My Home Brewed Kinetic Splitter

I've always been splitting by hand, with axes and wedges and mauls, but it IS time consuming. And I got awful tired of bending down to the ground all the time.
Several years ago I saw a video on kinetic splitters, and I began to collect stuff for it.
The gear and rack I got on ebay at "just take it" prices.
The large pulley is a used 19" Browning--also ebay at crazy low price.
Everything else I scavenged from the local recycling yard, and cut and welded together.
Blade is from a bush-hog.



I've got 5 flywheels on it---they're Chevy 235 6-banger flywheels from the 1950's.
There is over 200 pounds in the flywheels and the Browning pulley.
Ball bearing pillow blocks carry the load. The shaft is 1" in diameter.





The motor is an army surplus motor from the 1980's. It was made by Colt Industries--the Gum'mint probably paid $3500 for it. The army used it on air compressors and generators. It's 2-cylinder. I run it at just above idle.



It powers through knotty stuff OK. This one took 2 whacks to get it split.
I've got it set up so if it hits a knot and stops, it automatically pops out of gear.

 

cool project!
I like the parts list and knowing where they came from.
Like J Cash, One Piece at Time.

 

Yep. I'd work on it for a few days and then work on my house for a few months and then come back to the splitter. Finished it Thursday and started splitting.

 

Nice work. Im thinking you could build allot of things after seeing this.

 

I like that! Also nice to know the components. Sure would like to see a video of it in action!

 

Very cool!

 

Thanks. I don't have any way to video, but some buddies have smart phones and I hear you can video from a smart phone. I'll try to get a video.

 

I second the video idea. Looks pretty cool.

 

Very nice job...bonus points for getting the parts for low money too!
So how does the engagement/overload mechanism work exactly?
I was ready to build one of these a few years ago but then found a deal on a new hydro splitter and I guess I decided that was good enough...time is at a premium for projects these days too so...

 

I too would like to see it in action. Maybe more pictures of the mechanics?

 

Thanks guys. It kicks out of gear because of the angle the rotating teeth make with the gear rack teeth. If I don't hold the lever down, which pushes the rack into the rotating gear, it will pop out too, due to a hefty compression spring installed under the rack. I'll take some more pictures tomorrow and post them.

 

Very nice work.

 

Nice job! Congrats...

 

That is awesome!

I too want to see a video of it in action.

I wanted to learn more about this Colt twin cylinder, so I googled it.

Looks like it was only $1100 when the gubbament bought them. Still...

Two Cylinder Air Cooled Engine

Can it really be that low of hp at 3 hp? If it's 16 cubic inches, it's like 262 CC's. I'm sure it's pretty torquey, regardless.

 

Heck, less than a toilet seat!

 

Less than a toilet seat!! You are hilarious.
According to the Internet, which we know is never wrong, $1,100 spent in 1986 would equal $2608.67 today.
I don't know where my $3,500 number came from.
Evidently guys use the 2A016 engines in go carts too. They have a nice sound to them.

 

Probably underpowered purposefully to give long life/reliability.

 

I had a love/hate relationship with those engines. Most of the soldiers using them had no clue about using a rope pull starter. They would usually flood the damm things and call maintenance...

 

Can you imagine now...whadya mean "choke it"?

 

This one starts pretty easily. It still has a points ignition, although I have an electronic ignition set for it that I haven't put on yet.
ChainSawSoldier, do you know anything about converting the 2A016 to an electronic ignition? I've got the parts, but no one has a schematic for putting the parts on the engine.