Log Splitter- Show us your log splitter.
- Thread starter VirginiaIron
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This will probably be my last posting of this log splitter and what it looks like with a little paint. I'm not real happy with the paint job but the guy who painted it always shows up for work and practically works for nothing, it will do for now.
Edit: Additional photo- I couldn't resist and I am excited to start the splitting season.
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Lloyd the redneck
Feeling the Heat
MrWhoopee
Minister of Fire
Painting is a special talent. It takes the ability to recognize what constitutes a good job, the knowledge of what it takes to accomplish that job and the desire to do it.
It's a tool, not a restored trailer queen. It looks better now than it will after a few seasons of use.
Nice design, I like it. I was thinking it might be interesting to invert the boom splitter so you could just lower over the round.
Here's my beast. He's a homemade (made it myself as my first and to date only welding project) fella that will split just about anything I put in him. As you can see I only hire the best little Scottish gremlins to work the lever for me!
One problem though, i need to reinforce the blade somehow. i keep breaking it off and bending the beam. I'm fixing it again this week after tearing it off again today on some wet red oak. Click for bigger images.
One problem though, i need to reinforce the blade somehow. i keep breaking it off and bending the beam. I'm fixing it again this week after tearing it off again today on some wet red oak. Click for bigger images.
DodgyNomad
Minister of Fire
That thing looks great!! I'd be proud to split wood with that bad boy.
When I enlarge the photo I lose a lot of detail and it gets a little blurry. I think the weld should be good for a minimum of 60,000 pounds so maybe you're not getting enough penetration into the beam or you wedge. You may not be getting any weld into the center of the wedge. The beam looks bent underneath the wedge and maybe you need some additional lateral support on the end. Like a plate to cap The beam, and some plates on both sides of the web and/or the outer portion of the beam. What is your hydraulic pressure? What is the thickness of the wedge and the beam? Oh, that's a cute little gremlin.
I thought about the front end loader and backhoe splitters with the inverted wedge but I thought that it required to much agility and the use of the equipment to move it. Additionally I thought the beam would need to be parallel to the round and with my design my approach would not be optimal. Thanks for the comments.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Your cylinder travel should be set up to stop about 1" short of hitting the wedge. If you have it set up to go right to the wedge, this could be putting much more stress on your weld and beam.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
If I had a grapple attachment on my loader, meaning a third available hydraulic channel, I think I'd be welding up a pinch splitter to swap out with the grapple. Imagine sitting on the tractor and just lowering the loader onto a log to grab and split it!
Thanks for the tips! I think the penetration is OK (I've got spots in the blade that it went too deep - oops!), but the beam isnt strong enough to handle the pressure on the tougher woods as it is. I keep bending it and collapsing it at the end. I think you're right about the end cap. Yesterday I took a torch and just cut the entire bent portion off, blade and all, and today I'll hammer it out straight again provided there's enough boy in these britches to get it done haha!
Then I'm planning on welding on an end cap of 1" x 4" tube steel and also using that tube steel as side supports between the beam's rails, kinda boxing the blade in underneath and behind it. Hopefully that'll work. If you think that's wrong or that it should be different let me know. Like I said, I'm green!
Ashful, you're one of my favs on here. You looked through your scope of time and saw me before i moved the blade back. Having it too close was my first big mistake. I immediately pushed it right off the end (tack welded at the time). Now it's set up to be about 4" short of the blade. It's funny, the 33" long 8-10" oak doesn't break the beam, it's those 20" long wet rounds that are 20-30" in diameter that really tear it up.
I'll post more and better pics once it's fixed again. Thanks for the comments! I know he's nothing compared to the professional machines on here, but I built him so I'm still proud.
I have seen these videos on YouTube with a larger loader and different skid steers. I am sure the operators had different talent but the skid steer's seemed to outperform the loader, but typically, the beam was never approaching the round correctly. The best video I observed with the inverted wedge/splitter was on a backhoe and the splitter was attached to a multiple joint that could swivel/pitch/yaw.
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Jazzberry
Minister of Fire
The base of the plate should be at least as long as it is tall. Either shorten it or lengthen the base of the plate. Too much leverage on a tall cutter.
Little brave I got for a trade. The 3.5 hp was blown but the trade included a used 6.5 Briggs. Had to drill some new mounting holes but it was a direct fit to the pump and works great.
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I haven't, for a few reasons. #1 being that I am young and it doesn't bother me to be low when I am splitting at the house and I don't want to have to move around a platform plus the splitter #2 it makes it easier for bigger rounds to just roll it up onto the beam instead of picking it up and #3 I typically split where I cut and have the receiver attachment where it fits on the back of my receiver on my pickup and it's about thigh high which is high enough for me ,for now.
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MrWhoopee
Minister of Fire
It's that attitude that will make it so painful when you're older. We were all young and invincible once, that's why so many of us are broke down now.
Point taken. But if you're 80 years old without an ache or a pain in your body it makes me wonder what kind of life you really lived.
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MrWhoopee
Minister of Fire
Work smart when you're young, you will get plenty of aches and pains without asking for them.
Here is my recent acquisition... 3 point hitch splitter with a PTO driven pump.
That seems to be an unusual design for such an older splitter. How old is it? The butterfly like design of the table seems to be a lost knowledge that would force the splits towards the center. How does that table work for you?
I haven't put much wood through it yet, less than a face cord. Seems to work well but I wish the table was longer. I like to split it and stack it on the end of the table as it comes off the wedge so I don't have to pick it up off the ground. Then I can usually grab the stack in one or two arm loads and put it in my stack. Stroke on the cylinder is about 22-23" long and I cut my wood 20" give or take. The PTO driven pump seems to work well and I get good cycle speed with engine rpm at 1500, or pto speed 300-350.
