Don't give up just yet Joe. If you've got a bit of time, move the edge of those bottom two wings to the center so it doesn't push the splits down. That'll help with the binding of the wedge, & also moves the edge back so it's not trying to split the whole round at once. It's worth a try if you've got the time, if it doesn't help the price of scrap is up right now. Edit: My wedges are sharp too & grease does help.
Sorry to hear about the incident, but I would seriously recommend making it a 4 way for that setup. Shouldn't take more than 20 mins of welding.
You are correct in that the bottom wedge is essentially wedging your bottom split in place and coming to a dead stop. A friend builds splitters and uses an I beam, the main wedge is welded through the I beam in the center, and before it's welded in the ends of the tops of the "I" beam are beat down 3/8"+ for a relief on the 6&8 way wedges. They position the wedges and the cutting edges to not wedge wood between everything. Yes, I know, say wedge ONE MORE TIME! Also, if your going to cut wedges off, stagger them. From the looks of it the 4 6 way blades look like they all hit at the same time. If you cut the bottoms or tops off, offset them 1/2". Also as for the sharpness, sharpen it, so it's good and sharp, then take and put a 3/32" land on the edge. Similar to a lawn mower blade. This will still cut, but won't dent as easily. With the thought it looks like they put into the entire machine, I would be willing to bet it's not a hardened steel, and probably a grade 50 mild steel.
Just to clarify I’m not too concerned with this six way. Never intended to use it for more than testing to see how much power this splitter puts out in real life. I’m not a fan of splits going all over the place to be collected by the user. It’s a box wedge that I want. Properly designed the box wedge should cut down on most wrestling associated with log splitting. A true push through with no need to grab splits that are too large and resplit them. So when I talk about cutting off wedges I’m referring to the original fixed single blade wedge and the wedge plate behind it that takes the brunt of force for the floating 4-6 way wedge. Cutting them short will hurt resale value greatly so I need to make sure this is something I’m willing to live with. Good info on the sharpness factor. Appreciate it. That’s how most wedges are. These are slightly similar but let’s call it sloppy I’ve just always wondered if there’s a consensus on what degree of sharpness a wedge should be,,,,for instance is sharp not actually preferable? I can see an argument for both theories. I’ll agree with your assessment of thought put into it. Personally I think this six way is a total afterthought. I never even noticed them as an option on the website until right before I bought it. I think it’s an add on that didn’t get much testing. Most likely customers asked for one and they just started welding them up IMO. The rest of the machine is well constructed but not designed for that six way. As configured I’ll also agree it’s not a useful configuration. Like a tow bar in front of a push thru? Almost useless LOL They offer custom rear tow but I just grabbed one knowing I’d need to modify it. Hard to find decent splitters these days without long wait times.
I’m left with this conclusion, God is either hard of hearing or has a twisted sense of humor. When we spoke about hard wood in the groin area this was not what I had in mind.
Right on about the 6 way, but figured if you were going to save it for future use I'd try to save you some trial and error. As for sharpness, I'll stand by what I said, even with a small land, it'll still cut wood. As for the angle from the edge back, I think it's a horse a piece. I've seen them every which way, buddy uses I think a1"plate wedge, and I've seen them go out to 6" at the backside. If it splits what you want, does it really matter? Lol. A lot of lead times are getting ridiculous, he's booked into December last I checked, and a few suppliers told him 4 months before he's receiving parts..... Best of luck with the (re) build
Wearing a “cup” is definitely not out the question when running the splitter depending on your height. I’ve had a couple near misses that made me grateful the rest of the day.
I tested my splitter (County Line 40 ton) but not the splitter he has. Mine was actually pretty close to the rated 40 ton right out of the box. I have since turned down the relief pressure to about 3,300psi (~34 ton).
My cylinder says 2500lb on the sticker. Thought I had read somewhere someone measured it at 1800lb functioning.
Specs say 3000lb 4” x 24” x 2” with a 22gpm pump. Seems to be designed for speed with a claimed 6-7 second cycle time. Not sure why the cylinder has a 2500lb sticker on it.
A 4" dia cylinder seeing a 1,800psi relief would get you 11tons of force. That same cylinder running a 2,500psi relief will be 16 tons.
Appreciate that knowledge. Hydraulics is not my thing. Just something I know very little about. I know there’s an option for a 5” cylinder on that machine. Would you be so kind as to run those numbers for me? I’m sort of wondering why there’d be a 22gpm pump on a splitter with such low output? Speed only?
jo191145, can you post a pic of a box wedge that you're wanting to make? I'm not familiar with that, and when I google it I get all kinds of splitters and wedges showing up....
Here’s a video of a homemade. It’s fully enclosed tho so hard to see. Personally see no reason they need to be fully enclosed. Controlling the direction of the splits is done by the wedge and there’s easy tricks that can be installed as you go to accomplish that. IE it doesn’t entirely need to be engIneered in a rocket lab before welding. The actual splitters themselves do need to be set at the right angles. Still looking to split wood and not cut it. Properly set they shouldn’t require all that much power,,,,,I hope . Power is usually used to overcome small design flaws in wedge design once you get the idea you can Google box wedge videos. Many commercial machines have more open designs so you can see them better. Lots of variations on the theme. Everyone makes them a little different. There’s one for sale on FB near me. Just the wedge. Gotta be homemade. From what I can see in the blurry pics it will never work. Scrap metal.
A 5" dia cylinder seeing a 1,800psi relief would get you 18 tons.....running a 2,500psi relief would be 25 tons. yeah, pump volume is all about how fast you want it. High pump volume and small cylinder will get you fast cycle times.
That's Joe's splitter. I'm subscribed to his channel. Pretty smart guy, I believe he is an engineer up in Canada. Builds a lot of cool stuff. He's made a few mods to that box splitter since he built it.
