Forgot to mention it comes with a tow bar for off-road only, a debris catching bag that I don’t think I’ll ever use. Also comes with some pins to lock the wheels out.
Great job on the review! Lots of good info (I really like that you showed actual use instead of just running through 2 or three dead sticks like alot of videos). GL on the channel!
Don't sleep on that top hopper. I removed the black rubber safety guard and things just go right in no problem. It can even take sticks thicker than it says in the top. Saves a ton of time if you got a bunch of smaller ones
@@erike7297 yeah it's especially good for sticks with a ton of other branches coming off of them. It just rips the whole thing in instead of having to make it into little bits to fit into the chipper mouth. Seems to make the bits smaller as well. If the pieces come out of the chipper part a little too large I'll pick up a large handful and drop then in the hopper
@@erike7297 its even more fun if u got another guy cause one can do the leaves and small sticks in the shredder hopper up top while the other guy is doing branches in the chipper part.
It’s a great feature. I’ve had to unclog leaves out of it a couple times and it’s a night and day difference from a machine that doesn’t have a quick release drum .
@@erike7297 yeah had a craftsmen 8hp that was great until it clogged and would take up to an hour to dismantle and clean. I saw your machine at Lowe’s today for 700.00 bucks and wanted to check reviews before purchasing it and your review sealed the deal. Good job. Thanks.
So I’ve ran the machine probably around 35 hours or so. It’s running good however the front feed chute is held on by 3 bolts. 2 of these bolts are studs that are welded onto the drum. One of those bolts sheered off so now the chutes held on by 2 bolts instead of 3. Machine still works fine and chutes still held on there fairly strong but I was disappointed in that. I’d like to add that I’ve been kinda hard on the machine and ran some fairly Big sticks through it. With the small feed chute in front you might find yourself trying to smash curved sticks in there trying to get them to fit and I believe that’s probably what fatigued the bolt and made it sheer. Also these type of chippers make a ton of vibrations. I’ve had 0 problems with the engine. I still think this rig is probably the best small chipper/shredder of this type that you can get.
I just watched another YT video on a "Great Circle" chipper shredder with exactly the same guard over the engine with "HOT" cut out in the steel. Same overall design. Sometimes you wonder if the differences among makes are more than the paint job and brand name ;)
can you add a video on starting it? i purchased one but the owners manual had been severely damaged and not legible- I need the close up to choke it and if there are additional on/off switch- I have looked over it and cannot find one. Thank you
Shoot I would if I had more time. Sorry about that. I think the choke is all the way to the left and then you move it just a little bit to the right and that’s full power. If you continue moving the lever to the right it lowers the speed and then turns it off. Make sure your spark plug is hooked up. There is a fuel shut off valve at the the engine. It’s a little plastic dial and I believe it’s got a gas symbol on it. You want the dial turned parallel with the fuel line for it to be open. Good luck
Shoot I’m not sure about that but that’s a very good question about the replacement knives. Mine came with extra knives and they bolt onto the disc or whatever u you call it that’s inside the drum. I bet you could sharpen these real easy with an angle grinder. a dremel and stone, or even just a regular flat file.
I just bought this same model and jammed it on the long chute 3x right off the bat. The pieces were about 2in and I feed the chute slowly and jerked back so it didn't jam but as soon as the piece was unsafe to hold because it was short, I let go and it Jamed. The problem is I had to remove the long chute, and the entire back to clear it and took me 45 minutes each time. The back opens but does not give you a way to clear jams on the long chute side caught behind the blades. Any advice?
@@MakingLifeChanges Yea I had to take a little time to unjam mine once but I’ve only jammed this machine once out of roughly 50 hours or so of using it. I’ve clogged it a few times with the type of tree that has a lot of leaf to stick ratio and the green leaves clogged it but I was able to clean it out with a leaf blower pretty easily. As far as jamming the machine with sticks I would imagine you will probably get more used to using the machine and cutting sticks shorter that are too curved to feed in. Personally I’ve found that trying to force in too thick of sticks rarely jams the machine as they typically just kinda rattle on the edge of the blades and don’t really go through most of the time but yes sometimes they can jam it it’s certainly possible. Sorry I can’t be of more help but I think you bought one of the best small chippers lot there. There’s not really a lot of options for high end chippers that are this small.
@@erike7297 every time I jammed it was when I was feeding a large 2 to 3 in piece that it would grab and then I would pull back grab and pull back and when the end got all the way to the top of the Chute to where it was unsafe to grab and pull back cuz it became too small I would let go of it and then it was running to the shoot and jam. That jam was so stuck in by the blades I had to take the whole thing apart I could not twist it could not turn it could not pull the cord and the piece is that got stuck or about 2 in longer than the shoot itself
@@erike7297 you mentioned running it at full throttle. When I start it on choke and move back to the middle seems to be full throttle even though the picture shows it further to the left but if I move it more to left it will die. Does this sound familiar?
I'm just curious, is the power difference between this one and the Harbor Freight even noticed? The Harbor Freight has a 212cc compared to the 196 of the DK.
Thanks for this video and for mentioning the vibrations. Do you need to sharpen your blades often? The manual online doesn’t mention it at all. Looking at getting this chipper soon!
Im thinking about buying this chipper, I have lots of trees that drop limbs throughout the year that I end up having to burn piles of 3-4 times a year ...lots of small ones 2" dia and under ...anything bigger I cut up for firewood
The engine has two dipsticks, one on either side. This is also the same place you pour the oil in. One of the dipsticks is blocked by the chute so you want to just use the other one. To do an oil change and drain the oil there is a small bolt located near the very bottom of the engine. You don’t have to tip the machine to add oil but I like to tip it while draining the oil out. Hope this helps.
@@erike7297 Like I said, the oil plug I could get to poured out oil when I opened it. Does this mean there’s too much oil in there? I didn’t see a dip stick so I put the plug back in to stop the oil from draining out. Any help is appreciated, because I don’t want to start it if it has too much oil in it.
@@rjtaylor8818 sounds like you may have opened the drain bolt. The dipstick is the hole you fill the oil into and it’s orange. I show it at 8:06 in the video.
@@erike7297 It was the yellow plug labeled Oil that I am speaking of. That’s what I twist off and oil drains out of. It was all put together with oil added when I bought it at Lowes.
@@rjtaylor8818I literally just had your experience. Have a ton of oil to clean up. It's like the darn thing doesnt want it. To which one its leaking on the black side of the throttle. Just like yours mine only came with 1 area to inject oil. Now I fee like I need to take it apart to know where its leaking from
@@erike7297 Yes they did finally get back to me and said they were aware of the issue but do not have a solution to the correct parts. I later saw messages from 2023 that mentioned the same issue. That now seeing they charge like $60 more for this part that is same quality as the other version. By the time I found of the issue It was too late to return the whole package to Lowes so sadly it only does 50% of what i purchased for and no ETA on when it will. If you desire to have the hose attachment you may want to go with the other brands.
Great job on the review! Lots of good info (I really like that you showed actual use instead of just running through 2 or three dead sticks like alot of videos). GL on the channel!
Thank you very much!
Well done. Being a veteran, I was able to get mine at a discount at Lowes and ready to use it today.
You deserve it and thanks for your service.
Don't sleep on that top hopper. I removed the black rubber safety guard and things just go right in no problem. It can even take sticks thicker than it says in the top. Saves a ton of time if you got a bunch of smaller ones
Excellent advice sir I may have to take mine off the machine now.
@@erike7297 yeah it's especially good for sticks with a ton of other branches coming off of them. It just rips the whole thing in instead of having to make it into little bits to fit into the chipper mouth. Seems to make the bits smaller as well. If the pieces come out of the chipper part a little too large I'll pick up a large handful and drop then in the hopper
@@erike7297 its even more fun if u got another guy cause one can do the leaves and small sticks in the shredder hopper up top while the other guy is doing branches in the chipper part.
Like the fact that you can easily unclog it at the hinged opening
It’s a great feature. I’ve had to unclog leaves out of it a couple times and it’s a night and day difference from a machine that doesn’t have a quick release drum .
@@erike7297 yeah had a craftsmen 8hp that was great until it clogged and would take up to an hour to dismantle and clean. I saw your machine at Lowe’s today for 700.00 bucks and wanted to check reviews before purchasing it and your review sealed the deal. Good job. Thanks.
Whats your oppinion of the machine after owning it a couple years now?
I'd like to know the same. It's on my wish list.
So I’ve ran the machine probably around 35 hours or so. It’s running good however the front feed chute is held on by 3 bolts. 2 of these bolts are studs that are welded onto the drum. One of those bolts sheered off so now the chutes held on by 2 bolts instead of 3. Machine still works fine and chutes still held on there fairly strong but I was disappointed in that. I’d like to add that I’ve been kinda hard on the machine and ran some fairly
Big sticks through it. With the small feed chute in front you might find yourself trying to smash curved sticks in there trying to get them to fit and I believe that’s probably what fatigued the bolt and made it sheer. Also these type of chippers make a ton of vibrations. I’ve had 0 problems with the engine. I still think this rig is probably the best small chipper/shredder of this type that you can get.
Thank you!
Has anyone tried to replace the knives? I can't find any directions to accomplish this.
I’ve had good luck with this Kohler engine on my chipper.
That’s awesome good to hear!
I just watched another YT video on a "Great Circle" chipper shredder with exactly the same guard over the engine with "HOT" cut out in the steel. Same overall design. Sometimes you wonder if the differences among makes are more than the paint job and brand name ;)
I wouldn’t be surprised if different engine brands share some of the same parts. I really like the little Kohler engines so far.
can you add a video on starting it? i purchased one but the owners manual had been severely damaged and not legible- I need the close up to choke it and if there are additional on/off switch- I have looked over it and cannot find one. Thank you
Shoot I would if I had more time. Sorry about that. I think the choke is all the way to the left and then you move it just a little bit to the right and that’s full power. If you continue moving the lever to the right it lowers the speed and then turns it off. Make sure your spark plug is hooked up. There is a fuel shut off valve at the the engine. It’s a little plastic dial and I believe it’s got a gas symbol on it. You want the dial turned parallel with the fuel line for it to be open. Good luck
anyone know where i can get replacment knives, does the whole assembly come apart or just knives. looks like the whole thing bolts off.
Shoot I’m not sure about that but that’s a very good question about the replacement knives. Mine came with extra knives and they bolt onto the disc or whatever u you call it that’s inside the drum. I bet you could sharpen these real easy with an angle grinder. a dremel and stone, or even just a regular flat file.
I just bought this same model and jammed it on the long chute 3x right off the bat. The pieces were about 2in and I feed the chute slowly and jerked back so it didn't jam but as soon as the piece was unsafe to hold because it was short, I let go and it Jamed. The problem is I had to remove the long chute, and the entire back to clear it and took me 45 minutes each time. The back opens but does not give you a way to clear jams on the long chute side caught behind the blades. Any advice?
@@MakingLifeChanges Yea I had to take a little time to unjam mine once but I’ve only jammed this machine once out of roughly 50 hours or so of using it. I’ve clogged it a few times with the type of tree that has a lot of leaf to stick ratio and the green leaves clogged it but I was able to clean it out with a leaf blower pretty easily. As far as jamming the machine with sticks I would imagine you will probably get more used to using the machine and cutting sticks shorter that are too curved to feed in. Personally I’ve found that trying to force in too thick of sticks rarely jams the machine as they typically just kinda rattle on the edge of the blades and don’t really go through most of the time but yes sometimes they can jam it it’s certainly possible. Sorry I can’t be of more help but I think you bought one of the best small chippers lot there. There’s not really a lot of options for high end chippers that are this small.
@@erike7297 every time I jammed it was when I was feeding a large 2 to 3 in piece that it would grab and then I would pull back grab and pull back and when the end got all the way to the top of the Chute to where it was unsafe to grab and pull back cuz it became too small I would let go of it and then it was running to the shoot and jam. That jam was so stuck in by the blades I had to take the whole thing apart I could not twist it could not turn it could not pull the cord and the piece is that got stuck or about 2 in longer than the shoot itself
@@erike7297 you mentioned running it at full throttle. When I start it on choke and move back to the middle seems to be full throttle even though the picture shows it further to the left but if I move it more to left it will die. Does this sound familiar?
I'm just curious, is the power difference between this one and the Harbor Freight even noticed? The Harbor Freight has a 212cc compared to the 196 of the DK.
No I wouldn’t say it’s noticeable. I feel like the DK chipper is a much nicer machine for only about $100 more.
Thanks for this video and for mentioning the vibrations. Do you need to sharpen your blades often? The manual online doesn’t mention it at all. Looking at getting this chipper soon!
I haven’t sharpened yet. Ran the machine for an estimated 50 hours so far. Mine came with extra blades as well.
@@erike7297 ok that is helpful thanks so much!
Anyone change blades yet?
Im thinking about buying this chipper, I have lots of trees that drop limbs throughout the year that I end up having to burn piles of 3-4 times a year ...lots of small ones 2" dia and under ...anything bigger I cut up for firewood
It’s a nice little machine I’ve got over 20
Hours on it which isn’t that much but it’s going strong. Burning brush is way faster though.
I just bought one. I can’t find a dipstick for the oil. When I open the oil plug oil comes out. Do you have to turn it over to add oil?
The engine has two dipsticks, one on either side. This is also the same place you pour the oil in. One of the dipsticks is blocked by the chute so you want to just use the other one. To do an oil change and drain the oil there is a small bolt located near the very bottom of the engine. You don’t have to tip the machine to add oil but I like to tip it while draining the oil out. Hope this helps.
@@erike7297 Like I said, the oil plug I could get to poured out oil when I opened it. Does this mean there’s too much oil in there? I didn’t see a dip stick so I put the plug back in to stop the oil from draining out. Any help is appreciated, because I don’t want to start it if it has too much oil in it.
@@rjtaylor8818 sounds like you may have opened the drain bolt. The dipstick is the hole you fill the oil into and it’s orange. I show it at 8:06 in the video.
@@erike7297 It was the yellow plug labeled Oil that I am speaking of. That’s what I twist off and oil drains out of. It was all put together with oil added when I bought it at Lowes.
@@rjtaylor8818I literally just had your experience. Have a ton of oil to clean up. It's like the darn thing doesnt want it. To which one its leaking on the black side of the throttle. Just like yours mine only came with 1 area to inject oil. Now I fee like I need to take it apart to know where its leaking from
Blade kit: OPC50325
Where did you get this chipper ?
I want one, I can’t find it anywhere on line.
I bought it at Lowes.
@@erike7297 thanks for the video. I just ordered one. $908 shipped. Ouch. But it’s built better than the harbor freight.
Saw a couple at Lowe’s today for 699.00
How much does it weigh?
165 lbs
As on 2024 it appears the Vacuum kit is wrong . Parts fall out of the box however they continue to sell. Customer support is poor at best
Shoot that doesn’t sound good sorry to hear about that.
@@erike7297 Yes they did finally get back to me and said they were aware of the issue but do not have a solution to the correct parts. I later saw messages from 2023 that mentioned the same issue. That now seeing they charge like $60 more for this part that is same quality as the other version. By the time I found of the issue It was too late to return the whole package to Lowes so sadly it only does 50% of what i purchased for and no ETA on when it will. If you desire to have the hose attachment you may want to go with the other brands.