Morbark Inc. now offers a second quick switch conversion kit, allowing grinder owners to further diversify their product offerings by simply modifying the hammermill of their Morbark horizontal grinder. The original conversion kit, introduced in 2009, gave Morbark grinder owners the ability to make standard size chips. Now, the new sawdust quick switch conversion kit also allows grinder owners to supply the large volume sawdust market. This gives Morbark grinder owners the capability to produce mulch, high quality chips or sawdust — with just one machine.

Markets for sawdust include animal bedding, wood fuel pellet production, cellulosic ethanol and co-firing with coal. Sawdust is actually the preferred material of wood fuel pellet production and co-firing with coal, according to Morbark. The basic difference between the two quick switch conversion kits is the number of knives and their configuration. The sawdust kit uses up to 16 knives where the original kit has up to 12 knives at most.

Ed Dodak, assistant sales manager of the Morbark Great Lakes Region said, “In a recent demo, our Morbark 4600XL horizontal grinder equipped with a 16-knife quick switch conversion kit and a 1050 horsepower Cat diesel engine produced approximately 40 tons per hour of fine hardwood sawdust from fresh cut whole trees. The resulting material was completely suitable as direct input for pellet mills or for co-firing with coal and was analyzed in a local university to be 95 percent below 1/4 inch.”

The Morbark quick switch conversion kit does not require removing the hammermill from the unit or replacing the hammers with small knife bits. The quick switch actually converts the hammermill into a drum with full sized knives so it acts just like a chipper. Conversion is possible in the field, without a crane, according to the manufacturer.

The quick switch conversion kit is available on Morbark horizontal grinder models 3800, 4600, 4600XL and 6600 from any model year, wheeled or track versions.

For more information, visit www.morbark.com/quickswitch.

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