Bandit and Precision Combine To Make Exceptional Paper Mill Quality Chips

WHITE CLOUD, MICHIGAN – Producing a debarked paper mill quality chip for paper and hardboard from whole trees requires an effective stand-alone flail debarker and a high-quality chipper to produce a relatively bark free chip that meets the mill’s standards for length and thickness while limiting fines and overs. Bandit’s team worked closely with Gentz Forest Products, the logger, and the paper mill to deliver such a chip with up to 96% accepts.

The Line-Up

Bandit Industries, in working with the Precision company out of Alabama, has paired the Precision Model 2600 flail debarker to its own Model 2400 whole tree chipper for this purpose of creating quality chips. Precision built the 2600 flail debarker specifically for Bandit, which is a two-flail system with a 350 horsepower Caterpillar diesel engine. It has a 26” diameter debarking capacity and is the largest portable stand-alone flail on the market. The variable speed feed system with 6 different feed speeds and a variable speed drum allows you to adjust for the species being debarked.

Paired with the debarker is the Bandit Model 2400, a 3-knife disc-style 24” diameter capacity whole tree chipper. The feed system on the 2400 consists of two vertical feeds wheels plus a top and bottom feed wheel that work with the tracked style Infeed conveyor. The 2400 disc has all bolt in wear parts so no torching or welding is needed to change chip size setup, and the bolt in parts also make for much easier maintenance and longevity of the disc. The chipper is also equipped with a dirt separator which discharges lose bark and dirt before entering the chipper. Finally, the 2400 has tremendous throwing power and will fully load trailers as long as 53 feet.

The Process

Synchronizing the feed speed of the debarker with the chipping rate of the chipper and the chipper disc RPMs is critical in producing a bark free chip that is extremely consistent in length and thickness. The feed system is feeding the chipper at the feed rate of the chipper which is essential in limiting fines and over size and over thick chips. This operation is producing approximately 60 tons of quality debarked paper mill chips per hour.

Click here to watch a video of the operation.

The Product

Bandit’s team worked closely with the paper mill and Gentz Forest Products to deliver the highest quality chips that the mill is receiving from any portable whole tree chipping operation. All reports are consistently showing an acceptance rate of above 90% and reaching up to 96%, with a bark content of only .3% from oak whole trees. Oak, especially, is a tough species to debark. All of the loads that are being sent to the mill consistently result in similar chip quality reports.

If you have a market for paper mill chips you must look at the Precision 2600 flail in combination with the Bandit 2400 whole tree chipper. The 2400 will deliver a better-quality chip, will be more productive, and will operate with far less downtime than other chippers. Even when operated separate from the flail, it delivers a quality pulp or fuel chip and will produce 3-4 40+ ton van loads of chips per hour.

Click here for additional information on the Bandit 2400 whole tree chipper.

Contact your local Bandit dealer today to arrrange for a demonstration.