1st time splitter builder got some ?s

[Dustyw]

I am building a new splitter and have a few questions. First of all, my beam is 7/8" thick and 8 1/4" wide and its 9" tall and 3/4" thick up and down. My cylinder is a 5" bore with a 3 1/2" shaft and a 30" stroke. My first questions are about the pusher plate, is 10" a good height? How much play should the slides have side to side and up and down if any? Does the bottom sliders need to be 10" long if the pusher is 10" tall? I would love to see some detailed pics of some pusher plates and slides, homemade and purchased. Next is the wedge, I really like the timberwolf wedge with the hydraulic up and down slip on wedge. Can that be bought somewere? Anybody have some dimensions on something like that? This will keep me busy for a while, but will update progress as I make it. Gonna be a all summer build.
Thanks in advance.View attachment 180468

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[woodman6666]

You have some great material to start from there. I think 10 inches on the push plate is plenty. The slides in my opinion the longer the better as then it will grab more of the beam when stressed. The up and down wedge you are wanting can be built easily just weld a tube behind your inital 2 way wedge then slide a tube over it and weld whatever wedge configuration to it and tuck your cylinder inside. Pretty simple really and it should not take you all summer if you get after it.
Good luck

 

[Dustyw]

Thanks for the reply woodman. Between farming and adding a front porch on the house i will be pretty busy, hopefully i will have the splitter done before fall. I have most of the parts to finish.

 

[blades]

Push plate - make sure you add side supports to it or you will bend it over, also make your guides at least 1/2" thick top and bottom. There is a lot of pressure applied to the top of the push plate with large over sized rounds. You will also need to locate your ram about center or slightly below on the back of the plate. If you go too low you will get a lot of camming effect off the top of the push plate transmitted into the guides which can bend those as well as the top of the H beam flanges. Some of this can be alleviated by making the wedge with a leading center or lower portion. I do not like the slope back wedge style though as I had one like that and it would squirt a difficult round out on occasion.

 

[Dustyw]

Anybody else?

 

[nt3041]

Splitter Picture

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Don't know if this is any help, it is the only one I could find.

 

[mga]

rough up the face of your ram to help keep the logs in place.

(notice i haven't done mine yet..lol)

your push plate is only there to push the wood...it doesn't have to be big or huge. 6 to 8 inches is plenty.

as for the wedge......i made the mistake of putting an 8 inch wedge on mine....i should have used a 12 inch wedge. i'll correct that when i get a chance.

 

[jags]

I agree with MGA - by keeping your push plate smaller, you will reduce the possible vertical/horizontal loads. Think about it, would you rather have 30 tons of pressure pushing from 3" above the connection point of the ram, or 6"? I would go for the short distance = less leverage to tear stuff up.

 

[mga]

I agree with MGA - by keeping your push plate smaller, you will reduce the possible vertical/horizontal loads. Think about it, would you rather have 30 tons of pressure pushing from 3" above the connection point of the ram, or 6"? I would go for the short distance = less leverage to tear stuff up.

some day i'll have to bother you about that log lift. i notice you're using a winch. i have a spare one laying around.....i'll need to ask some questions!

 

[Dustyw]

Thanks everybody. Still need to know how much play side to side movement the push plate should have on the beam. Also on the wedge, going with 12" tall, 1 1/2" long knife and then the wings go out at about 30 degrees. Would really like some dimensions onn thee tw-6 wedge.

 

[blades]

Play- just enough to allow free movement up and down the beam

 

[jags]

Keep the slop to a minimum. I would say no more than 1/16 inch per side. The more slop, the easier to bind.

Consider some removable shims for the long run. I used thin washers. As the slide/beam wear and the shuttle gets a bit sloppy, remove the shims and it tightens right back up.

And MGA - anytime, buddy. Ask away.

 

[1grnlwn]

I went with 8" high, which was my stock size for the top plate. Plenty high. I went fairly long on pusher, 16".