Another homemade splitter...

Started work assembling my "new" splitter this weekend.

Beam assembly: 6" angle 3/8" thick spaced an inch apart. End caps are 6" angle as well and there are 3 1/2" thick straps spaced evenly below that were cut from an old snow plow cutting edge to form a box.


Carriage assembly. 1" thick. This bolts to the push plate assembly with 5 1/2" grade 8 bolts. It rides below the surface of the angles on 4 Ford Escape rear wheel bearings.


Push plate assembly. This is made out of 11/16" thick steel that my BIL had kicking around his machine shop. It was used as a set-up jig for a job he hasn't done in years. His comment as we were cutting it up was "I bet I get an order for these parts this fixture was for next week..."


Cylinder mounted using a bought cylinder mount. I drilled those holes with a Harbor Freight step drill till I just got into the 1/2" diameter and then I cleaned it up with a regular 1'2" bit. I love those step drills!


Another shot. I left 26" between the push plate and the wedge.


Side view. Cylinder is a 5" with a 24" stroke. I wanted to put the push plate gussets inboard more but that bracket on the cylinder was in the way. I am thinking of adding a 3" wide plate to the top of the angles kind of where the hammer is laying but under the cylinder to close up the gap in the angles and just strengthen the whole beam that much more.


That's it for now; more to come!

 

Looking good.

 

Big ram, lot of power. !!!
What pump you using ?

 

Not much will stop that!
Looking good.

 

That should split anything you throw at it, might need to add a log lift.

 

I bought a Honda powered hydraulic unit off of CL. It was used to move/lift cars on car carrier semis. It's 11 HP, has it's own hydraulic tank, pump and lines with flat-face quick connects. I believe it has the capability to be electric start as well; just needs a battery, but it's a Honda so pull starting it isn't a problem. I'm not sure about the pump on it. It's kind of buried under the tank and filter. I figured it'll be easy enough to try it out. If it doesn't work as I hoped I have a 21 HP Yanmar diesel that I can use.
My original plan was to build a small processor and it still is a plan; that's why I have the Yanmar. I designed the splitter so I could use it on my processor when the rest of it is ready. Right now, my POS Oregon splitter (Speeco) keeps failing and I'm sick of putting money in it so I decided to do one step at a time.

 

Haven't updated this in forever, but I'm in the painting stage now. Here's a little recap of where it's gone from last time.
Salvaged half of an old horse-drawn hay ride wagon my FIL made years ago:
Got the power unit mounted. I have since replaced the 7 gallon tank with a much larger one.


Beam mounted and test fitting for hoist locations:


Out-feed table and you can see the framework for the side work table as well:



Valve mount for the hoist. (I replaced the bottle jack with a small cylinder):

 

Nice work man
That's a big Cylinder

 

Amazing job. That splitter should split anything.

 

Nice work on the splitter, please post a video of it splitting wood when you can.

 

You people who have the talent and skill to build stuff like this amaze me. Just damm.

 

Yeah, that looks amazing.

My only recommendation would be to add some weld dots for texture to the ram plate face so logs don't have a chance to fly off the splitter.

You could put your initials on the ram plate as " grippers"

 

Let us know how it does. The narrow contact under the slide makes me wonder about twisting. Got any close up of the wedge attachment? From what I see it may be an issue in the future.

 

Nice splitter, lots of power, and subsequent force. Two questions though. Did you do any calcs on the beam sizes and welds to make sure they are in line with the forces applied? I do not remember my statics and dynamics, or any of the welding stuff I did in college. I would just hate to see you get hurt if something pops. Second question, when is the test run? Good job

 

The wedge is welded to the end angle along the base and back and along the opening of the top of the beam. I think it's pretty stout....

 

I used a mig welder. My friend did the beam welds; he's much better than I am and his welded is much stronger.

 

So here's an update. I've got everything painted and I am in the process of reassembly.


I am working on the plumbing now. I hope to get my hoses ordered this week. Then I need to figure out the electric start, mount a battery, and draw power to the winch.

 

Shaping up real nice