Another homemade splitter...

Things are looking better. My nephew has a valve rated for 25GPM he is dropping off in my truck as I type. My additions to the cylinder mount and my backing plate are complete and primered. He is bringing over his gages tomorrow evening so we can check/set all the pressure relief valves correctly and I should be good to go. Sunday splitting (weather permitting) will be the test I guess.

 

Sounds good, keep us posted.

 

Not smarter than you for certain, but 10gpm max is just that. You may not notice it in performance, but any restriction leads to friction, which leads to heat, which leads to death in hydraulics. Just a thought.

 

OK, the reinforced cylinder mount and backing plate are installed:






I replaced the hoist valve with the one from my nephew. We set the pressure relief valves on the control valves to 2080; this was the most I could get before stalling the engine. I need to tach the engine because we both feel that it doesn't "sound" like it's running as fast as it should. Even at 2080, I am getting a true 20+ tons out of it.

What I found when working on the valve however was that one of my tie plates broke:


It's kind of hard to see but the weld did not fail, the plate broke. I used an old plow blade cutting edge and it must have been hardened to some degree? In retrospect, I think the "bang" I heard was that plate breaking. I bought some mild steel plate today that I hope to replace it with.

 

Yes, Plow shares are hardened and snap easy. I made the mistake of using one for a wedge cutting r=edge when I was still in high school. Snapped the first time a twisty know piece put an extreme force on it. May hold an edge better, but not stress. They aren't hardened like a good tool steel because if you try to weld that stuff, the porosity and cracking is obvious.

 

Is the 20 ton from tests or from calculations?

 

Calculations. 5" piston = 19.635 square inches of area times 2080 psi = 40,840.7045 pounds divided by 2,000 pounds (ton) = 20.42 tons.

 

We need a few more formatting options, such as sub and super script. Oh well.

 

This link proves a lot of manufacturers are lying to people. Simple and easy to use.

Push Pull for a Hydraulic Cylinder

This is useful as well

Hydraulic Cylinder  Speed Calculator

 

When you get all the bugs worked out I'd like to see a video of that beast in action!
Till then I'll wait.

 

Yup, there is no way a lot of these manufacturers are getting the tonnage they claim

 

I bought some plate at the metal yard yesterday. I found an 8" wide plate that I will weld to the vertical legs of the angle that make up the beam. It will be placed around 2" forward from the leg of the angle that boxes in the back and coincides with the rear edge of the tie strap that broke.


It is long enough that it'll reach the chassis on the other side so I'll cut it flush and probably bolt it to the chassis as well.

I also have a 4" wide strap that I plan to weld to the vertical legs of the angle that make up the beam just forward of where the strap broke. Boxing the beam in this way along with the previous upgrades to the rear cylinder mount should eliminate my issue. Question now is, where will it break next?

 

Question now is, where will it break next? [/QUOTE]
Answer: You won't know till you try it.

 

yup....

 

So, I welded those plates to the beam (forgot to take pictures) and split wood on Saturday. So far, so good!

Edit: Guess you can kinda see the welds in this pic.

 

Found the next weak spot....

 

That's Not good.

 

I sorry man but it will get there! keep the faith Deer Meadow Farm

 

Could you get a different piston that has a different hookup at the end of it that many be a little more beefy?

 

No it isn't...

Thanks Lyle! I'll figure it out...

I'm going to try to straighten/reuse this one first. Another cylinder of this size is around $400 +/- and has the same style of attachment.