I built my old wood splitter after I got tired of busting it with a maul and ax. Back in the day a pickup load of nice oak firewood brought a hefty $22.50 delivered, to stack was an extra 5 bucks unless it had to be carried up three flights of stairs then they needed to find another woodman.LOL I don't sell wood anymore but I do burn a lot. The small wood burner in the house doesn't burn but 2 maybe 3 cords a season but that old boiler stove I built to heat my shop will go through how ever much you want to dump in it. I've done a lot of fine tuning on it over the past several years and I'm finally beginning to learn that you don't have to keep it packed to the max all the time to get what you want. But it still will go through 8 to 10 cords a year to keep my floor at a nice average temp of 70 degrees.
I don't know how many pieces of wood that old splitter busted up over the years all I can say that it was a bunch. It had a couple leaks I wanted to fix and I also wanted to add a 4 way wedge and a lift table would sure be nice. I had been saying for the past several years I was going to fix the old girl but you know how it is.....once the wood is split there is always next year. I was splitting wood out back and the small leak in the cylinder didn't stop this time like it has in the past and I added some fluid and it did slow up for a bit but never quit all the way so I knew this was the year I needed to tune the old girl up.
Once I got to looking at it and deciding on what to do, I finally decided to scrap that whole setup and start with a system new beam and all. I don't know how that small beam that was on the old one held up all these years because it was light weight. It was only 6" wide, 8" tall 3/8" on the flanges and 1/4" web. It did have a couple spots on the top where the push block was working on but it was still straight as an arrow. The push block didn't have enough area and allowed it to move around more than it should which caused it to bind every now and again but it never broke nothing. I don't know where they come up with all these figures like 1 gal of hydraulic tank capacity for each gal of flow because I only had a 4' piece of 4" box tube that I used for my axle and hydraulic tank combined. It surely didn't hold much but the 11 GPM harbor freight pump and Prince Valve never fussed a bit. The oil would get warm but never to hot to hold on to and they both lasted all this time. The old 4" X 24 " cylinder did start leaking several years ago but would stop after it warmed up a little. It only leaked when the cylinder was retracted and it hit the relief didn't leak at all on the out stroke.
Well enough about the old, let's bring in the new. I knew I wanted a multi wedge type and decided on the box type wedge system. I do have it fixed so that I can build another single, a 4 or maybe a 6 way wedge later on. I also knew I wanted a log lift table and maybe a wedge lift also. I pulled a old beam I had laying out back and cut off what I didn't need then the engineering came into play. I have to look and think about stuff for awhile before I start to get a picture of how to progress with the different parts that are involved. I even drew up some pictures and after a day or two It slowly started to come together as to what I need to do. My problem is I have to build stuff out of what I have on hand and that most of the time will cost you some extra time....let me add a LOT of time in most cases.But hopefully I have more time than money so that's how I do it. I also get in a hurry sometimes and weld on a part before it's completely done, like a part that has to have a few holes drilled in it before it gets welded. One case was the tow system, I spent almost 4 hours grinding the weld seam out of two pieces of 3" box tube so I could slide another smaller piece inside for a receiver hitch setup. I got it done and went to sit it on the front of the beam to see how it would look and before I knew it I had it welded in place only to discover I had not drilled a hitch pin hole in it. Sadly the way it was sitting it was almost impossible to get to and I broke up a half dozen drill bits a couple unibits and my drill motor before I got it done, not to mention the skin that got knocked off my hands in the process. I have to mention the poor drill was a victim of my rage after for some reason the trigger didn't shut the motor off when I let go and me, my arm got wrapped up in a ball by the cord thankfully it ran out of cord and pulled the plug out the wall before it broke my arm. Oh well that was a good ol drill but a man can only take so much and another body slam victim hits the floor.
Anyway this is getting too long so I'm going to put up a couple pics of my progress and be done for the day.
I don't know how many pieces of wood that old splitter busted up over the years all I can say that it was a bunch. It had a couple leaks I wanted to fix and I also wanted to add a 4 way wedge and a lift table would sure be nice. I had been saying for the past several years I was going to fix the old girl but you know how it is.....once the wood is split there is always next year. I was splitting wood out back and the small leak in the cylinder didn't stop this time like it has in the past and I added some fluid and it did slow up for a bit but never quit all the way so I knew this was the year I needed to tune the old girl up.
Once I got to looking at it and deciding on what to do, I finally decided to scrap that whole setup and start with a system new beam and all. I don't know how that small beam that was on the old one held up all these years because it was light weight. It was only 6" wide, 8" tall 3/8" on the flanges and 1/4" web. It did have a couple spots on the top where the push block was working on but it was still straight as an arrow. The push block didn't have enough area and allowed it to move around more than it should which caused it to bind every now and again but it never broke nothing. I don't know where they come up with all these figures like 1 gal of hydraulic tank capacity for each gal of flow because I only had a 4' piece of 4" box tube that I used for my axle and hydraulic tank combined. It surely didn't hold much but the 11 GPM harbor freight pump and Prince Valve never fussed a bit. The oil would get warm but never to hot to hold on to and they both lasted all this time. The old 4" X 24 " cylinder did start leaking several years ago but would stop after it warmed up a little. It only leaked when the cylinder was retracted and it hit the relief didn't leak at all on the out stroke.
Well enough about the old, let's bring in the new. I knew I wanted a multi wedge type and decided on the box type wedge system. I do have it fixed so that I can build another single, a 4 or maybe a 6 way wedge later on. I also knew I wanted a log lift table and maybe a wedge lift also. I pulled a old beam I had laying out back and cut off what I didn't need then the engineering came into play. I have to look and think about stuff for awhile before I start to get a picture of how to progress with the different parts that are involved. I even drew up some pictures and after a day or two It slowly started to come together as to what I need to do. My problem is I have to build stuff out of what I have on hand and that most of the time will cost you some extra time....let me add a LOT of time in most cases.But hopefully I have more time than money so that's how I do it. I also get in a hurry sometimes and weld on a part before it's completely done, like a part that has to have a few holes drilled in it before it gets welded. One case was the tow system, I spent almost 4 hours grinding the weld seam out of two pieces of 3" box tube so I could slide another smaller piece inside for a receiver hitch setup. I got it done and went to sit it on the front of the beam to see how it would look and before I knew it I had it welded in place only to discover I had not drilled a hitch pin hole in it. Sadly the way it was sitting it was almost impossible to get to and I broke up a half dozen drill bits a couple unibits and my drill motor before I got it done, not to mention the skin that got knocked off my hands in the process. I have to mention the poor drill was a victim of my rage after for some reason the trigger didn't shut the motor off when I let go and me, my arm got wrapped up in a ball by the cord thankfully it ran out of cord and pulled the plug out the wall before it broke my arm. Oh well that was a good ol drill but a man can only take so much and another body slam victim hits the floor.
Anyway this is getting too long so I'm going to put up a couple pics of my progress and be done for the day.