15 best garden shredders

How to apply

The scope of delivery includes instructions for assembling and operating the garden equipment. The device is packed in a small box. The plastic case, manual, small parts (wheels, fasteners) are placed in a waste bin, a stand without wheels is put on it.

Assembly sequence:

1. the body is turned over, placed on a flat surface;
2. from above, aligning the mounting holes, install the stand;
3. tighten the screws with a screwdriver;
4. install the bar with wheels on one side of the stand;
5. put on plastic supports on the other end, fix them with screws;
6. the assembled device is turned over, the container is inserted with little effort.

There is a green latch at the front of the hopper. Before starting the shredder, it is transferred with little effort to the uppermost position. When filling the container, press the red "Stop" button on the control panel, push the latch down with force until it clicks. A key is included to service the cutting system. With its help, the radiator panel is unscrewed.

The plug for connection to the mains is located in the front part of the housing below the control panel, covered with a round cover.

After connecting to the network, press the green "Start" button. To switch to automatic mode of operation, hold it for a few seconds. A branch is effortlessly inserted into the feed hole, the knife grabs and chops it into pieces.

By briefly pressing the green button, the shredder operates in manual mode. The branch is inserted into the feed hole, the lower yellow "Forward" button, which starts the cutting unit, is pressed and held. If necessary, turn on the reverse mode - the upper yellow button "Back".

The device quickly shreds branches with leaves. The processing speed depends on the density of the wood, the thickness and freshness of the felled branches. Private house owners use the chips coming out of the UD2500 for heating boilers, stoves, and composting. The garden shredder motor is stopped with the red button.

Safety engineering

Do not use an electric shredder in rainy weather. Keep your hands at a sufficient distance from the feed chute when the engine is running. When jamming, use the reverse button. The grinder is not installed on gravel or sand. With the engine running, the device is prohibited:

• cant;
• transfer, move.

For safe operation of the unit, there must be a circuit breaker in the electrical panel with a response threshold not exceeding 16 A.

The device is prohibited to operate by children, people with disabilities (physical, mental). When the shredder is in operation, there must be no pets within a radius of 3 meters. The operator must work in tight-fitting clothing, gloves, glasses, turn off the shredder when filling the container up to 80%, empty out the waste.

How to choose the right wood shredder

On farms, parks, greenhouses, forestry, professional devices with a capacity of 8-20 m³ / hour are chosen for shredding felling waste. They are expensive, so they are rented for one-time work. With their help, thin-stemmed trees, thick branches are processed, some modifications crush stumps.

When several bushes, perennials grow on the site, a lawn is broken and there is a source of electricity, electric grinders with a capacity of 2-6 m³ / hour with a knife mechanism are estimated. The delivery set of such models includes a pusher.

Pushing branches and leaves with your hand is dangerous.

The total weight of the grinder, its cost, strength depends on the material of the body.

Peculiarities

The shredder of branches and twigs of trees is a unique device that is intended for cleaning the cottage after pruning shrubs, vines and tops of plants. The device is especially irreplaceable in the spring and autumn, when the backyard area begins to be littered with heaps of garden debris.

These heaps take up a lot of space, spoil the landscape design and are difficult to transport. In this case, you can cope with cleaning the site with the help of a shredder. It has increased power and easily copes with grinding plant waste into a small mass, after which it is sent for disposal. In addition, the shredded branches can be further used as fuel or mulch.

The main advantages of this device include:

• compactness;
• convenient transportation;
• powerful grinding system;
• economical energy consumption;
• acceptable price.

Today, manufacturers produce shredders of various models, which differ in the way of starting and design features. Regardless of the technical characteristics, such units can be used not only for processing large branches, but also fallen leaves, dry tops, old grass and overripe vegetables or fruits.

What is an electric garden shredder for?

Many of us are currently the owners of a suburban area, where you can not only take a break from the bustle of the city, but also grow a good harvest of fruits and vegetables. And some were lucky enough to have their own house within the city with adjoining free territory for a garden and a vegetable garden.

The garden shredder is a reliable assistant for the summer resident

With the onset of autumn, both of them are equally faced with one serious problem - how to collect and dispose of grass, fallen leaves, cut branches from trees and shrubs. And sometimes the volume of such garden waste reaches a decent size.

It was during this period that an electric garden shredder of branches is a reliable assistant to gardeners and summer residents. Reviews of his work can be easily found on specialized forums. For the sake of fairness, it should be said that not all shredders are powered by electricity. The industry also produces gasoline models that have a completely different indicator of power and productivity, and can cover other scales of the backyard.

The main advantages of shredders with an electric motor:

• compact small-sized design, which is lightweight, which contributes to easy movement of the unit within the site;
• minimum power consumption with high performance;
• allows you to grind branches to a state of fine shavings, which can be easily used as a natural fertilizer;
• low noise device;
• low cost.

There are quite compact models of shredders

Disadvantages of Electric Shredders:

• units have a low power rating;
• the range is limited by the length of the cord (you should take care of the extension cord);
• susceptible to voltage drops;
• processes branches with a diameter of no more than 40 mm.

VIKING shredders

The VIKING brand has proven itself well.

• VIKING GE 35 L with 2.5 kW electric motor, 40 rpm disc grinding system. crushes leaves, weeds and branches up to 35 mm in diameter in small summer cottages. Has a reverse function. Weighs 28 kg. Reliable wheels. The average cost is 31,500 rubles.
• VIKING GE 103 converts garden waste into useful compost. Electric motor power - 1.8 kW. Knife shredding mechanism.Two hoppers, one rectangular and the other clover-shaped. It makes a little noise during operation. It costs 18,000 rubles.
• The electric VIKING GE 105 processes branches up to Ø35 mm using the Sandwich knife chopping system. Has a longitudinal inlet for grass and leaves and an inlet for loading spreading branches. Has a motor overload protection function. It costs about 22,500 rubles.
• The versatile VIKING GE 250 and GE 260 shred soft foliage and grass, as well as hard branches up to 30-35 mm in diameter. The power of the motors is 2.5 kW. A feature of the models in the Multi-Cut 250 grinding technology, thanks to which the waste is crushed and cut. Noise level - no more than 105 dB. Equipped with a touch control system, they have the function of auto-start of the mechanism in case of a network failure. Price - from 31,500 rubles.
• More powerful universal shredders: GE 355, GE 375, GE 420, GE 450, allowing to grind branches Ø55 mm. The first two types are protected against inadvertent activation. The latter two models have a two-chamber system for grinding soft and hard materials, as well as an integrated service mechanism. The average price of the GE 355 and GE 375 is 42,000 rubles, and the GE 420 and GE 450 are 75-80 thousand rubles.

Design features

A wood chopper for a walk-behind tractor is an additional equipment, purchased if necessary. Powered by a third party engine. Sometimes the crusher is equipped with a wheel for easy movement of the entire structure.

The crusher body is made of metal several millimeters thick and coated with protective paint.

Bunker for wood (branches)

The upper loading bay is a pyramid-shaped container. The closer to the knife compartment, the narrower the bunker. The outer opening can be covered with a rubber sheet to keep the worker safe from small pieces of wood.

Shaft with knives (cutters)

The design of the unit is as simple as possible. The cutting mechanism is mounted on a shaft that moves due to the rotation of the motor-block engine. Thanks to this design, the reliability of the entire unit is increased, since a large number of fasteners and additional parts are not used.

Capacity for receiving shavings (sawdust)

A container for receiving finished chips can be included in the kit and attached to the body. Most often, shredders are not equipped with such tanks and you can use any container, for example, bags for construction waste, boxes, pallets. The choice depends on the amount of finished sawdust.

Grinding Mechanism Designs

Another element that directly affects the performance of a garden shredder is the cutting system. The vast majority of garden shredders have two designs of these knives:

• disc construction;
• milling mechanisms.

The disc design of the knives is a disc that rotates at high speed and is equipped with knives. The knives are located around the entire circumference of the disc and are made from tool steel grades. Such mechanisms have a certain list of advantages:

• affordable price;
• ease of maintenance, in the case when it is necessary to sharpen the knives.

There are disc designs that have two types of knives located at a certain angle:

• upper larger blades for pre-cutting large branches;
• lower knives, allow you to grind waste to a finer state.

When using this mechanism to dispose of large debris, dry thick branches and tree trunks, the knives can quickly become dull. For this kind of solid garden waste, it is best to purchase a device with a milling cutter system.

Milling mechanism for garden shredders. The garden waste recycling equipment, equipped with a turbine system with a waste milling cutter, is a powerful and efficient mechanism.This design, as a rule, occupies the higher rating lines of shredders in comparison with units with disc knife systems, and has a number of obvious advantages:

• milling structures for cutting garden waste will cope with thick and dry branches and even with the processing of wood from tree trunks up to 45 centimeters in diameter;
• the presence of a special mechanism for retraction of branches eliminates the need to constantly push debris into the funnel of the device;
• the presence of a reverse and adjustment of fractions of waste in some milling models allows you to grind waste to the required size.

Possible malfunctions

The garden shredder has established itself as an excellent assistant in the summer cottage, which allows you to timely clean the area from heaps of cut branches, giving it an aesthetic appearance. This device is simple to use and, subject to all the rules of operation, it serves for a long time, but, like any other technique, it is characterized by malfunctions. Most often, when using a shredder, you can encounter the following problems.

• The engine does not start. The reason for this is a defective fuse, it should be replaced with a new one. Also, the power cable of the device may be damaged or the cover is incorrectly positioned. In this case, you need to clean the screw handle, and if the malfunction has not been eliminated, then the equipment requires diagnostics at the service center. In petrol and diesel units, check the fuel and oil level additionally.
• The engine switches itself off. This problem is most often seen in electrical models. This protective function is triggered if the motor is overloaded or the blades are blocked. The cutting devices must be cleaned and the motor must cool down, after which it will continue to work.
• The shredder does not pull in branches. An overfilled collection container is the cause of the malfunction and must be emptied.
• Insufficient performance. As a rule, this is observed when the knives are dull. The cutting devices must be replaced with new parts.

You can learn more about branch shredders in the video below.

How to choose?

Since each model of a branch shredder has its pros and cons, it is important to carefully study the main characteristics and conduct a detailed analysis of all indicators before purchasing it.

Particular attention should be paid, of course, to the basic parameters of the devices.

• Power and volume of processed wood. Household appliances have a power of up to 1.5 kW and weigh up to 20 kg. They are usually produced with an electric motor and equipped with a knife mechanism that allows cutting branches with a diameter not exceeding 25 mm. Such devices can be purchased only for summer cottages where small trees grow. If the site is more than 40 acres and is planted not only with trees, but also with bushes, then it is best to give preference to professional models. Their weight reaches 50 kg and their power can exceed 5 kW.
• Engine's type. Units with an electric motor are cheaper, they operate silently, but they are dependent on the energy source and their power is low. Devices powered by a diesel or gasoline engine are more mobile, allowing you to process garden waste anywhere on the site. They have high productivity, but are expensive and inconvenient during transportation due to their heavy weight. For small summer cottages, the choice can be stopped at a grinder with a motor power of 3-4 kW.

• Cutting type. Devices, which include a disc with radically placed knives, are easy to operate and inexpensive. It is recommended to buy them for chopping grass and small branches, they will not cut larger wood. In addition, experts recommend giving preference to modifications in which the knives are located at an angle.Shredders with a worm-type crusher are also considered simple models, since they are sold at an affordable price and cut branches with a diameter of up to 4 cm.However, crushing the grass may have problems due to the winding of the stems. For large areas, devices with a multi-knife cutter are well suited - their performance decreases only when the knives are dull.
• Chopper height. It should be comfortable and adjustable for the height of the user.

• Dimensions and weight. In the event that the work on the site will be performed by elderly summer residents and women, then it is necessary to buy compact and lightweight models. In addition, the location of the transport handles plays a huge role. If they are too low above the ground, it will be inconvenient to move the device.
• The presence of a protective visor. Such an addition to the design will help protect the user from flying chips.

• The material from which the body is made. Plastic structures are characterized by low weight, but they are inferior to metal ones in strength and durability.
• Noise characteristics. When working with units in which the noise level exceeds 80 dB, you will need to wear special headphones. As a rule, shredders make a lot of noise, equipment with a diesel or gasoline engine.

• The presence of a reverse motion. This indicator is important, since the reverse performs a protective function and blocks work if the branches are incorrectly located.
• Wheel width. Narrow and small wheels can tow on loose ground.
• Adjustment of the size and speed of grinding fractions. Thanks to this function, you can set the desired chopping mode and chop branches efficiently.