Anyone convert an electric splitter to gas? The little harbor freight splitter has been great, but it would be nice to take it to the piles rather than bringing the piles to the splitter.
The little 5 ton dudes are mostly built as an integrated unit (motor and pump married together). Along with the solid hydraulic lines and other such stuff, I would guess it would be a giant pain in the butt to convert one. There are some small splitters on the market that are gas powered if that is of interest to you.
Edit: A properly sized genny to run the splitter might be an option??
Thanks Jags. I have floated the genny idea as I have one lying around, but I'm a bit nervous about it as I've received warnings (it may have been you?) that I might burn out the capacitor.
There is a video on YouTube showing a guy who attached a pulley to a post on the non-business end of the electric motor and ran the pulley to the gas engine. My splitter has the same post
Not sure how to read ED3000's post then....No shaft out the back side of motor- pump on the other end
I do remember a prior post of this type. Yes - using too small a genny for proper startup of the electric motor can harm it. Properly sized should not be a problem. Most of the small electric splitters I have seen are designed to run on 15 or 20 amp circuits. I would suspect a 2500 watt or larger genny would suffice - BUT - this is only a guess as I don't know the specs on your splitter or genny. Proceed with caution.
Edit: the bearings on the splitter motor are not designed for side loads. A tensioned belt might prove to be to much for them in the long run.
Double edit: Thinking out loud...what about instead of a belt off of the end of the motor shaft a lovejoy connector was used with a gas engine directly connected (obviously using the proper lovejoy-spider-lovejoy combo)????
Don't forget the startup surge.
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