Splitter throttle

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Where do you run your splitter


  • Total voters
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NO Ever see a governor on a motor? Thanks

Governors are designed to hold engine rpm at a set rpm over varying loads.

Throttles are there to set the rpm.

The fact an engine has a governor does not directly correlates to designed operating rpm.

Yes, you will get the most cooling regardless of load at full throttle . To say that portable stationary air cooled engines has to be run at full throttle isn’t exactly true either. It depends on the load. If the load is light and the engine isn’t laboring, I’m sure it will run just fine at say 50% of full throttle. Same rpm at max load and you’ll surly over heat the poor thing because of the reduced air flow.
 
I usually go wide open and back off a little maybe 3/4. I’m running a Honda GX390 13 horse and 22 gpm pump if I’m at idle and use log lift or splitter it will kill the engine. I’d think running 1/4 throttle would lug the engine down and put more load on it then running at higher rpm. On the other hand these small engines seem pretty reliable don’t really hear of anyone blowing them up even after years of abuse so probably doesn’t matter.
 
I cant keep up with my splitter at wot and seldom ever rev it up. I have the hp to make full pressure at half throttle so throttle is just to increase flow. Increase flow increases speed. I don't like working at wot, I get to hot. Slow and steady wins the race. I also don't believe the engine has to run at wot to cool properly. The motor can idle all day without burning up and lower rpms create less heat. A engine under constant load will get hotter than a engine not working half as hard. The rated hp required for a pump size is the minimum power to produce full pressure at max flow. In other words, if you have to run your engine at wot to split your wood, then you need a larger engine.
JMHO
 
Slow and steady wins the race.
JMHO

Moving with a sense of urgency and staying at that wins the race.

The kid that works for me...

"Why do you walk so fast?"
"Why are you working so fast"?

Uh... I'm not, you're just slower than molasses on a January night! Put your ass in 2nd gear at least!

Pay him piece rate on bundles. I easily do 35 an hr and just about everyone that's done it has at least done that too.
So it pays pretty decent.

He's done 35 in an 8hr day.
His best day was 75... which works to like $5/hr.
I've had guys do 350 in a day.

I say kid, he's in his 20s. I'm almost 2x his age and have bad arthritis and a really bad back. Plus weigh nearly 2x what he does... No way I should be leaving him in the dust.
 
I have a 16 HP Tecumseh that has umpteen cods on it, but still running after 35 years. I had two 10 HP Tecumseh motors running a 22 CFM pump which lasted only a few hundred cords each. Two 10 HP motors pushed the rod out the side of the block every time at wot. At one point was changing splitter motors every three months so unless they are not controlled by a governor they have no chance. Thanks
 
Moving with a sense of urgency and staying at that wins the race.

The kid that works for me...

"Why do you walk so fast?"
"Why are you working so fast"?

Uh... I'm not, you're just slower than molasses on a January night! Put your ass in 2nd gear at least!

Pay him piece rate on bundles. I easily do 35 an hr and just about everyone that's done it has at least done that too.
So it pays pretty decent.

He's done 35 in an 8hr day.
His best day was 75... which works to like $5/hr.
I've had guys do 350 in a day.

I say kid, he's in his 20s. I'm almost 2x his age and have bad arthritis and a really bad back. Plus weigh nearly 2x what he does... No way I should be leaving him in the dust.
You have to work at a pace you can keep. Running at a job wide open for a few minutes and then taking a break sort of defeats the purpose of being in a hurry. My splitter has a 27hp engine and 28gpm pump with a 5in cyl. I built it that way because I had the spare parts already on hand. It doesn't slow down in a tuff split, it just powers on thru. Engine doesn't lug down as it goes from high flow to low flow so the cyl extends at a pretty steady rate. I can rev it up and keep up for a while, but when the sweat starts running down my crack, I take a break. While on break, nothing is getting done, so what was the point in killing myself trying to keep up with a machine that doesn't get tired. At half throttle, I can work twice as long before the break is needed. I'll split more wood in the same amount of time simply because I don't have to stop and rest. I do agree a kid in his 20's should be able to keep up, but I suspect he has never been taught to work. Bet he could kick your azz at Nin tendo.
 
I kinda misspoke before..I run my splitter at 3,000 rpm which isn’t WOT , the GX340 runs good up to around 3,800. My gear pump makes max. GPM at 3,000 so that’s where the throttle stop is set. I want all the pump flow I can get but revving the piss out of it for no speed gain is stupid.
 
I kinda misspoke before..I run my splitter at 3,000 rpm which isn’t WOT , the GX340 runs good up to around 3,800. My gear pump makes max. GPM at 3,000 so that’s where the throttle stop is set. I want all the pump flow I can get but revving the piss out of it for no speed gain is stupid.
Your pump is rated for set amount of gpm at 3000rpms, it will continue to make more flow at a faster rpm. A gear pump moves a set amount of oil per revolution, the faster it spins the more it pumps. Running at less than 3000rpms will produce less flow and running at more than 3000rpms will create more flow. More flow that is until internal clearances create oil shear, foaming and cavitation and then pump failure. Who in their right mind would want to stand next to a engine screaming at 3800 rpms anyways.
 
Most of my wood is spruce, fir, or tamarack. The splitter rarely needs to be run over 1/2, even less sometimes. For really tough stuff or crotches I turn it up, but I like being able to run it without hearing protection. Sure, it's a bit slower, but I'm not in a hurry.
 
Your pump is rated for set amount of gpm at 3000rpms, it will continue to make more flow at a faster rpm. A gear pump moves a set amount of oil per revolution, the faster it spins the more it pumps. Running at less than 3000rpms will produce less flow and running at more than 3000rpms will create more flow. More flow that is until internal clearances create oil shear, foaming and cavitation and then pump failure. Who in their right mind would want to stand next to a engine screaming at 3800 rpms anyways.
Yeah, in theory they have unlimited gpm but Barnes strongly recommends not to run them past 3,000 or the lifespan is drastically reduced.
 
I cant keep up with my splitter at wot and seldom ever rev it up. I have the hp to make full pressure at half throttle so throttle is just to increase flow. Increase flow increases speed. I don't like working at wot, I get to hot. Slow and steady wins the race. I also don't believe the engine has to run at wot to cool properly. The motor can idle all day without burning up and lower rpms create less heat. A engine under constant load will get hotter than a engine not working half as hard. The rated hp required for a pump size is the minimum power to produce full pressure at max flow. In other words, if you have to run your engine at wot to split your wood, then you need a larger engine.
JMHO


I feel the same way. Why run it WOT when half will do. As for forks, it's all about splitting with the grain or working from the outside in instead of trying to split strait down the middle. It's not a race after all.
 
I have a cheap HF 212cc 6.5 hp non hemi engine on my splitter it runs Wide open and it does have a govener on it because when a really ugly is hit you can hear the revs pick up on the engine just like the tractors do, the walk behind lawn mower does, the z turn does and the tiller too.

But I mostly split by hand just use the power splitter on the ugulest of the uglys.

:D Al
 
I feel the same way. Why run it WOT when half will do. As for forks, it's all about splitting with the grain or working from the outside in instead of trying to split strait down the middle. It's not a race after all.
I’m different than most around here , I treat splitting like a race and I’m trying to get it done. I put my shooting muffs on over my earbuds and go at it like a man possessed.
 
I’m different than most around here , I treat splitting like a race and I’m trying to get it done. I put my shooting muffs on over my earbuds and go at it like a man possessed.
Couldn’t agree more...except I have the Bose sound blockers
 
I’m different than most around here , I treat splitting like a race and I’m trying to get it done. I put my shooting muffs on over my earbuds and go at it like a man possessed.


Having operated a big john tree spade for 30 years I learned the hard way that over reeving a hydraulic pump will make it wear out much much faster. Many time the pump would go out at the worst time when the digger was in the ground so when the pump stops working the truck can't be moved till the pump is replaced. I have had to dig a tunnel under the truck in order to get to the pump that hung on the bottom of the transmission. Many of the people I trained would tend to rev up the truck in order to make the spade dig faster and that would make the pump wear really fast. I learned to slow down and back the RPM's down a bit and the pump would last 10 times as long if not for ever.
 
My home built splitter doesn't have a adjustable throttle. It does have a adjustable governor but it is a process to adjust it. I ran it at 2200 rpm for years. I recently cranked it up to 2400 rpm. It has a round trip cycle time of 9.5 sec, which is fast enough for me. I believe the pump maxes out at 3000, so I guess I'm running at 3/4 throttle. I run a single stage pump, and have enough HP that it doesn't slow down when it hits a hardwood crotch, just presses on.
 

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