Build or Buy my Splitter?

NoPaint said:

So guys. I have been lurking and now I am thinking its time to buy or build a splitter. This is not a necessity now so I am taking it slow. If I build I will slowly acquire the parts at good prices and then assemble. If I purchase I want to buy something older because I like older equipment better (they knew how to make them back then you could say). So what do the fine folks of the hearth forum think? Any person experiences and opinions are what I am looking for.

Happy New Years!

-NoPaint

Click to expand...

If you are a welder and can get iron and parts cheep then goforit if not cheepier to buy

Buy. . . no, build. . .

Hell, I dunno.

I was there a short time ago........I looked and figured and came to the conclusion that I could build one myself cheaper then I could buy. However, my situation is a little different. I can weld and fabricate so I'm not paying anyone to work on the splitter and I also enjoy designing and building something. I was looking for a tractor mounted splitter so there wasn't as many commercially available units to choose from, and I was looking for a higher production unit.
All thing considered, if I was looking for a gas powered unit I would still build. The splitter would be used enough between family members that I would be looking for an upper end splitter (Timber Wolf) and I feel this widens the gap in dollars between buying and building. If your looking at the more then adequate units available at Home Depot, Tractor Supply, etc... then I would definitely buy. Unless you have acquired the parts for next to nothing and the assembly labor is free, you just can't make a splitter that inexpensive with that good of fit and finish. These are some of the parts I've acquired already:
(1) Steel Beam 7 ft x 12 inch deep x 6 1/2 inches wide = $ 100
(1) 5 inch x 24 inch hydraulic cylinder = $ 380
(1) 20 GPM PTO pump = $ 370
(1) Prince auto cycle valve = $ 180

I still have parts to buy and I'm nearing the cost of the units available at Tractor Supply, etc....

I have had my Brave spliter for some years now and cost about $1000. new back then just had to replace a pump.
Just a basic break-over spliter to use horz. or vert. Any spliter is better than no splitter.......

My dad goes to a lot of auction sales. A few years ago there was a home build splitter sitting under some pines, had a few inches of needles covering it. It looked complete and functional but for a missing engine, so he bid and got it for $75.00 since the sale was closer to my place then his and the tires on this thing did not look so good I got the job of getting it functional.

It had been build to use a snowmobile engine of all things, even had a throttle rigged to the valve lever.
I had a 5 hp techumpsy out of a beat-up snow blower, bit small but enough to find out if things worked, the hydraulic oil in the tank looked like reused snot so I just topped it up with some used oil.

Fired up the engine, had to hit the push pad a few times with a big hammer to break the rust loose and things started moving, run it in and out for a while to scrap off the rust, buttered some grease on the slides and started splitting every block of wood I could find that had been resisting the maul. Next weekend I put it on the trailer and hauled it the 75 miles to dads place and in a few hours we split up about 2 cords of red oak crouches and knots and other stuff he had been saving.


I have no idea what kind of pressure it makes just that the under size engine stalls before the relief valve pops and so on some tuff wood you have to bounce it off the engine flywheel but it has never failed to get thru a block of wood. I have a single cylinder wisconsin that is going on it when I get some time, the unloaded cycle time will drop a bit do to the wisconsin’s slower speed but the higher torque should take care of the stalling problem.

Just saying that before you go all out building one you may want to check around a bit see if you can find a half finished one under a tree.

It's a labor of love, from what builders have told me. It's also the sort of thing where you will go seasons without a splitter before you have it built, if you don't put in some real capital up front- so that the cost difference is not as great as you'd expect.

As a yout we had a home built splitter. Got many of the raw materials for free, bought an engine brand new from somewhere (don't recall), got a hydraulic cylinder from an Ag type wrecking yard on the cheap, had a two shive pump from a Vega (NOT...the way to go) and I don't recall where the axle and the valve came from. Long story short, it's fun to build your own and depending how you get your stuff will depend on the $$$ required. We built ours as there were no stores to go buy one at the time. Nowdays you can get them for a reasonable price and with a warranty. Your call. IF you do build your own, go with a direct drive pump versus a belt driven pump....moisture was a big problem with ours. On a damp day the belts were the weak link.

Question: Have you run a splitter for any length of time?
I ask because there are so many variables in design and layout and ergonomics, that unless you've spent some time on one, you don't really know what youi need.

I was going to build one, but would cost the same as new and take vastly more time than waiting for a delivery of new one. So I got a harbour Freight 30 ton 9HP delivered for around $1400. There are many many things I don't like about it, and I'm now itching to build one myself...exactly how I want it, with working height just so, valve right there, axle out of the way, etc.

another option would be to invest in 10yrs of karate and then you might be able to split with your bare hands! just a thought

NoPaint said:

Well I think I should say ideally I would want someone else's homemade splitter to get running because that would add to the fun of this project without the headache of sourcing all the parts. I really like the idea of finding one that needs an engine and then installing an older electric start flathead engine (electric start is not needed with honda engines but we all know how the older flathead stuff can be stubborn!). Quick question on the Vega pump idea. So a normal automotive power steering pump would do the same thing as the pumps that are sold for use with the hydraulic rams right? So if I could get a good tight belt like is found on a car then I would be ok with that right?

Click to expand...

My understanding is that automotive PS pumps do NOT work well as splitter pumps, though they will sort of work... There are many problems with an auto steering pump, to start with they don't have the ability to pump enough gallons per minute to give a reasonable cycle time on a splitter sized cylinder, nor do they have enough reserve volume in their fluid tank. A power steering pump also uses a fairly low working pressure compared to a splitter.

In addition I'm not at all sure a power steering pump would have the sort of duty cycle needed - remember that your car spends relatively little time actually steering, compared to the amount of time that a splitter would spend cycling the ram up and down...

The pumps that are sold for splitters are dual stage units that are designed for various hydraulic cylinder applications - they have higher volume outputs at low pressure, kicking into a higher pressure low volume mode as needed, with a high duty cycle.

More to it than that, but that's the essential high points.

Gooserider

I made a log splitter about 12 years ago. It has a nine hp engine ans a two stage pump.The cyl. had a 22 inch stoke and the work height is just right. used a valve with detentes return. About three years ago we bought a OWb and the 22 inch wood is to short. So this spring I made a log splitter with a 36 inch stoke cyl. Used a brand new Brigg engine and a new 2 sage pump.The new splitter cost were , engine $200
pump and valve $175
axle and wheels and tires $150
Northern tool wedge $40 Got the beam and tank for free. Will post pic sometime Sunday
A log splitter is a very rewarding project to me. We have had lots of father daugter time with it this year.

The other way around. Starts with low pressure and high volume with no load and changes to low volume high pressure under load.

Here are the pic.

I'm all for building. It's just a special feeling to see a machine that you built with your own hands just crushing stuff. I .built mine and I saved a bunch of money doing it. That being said it would be nice to have a brand new engine even though mine runs pretty good ... It's pretty cold hearted for starting in cold weather. Anywho here is a link to my post with pics of my splitter.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/2855/P45/
It's on page # 4.

If you build it yourself, you can take liberties. For example; I built one two winters ago and took the liberty of adding a 16' log lift, a log conveyor, and a six-way wedge. No more sore backs, timberjacks, cuttin' ground or hoistin' round.

Any pic Kenny sounds neat. I have been thinking of a conveyor

JSJAC said:

Any pic Kenny sounds neat. I have been thinking of a conveyor

Click to expand...

I'd be embarrassed for you to see it after admiring your lime green oil tank. Now that's cool.
I do have another conveyor for the splits that's suppose to go on it this winter but I don't know if I got it in me. We'll see.
I'll check with technodaughter to see if I can get some pics.

I'm going to try and post a pic.

My oil tank is a top radiator tank off of a drill rig we sold and one of the welds has a pin hole that leaked antifreeze under pressure. We replaced the tank so I got the striped tank