Portable inverted splitter? And electric conversion

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

zogger

Tree Freak
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Messages
16,456
Reaction score
11,194
Location
North Georgia
Ive seen the ones that go on skid steers, but wondering if there is a stand alone unit out there that works similar? Something you could roll over or swing down over a big round and split it in place.

yes I know they make vertical splitters, but that means you need to flop a big round over and wiggle it in place.

Well, thats nice but with rounds in the 250 to 400 lb class, that aint happening.

So you are bucking this big log on the ground, every cut, you have a big round still on edge there. You can start at one end, roll one out a little for clearance, get it busted into at least manageable chunks, then roll the next one out, and so on. Similar to what you would do noodling, but perhaps faster/easier better. Somehow there would need to be an easy height adjust...

Any thoughts or has anyone seen one?

Second question, anyone convert one of those smaller lightweight/cheap electric splitters into small gas engine powered? the whole things dont weight much, take off the electric motor and make the power source remote along with the hydraulic tank, and just have the bean/wedge/pussher plate and cylinder with some like handles to maneuever it over the round? This sort of follows on the above question, if the engine could be remote, with some longer hydraulic hoses, those things should be be light enough (they are only 4 to 10 tons I guess) to manhandle over big rounds and start shaving away at them. Set it up so it was just in slow and strong mode permanetly, to keep it simpler.
 
Zogger - we struggled with this issue of humungous rounds that needed to be split/noodled into manageable pieces. We ended up having a local fabricator build the log lift on the Speeco.
View attachment 278583View attachment 278584View attachment 278585

A 2wheel dolly and log peavey help in moving them to the machine.

The idea you have for a portable splitter is interesting. It would have to be light enough for rigging/strong enough to drive a good sized wedge. What would you power it with? I have yet to see one. I was also thinking of trying a gas powered pneumatic jack hammer with a large wedge bit to crack'm in half or quarters too, but never got any feedback from others that may have tried.

Keep think'n

Bub
 
I saw a hand portable hydraulic wood shear somewhere on youtube. It wasn't in english, I don't recall where it was. It was similar to the hydraulic shears on a fire truck "jaws of life", but has a wider reach. It was no where near big enough to reach from one cut end to the other. It was used by placing one jaw on the cut end and the other on the bark and pinching the corner of the round. Sorry I can't explain it better.
 
My splitter is light weight, well under 200 pounds with fluids, and balanced so there is only a few pounds at the beam/wedge end... one guy can easily roll it into position with just one hand. It's also low to the ground (mostly because I don't have high-speed wheels, hubs and tires on it) so it ain't too difficult to sort of hook-lift-roll a large round onto the beam. But for the really big rounds I just loosen one wing-nut and the beam, wedge and cylinder flop over on their side... so the wedge is horizontal rather than vertical. That makes even monster rounds a one-man operation... and no lifting of any sort.
 
Neat idea! Something like Log-Rites junior arch with a splitter on it? Or a trailer for a quad with a side log lift and vertical splitter?

Something like that for a larger version, log arch, roll it over, drop down to it, bust. And a smaller one that the ram part is man portable.

The whole idea is try to avoid having two trailers if possible. You need a trailer to haul the wood, then you would need another one for a splitter and..not practical. I want the truck to haul gear, saws and so on, and the trailer or the bulk wood weight. Big gas splitters are heavy and even loaded and unloaded on the wood trailer, then you have to hand manuever them around and take up a lot of space.

Whichever has to be able to be moved by hand, meaning the engine etc is on the main trailer. Just need some longer hoses then.

The smaller electric ones only weigh in around a hundred lbs or so. Thats getting closer in weight, but still too heavy and also electric, not good for field use. If converted and the engine and pump, etc were on the trailer, say near the nose, this lightens it up more, then you could just lift off the ram part, set it over the round, bust off slices from the outside. You could angle it to take little bites. Maybe have the controls built into the handles?

I dont think you would need much in the way of a gas engine to run those things, something like a 50 buck small lawnmower engine. Generic 3.5 horse briggs vertical is the cheapest out there.

Maybe build the cylinder part into a hand truck with decent wheels for off road use? Then wheel it in place, just fold it over where it needs to go. You could go bigger in the cylinder and pump tonnage part then.
 
My splitter is light weight, well under 200 pounds with fluids, and balanced so there is only a few pounds at the beam/wedge end... one guy can easily roll it into position with just one hand. It's also low to the ground (mostly because I don't have high-speed wheels, hubs and tires on it) so it ain't too difficult to sort of hook-lift-roll a large round onto the beam. But for the really big rounds I just loosen one wing-nut and the beam, wedge and cylinder flop over on their side... so the wedge is horizontal rather than vertical. That makes even monster rounds a one-man operation... and no lifting of any sort.

Is that a commercial unit?
 
Zogger - we struggled with this issue of humungous rounds that needed to be split/noodled into manageable pieces. We ended up having a local fabricator build the log lift on the Speeco.
View attachment 278583View attachment 278584View attachment 278585

A 2wheel dolly and log peavey help in moving them to the machine.

The idea you have for a portable splitter is interesting. It would have to be light enough for rigging/strong enough to drive a good sized wedge. What would you power it with? I have yet to see one. I was also thinking of trying a gas powered pneumatic jack hammer with a large wedge bit to crack'm in half or quarters too, but never got any feedback from others that may have tried.

Keep think'n

Bub

Yes we (my boss home made one, old but big) have a currently broken but repairable real large one like that here. But it is big and real heavy and not real good for towing off road, not much clearance. Has a stout log lift and big cradles and tables. Big ram, big hydraulic reservoir, large uel tank, twin cylinder engine, all built on a small steel trailer. Freeking heavy. That also makes it a two vehicle or two trips experience. Need to get this down to one vehicle, one trailer, get a lot of wood in one trip.
 
I've posted in several threads about my splitter...
Here is one with pictures and explanations of how it works...

http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/175027.htm

And here is a couple of links the the web pages describing it...

SPLITTERS
SPLITTERS

Don't let the 15 and 18 ton ratings worry you... those are actual sustained tonnage, not peak tonnage based on mathematics.
I have the larger engine, 18-ton unit... and I've seen it out-split 20-25 ton "Big-Box Store" splitters on more than one occasion. A buddy of mine bought a 30-ton unit at the fleet store last fall and then he stopped one day while I was using mine... he now has "buyers remorse."
 
I've posted in several threads about my splitter...
Here is one with pictures and explanations of how it works...

http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/175027.htm

And here is a couple of links the the web pages describing it...

SPLITTERS
SPLITTERS

Don't let the 15 and 18 ton ratings worry you... those are actual sustained tonnage, not peak tonnage based on mathematics.
I have the larger engine, 18-ton unit... and I've seen it out-split 20-25 ton "Big-Box Store" splitters on more than one occasion. A buddy of mine bought a 30-ton unit at the fleet store last fall and then he stopped one day while I was using mine... he now has "buyers remorse."

Ya, thats more like it!
 
If all ready have an electric splitter , what about a generator? would save the conversion to gas not that it would be any cheaper cost wise. Most of the small electrics are single acting cylinders , spring return. There is some type of very small reservoir contained in them so one has to be a bit careful about orientation otherwise the pump pickup will be sucking air. Systems are similar to that of a snowplow single acting cylinders, small reservoir only about 3 quarts in the whole plow system on a straight blade without down pressure.
 
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sNZ48h9_Z50?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> how about something like this? simply make that arm longer, so it could sit down over a stick of wood.
 
Last edited:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sNZ48h9_Z50?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> how about something like this? simply make that arm longer, so it could sit down over a stick of wood.

Yep, basically what I was talking about. Have to be designed for wood though. Portable to set right over the round at any angle, either outright split or shave off splits.
 
I finally found it!<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B447_CE7Uzk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
If all ready have an electric splitter , what about a generator? would save the conversion to gas not that it would be any cheaper cost wise. Most of the small electrics are single acting cylinders , spring return. There is some type of very small reservoir contained in them so one has to be a bit careful about orientation otherwise the pump pickup will be sucking air. Systems are similar to that of a snowplow single acting cylinders, small reservoir only about 3 quarts in the whole plow system on a straight blade without down pressure.

Would rather not put the hours on the genny, plus then the electric is still just a normal splitter. Want a smaller one that is able to be picked up and positioned easily, at any angle or position on the larger rounds that cant be moved by hand easy. You have to remove the engine and pump to do that, so might as well just run a small cheap dedicated gas engine instead of a generator, less loss of energy, cheaper, etc..


this is all just theoretical, thinking out loud.
 
Back
Top