I have been planning a processor build for a few years. Gathering parts as I find them. I have ran a few small processors and watched several other being ran. With all that looking I have came upon a few conclusions.
- Most processors, (the $15000 range) have saws that have limited power.
- Most Expensive processors also have limited saw power. Duh! My thoughts are that most of the manufactors build their saws using slightly modified off the shelf hydraulic gear motors and over flow the hydraulic oil to get them to cut. Its a compromise at best
- Most splitter valves, including the autocycle valves, are limited to 25gpm of oil flow, which limits speed
- Most processors are limited to under 24in dia logs.
- Circular saw processor require tons of hydraulic power just to run the saw and the saw is very limited to the dia of round it can cut
- Large rounds will require resplits if only a 4 way or 6 way wedge is used. A 24in dia log split 4 or 6 ways will still yield splits of 12in out of a 24in log.
- Most processors dont have the required splitting power to do multiple (more than 4way) splits in less than ideal wood.
- Due to knots and crooks, belted conveyor feeds will often slip
- top rollers and and bed rollers will handle crooked knarly logs better than belts or chains
My personal build will also have it own compromises due to budget restraints.
- I plan a 27in cutting dia using a hydraulic chainsaw of my own design. It too will be a hydraulic gear motor but of adequate size to handle large volumes of oil to produce lots of torque and hp. Saw should be around 29hp and 35ftlbs of toqure and run the .404 chain at 3888ftm. For comparison a 3120 husky runs 8.5hp at 5.6ftlbs of torque and 66fts, or 3957ftm. 3 times the hp and 6 times the torque, saw should be more than adequate. I worry more about chain break than the saw not cutting.
- I plan on using a 12way hydraulic adjustable wedge to reduce number of resplits required. I will be able to adjust the wedge for a normal 4way split on smaller dia wood.
- Final tonnage will be determined by the size cylinders I am able to source, either twin 4 or twin 5in cylinders.
- I also plan on having a built on knuckle boom for loading logs and to help pass those crooked logs thru the processor
- I already own a 5in bore splitter with adjustable 6way splitter I can use for larger rounds that wont fit thru the processor
Large volume splitters take lots of power and and power cost money. Dont expect 4cords per hour out of a 25-30hp engine driven processor. The relationship between splitting or sawing hp means it takes lots of pressure, or flow to make it work with any speed and speed requires lots of hp to make it run. You can get a lot of tonnage out of a big cylinder and little pump, and a small engine but it wont have speed. You can get a lot of speed out of a lot of flow and low pressure and small engine, but it wont have a lot of power. If you want power and speed, you need a large engine and a big pump and the proper valves to handle the oil flow.