Patriot Products 5F, 6F, 8F, 10F manual ❹HOW IT WORKS, “Quick-Feed”Prun, Vacuuming, Direct-Bagging

“QUICK-FEED” PRUN-

INGS DOWN THE LEFT SIDE OF THE SHREDDER WITH A LOOSE, OPEN GRIP.

▲CAUTION: DO NOT LET GO OF BULKY ! WASTE AND LET IT BOUNCE AROUND IN THE HOPPERS. IT MAY DAMAGE THE MACHINE OR BE EJECTED TOWARD THE OPERATOR OR

BYSTANDERS AND CAUSE INJURY.

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Vacuuming
VACUUM (15-ft. kit optional)		HP	CAPACITY	TYPE OF DISCHARGE
Dry to wet leaves,	5, 6, 8 & 10		Loose waste	Fine mulch (leaves),
pine straw, sawdust,				some fingerling shreds.
grass clippings.

VACUUMING TIPS

•Keep the hose straight or slightly curved along the ground.

•Allow nozzle to hover over the waste, rather than sticking it into the pile.

•If the vacuum loses power, there may be a clog in the nozzle or in the throat of the shredder hopper. Lift the hose over your head and shake it. You may need to shut down, unplug the adaptor and unclog the shredder’s throat.

•Don’t let the hose come in contact with the muffler. The muffler can get hot enough to melt it.

❹HOW IT WORKS

Direct-Bagging

The chipper-shredder-vac must be operated with the bag in place. The bag holds over two bushels, but emptying it often is a good habit. If it overfills, debris may back up into the discharge chute and stall the engine—just like a lawn mower does when it’s bag gets too full.

Great will be the temptation...but do not begin to remove the bag until the engine is shut off and the rotor has stopped.

Chipping

Waste fed down the chipper cone produces uniform, coin-sized chips. Two sharp knives, mounted on the rotor, pass by the cone’s solid base at more than 3750 RPM, slicing the end of the branch into little chips.

The angle of the knives draws branches in as they are cut. Eventually, the knives become dull. They must be removed and re-sharpened. Replace the knives when their cutting surface nears one-eighth inch from the knives’ mounting holes.

Shredding

The shredder uses six Y-shaped hammers and the built-in vacuum to pull waste into the grinder housing. The shredding hammers attached to the rotor grab onto thicker debris. Material is ground and shredded until it is small enough to be pulled into the fan chamber and discharged into the bag.

The rotor spins clockwise (as you stand behind the machine). The hammers swing freely on shafts a full 360°. If material is too heavy to shred on the first strike, they swing out of the way. The Y-forks do the shredding and pulling. (Technically speaking, green debris is said to be “shredded”; drier, leafier debris is “ground”.) Hammers eventually wear down and can be replaced or simply reversed.

Vacuuming

The four blade vacuum draws air into the housings through the shredder hop- per and chipper cone. To take full advantage of this air flow system, the optional vacuum kit snaps into the hopper for a 15’ reach around the machine.