Wood Splitter Build - "The Don"

Here is the beam it's a 10x10x42 with all sections being 7/16" thick
1 2 3

 

In the top pic I'm showing the thickness of the beam. The second pic is some material I will try to use as some sort of engine protector

 

If this were me, I would think really hard about making the foot a bit heavier than an inch, my 22 ton is thicker than that and it also has a H either welded or machined to the back. I will measure it later today and post back tonight. My splitter is at my daughters house and I am heading up later to use it. This is not mine but you can see the H I an talking about.

 

This one is mine. The cover is 1" thick. You can't see the H. I will get a pic later.

 

The foot on a Husky 22 is 1.25 with a .625 H welded on.

 

Your dispersal tube will work ok. Off set it to one side of tank center line, put the tank pickup on the other side. Ideally you do not want to be sucking up oil that just entered the tank.

 

Ok some answers!

Redneckdan, thanks for the info, you really know your stuff! I'm still struggling with a baffle design for a 12x12x48" rectangle... One 48" long down the centerline, or a series (how many?) stacked perpendicular spaced every so often?

Kevin, I went with the 22gpm pump to play it safe on the heat mainly. I'm always splitting alone too, and figured I (as the human loading) could only go so fast. I may upgrade higher at some point

Fifelaker and Lukem, yes, I will be going with a heavier foot than 1". My plan was the 1" plate plus two 1" thick x4" wide bar welded to the foot just like the pic of the huskee. They are laying on the ground to the left of the pic that has the bandsaw and the beam in it. I'm glad you're double checking me!

 

Just go with the 3/4 lines, long sweep 90's if you have to have them. That way if you do decide to upgrade it will be very easy to do. Try to do some design layout to avoid as many 90's as possible. The normal auto cycle valve is rated for 25 gpm but they use them all the time with 28 gpm pumps. I heard they came out with a high flow version but it WAY up there in price.

Your foot looks a little light to me as well. It all depends hopw far you stick it out as that will multiply the bend factor if you catch my drift.

 

Good advice on the hydro stuff! The auto cycle valve gpm rating was another reason I went with the 22gpm pump

The foot will be 10" off the top of the beam. It's 10x20x1" and will have two 4x20x1" running lengthwise and then welded up like the pic of the huskee foot... Come to think of it by the time you laid the weld in it would be nearly solid 2". Still think it is too light? I may have to rethink this...

 

I would think that would be strong enough on your foot at that rate. I would definetly heavy chamfer the edges on your foot to beam welds so you will have close to 100% penetration and loads more surafce area weld. 3 pass minimum I'd say. I'm sure you were planning on that anyway. The way I did mine allowed me to essentially make a box with internal gussets and such along with an outer edge support. I take it your going for a horizontal/vertical?

Did James set you up with a bypass valve? More plumbing and hose but it saves wear and tear on the valve according to him. The cycle time on mine is just about how I like it. Not too fast, not too slow. I have a 30 inch stroke but can adjust the stop where it kicks out. Normally cut 24 inch but wanted to have the option to get the oddball longer ones if needed. I keep the stop at 24 inches.

The best advice I can offer is to make it at a height where you are not leaning over. It made a world of difference to me. Also think about your valve placement. I did mine so you can work then from both sides, safely. Also keep in mind where the pieces could fall and damge something. Some of the commercial made splitters fail on this one. That and put components too low as when you are going offroad during transport you could get it caught on something.

I'd say my only regret is I didn't make mine sooner. Yes, it would have been cheaper to buy one. But I would not have all the features I wanted and I do enjoy building things. Do it right the first time and you'll have a lifetime tool.

 

Kevin,

I looked back through your album and really like what you did with your foot. I will be making a horizontal/vertical splitter. My reasoning is that it will make dealing with large rounds easier, and if I ever decide to sell it it would be more marketable. My original idea was basically a Timberwolf TW5 and I thought going this route would save me money.

I do plan on bevelling all joints that are critical, and on the 1" stuff leaving a 1/8" root face. I'm in the process of setting me up some welding proceedures by macro etching some test specimens. If you've never done it give it a try, it will scare the hell out of you! What looks good on the outside cut apart

I didn't get a dump valve, again because of budget. I'd like to and maybe as I get further along I can scrounge some dough somewhere.

I agree on having it high enough so you are not bending over. I'm not sure what mine will be when finished. I've changed a few things up as far as the axle goes so we'll see.

 

I need to get some pics up bad! I'm making decent progress... Can anyone point me in the direction of the latest greatest "how to post pics" thread. Evrything I'm finding seems to be old.

Also, anyone have any idea of how much play the wedge should have on the beam? I've allowed for 1/16" on each side but it seems a little loose to me. Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

The other issue I wanted to run by everyone is how much of a gap do you think I should have between the cutting edge of my wedge and the foot? Right now I have it set for 1" just to leave some room so I don't run it into the foot while I'm not paying attention

 

For images you cut and paste from your site and put [ ] with img in the brackets at the front, then put the same brackets at the end with /img in it. try a pic in your post with a few letters to see if you can get it to work before doing all your text. If it works, delete the post and proceed.

Play kind of depends on the length of your slide. Mine is 16 inches long so I used about what you are thinking(1/16") per side max. If it was shorter, I'd probably go a little tighter. Again, depends on what type of slide you are going with.

I have a non safety wedge. If you stick something in there that shoukldn't be, your going to loose it. I have about a 1/16" there. Wedge on the ram ram you can't push the next one through to complete the split so think about that. My wedge is kind of a 2 stage split so it spreads it enough to complete the split but I still do not regret making it tight. Never have to pull them apart by hand and it comes into play with elm, hickory and such.

 

I agree with Kevin. That chunk of iron is something I cobbled up so I didn't have to keep sticking a piece of wood in it. Mine may have an 1/8" gap.

 

Nice work there Hellbent!

 

This is the new foot I've been working on. The front plate is 1" thick and the three reinforcement pieces are 4" wide 1" thick capped on the end with 3/8" plate. If I had to guess I'd say it weighs about 150lbs... Overkill? Maybe

 

I decided to set the plate into the beam for maximum strength. I beveled all the joints so that I can insure I get 100% weld penetration. The backing plate is 3/8 plate and ties everything together. I plan on boxing a lot of that in to reduce flex and twisting of the beam.

I'm not sure what the technical name for this is, but it is the push off point for the end of the hydraulic cylinder. It is 1" thick and the pin is 1 1/4". The picture makes it look like the pin is located almost all the way to the back but there is just shy of 2" from the outside of the pin to the end of the plate. .

 

Here are the side pieces to the slide being ground to match. They are 1" plate. I'm trying to think of a way to add grease zerks and some kind of channel for the grease to flow through.



Here is a shot showing the thickness of the slide. The top plate is 1/2" and the spacer and the bottom flange are 1" thick. I have it tack welded together to maintain alignment while I drill. It is all wet looking as I used power steering fluid as a cutting lubricant for drilling. It works good and is cheaper than the real thing.


Here is the top of the slide. It is a bit over 16" long and 15" wide. The holes are drilled to 15/16" and I plan to make them 1" and use grade 8 hardware. It took about 15 solid minutes of drilling for each hole. That sucked!