Dunno if this is a dumb question or not but im asking anyhow. I was splitting cherry yesterday and a couple very gnarly chunks put the hydro to the test. I held the lever and it made its way though. Ive been using it since new in June of 2021. 27 tons of force. I can only recall backing put of a split maybe once or twice and dont often put it to the test so to speak. Really gnarly chunks get noodled or sectioned with a chain saw and i dont take "ugly" logs that often.
I don't press my luck , if it is that ugly either A) i don't take it / or B) cut it up with saw. Figured I have enough stuff to fix and I don't need something else.
I should be more like that. I push stuff to its limits! Would it just stop and the pump be strained? I hear the pump "surge" and it slowed slices its way though. Isnt yours a 37 ton? Seems like nothing would stop that?
I pressed my luck last year trying to split/cut a nasty crotch with the wedge and upon return stroke to get it unstuck, I bent the he11 out of one return post (for lack of a better term). So now on, I don't even try. I didn't realize it when this happened, but saw it a couple days later.
I don't get denied very often, but have developed a good eye for how to orientate the pieces to get them to come apart. Getting the 'foot' of the splitter to hold the pieces is sometimes challenging.
I need to get a pic of a buddy's old tired Power Cheif splitter. It's had some issues at the return posts. lol He bought it that way, and then added to the carnage.
Same here. Its all in reading the grain and seeing the weakest point. Same if hand splitting. Although the 2-3 i ran though it yesterday would be a b!tch to do so. A couple left including the one pictured will get sectioned into nuggets with a saw. Does your hydro have a back plate or does the plate push into a blade? Mine has the back plate.
Don't worry BRAD , I know a guy who knows a guy that can weld. Rumor he also has repaired blown hydraulic cylinders
weld a couple cross bars maybe 4" thick on face of foot plate or drill an tap a couple bolts through it extending just a bit to get a bit bite. either helps to keep round from getting sqeezed out. my rig is set up where i push through the knife, went this route do to having deformed a couple 2" thick foot plates over the years. got a couple bolts threaded into push plate ( heads on round side) for just this purpose- keeps items from slipping.
The splitter we have is a 7 ton electric splitter. Still has the fluid though. If it "maxes out" there's an auto shutoff that stops the motor from running. If I cycle the unit on/off it comes right back to life, but if a piece of wood looks like its going to be troublesome, I usually just score the top with my saw and that takes care of the vast majority of rough pieces. You guys with gas powered splitters are dealing with much more force so I guess you have to monitor the pressures on the machine more than I do. I wasn't thinking about it until I started typing this out but now that I'm recalling, there is an obvious difference in the noise the machine makes when it is finding increasing resistance. I'm not sure how to explain it, but there's a slight by noticeable difference between when its straining just before the splits are about to "pop" and when the splitter is getting bogged down. It's like stalling a manual transmission vehicle. You can kind of tell when you can save it and when you're about to stall out.
I have a little electric (6 ton i think) i use for bundle wood and wont even try to make it bog down. I reverse it then flip the split and try again. Most splits for bundle wood are straight grained and knot free.
