My Splitter Build (heavy on photos)

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They are std trailer jacks, I removed the crank and replaced it with a bolt with the thread cut off. All that holds the crank in is a pin in the top gear. The pins that I removed were junk so I replaced them with spring pins from the home depot.

That's what I had in mind having some pins on the frame and tubing on the work table so they don't fill up with junk if the table is off.

JT
 
Made some progress on my splitter...

frame-06.jpg


splitter-21.jpg


JT
 
Looks great! How will the beam move from horizontal to vertical?
I'll have a hook that goes to the wedge and a shackle to a pad eye on the frame and a turnaround sheave on the reaction plate so the cable goes around the corner nicely. When I raise the wedge it will pull the beam upright.

JT
 
Thanks, I got a few minutes to work on the work tables... they will be held in with pins and the log lift will be on the left one. It is really starting to take shape. I'm getting excited...

splitter-24.jpg


JT
 
any reason for not doing continious welds on that tube??
ive seen you do alot if it on this, and about the only thing i find it might have been needed on is the hydraulic tank.
most joints under 6"-8" dont require multiple short welds, (uless its under somthing like 12Ga material), any small gain in not warping is usually eliminated by weld defects (cold starts, slag inclusions, etc) . if properly clamped, and braced, along with proper weld size, and sequence, warping can be kept to a minimum without having to make mutiple short welds...
sorry as welder it make me notice stuff like this...
 
any reason for not doing continuous welds on that tube??
ive seen you do a lot if it on this, and about the only thing i find it might have been needed on is the hydraulic tank.
most joints under 6"-8" don't require multiple short welds, (unless its under something like 12Ga material), any small gain in not warping is usually eliminated by weld defects (cold starts, slag inclusions, etc) . if properly clamped, and braced, along with proper weld size, and sequence, warping can be kept to a minimum without having to make multiple short welds...
sorry as welder it make me notice stuff like this...

Stainless steel warps and pulls like crazy when you weld it so I was doing short welds out of habit to help stop the warping. On steel is not that much of a problem. I can comfortably weld about 6" if I can see the joint good. Any longer than that and I have reposition my hand as I rest my welding hand on something to help me keep the torch tip steady. If you have any tips I'm all eyes... oh and the hydraulic tank is 12 gauge. Boy did I foul up the tank, I forgot to remove the mill scale from the weld area when I assembled the bottom and I had leak after leak after leak... I finally got them all patched up.

I wish I knew the proper way to weld... all I know is from the school of hard knocks.

JT
 
Stainless steel warps and pulls like crazy when you weld it so I was doing short welds out of habit to help stop the warping. On steel is not that much of a problem. I can comfortably weld about 6" if I can see the joint good. Any longer than that and I have reposition my hand as I rest my welding hand on something to help me keep the torch tip steady. If you have any tips I'm all eyes... oh and the hydraulic tank is 12 gauge. Boy did I foul up the tank, I forgot to remove the mill scale from the weld area when I assembled the bottom and I had leak after leak after leak... I finally got them all patched up.

I wish I knew the proper way to weld... all I know is from the school of hard knocks.

JT
instead of planting your hand, try planting your elbows, either into your stomach or on the table/work piece, i can get around 30+ inches of weld when i plant my elbows into my stomach, it also helps to lean on somthing or place your knee/hip againt something while welding, just standing without touching anything, you dont really have any refrence as to where you are,and your body seems to move on its own.
also before i weld i usually do a fast "dry run" to make sure im in a position that im able to weld that joint, if not i re-position my self...

as for your stainless tables, and your tank, thats where a proper weld size comes in, as those are some heaftey welds for 11 gauge? tube, and on your tank the welds i saw on that are about the size i would run on 3/8"-1/2" material... 12 gauge material usually requires about an a 1/8" weld (with proper penetration) of course you can go bigger but then warping becomes a concern.

really though i think your machine/fab work is awesome, but your welding needs a bit of work...

im a self taught welder also, the only thing someone showed me was oxy fuel welding, as i didnt have a torch...
my dad was a welder for 30 years never taught me to weld though, just said go play with the welder till i got it right, that was with a mig. then i worked for a company and we only had a tig welder, so i picked that up too, then another job with only a stick welder, so i had to learn that also. neither one of those jobs had another welder to guide me, it was all trial and error and a little bit of reasearch...
machining was the same way, the only cnc's i can run are proto traks, as ive never had the chance to run any others, but i can run any manual machine out there, i guess i was just lucky to have jobs that let me screw around to try and learn something on my own...
 
Thanks so much for the tips on welding. I'll practice that today. I weave back and forth a little as I weld to get good penetration on both parts. The stainless tubing is 11ga and the welds ended up being about 1/4" wide.

JT
 
One more question on welding while the subject is fresh... when I try and make a small bead I don't get good penetration so I weave back and forth then I get a large bead. What's the secret for getting a good small bead?

JT
 
proper heat/wire speed/ travel speed...
i usually run a bit hot and travel "fast" for thin material
if you dont know the settings, then use scrap of the same material thickness and practice, different heat/ speeds

just curious, what are you running for wire?
 
A rule of thumb that will get you in the ball park for mig and tig is 1 amp per thousandth of an inch. IE 11 ga. stainless if .119/.120 so set your amps in the 120 range then adjust up or down to the travel speed you comfortably weld at. For me I tig weld lots of 11 ga. stainless and I run it at 125 amps petal mashed using 3/32 316ss rod. That may be to hot if your travel speed is to slow. They work hand in hand. Just like speed and feed in machining. Now the other thing you can do while tig welding is set amps a little higher say 150/160 amps and then feather the pedal to control width of the weld puddle. Less pedal less heat smaller puddle more pedal more heat bigger puddle. Also agree with Nathon about doing a dry run for body position. Makes a huge difference in length of weld. What type of tig/mig welder you running?
 
proper heat/wire speed/ travel speed...
i usually run a bit hot and travel "fast" for thin material
if you dont know the settings, then use scrap of the same material thickness and practice, different heat/ speeds

just curious, what are you running for wire?

I use 0.030" solid wire in both MIG welders. The only exception is the spool of stainless wire is 0.035" for what reason I don't know.

JT
 
A rule of thumb that will get you in the ball park for mig and tig is 1 amp per thousandth of an inch. IE 11 ga. stainless if .119/.120 so set your amps in the 120 range then adjust up or down to the travel speed you comfortably weld at. For me I tig weld lots of 11 ga. stainless and I run it at 125 amps petal mashed using 3/32 316ss rod. That may be to hot if your travel speed is to slow. They work hand in hand. Just like speed and feed in machining. Now the other thing you can do while tig welding is set amps a little higher say 150/160 amps and then feather the pedal to control width of the weld puddle. Less pedal less heat smaller puddle more pedal more heat bigger puddle. Also agree with Nathon about doing a dry run for body position. Makes a huge difference in length of weld. What type of tig/mig welder you running?

I have a Miller Suitcase MIG welder (Multimatic 200 now a days) that can weld steel with straight CO2 and stainless with mixed gas. My main MIG/Spool Gun welder is a Miller Millermatic 212 and my TIG welder is a Miller Syncrowave 180 SD... LOL, I'm a poster child for Miller. The crappy weld was with too big wire and on the Suitcase MIG welder.

JT
 
I have a Miller Suitcase MIG welder (Multimatic 200 now a days) that can weld steel with straight CO2 and stainless with mixed gas. My main MIG/Spool Gun welder is a Miller Millermatic 212 and my TIG welder is a Miller Syncrowave 180 SD... LOL, I'm a poster child for Miller. The crappy weld was with too big wire and on the Suitcase MIG welder.

JT
.035 is fine for 11 gauge, i just asked incase you were running .045 because thats a bit big...
also any reason your running straight co2? c-25 (75% argon 25% co2) or airgas Steelmix (84% argon 16% co2) are a much better gas to run on either of those migs for steel, theyre a little more $$ but they run alot cleaner than straight co2...
what are you running for a spool gun? ive thought about picking one up for my old Millermatic 200 for aluminum, but i havent really needed it since i have the tig. id love a millermatic 350P with a push/pull gun but i dont think thats happening for a while
also i like them blue welders alot better than those red, yellow,gray,etc ones too:clap:
 

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