Everything about our chippers

A disc chipper carries its blades on (or through) a flat surface perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The disc's inertia absorbs the vibrations that are always present when chipping green wood. This design consumes less energy and produces a more consistent chip.

A rotor chipper carries its blades on a cylinder. This system generates more vibrations, consumes more energy for the same granulometry, and often produces a less homogeneous chip.

All our SUPER-PAIN branch chippers are fitted with discs, to produce the most consistent chips with the least energy.

The blades are fixed to the disc by two to six bolts depending on the model. Their protrusion above the disc surface determines the thickness of the chip produced — a setting shim supplied with the machine allows this protrusion to be adjusted with precision.

The number of blades affects throughput and power draw, but never the quality of the chips produced. It is possible to run the 450, 600, 900, 1300 and 1700 models with only three blades when available power is limited.

Chipping efficiency and quality are ensured by the blade/counter-blade adjustment.

The cutting table both guides branches onto the disc and holds the counter-blade against which the blades shear the branches. Its design determines the consistency of the chip and the absence of sawdust.

On SUPER-PAIN chippers, the cutting table is designed to guarantee a maximum chip thickness of 4 mm, in a single pass, with no re-chipper. The absence of a re-chipper eliminates jamming risk, prevents sawdust production, reduces power consumption and makes the machine quieter.

SUPER-PAIN branch chippers operate in gravity-feed mode: the blades naturally draw the branch into the hopper. The hydraulic feed roller — or hydraulic bough-dragger — is an optional accessory that adds two rollers, each driven by a hydraulic motor, to actively feed the branch towards the disc.

It provides three concrete benefits:

• Improved operator comfort — less manual handling for the operator
• Increased throughput — the machine reaches its maximum capacity more consistently
• Optimised power management through a continuous monitoring device (fitted as standard from the SUPER-PAIN 600 upwards)

On the Super-Pain 450 tractor-mounted version, the hydraulic supply is taken from the tractor's own hydraulics.

No, not satisfactorily. A hammer mill has two significant limitations:

• It is sensitive to high-fibre plants (jamming risk)
• Without screens, it cannot meet the required granulometry. With screens, it produces sawdust on dry plants and risks jamming on moist material (large leaves, etc.)
• In all cases, the hammer action tends to defibrate wood rather than cut it (it is why we try to make a difference between shredding and chipping). This negatively affects the quality of the chip produced and significantly increases the power required.

To obtain the consistent chip essential for the Jean Pain Method, RCW and similar applications, only a disc chipper with an appropriate cutting table is effective.

Yes. All our SUPER-PAIN chippers are designed to chip green or dry plant material equally — fresh or dry branches, logs, slabwood or short sawmill offcuts.

Chippers with screens or re-chippers are sensitive to moisture: they produce sawdust on dry material and risk jamming on green plants. SUPER-PAIN chippers do not have this problem.

There is no absolute answer to this question. It depends on whether the wood is green or dry, the species being chipped, and of course the chipper's cutting technology. Thanks to their specific cutting table, our SUPER-PAIN chippers are designed to achieve the best chipping efficiency by reducing vibrations and limiting power draw.

As a guide, here are the minimum recommended powers for the SUPER-PAIN range:

• Super-Pain 280 — up to 7 cm, from 3 kW (4 hp)
• Super-Pain 450 — up to 12 cm, from 3 kW (4 hp) electric or 6 kW (10 hp) petrol
• Super-Pain 600 — up to 17 cm, from 18 kW (24 hp)
• Super-Pain 900 — up to 25 cm, from 40 kW (50 hp)
• Super-Pain 1300 — up to 37 cm, from 75 kW (100 hp)
• Super-Pain 1700 — up to 50 cm, from 150 kW (200 hp)

Contact us for a personalised recommendation based on your situation.

A tailing (sometimes called a "tail", or big splinter) is a thick, long wood fragment — generally along the grain and poorly cut — that exits the chipper mixed in with the rest of the chips. It causes several problems:

• Composting: the chip must be screened before fermentation; risk of blockage when using the compost in the field, as the tailing will not ferment like the rest of the chips and will become a support for fungi harmful to plant roots
• Wood energy: risk of jamming the feed augers in automatic boilers, excessive wear on gearboxes
• Animal bedding and equestrian surfaces: risk of injury to animals

SUPER-PAIN chippers produce no tailings, regardless of the species or type of wood being processed.

Sawdust is produced by chippers equipped with re-chippers (refining screens): material that has already reached the correct granulometry but cannot exit is re-chipped multiple times, reducing it to sawdust.

SUPER-PAIN chippers have no re-chipper. The cutting table is designed to produce the chip at the correct thickness in a single pass. The result: no sawdust, regardless of the nature of the wood.

Sawdust causes problems in composting (it asphyxiates fermentation), in boilers (fouling) and in animal bedding (respiratory risk).

Jean Pain himself put it this way: "it is preferable to obtain a long thin fragment rather than a short thick one."

Experience has confirmed that fragment thickness must never exceed 4 mm, with an optimal thickness of 2 to 3 mm. The material must never be reduced to sawdust or pulp, which would asphyxiate fermentation. The wood fibre must be cut relatively short to allow better penetration of water, fungi and bacteria, enabling fermentation.

This granulometry must be achieved before fermentation begins. Any subsequent re-chipping degrades the value of the "compost" as Jean Pain understood it, turning it into a product that is too mineralised.

Yes! The consistent quality, clean cut and absence of sawdust in chips produced by SUPER-PAIN chippers open up many valorisation routes:

• RCW and mulching — mulch directly usable around plants (when respecting the species and diameter limitations)
• Wood energy — quality chips for automatic auger-fed boilers
• Animal bedding — chips with no sawdust or splinters, no injury risk
• Equestrian surfaces — flexible, resilient surface, no splinters, no dust
• Thermal insulation
• Industrial absorbents — consistent chips

• Electric — ideal if you have a power supply nearby and want quiet, emission-free operation. Available in single-phase or three-phase depending on the model and your electrical installation.
• Petrol / diesel — fully self-contained, perfect for sites away from any electrical supply. Professional-grade engines, petrol or diesel depending on the model.
• Tractor PTO — recommended if you already have a tractor. More economical to purchase, very robust, and generally allows more power to be used.

Our Choosing your chipper page will guide you in more detail according to your use.

• Test with small branches — granulometry is often worse on small diameters with some machines
• Check for the absence of sawdust and tailings in the chips
• Observe safety: the hopper must be long enough that you cannot reach the cutting mechanism; the chipper must not eject splinters towards the operator
• Assess ease of maintenance
• Look at the chipper's construction: a welded-steel design will always be more durable than a bolted design, due to the vibrations generated by chipping
• Check that the chipper accepts green and moist plant material without jamming

You can watch demonstration videos for each model directly on our product pages. They show the chippers in real operating conditions.

For an in-person demonstration or personalised advice, please contact us.

Changing the blades generally takes less than 20 minutes. Simply loosen two to six bolts depending on the model — no special tools are needed. A setting shim (adjustment gauge) supplied with the machine allows the chip thickness to be adjusted precisely when refitting.

When they stop cutting! Joking aside, the interval between sharpenings can vary enormously depending on many factors: wood species, whether the wood is green or dry, whether it has been lying in mud, whether it grows on siliceous soil and so on. There is therefore no "official" interval or even a reasonable range. As with a chainsaw, you know it is time to sharpen when the chipper no longer "pulls" a branch straight in (in gravity-feed mode).

Taking all these factors into account, our blades are designed to offer the best possible durability in all conditions.

Replacement blade sets are also available in our online shop.

Yes. Sharpening simply involves restoring the cutting edge, which can be done with the optional blade sharpener. It guarantees that the recommended sharpening angle is maintained, preserving both blade life and chip quality.

Replacement blade sets are also available in our online shop.

All SUPER-PAIN chippers come with:

• 1 year statutory warranty on parts & labour
• Lifetime structural warranty covering the whole machine (excluding wear parts or misuse)

Spare parts are available in our online shop. For any query, contact us.