log splitter

[daveb]

BillG, I have been pleased with the 31 ton splitter I bought at home depot. I know that MTD is not known for high quality, but this unit seems to be built well. At $1300, it was the strongest splitter I could find for the money. BTW it has an 8hp Briggs I/C engine, 16 gpm two stage pump and a 15 sec. cycle time.

 

[bwalker]

Russ, Thats a reallyodd situation youe described. Your generator should have ran that no problem. Maybe soemthing is wrong with the generator itself? We have a honda at our camp that has been going strong since my dad got it in about 1980. About the only thing we do to it maintenance wise is change the oil once a year.
Back to the splitters. If I where to buy a hydraulic unit I would probaly get one form Northern tool. Good value IMO. Maybe not as good as a timberwolf, but close and the cost a whole lot less. What I want to know is has anyone ran one of the intertia powered splitters?

 

[Bill G]

Dave,
I was trying to knock MTD or any other brand I was just pointing out a thougt. I am glad you are happy with your machine. Here is another observation that may make some Honda fans mad. While I am sure they have some great engines they also have some crappy ones also. I have heard of a great deal of 5Hp horz OHV motors that were sent back for recall work because of plastic cam gears. Now I am not knoocking Honda as I have had many many Honda ATV's and have had no complaints at all. I have one that has been stolen twice and now has basically no compression from being beat so hard it is a damm shame. I believe with a little ether it will still run. How is that for realiability.

Bill

 

[Bill G]

Here is another splitter to consider for those of you that are serious about high speed splitting. Just down the road from me is the Blockbuster company. They manufacture and sell firewood processors. They also build a re-splitter. It is a skid type splitter designed for high speed re-splitting of pieces from a processor. It is high speed but not as high speed as the flywheel splitters. It uses a 10Hp Kohler engine and boasts a 6 second cycle time. That is really fast for a hydraulic splitter. It has a 3 way head and a 20 gallon oil tank. It is a top notch machine but comes at a top notch price. It sells for $4500.

Bill G

 

[django]

Hello all,
It's been a little while since I looked at the various forums and was interested to see this topic being discussed because I am in the process of building my own "flywheel" log splitter. Since buliding my outdoor waterstove ( pics are found on the off the topic forum) I am going through a a lot more wood than I used to when I used an indoor woodstove ( something all those folks buying these things are going to be made sorely aware of, I forsee a lot
of theses babies being for sale used in the next few years when people that bought the sales pitch realize how much wood they use, especially if they buy thier firewood, plus they are very expensive to buy) So I decided I needed a splitter. I came across the Supersplit on the web and was intrigued by the theory, I contacted the company SEVERAL times and essentially got piss-poor service from them so I decided to build it. Considering the high price of thiers, there really is not all that much to them. I have never seen one in action, and mine will be different than what you can buy, but I can't imagine there will be anything it won't split. I'll keep you guys updated if you are interested.
Here are the specs so far,
7.5 Wisconsin engine with 6:1 gear reducer ( 600rpm) belt driven to the flywheels.
2- 125lb flywheels 15" in dia. ( solid steel) ( I know this is not an ideal flywheel, but you use what you can find, yes, they are balanced)
The flywheels and pinion do not share a common shaft as on the commercial models, the pinoin will be turning 1/3 the RPM of the flywheels. Via #60 chain & sprockets.
All shafts turn in pillow blocks.
I beam is 6wx8hx1/2
Rack gear is # 8 pitch
Slide is full capture around the beam with nyloil bearings.
All these thing realyy are is a horiz. flywheel press. I toyed with the idea of using linkage arms instead of a rack gear but didn't.

 

[Newfie]

the sky's the limit....

Dad2_5,

As you've probably figured out you can spend a ton of money on a splitter. Just remember you can then figure that into your wood furnace investment and watch the number of years for the break-even point to increase.

I think for 6-8 cords a year cycle time on the splitter is irrelevant. 6 seconds versus 15 seconds is a noticable difference but are you going to realistically work at a six second pace?

I have a 27 ton cub cadet (yellow MTD ). I have split 45 full cords with it over the past 18 months and have had absolutely no problems with it. It is plenty fast enough to work at a nice even pace. Routine maintainence, cleaning and lubrication is all I have had to do. Proper maintainence and stored under cover, any decent splitter should last a long time.

Some of these other models out there have lots of bells and whistles. I have always tried to Keep It Simple. The more options the more things to maintain or repair.

Also don't mistake a higher price tag with better quality, because that isn't always the case.

If you do decide to buy one from one of the big box stores, it will be already assembled so check it over carefully. I walked away from the ones I saw at Home Depot because they had been left exposed to the elements and were rusting all over the place. Nobody wants to pay good money for a rusty POS.

 

[Crofter]

Flywheel Inertia Splitter

They advertise the fast cycle time as a selling point but it is visciously fast in action. pieces fly. Once you engage a cycle it goes full stroke instantly and ther is no stopping it part way like with hydraulic. If it does get stuck in a block there is no way to back up the ram. A commercial firewood guy I know bought one but he didnt have it long!

Frank

 

[django]

There is a little video on the supersplit website that shows it in action. I personally would not call it "viciously" fast, but that's me.
The cycle IS interuptable, you dis-engage the rack from the pinion by tapping down on it the handle. If your ram gets stuck, your flywheels will have stalled and you dis-engage the rack, let them spool up again, and hit the log with full force again. Cycle times are relevant to the energy being absorbed from the flywheels so a piece of ash is going to fly apart and a piece of elm would go slower.
I don't know what kind your buddy had, but 1 foot per second is not "blink of an eye" fast. Although if you had your hand or arm in harms way, I would say your gonna get hurt. I completely agree that if you split just a few cords per year, you don't need one at all. Personally, if that's all I wanted to split, I would pile up my wood, and rent one for a day, and split it . I decide to build mine because I am a toolmaker by profession, and a hydraulic model just didn't appeal to me as much as a mechanical one.
Have a good one,
Steve

 

[Crofter]

Re Inertia splitter. Guess I missed that the stroke is interruptable. Watched them working with it a bit and it looked a bit scary. If you put the manpower around it to take advantage of the cycle time it can get pretty busy. My point I guess is that beyond a certain point, faster is not better. What cycle time will you have with the one you are building.

Frank

 

[Toddppm]

Django, please post pics of your progress if possible! Always interesting.

I've got the same splitter DaveB has, 31 ton MTD it has the 10 hp B+G , had it for about 8 yrs now? It's split alot of wood , haven't run into anything yet that it wouldn't split, big,small, knots whatever.

I remember seeing pics of those screw type splitters on Model T's, that's how old that technology is!

 

[django]

I'll be glad to post pics. Don't be afraid to criticize/offer advice.
I have very thick skin. Cut some red oak ( tops ) tonight, 20" dia.
It's 1/2 cured and dosen't split by hand worth a hoot. I need to get this thing done! ( there are'nt enough hours in the day, especially daylight)
See ya,
Steve

 

[bwalker]

Steve, I am interested in bulding a splitter as well. I like the idea of not messing with hydraulics and the fast cycle time of the inertia splitter. Do you have any plans/part list? How about some pics.

 

[django]

Hey BW, I would be more than happy to help as much as I can. It's slow going for me right now, too much else going on. I figure I'll be done in a mo. or so. As far as plans, I have hand drawn stuff probably only I can understand at this point(sketches, jibberish). I will post pics, when I get some, possibly as early as tonight. Mine is going to be different than the comm. ones, I am gear reducing via sprockets to keep the flywheels at a more consistent speed. There is other stuff the pics will explain. The main thing that I can help with is a parts list, once itis done, Thats half the battle. If I were you I would be looking for suitable flywheels right now. That's the hardest thing to aquire for reasonable $.

 

[Crofter]

Flywheels

A possible source is a farm implements wrecker. The old square hay balers have a good heavy flywheel also the old belt drive buzz saws. They have a standard sized bore so easier to adapt. The baler one has a sheer pin also. The heavier the flywheel the better as you dont have to turn it as fast and it will have more follow up. You can also get by with a very small engine if your flywheel is heavy. As I stated in a post earlier I felt that the cycle time was faster than necessary. You can hardly make use of it all unless you have a lot of manpower, so if you are building think about giving it a bit more power instead of speed. Just a thought.

Frank

 

[django]

Your right on the money, Crofter. That is my goal. However, 500lbs. of flywheel is more than I want to deal with. Mines definitely experimental. We shall see.
Steve

 

[bwalker]

What about using a wheel off of a small car? I think the wheel off a small car filled with lead shot would give the correct weight, be compact and easily balanced(on a tire amchine of course). Thoughts?

 

[django]

Oooh. I don't think the car wheel is a good idea. "easily balanced"
I am not too sure. Especially with lead shot. You would have to have a way to make sure that it didn't shift once you have it where you want it. Same thing for sand or concrete or anything that can move.Remember, if your gonna tow this thing that it has to stand up to rough roads and trails and potholes etc... And depending on the rpm your gonna turn, they need to be very well balanced. And it's not just rpm that you are concerned with, it's RIM speed. My wheels, at 600rpm, amd 14" dia.have a rim speed of over 26000 inches a min. I am gonna turn mine 600rpm initially, but the are balanced ( on their shafts ) to turn over 2000rpm. I agree wth Crofter that junked implements are a good place to look. I have an implement auction place 2mi. from where I work, and could have bought pretty good sized wheels. I wanted smaller, so I made them. I thought about using tractor wheel weights, but couldn't find a good deal. Whatever you use, balance is key, it makes more usable power, is easier on the bearings, and of course, safer.
Have Fun!!
Steve

 

[django]

Some more thoughts to muddy the water: Yes, Large diameter , heavy flyweheels can be turned slower and yes, you can power them with a "small engine, however, a flywheel by nature, starts slowing down as soon as it starts to do any work. The engineering formula for them uses a no load speed and a speed when they have completed their task, and the percentage one to another determines the "capacity" of your system. Large heavy wheels have tremendous initial force, but they still slow down, and herein lies the rub. You need a decent "recovery" time. If your wheels take 10 seconds to spool back up once you have split a log, then your split time savings become pointless. If you do not let your wheels recover, you just keep going slower and slower.And the your recovery time will be long indeed. So if you use a big wheel, and you want fast recovery, you need horsepower. If you use smaller wheels and spin them faster, you will lose much more rpm as you perform your task, but your recovery time is short. However your cycle times become ( in my opinion) too fast unless you use some sort of reduction. I have a friend who is into antique tractors big time. Some of those old steam tractors have flywheels that are 6ft. across and turn so slow you wouldn't think they would do anything, but their rim speed is tremendous. What a log splitter they would make!!
.

 

[bwalker]

Steve, Good idea about the gear reduction box. Supersplit sells a hd version with a 8 hp and a 2-1 gear reduction. The added torque mutiplication the gearbox provides would speed up recovery time. What is your target weight for the flywheel you plan to use
? what about using the flywheel off a large diesel engine?

 

[django]

The engine I am using is a Wisconsin 7.5 hp. with a 6:1 gear reduction. (600 rpm output) Keep in mind the commercial units use 2 flywheels, one on each side of the beam. A truck flywheel would be balanced, I dont know about weight. I am not at all impressed with supersplit as a company. I contacted them several times with question about their product ( NOT trying to find out how they are built, just general questions any consumer should ask before spending $4000 on a splitter) Their "customer service" sucks. The thing I don't understand about their splitters is just how fast the PINION is turning. If they run the engine at 3600rpm ( no reduction except for the pulleys from the engine to the flywheels ) It would take a massive pulley ( like 2 feet .) on the flywheels to slow the pinion down to a managable speed, assuming a very small pulley from the engine. I don't know if the rack gear shoots out at some absurd f.p.m. and slows immediately, or what. My flywheels are 125lb. each at a 14in. dia.
solid steel. What I have done is put the flywh. and pinion on 2 seperate shafts. The fly's turn 600 and then from the fly's to the pinion I use sprockets and # 60 chain to reduce the pinion down to 200 rpm. With my pinion pitch dia. this gives me a no load rack speed of a little over a foot per second, while theoretically maintaining a fairly constant flywheel speed. I will try to get some pictures posted this evening. All will be clearer then. Somethin to take note of: most geaboxes of a manageable size are not rated to handle the stress this type of machine will subject them to.
Hence, the #60 chain.