"This machine, so far as we know, is the first of its kind in the world. It will cube virtually any and all kinds of biomass -- everything from wood chips, straw and cornstalks to garbage, paper and anything else that will burn," says Cecil Warren, co-inventor of the Warren-Baerg heavy duty "Densifier".

Inventors of this first of its kind "cube anything" biomass cuber, slated for public unveiling early this summer, are Cecil Warren and Robert Baerg, of Dinuba, Calif. They're hay cubing experts and specialize in rebuilding Deere 525 and 390 cubers, converting them into all-hydraulic drives to boost capacity 50% (see FARM SHOW Vol. 2, No. 5).

"Ever since the energy crunch revved up several years ago, we've had dozens of requests for a machine that could cube all types of biomass, especially wood chips, straw, cornstalks and other crop residues. We experimented with a beefed-up 390 (stationary) Deere cuber. It works great for cubing paper and other burnable trash, but it isn't heavy enough for some biomass material, such as wood chips. So, we went to the drawing board and designed, from scratch, a heavy duty machine that will cube most any biomass you can feed into it, including wood chips, without having to add anything more than a small amount of ordinary tap water to hold the tightly-packed cubes intact," Cecil told FARM SHOW. "We envision cities, groups of farmers and custom owner-operators using our new heavy duty Densifier to cube a wide variety of biomass materials that conventional hay cubers aren't able to handle. We anticipate that the first Densifiers will be used primarily to cube wood chips."

Cecil notes that there is a "waiting market" for cubed wood chips which can be used to fuel boilers and furnaces in factories and other big buildings, and even furnaces in private homes. "Cubed wood is easier to ship than wood chips, and easier to burn and handle," explains Cecil. "On the other hand, wood chips are extremely difficult to cube. We think our new heavy duty Densifier is the first and only cuber available that will do the job."

Capacity of the new Densifier is 7 1/2 tons per hour. Wood chips and other biomass is pressed into solidly packed cubes measuring about 1 1/4 in. square and about 23 in. long.

In addition to producing the new Densifier cuber for wood chips and other tough-to-cube biomass material, Warren and Baerg will continue to offer their special hydraulic drive conversions for used Deere Model 425 (field) and 390 (stationary) hay cubers. They custom-convert for owners, and also sell converted Deere cubers. "Converted machines have about 50% more capacity than a new conventional Deere hay cuber, cost about half as much, and last about twice as long," according to Cecil.

If you already own a Deere hay cuber, Warren and Baerg will rebuild it with completely hydraulic drive. The conversion, which boosts capacity of Deere cubers an estimated 10 tons per day, includes the Hydrostat (which includes a completely rebuilt transmission and pto unit), the hydraulic pump conversion, a converter and elevator conversion, and a revamped pickup and feeding system.