Another homemade splitter...

Mmmm, trunnion porn.

 

If browsing on your phone or tablet, and you have it vertically set, you don't see the links, or sig lines. Flip the phone or tablet to portrait view, and they magically appear.

 

Ok gotcha thanks.

 

Well, I think my buddy and I managed to straighten the end of the shaft. It's pretty darn close if not perfect. It took a lot of heat to move it though and it looks like I may have a tiny flat spot on the shaft itself from the press; hopefully it's not enough to have it leak. Tonight I'm going to do some more work on it. Best conversation of the night:
My buddy and I looking at the attachment collar on the push plate...
Me: "What does it look like?"
Buddy: "This didn't break; this is a weld failure"
My buddy then begins to lecture me on required heat, surface prep, penetration, etc.
Buddy: "Overall this is a pretty crappy looking weld. Did you use your MIG? It looks like you stick-welded it."
Me: "You welded that for me"
Buddy: "I did?!? Uh, apparently I didn't have enough heat going to it..."
Me:

 

I agree with your buddy! Oooops. Tell him to put the gussets on then as well. No reason not to.

 

I'll be welding it this time. I will add gussets

 

You hust have to love the irony in all of this! Iam sure it will turn out fine. Let us know how you make out!

 

I hope so...

 

Question: Is it better to have the ram pushing the wedge or pushing the push plate?

 

My long term plan is to have split wood fall onto a conveyor so for me it was essential to have the cylinder pushing the push plate.

 

It's a loaded question as it depends on the splitter, personal preference and a person's wood gathering operation. They have pluses and minuses and each case has to decide which is best. Some like the Horizontal vertical option so that's wedge on ram. Some like the push through to pile or conveyor. The a pusher. I got tired of all the pull backs.



With my lifting system, wedge on ram is best as if I had a pusher, every round on the lift would swing back as it was complete which would be dangerous. I use the hanger as a storage till I get the ones on the table done. It boils down to each persons situation or taste.

 

That's one sweet setup there Kevin!

 

Kevin pretty much answered this, but yeah, if you're not splitting through a 4 way wedge of more (like me) you are always chasing your wood back for a 2nd split. With the wedge passing through the wood, your wood stays put for a 2nd pass.
My rounds are not consistent enough for a 4 way wedge and I'm too "anal" about my split's being mostly equal.

 

Well, hopefully this works. Added 1/2" thick side plates to the beam, increased the width of the push plate and raised the level of the loading table. No tests yet but it looks pretty damm beefy!

 

That should do it! Keep us posted.

 

Good luck.

 

Any updates?

 

Not yet. This weekend hopefully.

 

Used the splitter all day Saturday. No issues so far (sound of me knocking on wood here). I split some monsters too so I think I gave it a good test.

 

We need some video, hope you have no other issues and be safe.