Building a splitter.

[AngelofDarkness]

I am thinking of building an awesome splitter out of a bunch of parts from a junkyard and some other components. I want to start on a truck rear axle and mount a big chunk of I beam to it, have one end of it to be the hitch. Then build a cradle to mount the engine and hydraulic pump to. For a motor I want to find one in a junkyard from a really small car, like a little baby 4 banger. That way I can have more power than I will ever need for a fraction of the cost of a big Kohler, and it will be quieter and liquid cooled to boot. The pump may be expensive, I would look for an old forklift pump. I'd like a big 6" ram, something that could run a 4 way wedge. The valves, reservoir and other hydraulic components could be bought from Northern. I figure I could build it for about $1500 and have a splitter that will outperform anything store bought in that price range.

 

[mga]

my spliiter, that i made, has a 6" x 24" cylinder with a 2" dia. rod powered by an 18hp briggs engine and a 2 stage pump. the cylinder sits on an 8" H beam. the whole thing sits on a converted boat trailer with leaf springs and little boat wheels. nothing really slows it down when splitting, but some knotty logs might make the 2nd stage kick in at times.

using the boat trailer was perfect for towing and the leaf springs can't be beat when hitting any bumps on the road. i can tow that doing 65 without any problems.

my theory was that since all the energy is absorbed in the beam, i could mount the beam on something light. the lightweight trailer makes it very easy to move by hand when i need to. boat trailers are easy to find and next to nothing to get. i just didn't see any need to build a massive trailering system to move an H beam around.

 

[ericjeeper]

your dream

will be so heavy, so maneuverable it will be a royal pain in the arse. These store bought splitters will split anything you throw at them for years and years. I am using one that is over 25 years old. it is light and very manageable.. I have friends with home made monsters from the 70s.. yeah they are great too. but all seem way overbuilt and are very very heavy.

 

[Patrick62]

Go for it.

$1500 isn't gonna be enough, trust me on this one.

Do the search function on this.... some awsum stuff out there.

Use the truck axle, but do it like I did. Make it self propelled.
I used a isuzu rear. Nothing wrong with the idea of a car engine. Nothing wrong with the idea of a 6 inch ram (expensive). Nothing wrong with a HONKING big pump. Nothing wrong with a 40 gallon tank... Build a awsum set of blades. Maybe try and expand on my system of interchangeable blades. Really is fun to swap them around.

You gonna have to create the adapter from engine to pump.

Steel ain't cheap. It is gonna cost a fortune even in used stuff.

You are going to have to work on it for free.

Your welder is running for free, by the way.

Large pump, large cylinder, means large (expensive) hoses.

Go for it! :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

-Pat

 

[drmiller100]

6 inchs ram is more then half as slow as a 4 inch ram.

if you want a fast splitter, go with a 4 inch ram.

after that, it turns into gallons per minute.

 

[Patrick62]

It's a guy thing

I fully understand the need for a larger ram. :hmm3grin2orange:

Everybody has a 4" cylinder on the splitter. It is the perfect size! 2500 psi will split almost anything tossed in there. 4 1/2 is really nice as well.

5" cylinder looks more impressive. It will do a honest 22 tons at a more sane pressure. Speed is somewhat compromised....

The 6" ram would be completly insane! I bet it will push oak thru a 4 way split at less than 500 psi! POWER! that is the name of the game! Unless plumbed with atleast a 30 GPM pump.... it will be veddy, veddy slow! Don't matter, it could push iron wood thru a 6 way wedge sideways! In about 5 minutes.

I could do all the math for ya, but for now a 6" ram with a 24 inch stroke is 2.93 gallons of oil.... one direction..... even with 3/4 hoses it is gonnna be slow.

I have spoken.:blob5:
-Pat

 

[Al Smith]

You can certainly build them battleship tough but most times it's not neccessary.A 4 inch with a two stage pump and 8 HP usually does very nicely.

If I ever get mine done it will have a 5 inch cylinder ,12 HP and big double pump set up as a two stage.The reason for this is because I already have the components not because I need all that power.

It may sound real odd but I have a little tiny splitter with a 3 1/4" cylinder and single stage pump with a 1 1/2 HP electric motor that will amaze you.I can out split it with an axe but I can't outlast it.

The other day,just to test it out,I split a Ranger pick up full and had it stacked in one hour and twenty minutes,about 50 cubic feet more or less.I didn't think it was too bad,working from a pile of 24" red oak ,me an old fart a tad less than 60 years old.

 

[mga]

I fully understand the need for a larger ram. :hmm3grin2orange:

Everybody has a 4" cylinder on the splitter. It is the perfect size! 2500 psi will split almost anything tossed in there. 4 1/2 is really nice as well.

5" cylinder looks more impressive. It will do a honest 22 tons at a more sane pressure. Speed is somewhat compromised....

The 6" ram would be completly insane! I bet it will push oak thru a 4 way split at less than 500 psi! POWER! that is the name of the game! Unless plumbed with atleast a 30 GPM pump.... it will be veddy, veddy slow! Don't matter, it could push iron wood thru a 6 way wedge sideways! In about 5 minutes.

I could do all the math for ya, but for now a 6" ram with a 24 inch stroke is 2.93 gallons of oil.... one direction..... even with 3/4 hoses it is gonnna be slow.

I have spoken.:blob5:
-Pat

it is slow.....it's about a 12 to 14 second cycle time...but, i'm retired so i'm in no hurry.

 

[Old_School_Nut]

$1500 isn't gonna be enough, trust me on this one.

Do the search function on this.... some awsum stuff out there.

Use the truck axle, but do it like I did. Make it self propelled.
I used a isuzu rear. Nothing wrong with the idea of a car engine. Nothing wrong with the idea of a 6 inch ram (expensive). Nothing wrong with a HONKING big pump. Nothing wrong with a 40 gallon tank... Build a awsum set of blades. Maybe try and expand on my system of interchangeable blades. Really is fun to swap them around.

You gonna have to create the adapter from engine to pump.

Steel ain't cheap. It is gonna cost a fortune even in used stuff.

You are going to have to work on it for free.

Your welder is running for free, by the way.

Large pump, large cylinder, means large (expensive) hoses.

Go for it! :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

-Pat

he is 100% correct, hose and steel alone have doubled the estimate of my log splitter project, I hope you have friends in those areas.... its a good thing i have a lot of steel and the billet I need laying around...

 

[Old_School_Nut]

I have friends with home made monsters from the 70s.. yeah they are great too. but all seem way overbuilt and are very very heavy.

but they can say theirs is home made! I like a heavy "overbuilt" splitter, that means you can always throw more hp at it!

 

[arborterra]

Mine is home made. 6" cylinder. 6 way wedge. 30" stroke. large pump, hoses & control valve. set up for 50 gpm so it is not to slow. not real fast. I don't have enough motor. I was thinking about the same with the four cylinder & mounting it on a tandem axle trailer with a knuckle boom loader. Maybe a winch to drag logs with.

 

[g.moore]

Thinking along the same lines. Got a buddy with an 8' I beam I can get for free and he also does hydraulics for a living so parts are all cost. He's talking about a 4cyl engine, a pump capable of something like 200GPM, 6" ram and an accumulator. I drew up the mechanics of it and he's working on the hydraulic portion. The only thing I told him was I wanted about an 8 second cycle time and ability to push a 4 way, everything around here is in the 14"-18" dia pine so a 6way would give me kindling. I will build the splitter itself and mount the engine and ram. The rest will be up to him. I know absolutely nothing about hydraulics and knowing him it will probably split 24" rock in 3 seconds or less without slowing down. I've used the crap from Home Depot and Harbor Freight and don't want to spend 40 hours to get 4 cords or wood, I want to spend 4 hours or less to get 4 cords. As to mobility, I plan on hooking it to my ATV to get it around. I split for personal use, no sales but having to split 4 cords of wood cuts into my play time and like Mr.Nicholson said "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

 

[drmiller100]

200 gallons per minute means 400 horsepower to get 3000 psi. shoudl be an interesting splitter.

6 inch ram is massive overkill.

 

[AngelofDarkness]

6 inch ram is massive overkill.

There is no such thing as overkill in the world of splitting! I want the components from a car crusher so I can turn a 16"x30" slab of oak log into a pile of firewood in 4 seconds!

 

[Mr. Firewood]

There is no such thing as overkill in the world of splitting! I want the components from a car crusher so I can turn a 16"x30" slab of oak log into a pile of firewood in 4 seconds!

my new crotch buster has a 10" cyl with a 30" stroke, powered by a GM 2.5L Industrial engine and 25 GPM pump I should have it online within the week

 

[drmiller100]

cycle time of 5 minutes??????

 

[g.moore]

Like I said, I know zippo about hydraulics. I told him what I wanted and he said he could do it. I'm building the mechanical portion then loading it onto my trailer and taking it to him to do the hydraulics. Hoping to get the I beam in a week or so, just gotta drive the 150 miles round trip down to pick it up.

 

[Lairry]

I just built a log splitter using a 3 1/2 inch ram. I mounted it on a mini van axle that I narrowed. Used 2 1/2 inch grater blades back to back for the knife. I'm running it off of my tractor hydraulics for now but I just ordered an 11 gpm pump (2 stage) and a 6.5 hp engine to make it self contained. It seems to do the job. Also the cool part is I made a log lifter with a smaller cylinder mounted to the bottom of the I beam that all controls off the same valve so when you bring the splitting cylinder back it stops then raises another log onto the splitting cradle, then once that wood is split and the splitting cylinder is at the end of its stroke, the lifter goes back down for the next log. I also put a ball valve in one of the lines to the lifter so you can run it up to level and shut the valve locking it into position. Makes a nice table to work off of. That way you don't have to bend over to pick up your split wood again. It cycles very fast with that 3 1/2 inch cylinder.

 

[drmiller100]

grader blade cutting edges make really reallly poor materials for a splitter.

i used one on my splitter. the stuff is impossible to weld with a wirefeed, and hard to weld with a stick welder.

then the blade broke in half after about 5 cords of wood due to it being too hard and brittle, and the bang when teh wood split broke it.

 

[jags]

grader blade cutting edges make really reallly poor materials for a splitter.

i used one on my splitter. the stuff is impossible to weld with a wirefeed, and hard to weld with a stick welder.

then the blade broke in half after about 5 cords of wood due to it being too hard and brittle, and the bang when teh wood split broke it.

Try welding it with low hydrogen rod. The same rod is supposed to be used if you purchase a splitting wedge from Northern tools and other vendors. Takes DC reverse polarity if memory serves correct. Keeps the "brittle" out of hardened or low alloy metals.