Been gone for a while, here's a few splitters I've built recently.

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I was not saying he was wrong or that single stage pumps or that's they won't work, never said it. I never that my opinions are better/right then anyone else's. It's an opinion... Everyone's entitled to there own opinion. I'm just trying to get it out there that its opinions vs facts. I agree there's more then one way to skin a cat, plumb a splitter, build splitters, how ever you want to look at it. Again, no it's by no means rocket science but there are a lot of things people/companies out there that are left out or not done. Either because they simply don't know any better, were told wrong, or simply choose not to. Example... Guy owns a splitter with a 22gpm pump. Single stage/2 stage I don't care.. His buddy tell him "hey you should swap out your 2" cylinder rod for a 3.5" and speed up your cycle time. Sounds simple enough right? By doing that one thing he opened up a whole can of worms on the return stroke. His valve is likely only rated up to 25gpm. Worked great for its intended set up but now with the larger rod he's most likely pushing over double the rated gpm on the return stroke. So now he has more heat build up and really isn't getting the full benefit of the larger cylinder rod because of the valve restriction. This is where a dump valve comes in. Could work the opposite with installing a dump valve when it's really not needed. "I read somewhere that a dump valve with really speed up my cycle time". In some cases yes and some no.. Again it's not rocket science but someone can be miss directed very easy.
 
the radiator you have on the very first one.....where did you get that from?

i've had the same idea, I just haven't found the right size one yet.
 
mga said:
the radiator you have on the very first one.....where did you get that from?

i've had the same idea, I just haven't found the right size one yet.
Click to expand...
It's an AKG cooler that was bought from a local AKG cooler dealer, Iowa Fluid Power. This cooler has a 25psi bypass built into it. The fan draws some juice, as the specs say it can draw 17 amps, but in testing it it, it was drawing between 12-13 amps @ 12VDC.
 
GM_Grimmy said:
It's an AKG cooler that was bought from a local AKG cooler dealer, Iowa Fluid Power. This cooler has a 25psi bypass built into it. The fan draws some juice, as the specs say it can draw 17 amps, but in testing it it, it was drawing between 12-13 amps @ 12VDC.
Click to expand...

thanks...I think....300 bucks is a little too much just for the splitter....lol

my son does hvac...i'll have him keep an eye out for one.
 
folks, I still am not sure if AE and I are disagreeing or just misunderstanding each other. And it doesnt matter. He brings up some good points about mismatching parts. Most of the common autocycle, and normal wood splitter valves are only rated for 25gpm flows. Some are only rated for 20gpm. Now if you take into efficentcy ratings of pumps at 85% then you might get by with a 28gpm two stage pump on a valve system rated for 25gpm. Thats all fine and dandy until you start figureing the extra oil flowing thru the valve on the return stroke of the cyl. With a high/low double pump setup, it would be very easy to overflow a typical wood splitter valve. In order to get it to work correctly without building tons of heat, you would need to go to a much bigger valve system. Try finding a auto cycle valve that will flow 40gpm, if you can find one, its sure to cost a bunch more than a common two cycle valve normally used on a wood splitter. You also have to take into account the size of the hoses and fitting, the ports on your cylinders, the size of your reliefs. I'll stand behind my statements that you can find the parts you need to make a high/low hydraulic system work and at a reasonable price, by scroungeing scrap yards. But you better know what your looking for because just any old control valve or pump might not work the way you want it to. I have seen some mighty big cylinders with mighty small ports as well. Just because the cylinder has a big rod and big bore doesnt mean its meant to have a ton of foil flow. A handy fabricator might be able to change out the ports for bigger ones, but most folks would just bolt it on and hook it up and expect everything to be hunky dorey. It might even work, but down the line somewhere, they will start wondering why their oil is getting so hot, or the seals in there monster cyl are starting to leak and why has their big new pump is suddenly loosing power.

I will also agree with AE about how some manufacturers do in fact mismatch parts so they have a selling point of "Faster more Power". While their little slight of hand might get by with a homeowner machine seeing limited use each year, their machines simply wont hold up in a commercial setting. And i know someone is going to chime in here and say their MickeyD brand has split a 1000cord a year for the last 10 years with out even changeing the fluid. Whoopy do. I have seen hundreds of splitters leaking oil and worn out control valves with much less usage. I cant/wont comment on anything AE has built or sells. I cant, I havent even seen one, much less run one, but I do feel he is paying attention to details and another one of "MY OPINION's" is if I was looking to buy a splitter, I would certainly be taking a serious look at what he's putting together.

And for all of you posting the silly junk, Well it is what it is, a waste of bandwidth.
 
muddstopper said:
folks, I still am not sure if AE and I are disagreeing or just misunderstanding each other. And it doesnt matter. He brings up some good points about mismatching parts. Most of the common autocycle, and normal wood splitter valves are only rated for 25gpm flows. Some are only rated for 20gpm. Now if you take into efficentcy ratings of pumps at 85% then you might get by with a 28gpm two stage pump on a valve system rated for 25gpm. Thats all fine and dandy until you start figureing the extra oil flowing thru the valve on the return stroke of the cyl. With a high/low double pump setup, it would be very easy to overflow a typical wood splitter valve. In order to get it to work correctly without building tons of heat, you would need to go to a much bigger valve system. Try finding a auto cycle valve that will flow 40gpm, if you can find one, its sure to cost a bunch more than a common two cycle valve normally used on a wood splitter. You also have to take into account the size of the hoses and fitting, the ports on your cylinders, the size of your reliefs. I'll stand behind my statements that you can find the parts you need to make a high/low hydraulic system work and at a reasonable price, by scroungeing scrap yards. But you better know what your looking for because just any old control valve or pump might not work the way you want it to. I have seen some mighty big cylinders with mighty small ports as well. Just because the cylinder has a big rod and big bore doesnt mean its meant to have a ton of foil flow. A handy fabricator might be able to change out the ports for bigger ones, but most folks would just bolt it on and hook it up and expect everything to be hunky dorey. It might even work, but down the line somewhere, they will start wondering why their oil is getting so hot, or the seals in there monster cyl are starting to leak and why has their big new pump is suddenly loosing power.

I will also agree with AE about how some manufacturers do in fact mismatch parts so they have a selling point of "Faster more Power". While their little slight of hand might get by with a homeowner machine seeing limited use each year, their machines simply wont hold up in a commercial setting. And i know someone is going to chime in here and say their MickeyD brand has split a 1000cord a year for the last 10 years with out even changeing the fluid. Whoopy do. I have seen hundreds of splitters leaking oil and worn out control valves with much less usage. I cant/wont comment on anything AE has built or sells. I cant, I havent even seen one, much less run one, but I do feel he is paying attention to details and another one of "MY OPINION's" is if I was looking to buy a splitter, I would certainly be taking a serious look at what he's putting together.

And for all of you posting the silly junk, Well it is what it is, a waste of bandwidth.
Click to expand...
A would venture to say water under the bridge with us. I would say this last post you made had a lot of valuable information, and agree that things more then likely were misunderstood. You definitely can save some serious money searching scrapyards and online auction sites. I know Sam-tip has spent his time and had scored some really good deals. A very good point that was brought up is lines and ports from cylinders. The welded 5" cylinders I used to use had "1/2" ports. I use that term lightly because if you look through the fittings that are yes 1/2" you typically will see a 3/8" hole through the cylinder tube them selves. Situations like that simply tick me off. Right off the bat your set up with a handicap. I used to disassemble the cylinders and bore out the in and out ports and add -12 fittings that have been bored out also. I tig weld the new fittings on and pressure test. The blue splitter and the splitter before that has this done. Since then I have switched to a more $$ tie-rod style cylinder with much better factory ports. Another thing to mention about lines and fittings is a guy wants minimal tight 90 degree fittings. Formed 90s are not cheap but flow well and work well.
 
I can vouch for the itdy bity ports in some of the cyl being sold. My 5in cyl came from Northerntool. It had 3/4/sae port threads. Looking down inside the port was a little 3/8dia hole for the oil to go thru. I did diassemble the cyl to drill out the ports. Guess what I found, the cyl was full of metal shaving from the manufacturer. If I had went ahead and used it, it wouldnt have been long until I was replacing other parts. That just goes to show that even buying new, you dont always get what you expect. All parts are not made the same, even if they do look alike.
 
muddstopper said:
I can vouch for the itdy bity ports in some of the cyl being sold. My 5in cyl came from Northerntool. It had 3/4/sae port threads. Looking down inside the port was a little 3/8dia hole for the oil to go thru. I did diassemble the cyl to drill out the ports. Guess what I found, the cyl was full of metal shaving from the manufacturer. If I had went ahead and used it, it wouldnt have been long until I was replacing other parts. That just goes to show that even buying new, you dont always get what you expect. All parts are not made the same, even if they do look alike.
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Yep[emoji107] you sure don't get what you pay for anymore. Them things are not cheap by any means. I prewash/rinse about everything anymore just because of that very reason. Purchased hydraulic tanks is a big one to clean before use.
 
What is the advantage of the manufacturer boring undersized ports? How does this save them money?

Are there brands of cylinders and valves that you recommend over others due to quality differences?

Thanks.

Philbert
 
Prince for valves for me. Advantage for under bore.. All I can think of is that it would make quick work for who ever is building the cylinder for line up. But in reality I can't see that even being a fair reason. When I was re-doing the cylinders I just used a slug passed through the fitting ad cylinder for alignment. As for cylinder suggestions.. I don't feel comfortable suggesting any at the moment. Not saying that there all bad.
 
A.E. Metal Werx said:
I don't feel comfortable suggesting any at the moment. Not saying that there all bad.
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well how bout ones you wouldn't recommend?

both cylinders on mine are prince brand, and we use many prince cylinders at my work...never gotten a crappy one, weather it be tie rod, or welded in both external and internal gland cap configuration
 
The last new cyls I bought where actually Gov surplus and had a list price was over $5000. each. While I didnt give nowhere near that price for them. I would hope the manufacturer of those cyl was making a quality product. The 5in cyl with the little ports and metal shaving inside was a chinese product. I'll certainly be dodgeing the Nortrac brand from now on. Only Prince valve I have is the log splitter valve they sell and I havent had any problems out of it. The cyl on my dump trailer is also a Prince and again, satisfied. For scrounge valves, I like to look for Husco. They have been making valves for a long time and they are pretty common on lots of major equipment manufacturers. I tend to stay away from the single casting multi spool valves and the husco valves are usually multi sectional with sections interchangeable between same models. And every one of them I have ever scrounged was rated for 25gpm flow, but I know they make smaller and larger sizes as well. I guess 25gpm is just a common size . This makes assembling multi spool valve bodies pretty easy by buying the bolt kits and a few Orings. Certain models can also be easily converted from open center to closed center. I have a parker v70 valve to use for my processor build, It is rated for 70gpm and was a scrounge score. I like Parker and Racine for solenoid type valves. Not saying they are better than other brands, but I can get my hand on these pretty easy so its go with what you know. Thinking about it, I do have some surplus center solenoid valves on my home made dump trailer not sure of the brand, Vickers I think, but I havent had a minute of problem with it. I used the same solenoid valve when I rebuilt my hydroseeder and it worked great for that application.
 
A.E. Metal Werx said:
I was not saying he was wrong or that single stage pumps or that's they won't work, never said it. I never that my opinions are better/right then anyone else's. It's an opinion... Everyone's entitled to there own opinion. I'm just trying to get it out there that its opinions vs facts. I agree there's more then one way to skin a cat, plumb a splitter, build splitters, how ever you want to look at it. Again, no it's by no means rocket science but there are a lot of things people/companies out there that are left out or not done. Either because they simply don't know any better, were told wrong, or simply choose not to. Example... Guy owns a splitter with a 22gpm pump. Single stage/2 stage I don't care.. His buddy tell him "hey you should swap out your 2" cylinder rod for a 3.5" and speed up your cycle time. Sounds simple enough right? By doing that one thing he opened up a whole can of worms on the return stroke. His valve is likely only rated up to 25gpm. Worked great for its intended set up but now with the larger rod he's most likely pushing over double the rated gpm on the return stroke. So now he has more heat build up and really isn't getting the full benefit of the larger cylinder rod because of the valve restriction. This is where a dump valve comes in. Could work the opposite with installing a dump valve when it's really not needed. "I read somewhere that a dump valve with really speed up my cycle time". In some cases yes and some no.. Again it's not rocket science but someone can be miss directed very easy.
Click to expand...
I am interested in purchasing a splitter for firewood. "
 

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