Thanks to Todd Cates from Durham, NC, USA for that insight into best cutter setup. Check out the actual forum link here.
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Spike.....The main benefit of the tooth
configuration on my Carlton cutter wheel
comes from this. The cutters on the wheel
that take out the center on a plunge cut
have no need to touch the stump unless you
are plunge cutting. On a side sweep which
accounts for 99% of your grinding time, the
side leads do most of the cutting. I simply
set all of the center cutting teeth to about
1/4 to 3/8 inch deeper into the pocket to
eliminate their drag on the stump in a side
sweep. I also use a different tooth for this
position. It has about 1/4 inch less side
offset than the main side cutters. Every
manufacturer has a different cutter wheel
design and there will be some difference in
setup. The Rayco wheel design robs power
with the way the center cutters stick out
past the side leads. If an operator uses the
bolt on teeth with no way to gauge them,
like the rayco super cutters, then he is
loosing a lot of power to pull those center
cutters through the wood. If I owned a Rayco
I would use standard 1/2 inch shank teeth in
these positions on the wheel and set them to
a depth where they did not drag on the stump
in a side sweep. If I'm not mistaking, the
rayco wheel on this RG90 had 6 straight
cutters at this position on the wheel. Now
the Vermeer tooth pattern is superior to the
Rayco in this manner because the center
cutters position on the wheel are
pre-drilled so they are cutting a little
behind the side leads. This is exactly what
I do with my Carlton wheel by setting them a
little deeper. .......Another thing that I
do is; I use Leonardi tomahawk teeth on the
Lead cutting positions. For those of you
that haven't tried these teeth, do yourself
a favor and try them. They have a radical
positive cutting angle and it cuts the wood
easier. Behind the leads I use a standard
1/2 inch Kennametal shank tooth in a
Leonardi Ultimate Pocket. The pockets are
heat treated and release the tooth very
easily when loosened for changing. The lead
cutters offset to the side about 1/8 inch
more than the kennametal shank
tooth......Think about my theory here tell
me what you think........If I take a
chainsaw and cut a curf in a piece of wood
an inch or two from the end I can take a
hammer and with a very light tap i can break
off a piece of wood. It breaks with the
grain. Now think about the teeth behind the
leads on a stump cutter. If the lead offsets
a little farther to the side than the teeth
farther back, the back teeth in a sense are
just breaking the wood off with the grain
instead of cutting a new curf so to speak.
With this setup I can sharpen or change the
leads and let the back teeth get very dull
and it still cuts very well. The wheel on my
machine has a tooth pattern which lets me
cut about 2 3/4 inches of wood on a pass and
if the teeth are in good shape I can cut all
of that and then some with a very fast sweep
to boot.......... I'm sure that if this guy
was turning my wheel on his RG 90 he would
have beat my grinding time, But I have this
wheel setup down to a science and he does
not.
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ROBERTS
This is the stump cutters art taken to extremes, the more I read it the more I appreciate it.
Stump cutting is not all brawn and the biggest engine, it is a skill acquired over time.....