Light lift crane / splitter work deck (pics)

WOW. Nice work Stinny! You da MAN!

 

Great looking stuff!

 

I bet you're gonna wonder how you bulled all those heavy rounds before you built the lift…

 

Looks great
Looks like a little set up time but, not lifting and bending much you can put in a longer day without wearing yourself out
Are those the 20 1/4" Log Tongs from northern tool ?

 

looks like the set up is working good for you(and your back), what is the purpose of the rope and pulleys on the end of the crane jib, why not just use the cable from the winch?

 

The JD makes set-up pretty easy actually. It does all the heavy lifting/pushing/tugging. I'll tweak a bunch of stuff that might speed up the set-up too. For now, the whole set-up will stay on the trailer and I can roll it as is to the other stack of logs when I'm ready.

The log tongs are from Northern Tool. Not sure if they had dif sizes. I'll bet they'd open 20". They're pretty rugged and would lift 100 lbs no sweat. Gotta sharpen the points a little so they stick better… might keep me from losing too many teeth when it lets go at the wrong time…

 

I wanted a faster lift line than the winches can run. And, I didn't need lots of power because the boom isn't all that strong. 100-150 lbs is all it will prolly ever lift. The ropes are rigged in kind of a reversed typical block and tackle. As the cable pulls in 5 feet, the lift line goes up 15 feet. The winch can pull 3000 lbs and the lift line could then lift almost 1000 lbs… but, as I said, the boom is the weak link at 150 lb cap. The boom lifted rounds today about as fast as you could stand up with a round…

 

The tongs will work quite a bit better sharpened up nice n pointy, did that to my 12" tongs

 

There are others on You Tube who've done similar set-ups. Definitely not my idea for sure. Just made it work for me a little better … I hope…

 

Especially lifting like I am… the tongs have to swivel in the punch holes that the tongs make (I'm lifting the logs end up, so they drop on the splitter right). Had one get away from me today and I took it as a wake up… I wasn't really kidding about getting my teeth knocked out… wouldn't be too gooder…

 

To bad "Log Dogs" were not available back your way !Would work well in your situation .

.http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/index.php?threads/log-dogs.1555/

Very impresseded with your setup!

 

It wouldn't be too gooder knocking your knee cap off either

 

Looks like it's working for you.
See any changes you need to make now that you've split a few ?

 

I must be a bit slow or something but I don't get the reason for the splitter to be on the trailer?

Wouldn't it work out the same to put it near the side of the trailer and put the beam horizontal?

I agree with it being faster and easier on the back to be working at waist level.

 

Some here have used pipes under a large round to easily move it around. I may try that. Might roll the splitter about 8" toward the tongue direction to make a little bigger work area by the splits. Have to tidy up the wiring and extend the length of the remote cable so I can use the extra lift line length to grab rounds. Might re-vamp my jack set-up for the 4 corners of the trailer. Definitely sharpen the tongs.

Biggest change… no destroyed back this morning. I REALLY like that…

 

Yeah… those tongs whippin' at ya with about a 100 lb force gets my attention. Combo of the stretch of the rope and the flex of the boom makes a good slingshot. My hand is always on the tongs so that helps a bit. Sharp tongs should help a lot and getting used to how things work, as I use the gear more, will too.

 

Boggles the mind, doesn't it ?

Another very cool way to do this same thing in a horizontal mode, and more portable, is CutForFun's rig.

 

Nate, the horizontal/vertical splitters in horizontal mode are too low & you have to catch the splits or pick them back off the ground. With the setup he made: Proper work height & a larger work surface so rounds don't fall to the ground. Much better than working bent over or on the ground.