Wood Splitter Hydraulic Operation Question

[69_Eliminator]

Hello Everyone! This year my brother and I decided that we want to heat our houses with wood. We both bought inserts and a project wood splitter. The wood splitter is a home made unit that had a brand new engine on, but wasn't hooked up. We got the engine running. We went to operate the hydraulic ram and it pushed out, but we can't figure out how to get it to return. Neither one of us know much about hydraulics. I have attached a picture of the hydraulic unit. Supposedly the previous owner used this valve on the old setup of the splitter, before the new engine. The actuating cylinder only pushes in about two inches.

The valve appears to have the name "Gresen" on it and the numbers 375 or 575 on one side and 195.3 on the other side- see pics. Does anyone know if there might be a problem with the valve, if it could be adjusted improperly, or what we need to do to get the ram to return?

Thanks in advance for any information and help!

 

[gzecc]

need pics of the entire set up to see the hoses and valve together.

 

[kevin j]

ASSUMING that the setup truly did work before, probably a restriction coming out of rod side through valve back to tank.

More likely, I will bet it is a single acting valve setup that actually never did work, and it just pressurizes and vents the closed side, but does not pressurize the rod side.

How reliable is the story from the previous owner?

Need a pressure gauge and some fittings first.

 

[69_Eliminator]

need pics of the entire set up to see the hoses and valve together.

The splitter is not at my house, but I will see if my brother can get some pics for me tonight or tomorrow afternoon. As soon as I get the pics I will post them up.

Thanks for the response!

 

[69_Eliminator]

ASSUMING that the setup truly did work before, probably a restriction coming out of rod side through valve back to tank.

More likely, I will bet it is a single acting valve setup that actually never did work, and it just pressurizes and vents the closed side, but does not pressurize the rod side.

How reliable is the story from the previous owner?

Need a pressure gauge and some fittings first.

I hope that it's only a restriction like you said and not a single acting valve.

I would say that his story is at least somewhat reliable. He doesn't seem like the type to tell a big lie saying that he used it for a season and didn't, but I guess you never know. I also bought my fireplace insert from him and everything was correct that he said. I put a call into the seller and if/when he calls back I'm going to ask him what has to be done to return the ram.

It does have a 0-3000 psi pressure gauge on it. I am working on getting pictures of the whole setup and will post the pictures as soon as I get them.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[69_Eliminator]

I had my brother take a few pictures when he got home form work. If anyone needs me to take a specific or closer picture I can probably do that tomorrow during the daylight .

Can anyone tell anything from the pics?

Thanks!

 

[salecker]

Yea it snowed

 

[70Cougar]

After doing some research, we found that Gresen has merged into Parker Hannifin Corporation, Cleveland, OH. This is what we belive is the current version of the monobloc that's on our splitter. Parker Series 300 Monobloc Valve

Thanks for helping some newbies. I like to work on old tractors, but haven't dug into their hydraulic systems much yet.

 

[gzecc]

The valve is closed on the return line (at the bottom of the resevoir). Yellow metal handle. Closed is perpendicular open is parallel. If you guys didn't shut it, thats your problem.

 

[69_Eliminator]

The valve is closed on the return line (at the bottom of the resevoir). Yellow metal handle. Closed is perpendicular open is parallel. If you guys didn't shut it, thats your problem.

I know we had it in the open/parallel position, but not sure if we tried it in the perpendicular position, which like you said is incorrect anyway.

 

[Fifelaker]

Are you sure you are getting the spool in the correct indent? It does not look like it has a handle.

 

[gzecc]

Is there a cap on the top of the tank? It needs to be open assuming it works like most systems.

 

[Jags]

"The Parker Series 300 valve is designed to control single-acting cylinders or a uni-directional hydraulic motors. The spool in this valve is a 3-way, 3-position spool. The positions are power, neutral, and exhaust. “B” port is always the power port and “A” port is always plugged".

If this is in fact the control valve that you have, it is the wrong valve. A "single -acting or Uni-directional" is a one way street. Power out, no power back. "A" port is always plugged.

Get on to fleebay or your local tractor supply house and get a splitter valve for that thing. Make sure it has a return detente (you will thank me later).

 

[69_Eliminator]

Are you sure you are getting the spool in the correct indent? It does not look like it has a handle.

We cannot feel any detentes. It did have a handle on it and we thought it was hitting the valve housing impeding the travel of the spool so we took it off to test it out and still can't feel any detentes. I wonder if the spool is hanging up somehow and not coming all the way out?

 

[69_Eliminator]

Is there a cap on the top of the tank? It needs to be open assuming it works like most systems.

It does in fact have a cap. We haven't tried to operate with the cap off. We'll give that a try next and report the results. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Jags]

If your post above about the Parker 300 series spool is accurate to what you have - It ain't gonna work. It is a one direction valve.

 

[70Cougar]

Thanks for the response Jags. Will it work if our valve is the 400 series, listed in the second paragraph of the link I provided? It says "The Parker Series 400 valve is designed to control a doubleacting cylinder or a reversible hydraulic motor. The standard spool for this valve is a 4-way, 3-position spool.The spool is spring-centered to neutral position with cylinder ports blocked in neutral" ?

Unfortunately the model like ours is no longer made & we're not 100% sure what the casting even says, 375 or 575? Combine that with our limited overall knowledge of hydraulics and you can see why we're at a loss. We'll try to get some better pictures of how the valve is set up and where the hoses run.

 

[Jags]

Not sure - it says nothing about an "open center" system, but it does state "cylinder ports blocked in neutral" which does suggest that in neutral the fluid would bypass.

You could test this.
Make sure that the pressure side of the pump is going to the "in" side of the valve and the "out" is going to your tank. The top hoses on the control valve usually go to either end of the cylinder (power out/power in). Pull the hoses off of the cylinder and point into a bucket. With the engine at its lowest speed, just bump the valve into one direction (fluid should come from one of the hoses - be aware - it pumps a lot, and fast). Bump the valve into the opposite direction. Fluid should come from the other hose. If you only get fluid from one hose - it is a one way valve. Both hoses - its a two way.

Note: hold on to those hoses. This is a quick way to make a big mess.

 

[gzecc]

I am only one step above the two of you. Listen to Jags.

 

[Jags]

I am only one step above the two of you. Listen to Jags.

Meh - after you build a few it gets pretty uncomplicated.

 

[70Cougar]

We wil try that! Thanks again!

 

[Jags]

We wil try that! Thanks again!

No problem. If you are looking at how a splitter is put together, click the link in my signature. It is an example of one way to approach it. It might give a couple of pointers in your quest to get yours up and running.

 

[70Cougar]

We got it going yesterday! After Jags mentioned how the plumbing works & then thinking how the owner put a couple brand new high-pressure lines on it, I started thinking maybe the hoses weren’t hooked up properly. Turns out the High Pressure line from the pump was going to the top of the control valve (‘A’ port) instead of ‘In’ on the side, and then one of the lines that went to the ram cylinder was on the ‘In’. After simply switching the two we were up and running! So Jags you're the man, & if you’re ever in town we owe you a drink or two!

The ram returns all the time unless you pull the handle to start the ram extending again, or turn the ¼-turn yellow handled shutoff valve coming from the reservoir tank. Is this how it should operate, or is the control valve not the right style? I didn’t know if you should be able to stop the ram mid-stroke or not, but I wouldn’t imagine cutting fluid off from the pump would be good for it.

 

[Fifelaker]

Leave the valve open all the time while you are using it. It also looks like there is a black iron fitting on the gauge, get rid of that. That stuff is not rated for the pressure that thing makes.http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...e+hydraulic+injection+injury&sc=1-40&sp=-1&sk= NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH Black iron and galvanized pipe is only rated for 3-400 psi.

 

[Jags]

Yep never cut the fluid to a running pump
Glad to hear ya got it going. And I agree about the fittings