Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21791 in Home Improvement
• Brand: McCulloch

Features

• McCulloch 14 Amp Electric Chipper/Shredder 24B-404A777 (Yard Machines / MTD1400K)
• MCCULLOCH MOTORS

Amazon.com Product Review
Chipping and shredding has never been easier thanks to the three-way feed on this Yard Machine chipper. Limbs and organic yard debris feed into the unit three different ways: via a dedicated chipper chute, a drop-down, rake-in chute, or through the drop-in hopper. The machine easily bags leaves and garden clippings at a 10:1 reduction ration, reducing ten bags of whole leaves, for example, to fit into just one bag. A nylon and mesh 2-1/2-bushel bag quickly and easily attaches to the unit for convenient capture and disposal of chips and other waste. A 14 amp engine offers plenty of power to take on large, lengthy operations. Equipped with 10- by 2-3/4-inch wheels, the shredder transports over rough terrain and through thick under-story to chip limps up to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. A durable, light plastic housing and steel chipper blade ensure optimal chipping power and easy transport. The purchase includes a rounded discharge chute and is covered by a two-year warranty. Sold separately, an optional tow hitch hooks up to lawn tractors for powered transport to work areas. --Brian D. Olson

Customer Reviews

Great chipper for smaller branches
Overall I really like this chipper.

The assembly was a little tricky. When you put the legs on, it looks as if they designed it so that the legs should have been spaced one foot across instead of approx. 18". My advice, if you buy it, is to not tighten the nuts until you get both legs on, and trust that it goes together.

So, I put it together, hooked up the power cord, turned on the switch and ... nothing. After checking everything external that I could, I had to pull the housing off the motor to inspect the wiring (I sure wasn't going to put this back in a box and ship it back if I could help it - it's HEAVY) and found that the wire to the safety switch (switch that prevents you from turning it on if the shrouding to the blades is off) was disconnected from the lug of the switch and the lug screw was loose. Easy enough to put the wire back on but why should the buyer have to? Note to QC dept. - check your wiring prior to shipping! Hopefully this was an anomoly. The rest of the wiring looked fine, secure, nothing looked weird.

So, with it now up and running, I started shoving various sized branches in, and the thing chipped them with no problem. The chips are small, probably 1/4" long at best. I chucked plenty of sticks in there, the largest dia about 1" (it's supposed to take a little larger) and it chipped every bit of every branch. So I'm really pleased that it's going to do a nice job of getting rid of all the smallers branches I end up with as a result of constantly pruning different trees. By the way, this thing is heavy and solid, more so than I was expecting.

I tried shoving some leaves in it - the leaves really don't get chewed up too well, but I don't care compared to how well it chewed up the branches. But then my son had to go and put in a few leaves as well ALONG WITH A ROCK! With the rock pinging and cracking around inside, we shut it down and pulled off the shroud. Pulling off the shroud is a bit of a pain, but not bad as long as you keep your children from constantly shoving rocks inside.

I'd give it five stars if I didn't have the wiring problem. Overall I would recommend this chipper, but if it doesn't work out of the box, I would demand that Amazon or whoever is supposed to be responsible that they get an on site repairman to fix it, because disassebling and re-packing this thing would be a nightmare. So assuming the wiring issue was an anomoly, the chipper is well built and does a really nice job of shredding smaller branches.

Good for its size and price
I bought this chipper shredder to replace an old electric Flowtron shredder that broke and is no longer made. So far I am very impressed at how solid the unit feels, how quiet the motor is, and how compact and well designed it is. I have only used it once, so can't speak to durability yet, but it does seem to have metal parts in the places where it needs them instead of plastic. It's design features could be considered it's strengths or it's weaknesses. I would not recommend this chipper for a large lot requiring speedy chipping of many branches, but for my use on a small, urban lot, it's small, compact size, and quiet electric motor are strong positives.

1) Because the chipper is electric and designed for a 120 volt circuit, it does not have the power or ability to be used away from an electric outlet that the larger gas models have.
2)The unit's compact design makes it easy to store when not in use. It is much more compact than the Flowtron was, and though I was worried about it being top heavy because of it's tall design, this has not been an issue, as the weight of the machine is located near the bottom.
3) The branch feed is small, but works for the size of branches for which the unit is intended. It cannot take more than a 3/4 inch branch continuously without the motor overload switch cutting out, but if larger branches are fed in and out slowly, per the manual instructions, they can be chipped. For the most part, though, I would stick to 3/4 inch or smaller branches.
4) Feeding of smaller stems and leaves at the top is very slow, so if you have a lot of leaves to do, this would not be the machine for you. I just let my leaves compost without shredding, using the chipper mainly to turn the branches into mulch. It did shred the few dry leaves and twigs that I fed it well.
5) The mulch is a nice small size and I like the fact that it is deposited directly below the unit, so it doesn't spit chips all over like my old chipper did.
6) The branch feed is positioned well in relation to the chipper blade. In the hour I used the machine it jammed once, but clearing the jamb was SO MUCH easier than it was for my old chipper that I can forgive the more frequent motor cut-offs on large branches.

I have used a huge chipper which connects to the power take-off of a tractor, and yes, it is impressive to see those 4 inch thick branches disappear, but for those smaller jobs the Electric Yard Machine works well.

Does the job very well
Over the years, my brush pile grew head high and spilled over into a second pile, and a third. I needed a chipper/shredder because I wanted the mulch for compost.

I looked at many, many possibilities, but some were way more than I needed, and a couple were possibly OK but too big and 'iffy' in reviewers' perceptions of ease of use and reliablility. I found this one, and after reading favorable reviews and opinions, ordered it.

What a pleaseant surprise. First of all, it's heavy and stable because it has a very powerful motor, but the base is on wheels and rolls to and from the brushpile easily.

It takes a little while to learn how to use it, and find out that certain things, like tough fibrous vines, tend to not chip, but wrap around the cutter head. This means you have to stop and unscrew the three thumbscrews and remove the feeder chute assembly. Not hard, but after a while you learn what to put in and what not to - now most of my chipping sessions go straight through without a jam. Another important hint is to watch the exit port. If you're putting stuff in and nothing's coming out but it's still running, leaves and other material have clogged the exit - poke a stick up in it and jiggle it around and the leaves will come out.

Do I HAVE to say don't use your hand or fingers?

Chipping limbs is a lot more work than I thought, but now I pull a 'working pile' of limbs over to the chipper first, pull up a stool and some shears, have a seat, and start feeding the limbs in. The chipper handles diameters up to about an inch-and-a-half, and I select out, for firewood and kindling, anything larger.

This chipper performance exceeds what I expected and I would give it a thumbs up recommendation. For the money, it's a powerful 'right-sized' tool perfect for yard maintenance.

As an added benefit - it takes no gas/oil and because it's vertical, and stores in a very small footprint.

DO have some cookies or iced tea for the UPS guy - it's a very large and heavy box.

AND it requires assembly. Don't try to lift the motor on and off the base like I did, but follow the directions and assemble it correctly the first time - assemble the base first and slide it over to the motor assembly, and make sure the wheels are on the same side as the switch/powercord.

YES, I am well over 13.