1. Perfect In One Pass /
2. Horizontal Grinders vs Chippers

Horizontal Grinders Vs. Chippers

Horizontal grinders offer many advantages over drum and disk chippers, including greater versatility, lower wear costs, and more consistent uptime.

Broader Versatility

Wood chippers are designed to process solid wood fiber, such as tree limbs and trunks. Chippers generally have difficulty feeding and chipping material of mixed dimensions, including tangled piles of tree trunks and branches. Many chippers lack a feed system aggressive enough to process whole trees with rigid limbs.

Horizontal grinders are commonly used to process a wide range of raw materials, from forestry slash to wood chips.

Rotochopper horizontal grinders offer unmatched flexibility, allowing operators to quickly switch between processing logs, whole trees, bark, slab wood, and other solid materials, as well as wood chips and coarsely ground wood. Rotochopper horizontal grinders will efficiently process green wood, seasoned timber, or kiln-dried lumber, including pallet waste and sorted C & D (construction and demolition debris).

Our unique bale pre-processing system (optional) provides a turnkey solution for processing whole round or square bales of corn stover, switchgrass, and other forms of agricultural residue.

Consistent Particle Uniformity

Wood chippers may be able to produce highly uniform chips to particular specs, depending on design. However, as knives become dull or damaged, particle size will usually increase and become inconsistent. Knife dullness may occur within a few hours—or instantly if the knives encounter rocks or steel. If pliable or small-diameter branches bend or twist in the throat opening, they can pass through a chipper as long slivers (spears), rather than chips.

Horizontal grinders have more adjustable parameters than most wood chippers, providing more control over particle size and texture. Most horizontal grinders can be equipped with multiple rotor teeth and screen sizes to determine particle size and texture.

Rotochopper horizontal grinders have earned a strong reputation for superior particle size control within many industries and applications. We offer a wide selection of screens and multiple rotor designs to ensure the right particle size and texture from diverse raw materials.

Learn more about our Biomass Rotor, which uses a unique combination of cutting and grinding to efficiently process logs, whole trees, slabs, beetle kill, and forestry slash.

Feeding Efficiency

Wood chippers usually require careful loading and supervision to ensure that raw material feeds into the drum or disk properly. With most chipper designs, operators must wait until the feed wheels grab onto the raw material before releasing it. Chippers often will have difficulty feeding tangled materials. If multiple pieces of feedstock are fed simultaneously, they must be aligned to avoid feeding problems and spears in the finished product.

Horizontal grinders generally have more aggressive infeed systems than chippers, allowing operators to place raw material onto the infeed conveyor and let if feed unassisted. Most horizontal grinders have longer infeed tables than chippers for more convenient loading and smoother feeding.

Rotochopper horizontal grinders feature the most aggressive infeed design in the industry. A high-torque powerfeed drum with deep serrated teeth provides controlled feed rates for whole trees with springy branches, as well as slabs, logs, wood chips, bark, and many other feedstocks. Our patented slab ramp lets operators efficiently process slabs, tomato vines, and other pliable materials without plugging.

Consistent Uptime

Wood chippers often involve high wear costs and frequent downtime, especially in environments where operators have less control over contaminants. Sand and dirt can quickly cause expensive damage that may be time consuming to repair. Rocks and steel can instantly ruin a set of chipper knives, requiring immediate maintenance.

Horizontal grinders also experience wear and damage from contaminants, yet grinders are usually more tolerant of foreign objects than drum or disk chippers--and much less sensitive to sand and dirt.

Rotochopper horizontal grinders maximize uptime by allowing fast, convenient access to teeth and screens with our patented screen installation system. Operators can conveniently swap rotor teeth to suit different raw materials, reducing wear costs. Our aggressive infeed and patented slab ramp minimize the risk of downtime caused by plugging. Exclusive innovations, like our Biomass Rotor, allow operators to efficiently process a variety of raw materials with a fraction of the maintenance downtime and prep work required for chipper knives. For many applications, tooth replacement costs for the Biomass Rotor are drastically lower than the cost of sharpening and replacing chipper knives.

Overall Advantages

For many applications, horizontal grinders offer superior finished products at lower operating costs, with less hassle than drum or disk chippers. The “Perfect In One Pass” Rotochopper advantage optimizes these natural benefits of horizontal grinders by combining unmatched versatility with particle size control. Unique Rotochopper features, like our bale pre-processing system and 1-pass colorizer, allow operators to produce high quality end materials from a broader range of raw materials.