Building a monster

[Goon 88]

Hey guys. Long time no post. I'm in the beginning stages of building a splitter. My friend has a big heavy equipment business and I'm going to grab a good portion of parts from him. I am hoping to make an 8 to 12 way wedge (possibly hydraulically adjustable height)out of a 1" cutting edge and probably going to use an old piston from either a backhoe or loader. The beam will be coming from the DPW and should be probably either an 8" or 10". I want to make a log lift as well. If anyone has a set of plans that they've used in the past that I can take a look at to base my design on I'd really appreciate it. Any suggestions are welcomed with open arms as well. I'll be splitting 25 or so cord a year. Mostly red oak, but some maple, ash, elm and other hardwoods from New England. My best friend has a big tree company so I get my logs for next to nothing. Only issue is that they're mostly the logs he can't sell to homeowners or put through his processor, so they're big. I have a husky 395 saw with a 36" bar that sometimes require cutting from both sides, so that's why I'm looking to go overkill. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Go Bruins!!

 

[muddstopper]

If you are going to split a lot of big wood with a 8 or 12way blade, you might want to consider grabbing a couple of those backhoe cylinders to work with. Multi splits takes a lot of force. I use a 5in bore cylinder to do 6way splits with on big wood, 30in + dia, and it does a good job. I have stuck big wood on a 4way wedge using a 4in bore cylinder. My processor build I am using 2-4.5in bore cylinders with plans to do 12way splits. Big bore cylinders and or multi cylinders also require more hydraulic flow to maintain decent cycle time. With my twin 4.5 in cylinders, I am planning on 60gpm @3000 psi. This should give me pretty good cycle times and around 50tons of splitting force. 60gpm@3000psi takes 123hp of engine just to pull the pumps. All this adds cost to a build project. My suggestion to keep the build cost down would be to make two interchangeable wedges and swap them out whenever you have real big wood that needs splitting. Use the 8 or 12 way wedge for normal size wood and then swap the wedge out for a 4way or even a single split wedge for the really big stuff. You can get by with a lot less pump size, beam size, and cylinder size, as well as use a 2 stage pump and smaller engine for your splitter needs.

Log lifts are nice, until you have to roll a very large knotty round onto the lift. I prefer a boom with winch and cable to place the big rounds on the splitter. I use a set of log grabs on the end of the cable. Just a personal preference and many will tell you they prefer a log lift over a boom. What I really like about the boom and winch setup is I can just carry the log grabs over to a log, throw them on and let the winch do all the work as I walk back to the splitter. I have a 20ft control cord for the winch and all I do is mash a button and the winch does all the work. The winch is a little slow compared to just grabbing a log and throwing it on the machine, but its a lot easier than trying to wrassle a big round over to the log lift. Another nice thing about the winch and boom setup is I can grab the end of a log and lift it up for bucking. It helps keep the saw out of the ground and again, I think it saves my back. Best of both worlds I suppose would be to build a lift and a boom for what ever the situation requires.

 

[Goon 88]

Great information. Thanks a lot. My plans have changed. Here's what I am thinking about now. I have the motor (13HP) and got the beam (8"x8"x11' @35lbs/foot). I'm thinking about a 4"x24"x2" cylinder, 22 gpm hydraulic pump, 20 gal vented tank, prince valves allowing one touch full extension and retraction. I'm putting serious thought into the Timberwolf TW-7 box wedge set up. Thinking about making four 6"x8" boxes , pushing onto a log table, losing a good portion of the slag. Just not sure if the components I'm talking about will provide satisfactory power and speed to blow through the oak and occasional elm. If not, I'm thinking about just making a slip in 4 way wedge and 6 way wedge. Any information you am an give would be appreciated. Also, I am still building a log lift as well.

 

[the GOAT]

4" cylinder seems a little small for a box wedge.

 

[muddstopper]

A 4in cyl will do a 4way alright, but if i was planing on any more wedges than that I would at least look for a 5 in bore cyl. If you are just planning on using a 4in cyl, I wouldnt call it a monster and you might as well go with a box store machine.

 

[Oliver1655]

There is no reason you could not have both a log lift & a boom/davit arm with a winch. I will be modifying my splitter to add a davit arm to it.

The log lift makes a great staging table. For now, if a round has a larger diameter than 24" I will noodle it in half or quarter it. the large splits from a larger round are hard to control if splitting by one's self as I do most of the time. However, once I add the Davit arm, ...

The boom/davit arm with winch & set of log tongs works well with a "T" shaped wedge where the top of the "T" initiates the split then the vertical portion splits the slab. You then swing the remaining hunk back in front of the wedge, lower it & go again. There are several videos on YouTube with this type of set up.

Or if you have a skid steer:

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

In my opinion, you will regret the 4 inch cylinder. I guess it depends on what type of wood you plan on splitting but to me you will be undersized, power wise. With the types of wood you listed, you will keep the single wedge on for most of it as from my experience it would stall on a lot of it. Your list of parts is average at best and you'd be better off with a ready made 5 inch. Just being real here with you.

Muddstopper info is dead right. If you want to build one that is great but even with the parts you say you have you're still probably going to be more than close money wise to just buying one.

When I built mine I made up a 4 way wedge but use it less than I thought. I split larger than most I guess and a 28 gpm pump keeps things moving fast enough for me. I get less smalls and better control of size. Pushing into a conveyor or a commercial operation would be different. That's the thing, everyones Ideal set up is different so situations/solutions are all over the map because of that.

I DO know a 4inch will not make you happy for what you are planning.

 

[Oliver1655]

Kevin, have you considered making a horizontal top plate you could bolt to your wedge to make a "T". If you have the horizontal plate staged around 2" in front of the current wedge with the only beveled side on the top surface, you might be very pleasantly surprised. With your machining skills, I am sure in would be a simple thing for you to build & try. 3/4" thick & 16" wide should work well.

 

[Goon 88]

Kevin, have you considered making a horizontal top plate you could bolt to your wedge to make a "T". If you have the horizontal plate staged around 2" in front of the current wedge with the only beveled side on the top surface, you might be very pleasantly surprised. With your machining skills, I am sure in would be a simple thing for you to build & try. 3/4" thick & 16" wide should work well.

I like the thoughts of that idea.

 

[Sawdust inspector]

A 4" won't make you happy. Start with 5". I have a 22 gpm pump and wish it was a 28 but it was cheap. Don't cheap out on things. Go big or go home.

 

[Goon 88]

A 4" won't make you happy. Start with 5". I have a 22 gpm pump and wish it was a 28 but it was cheap. Don't cheap out on things. Go big or go home.

Will my 13hp motor run a 28 gpm pump and 5" cylinder with a 2" rod?

 

[the GOAT]

Will my 13hp motor run a 28 gpm pump and 5" cylinder with a 2" rod?

16hp is the rule of thumb for 28gpm log splitter pumps. Some people have run them with 15hp chondas but you get to 3000psi with one.

HP =(gpm*psi)/1714

 

[the GOAT]

If you are set on the 13hp/22gpm. Look for a 5" cylinder with a 4" rod. Your cycle time will be decent thanks to the fast return of the large rod... And you'll have ~ 30 tons of force (at 3000psi) I think that is what timberwolf is doing for their tw6.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Hydrau...ulic-Cylinders/5x32-5x4-DA-HYD-CYL-9-9519.axd

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Kevin, have you considered making a horizontal top plate you could bolt to your wedge to make a "T". If you have the horizontal plate staged around 2" in front of the current wedge with the only beveled side on the top surface, you might be very pleasantly surprised. With your machining skills, I am sure in would be a simple thing for you to build & try. 3/4" thick & 16" wide should work well.

The problem I would have is the distance from the tip of my wedge to the edge of the cylinder port is about 15 inches. We cut all 24 so I'd constantly have to make sure to pull the top chunk back to keep from hitting the fitting. Couple of kisses, stress crack = oil shower.

You can kind of see it here.

Here's a close up of the T in question. I'm running a bypass to save wear and tear on the valve and quicker speed.

Being able to swing the tables out of the way is a huge plus in my set up. No more dragging stuff back.

Multiwedges are nice but you have to have overkill power behind them. the reasion is they are a heck of a lot faster but if you get some to stick you end up spending all that time you saved trying to get going again. For me the speed is not worth what was involved in making it bulletproof.

Slabbing the big ones with vertical splits has worked real well for us so far