It’s simple really. Not everyone is broken the same way. Personally you’ll rarely see me sitting. Very uncomfortable for me to sit anywhere besides my Town Car. I’ll either be standing on one good leg or laying down on the couch. If I sit long enough it’s common for my atrophied leg to go into convulsions of muscle cramps. A person has never had a real muscle cramp until they have one set of muscles in an area where there are no others to counter act.
I like that. Like that a lot. I would engineer it a little different to suit my tastes but I like it. I like it enough I’ll probably ditch my winch and build one when I get more time. Gotta run, dinner time.
Make a removable pin, on the cable, that let's go of the ram slide, but pins the cable in place, to hold the rack in the up position. Be a little tricky but do-able.
We built both pieces you are talking about...the pipe deck is 5 PC's of 1 1/2" handrail pipe welded to 2" x 1/4" angle iron. Makes a bigger landing area and rounds slide pretty easy. The other is a pry bar/choppin' stick, another piece of handrail pipe and a piece of 1/2"x 3 or 4" flat bar welded inside the pipe and ground sharp. Better pictures are on the " Tools of the trade or your inventions" thread.
For me I would want the lift on the operators side. Rounds behind me, table on the opposite side. Very often I toss into a dump truck or trailer. The lift could easily be made to drop down at a 90 degree angle with another 90 degree to stand on and keep the round. Quick disconnect would be required unless you like riding up and down. Surely creates more issues on the operator side. More in the way during loading. Thinking would also need a small table on the operator side to help hold the round on the beam while the lift is dropped. Not a bad thing I guess. I have an internal gib which means I’d need a way to quick connect to the wedge itself. I think it could all be worked out.
While we're on the subject, this is my splitter with a hydraulic lift I made works great I've used it for 36inch+++ rounds or just use as a table with the smaller stuff. Never had a piece of wood it would not lift. I made my splitter taller so I could stand there all day not hunch over. That's why I put the lift on.
I'm 53 now and have had wood heat all of my life. Gathered with dad as a kid and he, at over 80 years old, still uses wood as a sole heat source. I've had a lot of time to find out what works best for us and make things to make it as easy as possible. We are lucky as we have our own land to gather some so that does come into play. What I mean by that, is that we can cut/gather on our own time frame. Others need to get what the saw out the same day so it does effect what you need to do. We do not drag logs as for us, dirt equals dulling chains and wasting time. We cut up where it falls and split it on site. I clear the brush down the trunk when the rounds are too big to lift normally and back the splitter down the log length throwing the splits off to the side. We do all the splitting and haul when finished. You have the path down the log length so we then back the truck down that same path and load from the sides and back. Saves loads of steps and time. If using a truck while splitting we do get one load then. We use a tractor sometimes so that is not always the case. We tend to split on wetter days and haul when it is froze or dry. I designed and built my splitter so one man can work up large rounds with no noodling is needed. No constant bending from a sit down style or fighting to get rounds in place. Everything is done while standing upright. Wood does not hit the ground till it is worked to size. We cut 24 inches and the ram is a 5" X 30. I have a quick stop to keep the stroke at about 25 but just slip it out and you CAN split a longer miscut piece. Rest of the specs on the splitter: 30 gallon tank, 28gpm pump with bypass valve, 25HP engine, auto cycle valve, Swing away tables, Overhead swing boom with cordless winch to drag the in and lift to table, stabilizer feet/arms and overhead light if needed. Stabilizers allow level working on hilly terrain. Note wheel is off the ground on one side. Large rounds are drug/lifted and held by cordless winch. swung into position easily by one person and a slab is taken off one side. Swing that away and do the same on the other side. I using the "hanger" as storage till all the ones on the tables are worked to size. Nothing on the ground that way till it is done. If 2 people are there, one person can finish splitting the smaller chunks down while the other is spooling in another round from behind. Pull it in the air and then swing it in one your ready for it. Single edge wedge can be switch in seconds with a single pin. Wedge on ram is needed as it keeps the log that is hanging in position and stops it from wanting to swing back as it would with a push ram design. 4 way is there is needed but I use it a lot less than I thought. It cycles so fast it's not that big of deal to me. 4 way creates too many smalls for me as I'm about less steps to load. I want an equal weight piece as much as possible.
Hitch can be flipped for different heights(tractor or truck) or a big ball mount. By far the best thing I've ever used to work up firewood. Everyone who has seen it in action has agreed as well. Hopefully this will give you some ideas for your build. Link to the entire build is listed on the quick link.
We end up working up quite a bit of large diameter wood. Whether it be wind blow downs or trees dying it seems to keep a constant flow of it. To just let it rot up doesn't sit well with me so coming up with something to make it WAY easier was a must. I've used 3 point type splitters and verticals and there is NO comparison on the fatigue level between this and those. We do not have to wrestle anything anymore and production is at least double for the amount of time working.
Some of the best design work and fabrication there is. I remember cruising thru your work a few years ago Kevin in Ohio ... you are one very talented man.
Thanks for the kind words. The cable will spool out about 25 ft so you can reach out pretty far if needed, We normally just keep backing up once it gets clear for 15 ft or so Quicker to do that than unspooling. For years while using other splitters I thought about what would be better so I had plenty of time to think about it. Most everything I did, worked out well. I did change a couple things like the table swing. I had it locking before and now it has an adjustable friction swing. Those tables are WAY nicer than I even thought they'd be. SO handy to use and make it easier to work up the big ones. Log lifts were always in the way for my taste. When you actually look forward to splitting day, you know your mission was accomplished. LOL No more straining trying to roll stuff around or 2 people trying to roll one up onto the beam of a 3 point splitter. Using one of those killed my back and noticed it most when holding the valve. No more.
Can easily see the enjoyment / fun factor is high... you've created the ultimate gravity weapon, when it comes to handling & splitting large rounds. Must feel great every time you fire it up.
That is one heck of a machine. Not missing one bell or whistle. Excellent job. Mine is very crude and troublesome compared to that. I can say tho I’ve noticed my ability to split for four hours compared to running out of steam in one hour. Sometimes we do what we gotta do.
I've always tried to put the money saved into using wood as a heat source, back into the process to make it easier. My way to justify the upgrades I guess. The Boiler system, house heat upgrade and radiant garage floor install took about 6 years to pay for itself. That is without figuring heating the garage or domestic hot water. It been 9 years of "free" heat so whether it be a nicer saw, conveyor build, more insulation, etc get added. Anything I can do that will lengthen the time and ease of using wood heat is a plus to me. If you don't have a side job to do you weren't going to gain $ for your time so I'll give up watching a game or TV to have something that will better my life. Plus I like doing that! By the way, you can get kits on Ebay to make most any winch a cordless. That sure is a handy thing.
