$200 splitter I bought

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four or six way wedge ?

I dont think the guy that is working on my chuck thing has started on it . So I decided to work on my wedge until I get the chuck out of the shop . Hopefully I can get the chuck out this coming week so I can get some things done .

I borrowed a welding machine from my uncle . I didnt get to weld any thing but I did practice my welding . Like I said before im not a welder but I think I can weld at it , so im going to do my best . I did do a little cutting on the wedges .

I was looking at the wedge on the timberwolf tw-10 and the tw-6 to copy from . I found a few pieces of hard steel to make my wedges . I saw some wedges at northern tool for $25 and I need four pieces ( $100 ? yeah right ). They are not long enough to do what I want .

I set the steel on the wedge to see where I need them to sit at for a four way. I angled the wedges inwards at a slight angle so that when the wood hits the wegde it wouldnt push out and slide to the side . I added another piece of steel on it to see where I need to set it for a six way wedge .

I will get the splitter splitting with the four way wedge before I weld in the six way to see how it is going to split . If it is going to have 50 - 60 tons of pressure I dont think it will have a problem splitting with the six way wedge .
 
Wing Angle

I dont think the guy that is working on my chuck thing has started on it . So I decided to work on my wedge until I get the chuck out of the shop . Hopefully I can get the chuck out this coming week so I can get some things done .

I borrowed a welding machine from my uncle . I didnt get to weld any thing but I did practice my welding . Like I said before im not a welder but I think I can weld at it , so im going to do my best . I did do a little cutting on the wedges .

I was looking at the wedge on the timberwolf tw-10 and the tw-6 to copy from . I found a few pieces of hard steel to make my wedges . I saw some wedges at northern tool for $25 and I need four pieces ( $100 ? yeah right ). They are not long enough to do what I want .

I set the steel on the wedge to see where I need them to sit at for a four way. I angled the wedges inwards at a slight angle so that when the wood hits the wegde it wouldnt push out and slide to the side . I added another piece of steel on it to see where I need to set it for a six way wedge .

I will get the splitter splitting with the four way wedge before I weld in the six way to see how it is going to split . If it is going to have 50 - 60 tons of pressure I dont think it will have a problem splitting with the six way wedge .

Pacman,.. Id angle your wings forward about 5 degrees or so to match and slightly exceed the angle of the verticle wedge, otherwise they will bow out when they hit the wings instead of spliting , T,C, E,J,
 
wedge

I did angle the wedges inwards towards the center .

While I was out of town a co-worker , that got a new welding machine because some body stole all our fabricating equipment , welded the wedges on . He welded them on horizonialcaly straight with out a tilt , but I was wanting them in a tilt so the split wood wouldnt get wedged between the wedge and the top surface . He got a new plazma cutter too so I think I will ask him to cut the wedges off and tilt them slightly . He never called me and told me he was going to weld them on there . I would have told him to put a tilt on it .He was only trying to help me I cant be upset .
 
drive shaft

I finally got my drive shaft out of the shop . I must say it was a perfect job !

Check out the pic #1 ! I thought they were going to bore out the old one but they made me a new one for only $55 . I couldnt beat that with a stick hahaha ! ( Only took 3 weeks hahaha ) .

I put it on the drive shaft and noticed my pump needed to angled slightly so that in-line from the tank to the pump will go under the I-beam (where I cut a hole ) and tilted slightly to put the outline from the pump to the cylinder so I drilled new holes for it . That took a few hours !

I didnt get to weld any thing yet . I am going to wait on my welder to do it while I can instruct him and observe .

The key for the chuck was too small so I have to get another one .

I have the pump ready to be installed now. My next project on Splitzilla is the log lift .

First pic is the old shaft on the left and the new one on the right .

Second pic is how the drive shaft is mounted on the fly wheel .

Third and fourth pic is the pump mount and the drive train .
 
Shaft angle

I finally got my drive shaft out of the shop . I must say it was a perfect job !

Check out the pic #1 ! I thought they were going to bore out the old one but they made me a new one for only $55 . I couldnt beat that with a stick hahaha ! ( Only took 3 weeks hahaha ) .

I put it on the drive shaft and noticed my pump needed to angled slightly so that in-line from the tank to the pump will go under the I-beam (where I cut a hole ) and tilted slightly to put the outline from the pump to the cylinder so I drilled new holes for it . That took a few hours !

I didnt get to weld any thing yet . I am going to wait on my welder to do it while I can instruct him and observe .

The key for the chuck was too small so I have to get another one .

I have the pump ready to be installed now. My next project on Splitzilla is the log lift .

First pic is the old shaft on the left and the new one on the right .

Second pic is how the drive shaft is mounted on the fly wheel .

Third and fourth pic is the pump mount and the drive train .

Pacman, you dont want your drive shaft lined up straight, really, it should be off set up or down AND left or right, about 1 degree each way , If you dont the little needle bearings wont rotate in the cups and your knuckels will wear out prematuraly, T,C, E,J,
 
Wow

Really ! I didnt know that ! Tell me why ! I dont know enough about stuff like this so I need all the help I can get .

I need to angle it ? Explain it to me in laymen terms , please .

I thought straight was the way to go .

Thank you .
 
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Really ! I didnt know that ! Tell me why ! I dont know enough about stuff like this so I need all the help I can get .

I need to angle it ? Explain it to me in laymen terms , please .

I thought straight was the way to go .

Thank you .

Sounds weird until you think about it, If you run it straight , the little needle bearings in the cups,wont rotate, what makes them rotate is when the drive shaft flexes , or in this case is held on an angle, that way the needle bearings rotate a little keeping the grease between the needle bearings and the inner and outter races,..without any movement it gets dry between the three surfaces, after I learned this I thought, SWEET ...Dont need to be so damn fussy about alingment,..About 1 degree is enough tho, Get a second opinion from your drive shaft guy,..at first it sounds like BS, T,C, E,J,
 
drive shaft

The drive shaft guy is a machinist not a machanic . It make sence to me though . If it were straight what is the use for the universal joint right !

I will use your advise when I weld it on .

Thank you !

Michael
 
opinions

The drive shaft guy is a machinist not a machanic . It make sence to me though . If it were straight what is the use for the universal joint right !

I will use your advise when I weld it on .

Thank you !

Michael

Iam sure we will get some guys here on AS to speak up,.., Id bet my drive shaft on it, lol, Good luck and keep us posted, T,C, E,J,
 
For Sure !

I will keep posting until I get this thing running and painted !

I know it looks ruff but I have some plans to cover it It will not be noticed , ok well not too much .
 
Suction strainer

I want more ideas and input guys please ! Any thing sensible please !

I would like to see a suction strainer in that system, especially if you are sucking oil right of the bottom, every single piece of foregn matter that is in that tank is going threw your pump, if its on the side of the tank its much less of a threat, But Iam getting tired of arguing the point, to be honest, your tank is a little differeent as you are pulling straight of the bottom, Theres a new guy on the AS latley that seems to know more than the average bear, maybe he will post his opinion,..But I wont keep pounding strainers as I know what I want and, to each his own,...T,C, E,J,
 
Your going to need to cut some where near the bottom a access door. Once you do that clean off the bottom of your tank then toss in some high strength rare earth magnets. I can not remember if you have one but your going to need one on the return line, a decent filter to catch some of the crap coming in from your cylinder and pump. A guard for your radiator is also a great idea as well as an operators seat. You should also go to your local muffler repair shop and see if they have any halfway usable mufflers and pipes there so you can add a semi proper exhaust to the unit, possibly have the line running vertically to a flapper at the top. A decent coat of farm implement or heavy truck paint should make your unit last for years once you get it sand blasted or chemically stripped. Heck if you know some one that does air brushing get him or her to add the name of the splitter on the beam and air brush in some flames:laugh: .
 
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Cabinman is dead on when saying that you need a little anlge in your driveshaft. Basically it makes the grease inside of the joints move around the needle bearings and keep them lubed. It is just the initial design of driveshafts... You might wan't to google that information to try to find diagrams for exact angles for short shafts...
 
Finally

I got Splitzilla working today!

I just didnt have much time before to work on it considering I drive a truck out of town. I got the splitter on the farm a week ago from being in the shop at my job for months.

I finish putting the cylinder on the lift and hooking up the hoses today. I tried starting it up and it didnt run right so I found out the carburetor was not doing its job .I found another carburetor that my uncle had on a engine and took it off , put it on Splitzilla and it purred like a kitten .

Now the rest of the story.....

It was running perfect just like I thought it was going to do ( or planned it would do ). It might have like a six - eight second push and return . Ok now to split the first piece of wood . I found a nice chunk of hackberry that had a nice little section I knew my other little splitter would have split but it would had a problem . I put it on there and it bogged down shutting off the engine . I cranked Splitzilla back up turning the rpm`s up from idle to around 1000 . I put the rest of the wood on it and it split it fine ! I again added the rest of that piece to finish it off and Watch out! oil every where it blew a line .

Now I have to get another line . I was thinking about just running pipe from the pump to the valve . Would this be a bad idea or do I need to get a new line back on it ?

Any body ever seen a line from the pump to the valve in pipe ? Its my idea that im thinking about because I dont want to keep blowing lines . Any ideas ?
 
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If the pipe is rated for hydraulic use and both the pump and valve are mounted to the same rigid frame the pipe might work. Usually you would want some flexibility between the pump and valve.
 
Log lift

I moved the log lift towards the middle or center of the push plate . Before it was right in line with the wedge . I tried my best to weld it but as you can see im not a welder ok . I did get it done and it works . So its fine by my standers .

The cylinder was leaking so I bought a used cylinder for $20 . The guy at the hydraulics shop told me it could lift 1200 pounds . Good deal ! I got it braced and welded . Checked it today and it works a-ok ! I added some pics to view .

I will be making a video soon so you all can check it out . I think I got about $500+ to $600 tied up in out so far .
 
pipe

So you are saying that there is a certain type of pipe for hydraulics ? I was just going to use some one inch black pipe . I dont know enough about this kind of stuff but as you can see I will try some thing .
 
Standard black or galvanized pipe isn't rated for hyd. pressure - You can use it for a suction line, but it's not recomended for pressure. The hose that blew, was it new or some old one? There's different hose too, R1, R2. Did it break where the fitting's crimped or somewhere else?
 

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