few times before I learned what the machine could handle. This chipper needs its own 20 amp dedicated circuit or it will trip the breaker when it starts. I live in an older house with older wiring that is mostly 15 amp, which could not handle the current. Luckily, the circuit my refrige is on is a 20 amp circuit that is close enough to a door so the extension cord can reach, but now I have to unplug the refrige when I want to run the chipper. (i'll fix this inconvenience by running a new 20 amp circuit to an exterior plug) So you should plan to put in a dedicated 20 amp circuit if you don't have one before you purchase this.
This chipper is very solidly built. If it does clog the plastic leaf bin is sturdy enough so that the entire unit can be upended to clear the chips, but it is heavy so be careful flipping it. The chipper cone isn't too hard to take off either in case wood gets stuck there. Since it is electric you just flip a switch to turn on and off, which is much more convenient than a gas engine. It is also much quieter than a gasoline engine, but you still should wear hearing protection when using it (no complaints from the neighbors so far).
The wood chips it produces are very fine, but the shredder doesn't work that well on green stuff. In fact, the shredder part is the easiest to clog. I tried a palm frond in the shredder opening and it clogged the machine. So now I just have to pull the fronds apart and put them through the chipper. It seems the shredder isn't much good for anything but dry twigs and leaves. But that is no biggie as it is not hard to feed most stuff into the chipper.
I bought this unit when I read the poor reviews for the cheaper electric chippers (free shipping if you order direct from their site). You get what you pay for. Patriot sells a quality machine that you can buy replacement parts for and that can be serviced. The other cheapo chippers don't even sell replacement blades! What do you do when your blade wears out? Don't buy a foreign-made piece of crap that you'll just end up throwing out. No regrets with my purchase.


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Our most popular model! This Electric Chipper Shredder is the only one of its kind on the market today. Our unit will chip branches up to 2 1/2 inches in diameter. It is also ideal for shredding leaves. There are no hassles with gas or oil. It turns on with the flip of a switch. It can be used inside your garage, basement or hothouse. This environmentally friendly workhorse has no ugly fumes. It plugs into your standard 110 volt outlet. You will need a good heavy-duty extension cord of less than 100 ft as this unit draws 14 amps of electricity. The electric chipper shredder weighs less than 100 pounds and comes with large wheels for easy transport around your home and yard. See for yourself why this valuable yard and garden tool received the National Home Gardening Club Member Tested Seal-of-Approval. We are also excited to report that in the summer of 2009 our electric chipper was rated a "Best Buy" by Consumers Digest magazine. This honor is given to less than 3% of the products tested and our chipper has received this honor for a SECOND time. This unit comes complete with a 2-year warranty, a collection bag, and safety goggles.

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McCulloch MCS2001 14 amp Electric Chipper/Shredder Review

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(More customer reviews)Summary:
Works well for my purposes, which include a lot of twigs, leaves, brush, and ½" to ¾" sticks. The mulch produced is much finer than I expected, and is really smaller than your typical double-shredded commercial mulch. Assembly took 1½ hours, and was pretty straightforward, but no thanks to the instructions supplied with the unit. For the price, this is a very good unit.
Shipment:
Unit came 2 days after I ordered. Surprised at the speed for free shipping, but I noticed Amazon used 2nd day UPS air. I don't know if this was expedited shipping because of the nearness of Xmas, but I was very pleased with the timeliness.
Assembly:
Instructions that came with the unit were very sparse and provided very limited illustrations and narrative to help the consumer. A clear and detailed picture or diagram would help a lot.
However, after staring at the photo on the box, and looking at the various parts that came in the box, assembly was simple enough for my son and I (you really need 2 people). Thinking back on it, here is the sequence that should be followed (little of this is in the instruction manual):
1. First start with the leg, axle, and wheel assembly. Look at the axle, and you will see two hex bolts with no apparent purpose screwed into the axle: one at each end. These are adjustment blanks that should be moved in order to properly align the leg, axle, and wheel assembly to accept the body of the shredder. You will notice an empty threaded hole immediately adjacent to these hex bolts, each a bit closer to the ends of the axle. Unscrew the hex bolts using the provided hex-key and move them to the adjacent holes that are closer to the end of the axle.
2. Place one wheel on the axle and secure with the supplied large flat washer followed by a cotter pin. Bend the end of the cotter pin around the axle end to secure the wheel. Do not put the other wheel on the axle yet, and don't put on the McCulloch wheel covers on either wheel yet.
3. Thread the end of the axle through the opening on one leg (it doesn't matter which one - they are symmetrical), and then use the supplied long hex bolt, lock washer and flat washer to loosely secure (hand tighten) the part of the axle closest to the attached wheel against one leg. The lock washer should be placed on the bolt first (closest to the bolt head) followed by the flat washer, then thread the bolt through the outer curved part of the leg into the threaded hole in the axle which is closest to the wheel that you put on in step 2.
4. Take the other leg and attach it to the other end of the axle using the remaining long hex bolt, lock washer, and flat washer -- hand tighten.
5. Take the remaining wheel and secure it on the remaining axle end with the supplied large flat washer followed by a cotter pin. Do not put either wheel cover on until the end (just in case you did something wrong or you aren't quite satisfied with the alignment).
6. Insert the solid aluminum barrels (each with two smooth-bore holes) into the end of the leg, axle, and wheel assembly that will mate with the shredder body. Line up the barrel holes with the leg holes. This provides strength at the connection point to the body. Put the leg, axle, and wheel assembly aside for the moment.
7. Now let's work on the body. Using two persons to lift, stand the shredder body up on the flat pieces of cardboard supplied in the box. Unscrew the three black plastic-knobbed hand bolts that retain the yellow metal hood onto the black shredder assembly. Remove the yellow metal hood and put it aside. You have now exposed the heads of the four hex bolts used to secure the shredder body to the leg, axle, and wheel assembly.
8. Using the stronger person to lift, place the black shredder assembly over the leg/axle/wheel assembly, and line up the two holes on either leg (four holes total), with the four hex bolts on the black shredder assembly. Have your partner guide the bolts through the holes. From the underside, secure the bolts using the supplied flat washers, followed by lock washers, followed by nuts -- hand tighten. Don't put the hood back on yet.
9. Eyeball the entire assembly to see that is aligned vertically and horizontally. Since you only hand-tightened the axle-leg and leg-body hex bolts, it is now pretty easy to adjust the alignment by simply moving the body relative to the legs, or moving the legs relative to the axle. Don't worry, the set-up is pretty sturdy, it would be difficult to harm anything by pushing or pulling to gain proper alignment.
10. Once you are satisfied with the alignment, tighten the two leg-axle hex bolts and four leg-body bolts using the supplied hex wrench. Use rotation tightening like you would when working on your car. Half tighten bolts on opposite ends, then ¾ tighten, and then full tighten.
11. Snap on the McCulloch wheel covers on the wheels.
12. Place the yellow metal hood back on top, and tighten the black plastic-knobbed hand bolts.
13. Place the black plastic leaf and twig receiving chute on top of the yellow metal hood, and line up the five small bolt holes. The ribbed side of the receiving chute should be facing toward the wheels. Insert and tighten the five bolts to secure the chute.
14. Turn off the switch before you plug in the shredder.
Operation:
1. For brush and sticks under ¾" this unit rocks! I am quite pleased how quickly this shredder takes the little stuff and spits out very finely shredded mulch.
2. For brush and sticks 1" to 1½" - be careful! It is very easy to jam this unit by feeding big twigs too quickly. After jamming the unit, you need to turn it off, unplug it, remove the yellow metal hood by undoing the three black plastic-knobbed hand bolts, and then clearing the debris from the cutting blades or the large stick feeding tube on the yellow hood. I have found that the best approach is to feed twigs of this size using a feed a little, pause a little, feed a little, pause a little approach. You can actually do this pretty quickly once you get used to what the machine can handle as far as pace.
3. Leaves mixed with sticks seem to shred finer than leaves by themselves through the top chute.
4. Twigs by themselves, regardless of size, are consumed most quickly through the side feeder tube versus the top chute.

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Take care of yard waste and do your part to protect the environment with the eco-friendly McCulloch MCS2001 14-Amp Electric Chipper/Shredder. Featuring an ETop hopper design and a three-way feed, this handy tool makes quick work of twigs, branches, and other debris. It can even save time and money by allowing you to make your own mulch.
14 Amp Induction Motor and Three-Cycle Shredding System for Fast ResultsComplete with a 14 Amp induction motor that offers a peak power of 2.5 HP, the MCS2001 makes quick work of small branches and tree limbs with a diameter measuring up to 1.5 inches, as well as leaves and brush. Its three-cycle shredding and mulching system ensures consistent, quality results, even after repeated use.
Straightforward, User-Friendly OperationThe MCS2001 is incredibly easy to use. Simply turn the machine on with a quick flip of the switch, and in just a few seconds the MCS2001 reduces yard waste to a pile of finely shredded wood that you can dispose of or re-purpose as mulch.
Safe, Eco-Friendly Design Protects Fingers and the EnvironmentDesigned with safety in mind, the MCS2001 boasts a patented top hopper design and tamper that keeps fingers away from the V-type blade at all times. And because it's powered by electricity, it offers quieter, cleaner operation and avoids the mess and pollution of gas.
Seven-Inch Wheels for PortabilityEfficient, easy to assemble, and user-friendly, the MCS2001 includes seven-inch wheels for portability and maneuverability, and a rounded discharge chute that's a snap to clean. For added convenience, the chipper is compact enough to store in a home shop or garage, and it is backed by a two-year warranty (90 days for commercial use).
McCulloch: An Industry Leader in Technology, Innovation, and ValueAn industry leader in the development of technology, quality, function, ergonomics, and design of outdoor maintenance tools for over 60 years, McCulloch has established an unrivaled, worldwide reputation for reliability and value. Founded in 1946, McCulloch rapidly moved to the forefront of two-stroke petrol engine design, growing into one of the world's leading manufacturers of chainsaws, trimmers, brushcutters, and hedge cutters.
What's in the BoxChipper, tamper, manual, and warranty card.

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