SS Electric

[Circle B MN]

Just finished converting my Super Split over to electric. Sure wish I ha done it sooner.

Cruised down to the local Tractor Supply this morning and picked up a 1.5 Hp Marathon farm rated motor. I guess farmers are harder on stuff than the rest of us yahoos..? Got a 7/8" hub and a 3.5" weld-a-pulley, some wiring supplies, a switch, and headed back to the shop. Took a couple of hours to get it done. Had to drill the mounting plate on the SS to match the motor, then run to town again for more hardware. I'm doing pretty god if I only have to make two trips to town to finish a project.

It's pretty nice to be splitting, in the shop, with no noisy gas engine running. Got the heat on, the radio on, and splitting away. I'm half tempted to run a conveyor out the back of the building...

 

[lakesideC1]

Approximately how much did it cost you to change it over ? Does it run on 110 or 220 ?

 

[3fordasho]

What RPM on the motor plate ? Do you think a 1hp would do the job? I'd like to pick up an electric SS and run it from a generator when I'm at the wood lot (about 50% of its use- the rest in the gargage like your doing) Going from 1hp to 1.5hp makes quite a difference in the generator as many don't do well handling the surge from starting an electric motor.

 

[Philbert]

Grand Poohbah - you know the rules! No photos = it did not happen.

Philbert

 

[KiwiBro]

Pics or it didn't happen

I figure the running costs on that here down under would be about US$1 per day. did you make it so the petrol engine could go back on whenever you can't plug in or do you not take it anywhere that hasn't 'lecky power available or use a generator?

Someday, someone is going to look past the monster processors and park a dozen of these flywheel splitters in a shed with in and out feed conveyors and 3-phase power, manned by border jumpers. 100 cord an hr for $1 per cord!

 

[KiwiBro]

Snap.

Grand Poohbah - you know the rules! No photos = it did not happen.

Philbert

:msp_biggrin:

 

[Circle B MN]

Approximately how much did it cost you to change it over ? Does it run on 110 or 220 ?

With the new motor, hardware, pulley, wiring, etc. close to $300. You could save a good bit by finding a used motor. I have looked for a while without success for a used motor of the correct spec. Tomorrow there will be a dozen on CL for $10 each...

I have it set up for 110 at the moment, but it will do 220, and is reversible. First thing Paul told me when I asked about converting was to make sure the motor was spinning in the right direction. Real bad things happen if it is not...

 

[Misfit138]

Just finished converting my Super Split over to electric. Sure wish I ha done it sooner.

Cruised down to the local Tractor Supply this morning and picked up a 1.5 Hp Marathon farm rated motor. I guess farmers are harder on stuff than the rest of us yahoos..? Got a 7/8" hub and a 3.5" weld-a-pulley, some wiring supplies, a switch, and headed back to the shop. Took a couple of hours to get it done. Had to drill the mounting plate on the SS to match the motor, then run to town again for more hardware. I'm doing pretty god if I only have to make two trips to town to finish a project.

It's pretty nice to be splitting, in the shop, with no noisy gas engine running. Got the heat on, the radio on, and splitting away. I'm half tempted to run a conveyor out the back of the building...

Nice job!
Pics?

 

[Circle B MN]

What RPM on the motor plate ? Do you think a 1hp would do the job? I'd like to pick up an electric SS and run it from a generator when I'm at the wood lot (about 50% of its use- the rest in the gargage like your doing) Going from 1hp to 1.5hp makes quite a difference in the generator as many don't do well handling the surge from starting an electric motor.

The RPM of the motor is 1750, the pulley size is 3.5" OD, the belt is a 71A. Paul was very generous in offering that information free of charge. I suppose a 1 Hp works fine as it is offered by SS. The majority of my splitting is done near my shop, and now in the shop , I have a couple of generators, any of which is easy enough to load were I to want to split "in the field". Even with a gas gen. you can put it a reasonable distance from you so as to keep the noise tolerable. I worked on the flight line when I was in the Corps, so I have had my fill of loud noise....Stihls being the exception..

 

[Circle B MN]

Grand Poohbah - you know the rules! No photos = it did not happen.

Philbert

I knew that was coming....I'll get some in the AM. Gotta spend some time with my young's tonight....

 

[CUCV]

It is so nice isn't it! I thought about making mine gas-electric so I could have a backup unit to run in the woods but the need has never come up.

 

[Circle B MN]

I figure the running costs on that here down under would be about US$1 per day. did you make it so the petrol engine could go back on whenever you can't plug in or do you not take it anywhere that hasn't 'lecky power available or use a generator?

Someday, someone is going to look past the monster processors and park a dozen of these flywheel splitters in a shed with in and out feed conveyors and 3-phase power, manned by border jumpers. 100 cord an hr for $1 per cord!

I set it up as electric only. If I need to travel I have gen sets.

You sir have read my mind. I can buy three SS, put them in a nice hangar type structure with an in feed, an out feed, a packager, and a forklift, easily for the cost of a processor. My next project is a blocking table with a live deck. Rounds will feed right to the SS(s) at working height so no bending or lifting required. The great thing about a SS is that it allows you to read each round and create the desired split. A processor rams it through a wedge and the product is either saleable or kindling.

 

[Circle B MN]

It is so nice isn't it! I thought about making mine gas-electric so I could have a backup unit to run in the woods but the need has never come up.

It is better than nice.. Had I known better I would have gotten it from the beginning with electric, but I was stuck in the mindset of horsepower and hydraulic tonnage. Throw that stuff out the window......:tongue2: It is the Cadillac of splitters. Fast, quiet, smooth....

 

[Circle B MN]

Splitting without the engine noise would be fantastic!


What is the SF on the 1.5hp motor you installed?

The SF is a really interesting number as it relates to hp output under load.

Assuming that it is on the plate, I will take a look in the AM. Not sure how the load on the motor will actually factor given it being attached to two big flywheels.

 

[CRThomas]

Converting log splitter

I took a 20 ton three point splitter and mounted it on a steel table I built first I put a 16 gpm and a 3 hp 220 motor. That didn't work so I had to switch to a 5 hp 220 motor. It has a whine to it but very nice. My 20 ton that is on my tractor I take it to the woods or yard my tractor runs on idle. My tractor has a princes pump on power take off 20 plus gpm. Very quit and works for me. You could not give me a gas motor splitter. My friend lives a half mile away but I can hear his splitter running. My inside electric I have a foot switch on it. I step on the switch split take my foot off and my pump hydro never gets hot. All this works for me

 

[CRThomas]

Switching

Approximately how much did it cost you to change it over ? Does it run on 110 or 220 ?

Call old Doug at Ramsplitter at Rockford Illinois he fill you in on electric log splitters. He builds the larges electric log splitter to my knowledge. His stuff has alway please me no problem. Later try it it might work for you. Works for me remember electric motor is 2 times gas hp.

 

[Whitespider]

...remember electric motor is 2 times gas hp.

No it’s not.

If that were true you could take a 5 HP gas motor off a hydraulic splitter and replace it with a 2.5 HP electric and retain the same performance. Torque is the rotational force that drives the pump, and torque is calculated as follows…
Torque = (HP x 5252) / RPM
So a 5 HP gas engine… (5 x 5252) / 3600 = 7.3 ft pounds torque
And a 2.5 HP electric… (2.5 x 5252) / 1750 = 7.5 ft pounds torque

Now that sounds great, don’t it? But the problem is that the hydraulic pump is only turning at half speed, won’t build near the pressure and the ram will be painfully slow. Using pulleys to ratio-up and double the speed of the pump will reduce the applied torque by half, so that won’t work.
So what happens if we get a 2.5 HP electric motor that runs at 3600 RPM…
(2.5 x 5252) / 3600 = 3.6 ft pound torque, only half that of the 5 HP gas engine.

Using a 1.5 electric motor on the Super Split works because it only needs to bring the flywheels up to speed. Using pulleys to ratio-up the speed it will get the job done, fast enough, but not as fast as 3 HP gas engine would. The torque stored in the moving flywheels do the work, and it takes very little torque to maintain the flywheel speed… but if the power source (engine or motor) is used to do the work (such as driving a hydraulic pump), both the gas engine or electric motor will have to have the same specs (HP and RPM) to give equal performance.

 

[sunfish]

Just finished converting my Super Split over to electric. Sure wish I ha done it sooner.

Cruised down to the local Tractor Supply this morning and picked up a 1.5 Hp Marathon farm rated motor. I guess farmers are harder on stuff than the rest of us yahoos..? Got a 7/8" hub and a 3.5" weld-a-pulley, some wiring supplies, a switch, and headed back to the shop. Took a couple of hours to get it done. Had to drill the mounting plate on the SS to match the motor, then run to town again for more hardware. I'm doing pretty god if I only have to make two trips to town to finish a project.

It's pretty nice to be splitting, in the shop, with no noisy gas engine running. Got the heat on, the radio on, and splitting away. I'm half tempted to run a conveyor out the back of the building...

Cool man! I've been wanting to electrify mine, but have not got around to it yet.

 

[wdchuck]

Sounds good.

Get some electric saws and it could be a 24hr operation without waking the neighbors.

A wind generator or two and you'll be set.

 

[Circle B MN]

Finally got a chance to snap a couple of pics of the SS electric. Did some splitting under the lights tonight after work. Very impressed to be able to split wood in near silence other than the truck radio on. I had it running tonight on a 100' 10ga extension cord. Seemed to work just fine. I think that the speed of the electric is better matched to the machine than the gas engine. Could just be me.

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