The best ways to feed the splitter?

[KiwiBro]

No hydraulic ring/block lifter here and even if there was, I'm not yet convinced it's the most efficient way. It may be, but I was wondering what other options there may be that are reasonably cheap and effective.

Does anyone use a roller table/conveyor with a ramped section at on end? I was thinking about rolling rings to the ramped section then flopping them against the ramp and pushing them up the ramp, up to splitter table height. Could get quite a few rings up there reasonably easily (haven't tried, so haven't confirmed the rings would be easy enough to push up the rollered ramp).

Perhaps a ramp at the end of a horizontal length of rollers and an electric winch to haul logs up the ramp and onto a few bits of 4 x 2 laid along the rollers to keep the log up off them so you could block the log down with your saw while it's up at that height, on the rollers.

How about a winch or hydraulic lifting table where you could roll a log up to it, buck it up, but not cutting right through, leaving a small amount on the other side of the log to cut once the log is rolled onto the lift.

It needs to be reasonably cheap, portable, and efficient. Some opposing needs there I know, but perhaps someone has found a perfect solution for them and wouldn't mind sharing please? I figure it's a common problem, so perhaps there's some really clever solutions I could learn of.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JRepairsK70e]

the logs i get /buy are all irreg sizes and shapes ,lotsa knobs, trimmed crotches ,butt tapers ,or just not very straight so a roller /conveyor system wouldnt work for me .so i poped for a loglift on the splitter ,what a back saver ,roll em on hit the lever . its still work ,but we split and stack a full cord in 45 mins . i now am in the process of modifying the lift to be able to swap it to the other side of the main beam for those jobs where you just have to load from the other side to keep an efficient work flow , good luck with your quest jk

 

[darkbyrd]

I don't know how efficient an operation you require, but for me, if the rounds are too heavy to lift, I split them with a hammer and wedges. Lots of people cut them lengthwise (noodle) them with a chainsaw. I've thought about rigging up a chain hoist or block and tackle above the splitter with log tongs at the end to help me do the lifting, but I don't see rounds (I think that's what you mean by rings) too big to lift very often.

 

[KiwiBro]

Thanks guys. Yes, I'll call 'em rounds from now on and if too big they are noodled into halves or quarters.

Can you get more than one round on the lifter at a time?

What I'm trying to do is to stop splitting once, to load a heap of rounds at splitter table height, close to me when splitting, rather than stop after every round to roll another one onto a lifter.

If the lifter is ultimately the best approach, then that's what I'll try to come up with, but I just have a nagging doubt about it being the best way for me.

what I've found great is when I've got rounds loaded into the back on my truck/ute, and it's backed right up to the splitter. I just turn around and grab another round from a similar height, and keep on splitting. It seems to have a better flow for me than stopping every round to lift another one onto the splitting table, or to roll it to the table (and halves and 1/4's don't roll so well ;-) ) before lifting it up.

So I was thinking, if I could pre-load a bunch of rounds onto rollers positioned just behind where I'm working, at splitter table height, then I could get the same flow.

 

[darkbyrd]

If you had a slope you could work with, you could bring the rounds to the upper side of a retaining wall (at whatever height worked best for you) so there would be no picking "up", only moving sideways.

ETA: Or build a very strong table!

 

[dave_dj1]

what about a 3'-4' table in place of the log lifter and having the log lifter at the end, that way you could load up enough to split for a while. I guess depends on how portable the splitter needs to be too.
____
I \_

 

[KiwiBro]

If you had a slope you could work with, you could bring the rounds to the upper side of a retaining wall (at whatever height worked best for you) so there would be no picking "up", only moving sideways.

ETA: Or build a very strong table!

you know, on the last job where there was slope, I did that with a simple ramp (which could be moved easily) onto the splitter, but I load directly into big firewood bags and need to keep moving my splitter b/c I don't have a way to get the bags out of the way (I could set them up on an old car bonnet or the like and skid them out of the way but then I'd never get a bag off the bonnet as it's too heavy.

So I was thinking of some set-up that's easy for one guy to move when needed, would work for sloped and flat areas, and be reasonably cheap to put together.

the whole "moving sideways" thing is best, but I just need to find a way to elevate the rounds when I can't let gravity do the work.

 

[KiwiBro]

what about a 3'-4' table in place of the log lifter and having the log lifter at the end, that way you could load up enough to split for a while. I guess depends on how portable the splitter needs to be too.
____
I \_

Yeah, portable by one guy, or a way I can hitch it to my splitter and move the whole lot in one go via the tow hitch on my truck/ute.

 

[dave_dj1]

well it could fold up and ride that way.

 

[gandrimp]

4 minutes long.

I think Hyd is the only way for all your requirements.

 

[dave_dj1]

Hey gandrimp, pretty good use of a generator frame! It looks like you have a pretty good setup for your wood prdouction.
I was thinking something along those lines but having part of the horizontal table staying level and have the lift off that.

 

[hoogie]

Before i put my loglift on i looked till my eyes bled. I finally went with a log lift and tongs, works great made it outta an old engine hoist took the base off of it welded it to the center point of my beam on the splitter swapped out the manual hyd. for another one and put another valve on. Works great i can hoist a 1000lb round up there with only my self if need be, another nice things is when you are splitting the round the tongs hold on to it, so after the split you can readjust it real easy...I've got pics on some of my other posts couple of guys want me to make a vid, so sooner or later i'll get to it. If thats not an option noodle and have plenty of beer for your friends....lol Log table I didnt like the idea for the simple fact it was harder to handle the size rounds that i get once they been split ya dont want anyone on either side of the beam cause ya have no clue where the halfs are gonna land, then ya gotta muscle those back up on the beam...Just my 2cents worth...

 

[TMFARM 2009]

i am going to set up mine on a trolley system inside the barn...electric hoist and tongs.. pick up rounds from the truck and slide them over to the splitter on trolley....once split table will push to a stacking station.
my wife thinks i am nuts, but once she see's it work she will like a lot better.

 

[dave_dj1]

i am going to set up mine on a trolley system inside the barn...electric hoist and tongs.. pick up rounds from the truck and slide them over to the splitter on trolley....once split table will push to a stacking station.
my wife thinks i am nuts, but once she work's it she will like a lot better.

There, I fixed it for ya! LOL
It sounds like a good set up, I am finding in my older years that I abused my body too much when I was younger, so now I need machinery to do the lifting for me!

 

[KiwiBro]

I am finding in my older years that I abused my body too much when I was younger, so now I need machinery to do the lifting for me!

I'm in the same boat. Got a knee that won't let me do too much these days, so I'm trying to work smarter, not harder. Has anyone tried using a roller ramp? I'm wondering how hard it would be to push a large round up it - say rising 2 1/2 feet over a 6 or 8 feet ramp.

If going with the tongs and winch idea, Does anyone know how long those electric winches would last? Could I get the whole day out of one, run off a car battery? I ask b/c I'm thinking of getting one (with a wireless remote) that can be mounted and dismounted to/from the back of my truck.

thanks.

 

[dave_dj1]

I've got two of the tractor supply 3k winches, one on my Teryx and one I had used for a plywood lift (long story), now on my truck crane. neither one get's used to any extreme but when you need them they are there. The one I just put on the truck crane, I think with intermittent use it would get you through a day on a car battery. Just don't use it non stop and I think you will be fine.
You could always hook jumper cables up to the battery while you are using it unless you aren't near the truck.

 

[KiwiBro]

I've got two of the tractor supply 3k winches, one on my Teryx and one I had used for a plywood lift (long story), now on my truck crane. neither one get's used to any extreme but when you need them they are there. The one I just put on the truck crane, I think with intermittent use it would get you through a day on a car battery. Just don't use it non stop and I think you will be fine.
You could always hook jumper cables up to the battery while you are using it unless you aren't near the truck.

Thanks for that. Often there's a pile or piles of logs and I don't have gravity on my side. if I had the room to set the splitter up off the end of the piles, and set up a table (sacrificial wooden top layer), I wonder if I could just winch a log up a ramp and onto the table and buck it there and then roll the rounds onto a roller conveyor right next to (and at the same height) the table, to feed the splitter which can move along parallel to the conveyor as it's filling bags of firewood.

I'd need a table that could handle a couple of logs at a time and be an easy set-up and take-down-for-transport. If the winch could handle dragging logs off the pile and onto the table, repeatedly throughout the day, then I think I might have myself a reasonable solution. I might see if I can demo a winch and see how long it lasts and, if I need to use the truck's battery, whether I can still start my truck at the end of the day

 

[Nosmo]

What I can do with the big ones

I don't get too many of the bigger ones which weight over 100 lbs but I handle them in different ways.

I might noodle them if I am not pressed for time. I do have a crane on the back of the truck which has never failed to pick up some I know must have weighed 200 lbs. or more.
I use tongs which I made to load and unload those big ones.

I can used that same method with the crane to load a big one onto the splitter. I have another option for the big ones. I can use my 2-ton engine hoist to pick up a big one and roll it over to the splitter and lower it on the cradle.

Like I say I don't run into very many of the bigger ones but if necessary I can deal with them.

Nosmo

 

[zogger]

lifter

No practical easy replacement except for what a lot of splitters have, the hydro log lifter on the side. the one here I know has done rounds close to 400 lbs. or will pick up several at a time with a weight overt that a little.. Still a bear for me to handle them once the splitting starts and they are on the beam, but I just bust chunks off the supported side and keep the dang thing balanced. (Ya, had a few fall off...much fancy dancing outta the way and colorful language ensued...)

That's when I use the hydraulic (my boss built it the year I was born, an oldie but a stout one), but I don't anymore, that thing is double plus good busted, so I do it all by hand now. (I prefer the splitting by hand, he just showed up with it one day and said use it...he's the boss, etc...)

Real big ones, now that I am back doing it by hand, I tip on their sides and roll up a (supported with chunks underneath) plank to the block. Largest I have done are a scosh over three hundred lbs (I figured out cubic footage and looked it up for species and wet weight, because I wanted to know just how much vinegar I still had..just for fun) and they gots to be round or they get too dangerous and hard for me to move (I am not conan sized...). any knots or whatnot sticking out I noodle off first.

If it is too heavy for me to tip on it's side, (like I said, a little over three hundred lbs is my limit to tip over a round, getting a little old for that young guy action plus busted me back back in the 90s) heck with it, cut them up into manageable chunks first or VERY rarely I'll split directly on the ground. I really don't like doing that and never have liked it.

And that is also why I cut a LOT more smaller stuff now, stuff that doesn't even need splitting. I cut real big stuff when I absolutely have to, that's it. At least half my wood now is small stuff, I don't bust much 8-10 inches or smaller. Just stack it..and be patient until it is dry. I never care if it takes two years instead of one. We get just tons of heating days here where all you want is some sort of fire, and those big pieces work good for that.

 

[Philbert]

OK, I saw this at the State Fair this week, and did not think much of it at the time, but it might give you an idea for something that you can do:

WP Wood Processor - Wallenstein

Most woodprocessors that I have seen have 1) an in-feed belt or ramp; 2) a powered saw; 3) a splitter; and 4) an out-feed belt. The one I saw was missing # 2 and # 4.
It feeds the logs to the worker who cuts it with a chainsaw, the round drops into the splitter chamber, and exits onto the ground.

Maybe you could get some inspiration from this approach - bringing the logs or rounds up an inclined belt that is parallel to the splitter ram, instead of perpendicular to it? Some wood processors use a cable and winch to pull the logs, instead of a belt. Also lets you cut at a better height than on the ground.

Philbert