Right-handers..splitter valve location

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cityevader

cityevader

New Member
Dec 16, 2008
80
Santa Cruz "Mountains"
I'm in the process of figuring the best place to relocate the ill-placed valve on my splitter.
I currently use my right hand on lever and position/hold the wood with my left, but am considering flipping it all around so that I stand with all the machinery to my left in order to eliminate bending over the engine to reach the valve.

I'm so used to doing fine work with my good right hand, such as lever movement and timing, and the dumb left on is there for the brainless work of keeping rounds steady on beam.

Question is, any other right-handers switch hit? Does the left hand brain adapt quickly? I'd hate to pinch a right digit or worse because the leftie pulled the lever the wrong way or at the wrong time or something.
 
Why? It's not like either pulling the lever or holding the wood require any great dexterity so either task can be done with either hand. Mind you, I started out left handed in school but the teachers beat it out of me so I became ambidextrous and feel comfortable switching hands on many tasks. Give it a try and see if you can make your brain adapt.

Is the wedge on the ram or fixed? That can make a difference in how you place and adjust the wood as the ram closes in on it. On my splitter the wedge moves so I place the wood close to the wedge and have time for minor adjustments as the gap closes. My fingers are never anywhere near any pinch points. Once the ram is under load, there is no need for the hand to be on the wood at all.

I only once ever pinched a finger, not while splitting but rather by sticking my fingers between the splits while the ram was retracting. DOH! You don't do that twice.
 
LLigetfa said:
Why? It's not like either pulling the lever or holding the wood require any great dexterity so either task can be done with either hand. Mind you, I started out left handed in school but the teachers beat it out of me so I became ambidextrous and feel comfortable switching hands on many tasks. Give it a try and see if you can make your brain adapt.

Is the wedge on the ram or fixed? That can make a difference in how you place and adjust the wood as the ram closes in on it. On my splitter the wedge moves so I place the wood close to the wedge and have time for minor adjustments as the gap closes. My fingers are never anywhere near any pinch points. Once the ram is under load, there is no need for the hand to be on the wood at all.

I only once ever pinched a finger, not while splitting but rather by sticking my fingers between the splits while the ram was retracting. DOH! You don't do that twice.
Click to expand...
same here dosent really matter witch hand does what
 
Why not stand on the other side of your splitter and run the controls? I would think this would be the best and easiest way to try it out.
 
Standing on the other side is even more awkward. Not only is the valve on the other side, but you also have to reach way back as well. Pics below show terrible placement. Best would be dead center, and valve flipped around so lever is closer to ram end.

In left photo, imagine your right calf against piping hot pump, and reaching way over engine to reach valve while trying not to trip over the tire.
 

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Yuck! That is a lousy design. The way I see it, you could simply move the motor forward by drilling new holes for the mount. You could turn the ram 180 degrees and have the lever on the other side and buy longer hoses and a 90 degree fitting for the return line.
 
Better yet would be to convert that thing so you can run it vertically. Then it doesn't matter which side the lever is on and it saves a bunch of work! I even sit (naturally they don't recommend this) while splitting wood! As for using either hand for the controls, you get used to a change quite fast.
 
It actually is a hor/vert splitter.
When I first got it I swore by the vertical only method. Partly because I had huge rounds of 3ft white oak.
When I got to the smaller stuff (<2ft) after the first 5 cords, started using horizontal, and found it vastly better on the arms, because the lever sits so high in vertical. Remember in P.E. class doing the exercise where you keep your arms straight out the the side, making small circles, bigger circles, hold it, hold it! .....felt like the arms were gonna fall off...same thing.

In horizontal mode, it hurts the back a bit...partly from leaning sideways to reach lever, but mostly due to low working height. Biggest improvement was putting the whole thing up on car ramps to raise the height 10inches or so...huge difference!!!

Apart from relocating valve, I'd like to get another chunck of suitable metal, I-beam or channel or scrap whatever to not only raise the beam nearly a foot, but also to slide the entire thing away from the engine and axle by a good 3 feet. Would solve two issues at once. Would have to do some good measurements for brackets to still allow vertical use, as well as remount the hitch (removeable) to the other end under the toeplate and keep existing tow height.
 
I am right handed and this is where my hydraulic valve is mounted. It is about waist high.
 

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Just as a point of reference, this is one of the Harbor Freight Horizontal / Vertical splitters... (not sure off hand which size) I have the 30 ton model, but they offer the same basic design in 20 and 27 ton versions as well, it appears the only difference is the engine, pump, and cylinder sizes. They also have similar models with different engine makers. The OP knows this, we've been talking about it in the thread that I started to deal with my splitter "My Harbor Freight 30 ton splitter experience…" - on the last couple of pages there are photos of some mods I did to reposition my valve.

Based on my experience, I would say that it would be no big deal to move the valve to either side of the cylinder, and make the handle point up / back (depending on mode) instead of out the side, and it is also easy to flip the handle upside down and thus move the knob about 4" closer to the wedge. OTOH to reposition the valve otherwise would probably need more extensive work, including making mounting brackets, and much more in the way of new hoses and fittings.

If moving the valve the way I did wasn't enough by itself, it might also be possible to make a longer handle with a peice of steel rod bent to fit... However when using the splitter in vertical mode, mostly while sitting on a bucket in front of it, I found the lever the way I repositioned it was just about perfect. Mostly I use it left handed, but have used either hand when needed to get the job done.

Gooserider
 
My HF unit is still stock but I too discovered the ramps.
I don't like to leave it outside overnight so I use the HF trailer dolly to move it around, which works well too.
That said, I prefer vertical as well 'cause the lifting gets old.
Actually, it all got old and last year I bought the wood split. :)

If you like using the splitter horizontally this tray thing on eBay may be useful.
When I used the splitter horizontally, I thought it would've come in handy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/24x-CRADLE-FIREWOOD-LOG-SPLITTER-TABLE-BACK-SAVER_W0QQitemZ270324774410QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270324774410&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
 
velvetfoot said:
My HF unit is still stock but I too discovered the ramps.
I don't like to leave it outside overnight so I use the HF trailer dolly to move it around, which works well too.
That said, I prefer vertical as well 'cause the lifting gets old.
Actually, it all got old and last year I bought the wood split. :)

If you like using the splitter horizontally this tray thing on eBay may be useful.
When I used the splitter horizontally, I thought it would've come in handy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/24x-CRADLE-FIREWOOD-LOG-SPLITTER-TABLE-BACK-SAVER_W0QQitemZ270324774410QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270324774410&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
Click to expand...

I actually have that. You can just see it in the left pic leaning on the pile. It is most useful if you do full 2 ft splits, but shorter pieces fall through the ribs. I had a piece of thin plywood attached to it which made it fabulous to use, until a big round punched through. Thicker plywood properly attached is preferable.
 
If you have the skills ... relocate the valve so it is dead center over the ram (or at least close). Then you can run it righty or lefty. That's the way I do mine. I'll run it one way then the other. Can't seem to make up my mind. But either way I don't have to reach for the valve. Good luck.
 
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