Erik B
ArboristSite Guru
Great family project.Kids picked the paint.
sent from a field
Ideas for a loading table
- Thread starter CaseyForrest
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Just missing the splitter.
Once it gets here, I'll fill in the gap that will be between the table and the beam on the non operator side as well as add a stop ledge so nothing gets thrown against the hood of the SS.
sent from a field
Once it gets here, I'll fill in the gap that will be between the table and the beam on the non operator side as well as add a stop ledge so nothing gets thrown against the hood of the SS.
sent from a field
Woot Woot!
sent from a field
sent from a field
You can get any color SS you want, so long as it is red... Enjoy!
Nice to see ya back!
Well, well, well my order wasn't too far behind yours! That means I should have mine pretty soon!
Thanks for posting this, made my day. Get her together and post back. Good luck.
Oh and very nice table, Rye.
Thanks for posting this, made my day. Get her together and post back. Good luck.
Oh and very nice table, Rye.
Shipped on Tuesday, picked it up yesterday. It is packed very well. I didn't get to mess with it last nite because it was swim nite.
And now I've just gone and done something to my lower back.
sent from a field
And now I've just gone and done something to my lower back.
sent from a field
I was a skeptic right up to the point I put a piece of wood on it.
Half throttle at that and it didn't grunt or slow down.
sent from a field
Half throttle at that and it didn't grunt or slow down.
sent from a field
After you become one with the SuperSplit you will understand lol
Don't go for fast , go for steady .
Don't go for fast , go for steady .
By using a kinetic splitter you are changing the way you split wood.
I would add a caution, or two:
-Keep your back and neck straight, and your head out of the vertical plane of the beam to avoid eating summersaulting splits.
-Keep your fingers on top of the wood, or grasped on the side of the wood when resplitting, and fingers off the ends at all times. When grabbing on the side, keep fingers from sliding on table surface, as there is a pinch point where the gap stops between the table and beam at the wedge.
-Adhere to the sticker that says 'One person operation', (or something like that).
-Read the assembly and instruction manual completely. The handle nuts should allow vertical play of the handle on the engagement shaft.
-a typical retracting issue, and it will occur, is alignment of the cam roller on top of the beam. Turn machine off. Tap cam lightly on one side or the other. Pull ram out manually and release to check alignment. Also check all five cam followers to see if they spin freely.
-an old hand saw is a thin, good tool to clear buildup under the push plate between the beam and brass wear plate.
-splitter trash can wedge under push plate. A 9/16" wrench is handy to loosen the six push plate bolts that connect the lower cam follower brackets. You will also need a 1/2" and 7/16" wrench handy to pull the cover for maintenance. Pretty simple.
-a 2' L-bar, or pry bar, is handy to unstick the push plate if it jambs against a split when extended. This is often caused by side pressure on the push plate if a round has a twist. I keep it within arms reach when I'm splitting.
-I think I've mentioned before, I hit the top corner of the wedge with a hand file to dull it. At some point you will probably back hand it a time or two when reaching over or around it.
-vary engine speed to find the sweet spot for engagement. Mine varies from day to day between 3,500 and 3,700 rpms.
_I would suggest an hour meter. Ive recently added one as I do 1/4 cord at a time so lots of on/off during a day, fifteen to twenty minutes at a pop. It adds up quick and easy to loose track of accumulated hours.
Not trying to be a know it all. Just passing along a few things that have come up the past couple seasons and have found to make things run smoother. I just pulled the engine to change oil, clean it up, grease the flywheel shaft zerks, and look it over. Three years old and a few cord behind it.
Very good choice of splitters. I believe the more you use it the more you will like it.
Retracting can be an issue, and tapping the top cam roller to realign will typically solve it, being the main thing.
And ask yourself the question before you engage the handle... Do you know where your fingers are?
Dancan got it right in the last post...
I would add a caution, or two:
-Keep your back and neck straight, and your head out of the vertical plane of the beam to avoid eating summersaulting splits.
-Keep your fingers on top of the wood, or grasped on the side of the wood when resplitting, and fingers off the ends at all times. When grabbing on the side, keep fingers from sliding on table surface, as there is a pinch point where the gap stops between the table and beam at the wedge.
-Adhere to the sticker that says 'One person operation', (or something like that).
-Read the assembly and instruction manual completely. The handle nuts should allow vertical play of the handle on the engagement shaft.
-a typical retracting issue, and it will occur, is alignment of the cam roller on top of the beam. Turn machine off. Tap cam lightly on one side or the other. Pull ram out manually and release to check alignment. Also check all five cam followers to see if they spin freely.
-an old hand saw is a thin, good tool to clear buildup under the push plate between the beam and brass wear plate.
-splitter trash can wedge under push plate. A 9/16" wrench is handy to loosen the six push plate bolts that connect the lower cam follower brackets. You will also need a 1/2" and 7/16" wrench handy to pull the cover for maintenance. Pretty simple.
-a 2' L-bar, or pry bar, is handy to unstick the push plate if it jambs against a split when extended. This is often caused by side pressure on the push plate if a round has a twist. I keep it within arms reach when I'm splitting.
-I think I've mentioned before, I hit the top corner of the wedge with a hand file to dull it. At some point you will probably back hand it a time or two when reaching over or around it.
-vary engine speed to find the sweet spot for engagement. Mine varies from day to day between 3,500 and 3,700 rpms.
_I would suggest an hour meter. Ive recently added one as I do 1/4 cord at a time so lots of on/off during a day, fifteen to twenty minutes at a pop. It adds up quick and easy to loose track of accumulated hours.
Not trying to be a know it all. Just passing along a few things that have come up the past couple seasons and have found to make things run smoother. I just pulled the engine to change oil, clean it up, grease the flywheel shaft zerks, and look it over. Three years old and a few cord behind it.
Very good choice of splitters. I believe the more you use it the more you will like it.
Retracting can be an issue, and tapping the top cam roller to realign will typically solve it, being the main thing.
And ask yourself the question before you engage the handle... Do you know where your fingers are?
Dancan got it right in the last post...
Thanks for the tips. I'm already there in regards to safety. Ive always been a "1 person runs the splitter" because I am attached to my body parts. I tell the kids the same thing, if they are going to run the splitter, they need to load it and operate it. If they cant load it, they aren't ready to operate it.
In regards to the tools, I have seen mentioned before what needs to be kept "handy" and I will take that advice. Ill likely add a smallish tool box to either the table or axle to keep things handy.
@Sandhill Crane how did your axle turn out? I almost ordered the same parts but the cost and inability to ship WITH the splitter turned me off. I know I can do it cheaper on my own. I still want to add a second axle like you came up with.
In regards to the tools, I have seen mentioned before what needs to be kept "handy" and I will take that advice. Ill likely add a smallish tool box to either the table or axle to keep things handy.
@Sandhill Crane how did your axle turn out? I almost ordered the same parts but the cost and inability to ship WITH the splitter turned me off. I know I can do it cheaper on my own. I still want to add a second axle like you came up with.
ChoppyChoppy
Tree Freak
You have to remove the engine to chage the oil?!
I fixed an old splitter this summer that I had to pull the engine to remove the recoil to replace the rope. What a pain!
Oh course the guy squeezed when I charged him $45 for that. I thought 30 min to pull the engibe, replace the rope and reinstall the engine wasn't too horrible considering it had 4 different size bolts and one I had to cut off since the 3" of extra length had been bent over.
Dont have to. But like any other smallish engine, its not exactly designed to drain the oil without making a mess. And pulling it off is a matter of 2 bolts.
Im starting to amass enough small engined crap to warrant one of these..
Neighbor has a machine shop, and I dropped the parts off a week and a half ago. Waiting on him to get to it. We had a time scheduled but a repeat customer brought some things to him he is taking care of first, which are now finished. When the guy came to check on the work, he dropped off more stuff to be done. I'm learning patience I guess. I checked in with him this morning. He is redecking pieces and parts of an aluminum flatbed semi trailer that the deck is all ripped up on, and holes punched through it, lots of them. It may be a while. Considered getting a wire welder but I hate buying cheap tools. A descent starter one would be ball park, what $1,200 minimum? For starters, I wouldn't know what to get, and just wouldn't use it enough to make it worth while.
A good friend once told me... 'You can do anything you want. You just may not be able to do everything you want.'
Anyway, back to the wagon/axle set up. I've waited two years to do it. Guess I can wait another week or two.
I'm thinking your going to want wheels and uprights on your loading table so you can do a third to a half cord at a time without stopping. Or possibly an elevated stand you can hand load and move to the splitter with forks. Mine is 32" wide x 96" long with 32" uprights. It is too top heavy and narrow to tow when loaded as it has easily tipped over many times on uneven ground. However being narrow make it easy to reach rounds when splitting. Mostly it is a staging table now with old John Deere riding mower front and rear axles. At the very least it is easy to move about by hand if necessary. When splitting large rounds I place one half back on the cart out of the way. It isn't much but it works.
I am having second thoughts today on the splitters wagon axle design. The solid axle will move to the opposite end, under the wedge/table. The steer axle will be under the engine, and will also pivot up and down for uneven ground. I'm wondering if that pivot is a mistake on the heavy flywheel/engine end, and the pivot moved to the table end would be better, more stable from tipping. The steer knuckles add width, unless the axle angle iron is shortened. Shortening the steer axle is what I intended to do to keep the wheel/tire width the same on both axles. Wider, with the pivot would not add stability. Moving the pivot to the rear axle, or wedge/table end axle, and not shortening the steer axle, the flywheel/engine axle, would add a few inches width on both sides, and add stability. Hmmm... Modifying one end, I could unbolt it and bring it back to original if necessary. Both ends, not so much without buying another axle. But, tipping it over would not be good either.
A good friend once told me... 'You can do anything you want. You just may not be able to do everything you want.'
Anyway, back to the wagon/axle set up. I've waited two years to do it. Guess I can wait another week or two.
I'm thinking your going to want wheels and uprights on your loading table so you can do a third to a half cord at a time without stopping. Or possibly an elevated stand you can hand load and move to the splitter with forks. Mine is 32" wide x 96" long with 32" uprights. It is too top heavy and narrow to tow when loaded as it has easily tipped over many times on uneven ground. However being narrow make it easy to reach rounds when splitting. Mostly it is a staging table now with old John Deere riding mower front and rear axles. At the very least it is easy to move about by hand if necessary. When splitting large rounds I place one half back on the cart out of the way. It isn't much but it works.
I am having second thoughts today on the splitters wagon axle design. The solid axle will move to the opposite end, under the wedge/table. The steer axle will be under the engine, and will also pivot up and down for uneven ground. I'm wondering if that pivot is a mistake on the heavy flywheel/engine end, and the pivot moved to the table end would be better, more stable from tipping. The steer knuckles add width, unless the axle angle iron is shortened. Shortening the steer axle is what I intended to do to keep the wheel/tire width the same on both axles. Wider, with the pivot would not add stability. Moving the pivot to the rear axle, or wedge/table end axle, and not shortening the steer axle, the flywheel/engine axle, would add a few inches width on both sides, and add stability. Hmmm... Modifying one end, I could unbolt it and bring it back to original if necessary. Both ends, not so much without buying another axle. But, tipping it over would not be good either.
I built my table to be mobile via that tractor. Height should be matched to the splitter and now that I have it, I can fill in some gaps and add some protection for the splitter so I can dump wood on it using the tractor.
I am thinking about modifying the existing leg under the wedge and adding a rigid axle and making it turn at the leg, a center pivot if you will. Keep it simple and I can do that here. It would also keep the cost down.
You would be surprised what you can do with one of the $650 Lincoln or Hobart MIG welders from TSC or the box stores. Make sure its a 230v welder, but I found there wasn't much I couldn't do. Everything you want to do on your splitter can actually be done with a 120v unit, you'll just find yourself hitting the duty cycle more often.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lincoln-Electric-230-Volt-MIG-Flux-Cored-Wire-Feed-Welder/1072947
This one is basically the same welder as Lowes....
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lincoln-Electric-Weld-Pak-180-HD-Wire-Feed-Welder-K2515-1/100670932
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/hobart-handler-190-mig-welder-spool-gun-ready?cm_vc=-10005
Ive built trailers, one of them stout enough to load 3 yards of clay on, fixed stuff that to this day is still holding strong.... VERY handy and the price is right. After I burned up the wire feed I went back to a stick welder. Its what I learned on and they are considerably less expensive. MIG is easier, stick is less expensive AND I can weld outside with the stick without having to worry about shielding gas being blown off.. But if you've never welded before, using a MIG is like caulking a window.
@Sandhill Crane
Had an idea about turning the splitter into a wagon....
Right now 12" is the largest I can find that is reasonably priced. Thinking a set on the front under the rigid leg spaced the same distance apart as the fixed wheels under the flywheels. Add a handle and voila, super split cart.
Had an idea about turning the splitter into a wagon....
Right now 12" is the largest I can find that is reasonably priced. Thinking a set on the front under the rigid leg spaced the same distance apart as the fixed wheels under the flywheels. Add a handle and voila, super split cart.
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Casey, go check out a farm dealer scrap yard. Lots of old equipment had decent sized swivel wheels on the. The old 3 pth planters did, plows, hay conditioners, mowers, aerators and lots of other stuff.
There is a place in Holland (MI) that sells used pallet racking, stackable racks, conveyor rollers by the foot, etc. I did a walk through one of the many warehouses looking for used stackable racks, and saw wire baskets full of castor of different sizes. Probably something like that near you.
Whatever works, it is all trial and error.
Edit: Bay Equipment Company, Holland, MI You can google them.
Whatever works, it is all trial and error.
Edit: Bay Equipment Company, Holland, MI You can google them.
Thank to Casey, my next project will be to make the same table but a little differently. I'll use 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's because I work with wood better than metal. I'll also make the top with planks so that it drains like a wood deck. Like every table, the secret to a strong table is good joinery so that it never racks under load.
I really like the idea of a table for storing the rounds. Once at that level they are much easier to transfer to the splitter without using a fancy hydraulic lift. Tailgate to table to splitter -- a great concept and a back saver. Here's the small one I made last spring that's positioned right next to the splitter:
The height is set just below the horizontal splitter beam. Works great.
I really like the idea of a table for storing the rounds. Once at that level they are much easier to transfer to the splitter without using a fancy hydraulic lift. Tailgate to table to splitter -- a great concept and a back saver. Here's the small one I made last spring that's positioned right next to the splitter:
The height is set just below the horizontal splitter beam. Works great.
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