New splitter build

[Charlie Pendleton]

I currently have a splitter with 4 inch ram, 16gpm pump and an 8hp motor.
I've found splitting elm and ash to be rather taxing. So I started gathering up my extra parts and buying what I lacked to build a new splitter.
I can only fit 18 inch logs in my insert and burn 4-5 cords yearly so speed was not nearly as important as raw tonnage. Why am I using this ram you will ask. I feel that I will be able to run this system at lower pressure 90 percent of the time and rarely have to use the full power of the splitter. Lower pressure is safer and much easier on pumps.
7 inch x 18 inches of travel cylinder
22 gpm 2 stage pump
3/4 work ports cross control valve
3/4 work hoses
11 hp briggs
7 inch soon to be 9 inch wedge with possible 4 way

I'm open to criticism if it's constructive. I prefer a vertical splitter I know the ram is shorter than most but if I can't fit in the splitter I can't fit my stove. I still have a fair amount of work left but will be done before Christmas. I'll be into this total around $400 finished, sandblasted and painted. I had the majority of the metal and parts laying around. According to the flow chartso I should have around a 20 second time cycle time so I'm curious about turning my wedge into a four-way to help make each stroke more efficient any thoughts or opinions on that?

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Can you make the photos larger? I zoomed in, but they are very blurry.

7" cylinder with 3" rod ( guessinf) at 22gpm will be a 15 sec cycle....really slow!

Even a 40gpm pump is still 8 secs, which is "ok" but not great.

Honestly I'd put a 4" cylinder if you want some reasonable speed out of it. You'd be at about a 5 sec cycle.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Oh, you'll be at 75 tons with 3000psi... that plate you have will certainly bend.

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

Can you make the photos larger? I zoomed in, but they are very blurry.

7" cylinder with 3" rod ( guessinf) at 22gpm will be a 15 sec cycle....really slow!

Even a 40gpm pump is still 8 secs, which is "ok" but not great.

Honestly I'd put a 4" cylinder if you want some reasonable speed out of it. You'd be at about a 5 sec cycle.

I will have to take pics when in at home, I have a splitter with a 4 inch ram already. It won't split everything I want it to which is why I'm building this with the 7 inch

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

Oh, you'll be at 75 tons with 3000psi... that plate you have will certainly bend.

I've been questioning that myself but I don't know that I will ever utilize the full tonnage, wood is only so strong. Any thoughts?

 

[sam-tip]

Oh, you'll be at 75 tons with 3000psi... that plate you have will certainly bend.

75 tons is that correct? 7 inch bore at 3000 psi.

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

75 tons is that correct? 7 inch bore at 3000 psi.

I came up with 59.7 ton when I figured it

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

I came up with 59.7 ton when I figured it

But I also plan on running around 2500 psi max so that would keep it down in the 50 ton range

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Im lisdexic, 57 tons.

 

[Big_Eddy]

22 GPM 2 stage pumps usually look for ~13HP
Doing the math
HP = pressure x gpm / 1714 / eff.

Assuming a typical 650 psi unloader setting and 85% efficiency.
650 x 22 / 1714/.85 = 9.8 HP
2500 x 7gpm / 1714 / .85 = 12 HP
You should be okay with the 11 HP motor you have, but you will need to drop the pressure relief setting to 2000 psi +/- (10HP)

Your reservoir looks WAY small. If your plan is to run in "high" speed most of the time, you should be planning on 20+ gals capacity.

50+ tons is a lot of force. Watch for bending and cracking welds.

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

22 GPM 2 stage pumps usually look for ~13HP
Doing the math
HP = pressure x gpm / 1714 / eff.

Assuming a typical 650 psi unloader setting and 85% efficiency.
650 x 22 / 1714/.85 = 9.8 HP
2500 x 7gpm / 1714 / .85 = 12 HP
You should be okay with the 11 HP motor you have, but you will need to drop the pressure relief setting to 2000 psi +/- (10HP)

Your reservoir looks WAY small. If your plan is to run in "high" speed most of the time, you should be planning on 20+ gals capacity.

50+ tons is a lot of force. Watch for bending and cracking welds.

I was planning on lower pressure anyway so thank you for the calculations to clarify where exactly. The tank is 15 gallons and that big old ram holds almost 4 so I should be pretty close when the system is completely filled. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was thinking lower pressure would create less heat, I then removed the inlet and outlet ports of the ram and up sized them to 3/4 and switched the valve pictured out with a 3/4 work ports valve to maximise efficiency and again reduce heat.

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

I was planning on lower pressure anyway so thank you for the calculations to clarify where exactly. The tank is 15 gallons and that big old ram holds almost 4 so I should be pretty close when the system is completely filled. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was thinking lower pressure would create less heat, I then removed the inlet and outlet ports of the ram and up sized them to 3/4 and switched the valve pictured out with a 3/4 work ports valve to maximise efficiency and again reduce heat.

I'm thinking I'll put a pressure guage on as well so I can see what its taking to split the hard wood then figure the tonnage I'm actually running at. I am very confident in the welds but will keep an eye on it like any other piece of heavy equipment I run. Thanks for your thought and input its nice to have ideas to work out bugs before ever testing and failing

 

[muddstopper]

witha 7in bore, you should really just go ahead and add at least a 4way because you wont have any problems splitting anything. I use a 5in bore cyl with a 6way wedge and havent stopped it yet. I would also probably splurge and see if I can round up a little bigger engine and go to the 28gpm pump. For certain if you max out the pressure, your base plate isnt going to hold up. One thing I dont like about a wedge on ram design is it would be extremely hard to put on an adjustable 4way wedge on it. You can make a slip on you can take on and off when you dont need a 4way split.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

If you were having issues splitting ash I would suggest there is a problem with your current setup. May be a worn out pump, cylinder blow by or your wedge is too aggressive. Do you have access to a pressure gauge or is there one on there? Most splitters have no issue with elm as it is just stringy and makes it hard for manual wedging or doing it by hand. I'm running a 5 inch and it can split most everything you throw at it. With a 7, even at a lower idle, you are going to have to be careful. Totally agree with muddstopper, your base plate is going to bend quickly.

I have a wedge on the ram but mine is horizontal only. I never liked vertical and get around that with a lift boom for the big stuff. I made a quick release system for my wedges that requires no tool and is just a single pin and drop pin to hold it.

Lower pin is fixed and drops over. Rock back and slide pin in and a chopped bolt is dropped in from the top to lock in place.

Make sure if you make a 4 way to not have the contact surface all at once on the cross. Let the upright start to split then the secondary horizontal. have it lift up as shown above to avoid pinching. Honestly, with what you have now I wouldn't recommend doing it as it'll just bend your base faster. I was going to do a 6 inch on mine and I have the strength there to handle it. I decided not to as the speed was more important than the 2 times in 1000 I might need a 6 inch bore and I'm running a 28 gpm pump. I know you have the 7" allready but I don't think you'll be happy in the long run. Once again, if you do decide to move forward with it, be careful. A 7 inch can pop those bolts and they will fly like missiles. I split for a while with a guy how had a 8" cylinder with 12, 5/8" grade 8 bolts on his slide. He ended up putting a guard over the bolts after he got hit with one. He ran that thing off an excavator.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Consider too wedge design makes a HUGE difference in force needed. Mine is about 1/2" thick and quite sharp. It will cut wood cross gain nearly as easy as splitting it with the grain.

The couple times I've jammed it up either I had several pieces go crossways or a big knarly piece, like a really crossgrained burl.

I think a thin sharp knife works better than a dull wide wedge, at least in my experience.

Use like an AR500/T1, etc steel and the edge will hold up well.. can use a piece of grader wear edge, plow edge, bucket side plates. etc for a cheap source. I've seen pallets worth sell for pennies a lb at local auctions.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

. can use a piece of grader wear edge, plow edge, bucket side plates. etc for a cheap source. I've seen pallets worth sell for pennies a lb at local auctions.

Years ago I used a plow share thinking it would make a nice, lasting edge but it broke pretty quickly. It was hardened too much as it wasn't supported like in it's original application. Did hold an edge good though! ended up changing it out. Have you ever had one snap?

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

If you were having issues splitting ash I would suggest there is a problem with your current setup. May be a worn out pump, cylinder blow by or your wedge is too aggressive. Do you have access to a pressure gauge or is there one on there? Most splitters have no issue with elm as it is just stringy and makes it hard for manual wedging or doing it by hand. I'm running a 5 inch and it can split most everything you throw at it. With a 7, even at a lower idle, you are going to have to be careful. Totally agree with muddstopper, your base plate is going to bend quickly.

I have a wedge on the ram but mine is horizontal only. I never liked vertical and get around that with a lift boom for the big stuff. I made a quick release system for my wedges that requires no tool and is just a single pin and drop pin to hold it.

Lower pin is fixed and drops over. Rock back and slide pin in and a chopped bolt is dropped in from the top to lock in place.

Make sure if you make a 4 way to not have the contact surface all at once on the cross. Let the upright start to split then the secondary horizontal. have it lift up as shown above to avoid pinching. Honestly, with what you have now I wouldn't recommend doing it as it'll just bend your base faster. I was going to do a 6 inch on mine and I have the strength there to handle it. I decided not to as the speed was more important than the 2 times in 1000 I might need a 6 inch bore and I'm running a 28 gpm pump. I know you have the 7" allready but I don't think you'll be happy in the long run. Once again, if you do decide to move forward with it, be careful. A 7 inch can pop those bolts and they will fly like missiles. I split for a while with a guy how had a 8" cylinder with 12, 5/8" grade 8 bolts on his slide. He ended up putting a guard over the bolts after he got hit with one. He ran that thing off an excavator.

It sounds like I will add another inch of plate to the bottom and 3 or 4 more slide bolts. Thanks for the info. If issues arise I can always throw a 5 inch ram on and have a way over built frame.

 

[sam-tip]

I think plow steel is equal to about AR200 steel. Not as impact resistant as AR400 or AR500. Any idea what type of steel is used for cutting edges for loaders or skid steer buckets. Trying to dream up my next project and ways to scrounge up the special materials.

 

[Charlie Pendleton]

I'm going to double the bottom plate and add a total of 6 more grade 8 bolts to the slide. I built my 4 way this morning, if it doesn't work the way I like I'll take it off.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

Is your 4 way wings double beveled? If so, you are going to have have pieces get wedged between the wing and the bottom plate or your slide plate.

Also, use soft bolts. If you put in hardened bolts, if something isn't right, you want those bolts to break, so you don't twist the beam and bend that.