STRUCTURE & DESIGN

Drum Style Chippers

All TOMCAT wood chippers are drum-style chippers. This means that all our wood chippers use a drum fitted with 2 or more double-sided blades to chip the wood and not a disc. The biggest advantages to our TOMCAT drum chippers are the following:

  • It is quick and effortless to open up the drum housing to access the chipper blades. You can access your TOMCAT’s blades for daily inspection or routine maintenance with 3 easy steps: simply pull the R-Clip out, pull the lock pin out and lift up the chipper’s discharge chute.
  • Drum style chippers are extremely efficient. The drum chipper cuts with the grain at 180 degrees and uses the whole blade to cut the material – increasing the chippers output and performance.
  • Maintenance is quick and effortless. There’s little downtime on drum chippers since it is extremely easy to access the blades and turn the blades around/replace the blades and do anvil adjustments.
  • Variety of Material. Different materials can be chipped with a drum chipper, including fibrous material such as palm leaves and bamboo, black irrigation pipes, wet wood, sugar cane, etc.
  • The wood chip produced from a drum chipper ranges from small to big with every cut, which makes it the perfect mulch and ideal for compost plants.
  • A drum chipper packs a punch. It’s been proven over time that our TOMCAT drum chippers are tough and can take a proper beating especially in an environment where maintenance is not always done on time.
  • Effortless chipping. The drum on our TOMCAT wood chippers is designed in such a way that it pulls the branches into the chipper. The hydraulic in-feed rollers are not there to feed the material into the chipper, but rather to control the in-feed speed and size of the chip.

Foldable feed tray

The foldable feed tray gives the operator extra space to place large bundles of branches, thus reducing operator fatigue and increasing production. It also helps the operator to drop smaller branches onto the tray and then push them in with paddle. This is a safety feature as it makes it difficult for the operator to push material in with his hands and reaching the feed rollers and makes it impossible to push it in with his feet.

Swivel Discharge chute & Adjustable Flipper

All chippers are equipped with a 360 degree swivel discharge spout that is easy to swing, enabling you to direct the chips to where you want them. An adjustable flipper at the end of the discharge can be adjusted to direct chips downward. These options make it simpler to swivel & adjust the discharge without tools, ensuring optimal loading of trucks and trailers to the dump site.

Chute extension is an optional extra for fruit farmers, who are doing chipping in the orchard. We've found that citrus farmers are often chipping while trees are flowering, and therefore they don't want to damage the trees while chipping.

Slidebox Feed system with Replaceable wear strips

The top feed roller (wheel) is built into a slide box. This slide box allows the feed wheel to move straight up and down with the flow and diameter of the material passing through the feed system into the chipper. The feed wheel allows downward pressure for crushing material. All feed wheels are supported with heavy duty bearings on both ends. The slide-box is running up and down inside replaceable nylon wear strips to ensure easy up and down movement and eliminate wear on the slide supports of the wood chipper. The wear strips are easy to remove and replace.

Spring Tensioning System

Our spring tensioning system provides downward pressure on the top feed wheel, adding crushing power to the in-feed rollers. The springs provide little downward pressure when the in-feed roller is in the down position. They make it easy for the top wheel to open up to accommodate larger materials, adding pressure as the opening between the wheels expands. The pressure on the springs is easy adjustable with tensioning rods in place on both sides of the slide-box. This allows the operator to easily add or remove pressure.

Large in-feed hoppers

The larger the in-feed hopper of the chipper, the easier it is to feed the branches into the chipper. So a large the in-feed hopper means higher efficiency and output of the chipper. Each model in our range has one of the widest in-feed hoppers and openings on the market. When you plan on chipping difficult material such as thorn bush and fruit orchard prunings it is wise to go with a chipper with a wide hopper.

Roadworthy SABS Approved Trailers

Each one of our models goes through a strict homologation process to ensure that the trailer is built on spec and adheres to the regulations. Each trailer has been carefully designed to ensure that the machine is within its weight class and has the correct amount of downwards pressure on the coupler. TOMCAT Chippers’ trailer chassis are solid and over engineered to ensure they will outlast the chipper.

This feature makes all our trailer units very affordable for small contractors and tree fellers, as they are SABS approved. The fact that you get your registration papers with your chipper on delivery, makes the process hassle-free and you can start using the trailer from day one, knowing your chipper is roadworthy.