Kinetic Wood splitter...Beating a dead horse.

Wesspur
Treestuff
Rugged made
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dustyplans said:
Do you all think that metal weights from a weight room will work for a flywheel? Just an Idea we were bouncing around with....one of the big plates is 45 lbs. a couple of this spinning around would have a bit of energy in them....
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I dont think that will be enough, you might need more like 6 plates total. Ideally the majority of the mass should be furthest away from the axis it is spinning on and those weights just dont offer that. You might want to try and find an old hay bailer to take the flywheel from... even the super splitters use flywheels >200 lbs IIRC from my reading... The larger the flywheel the slower you can spin and get the same amount of energy out. The only issue is getting it started and up to speed at that point. You could probably make your own with some 13-15" car tires and rims. Break the beads loose or saw cut two hole in the side wall and fill them with cement..? lol
 
Marshy said:
I dont think that will be enough, you might need more like 6 plates total. Ideally the majority of the mass should be furthest away from the axis it is spinning on and those weights just dont offer that. You might want to try and find an old hay bailer to take the flywheel from... even the super splitters use flywheels >200 lbs IIRC from my reading... The larger the flywheel the slower you can spin and get the same amount of energy out. The only issue is getting it started and up to speed at that point. You could probably make your own with some 13-15" car tires and rims. Break the beads loose or saw cut two hole in the side wall and fill them with cement..? lol
Click to expand...

I would think you might want a little more precision balanced than that to avoid bad vibrations at RPMs...Maybe big truck flywheels?
 
I should be able to get some this weekend, somewhere ther is a video floating around of it in action.
 
When you are done with this build I have a super-sized flywheel splitter project to run passed you.

Taking flywheel splitting to the 'next level'. Been threatening to do it for about a year now. Just got to find the right people who know their stuff.
 
Do you have a lathe large enough to turn your own flywheels? Then you can mill any specific bolt hole pattern you need for hooking up to a shaft for your rack and pinion. You can be certain of precision balance then without having to center up and weld something. Just a thought. :rolleyes:
 
That spinning splitter was beating the firewood into mulch. It amazes me how stupid people are. That is how people get killed.
 
Ok. Here is where we are at, We are salvaging parts off an old square baler, Hoping that the flywheel is big enough...worried about balance if we only have one. Still tossing the idea around on 45 lb free weights...Cast iron..round...but possibly off balance. I would like to make something the size of the DR rapid split or the super split, as they are a bit more balanced with the two fly wheels.

Any Thoughts?
 
ZeroLife said:
Do you have a lathe large enough to turn your own flywheels? Then you can mill any specific bolt hole pattern you need for hooking up to a shaft for your rack and pinion. You can be certain of precision balance then without having to center up and weld something. Just a thought. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I can spin 14 inches....So probably Not. Great Though though...
 
dustyplans said:
Ok. Here is where we are at, We are salvaging parts off an old square baler, Hoping that the flywheel is big enough...worried about balance if we only have one. Still tossing the idea around on 45 lb free weights...Cast iron..round...but possibly off balance. I would like to make something the size of the DR rapid split or the super split, as they are a bit more balanced with the two fly wheels.

Any Thoughts?
Click to expand...
i wouldnt want to use 45lb weights, those are some of the worst castings... would probably fly apart at operating speed...
do you have a rotary table? you could mill out a bunch of round plates and bolt them to a flange on the pinion shaft, you could add or remove plates to get you to an ideal weight...
 
nathon918 said:
i wouldnt want to use 45lb weights, those are some of the worst castings... would probably fly apart at operating speed...
do you have a rotary table? you could mill out a bunch of round plates and bolt them to a flange on the pinion shaft, you could add or remove plates to get you to an ideal weight...
Click to expand...
Ok... So stay away from the Cast weights....got it. Back to fly wheel salvaging.
 
dustyplans said:
Ok. Here is where we are at, We are salvaging parts off an old square baler, Hoping that the flywheel is big enough...worried about balance if we only have one. Still tossing the idea around on 45 lb free weights...Cast iron..round...but possibly off balance. I would like to make something the size of the DR rapid split or the super split, as they are a bit more balanced with the two fly wheels.
Any Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think you are on the right track with the bailer flywheel. I dont know how you would fix the cast iron weights to a shaft without drill some holes in it to mount a hub but how balanced are they and will they be ok from the repeated inpact loads when the ram hits the wood? I wouldnt want to be around if half or even a quarter of a 45lb disk lets lose at 500'er-so RPM.

Any idea how much the flywheel weighs from that bailer? I would think they are balanced from the manufacture and are rated for their operating speed within the bailer/tractor PTO RPM. If that flywheel is driven directly from the PTO of a tractor then it is easy to figure out what its operating speed is. I would try to design your splitter around that flywheel speed (not faster) that way balance is not an issue. Keeping center of gravity low and centered on the machine is ideal, that is why Im fond of the last video I posted. If I had the ability I would aim to reproduce something like it. It also alows you to use chain drive to adjust ram speed and keeps weight low and centered. Its a little more complicated than having the pinion on the same shaft as the flywheel but I think overall its a better machine bcause of CG and ability to change ratios with the chain...
 
doesnt the name say it all?? not sure who said it but "just because you can, doesn't meant you should" never been a more fitting example. This looks like about the most retarded way to split wood ever. by the time you spent all the time welding and fabricating, i could split 10 cord, armstrong style.
 
cus_deluxe said:
doesnt the name say it all?? not sure who said it but "just because you can, doesn't meant you should" never been a more fitting example. This looks like about the most retarded way to split wood ever. by the time you spent all the time welding and fabricating, i could split 10 cord, armstrong style.
Click to expand...
Apparently you missed the part of the conversation where he said he was a shop tech teacher and was goin to make one with the kids as a project... Maybe go back to the first page and read. So far you you have an F in reading comprehension.

By the way, go tell Super Splitter, Split Second Log Splitter, and DR Splitter their splitters are "retarded" and see what they have to say when they stop laughing at you.
 

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