Eastonmade Wood Splitter

[NSMaple1]

I stay a step ahead by knowing the limitations of my equipment. I'm only running a TSC splitter that cost me less than a grand. I know it's limitations and run it accordingly. It's only my second splitter in 25 years. I split between 25 and 50 cord a year. My first splitter went to friend and it's Stihl runnin. I think if Andrew was building junk there wood be more than 1 person here complaining.

I spent a fair amount of time googling up things in an honest & fair attempt to find how much other bad stuff was being said out there on the internets about these machines. I found absolutely nothing else. That doesn't mean of course that one of these hasn't ever had issues before, but in this day & age, if there were the serious flaws as being claimed by Mr. Dodge, I am sure I would have found something. Likely a whole bunch of something.

 

[Bryan Dodge]

Bryan,

Was this machine being used as a rental splitter?

Everyone wants to know. If so, you should have disclosed that in the beginning. Makes a BIG difference.

If you rented it out, and it came back badly damaged/broken, you go after the person who rented it, not the manufacturer. You must have language in your rental agreement.

If your teenage sons friend burned out the clutch in your old Mustang, are you going to call Ford, and belittle them online, or would you go talk to the teenage sons friend?

Common sense man....

No rental, Insurance company would not allow or cover equipment and even threatened to drop the policy. The issue was potential theft by deception, if a customer rented the equipment and never returned it, that is big issue in the Chicagoland area. This is not an old mustang we are referring to, this is a new piece of equipment. Now if you bought a truck from Ford since you want to use that as a comparison and your frame was bending on your truck, you would call the dealer and they would rectify the problem. Ford would most likely issue a truck just to avoid the liability issues, Ford would have put you in a rental until issue was resolved. Ford will have done everything they can to avoid any bad publicity. Ford does not use there consumer base to test equipment, that's done in the engineering dept, cubicles, work shop,, on the track, in the mud, R&D departments solely to avoid issues like this. If Ford told you after you bought a new truck that hey, I will send you a new frame for you to change, I will send you new parts for you to change "phenolic plates", I will send you new bumpers for you to change "splitter edge". You would go ballistic, call an attorney and file lawsuits "lemon law". If Ford told you that we would fix the issue late next month "end of January", just hold tight, you wouldn't take that lightly. I haven't received any parts at all, pretty nerve racking. Since we are using Ford as a comparison and most of you probably own trucks, if a faulty wheel bearing goes out it usually takes out the upper ball joints, the lower ball joints and a wide variety of other parts. If a turbo wheel comes loose, that can and will take out the entire motor. If I continue to operate this machine in its current condition it becomes excessive wear and tear on the hydraulics, motor, valves as well as the frame and will only become worse and worse and worse
I have had issues and its been continual, not sporadic but continual. I would send a text and ask if he had experienced these issues in the past, and what had to be done to fix. The only thing that has been sent to me was a wiring harness and that was on the first week of delivery. If I have to pay for modifications for this machine to operate continually and I have to pay for labor and materials for this machine to operate efficiently and willing to share information with manufacture it is only fair that I be compensated.
Not belittling anyone, haven't called anybody names, simply pointing out the obvious. We tried texts, we tried emails, still have the same issues that have begun well before October.
Common sense would be to handle this matter in the courts, unfortunately this has become personal. I would rather see him loose potential sales.

 

[Wood Hound]

I am sorry Bryan but after people read this thread-Andrew will gain in sales...

What is wrong with you???

 

[NSMaple1]

Unless that Ford pickup bent because it had 5 tons of gravel dumped in the back of it....

 

[panolo]

You came to the wrong forum to hood wink people. Probably should have went to a homesteading forum or something. Too much experience and knowledge on this forum. I realize how little I know just about everyday reading through posts here.

 

[sb47]

That was a point that was shown to me, there are alternatives, I offered these alternatives to him, he was not interested. Unfortunately time is money and nobody works for free.

Then make the changes yourself. Teflon is cheap and easy to cut.
If he doesn't want to make the changes you want then make them yourself.
It's his design, I don't blame him for not wanting to make the change.
You should let him fix it his way, if you want to modify it, thats on you, not him.

 

[sb47]

We completely redisigned the machine to accomodate him. Built an entire fabricated beam. He did not want it.

I understand, and agree, it's your design, and you should be able to fix it your way. If he wants custom changes, that's on him, not you.

 

[sb47]

Customers need to choose manufacturers more carefully, unfortunately my lack of due diligence on this purchase has costed me dearly. I asked for a upgrade due to the amount of changes that are needed for these units. Didn't ask for a partnership, I asked to be compensated for time, material, data and R&D which has been grossly overlooked.
I didn't ask him for anything prior to these issues, only asked why? Never experienced any of these issues with other equipment, so, had to ask why? I specifically sent photos and asked if he had dealt with theses issues in the past, repeatedly, not one, not two, not three or four instances. I am only warning potential buyers that this is what you will encounter.

You seem to think your changes are improvements, he may not see it that way. AGAIN, it's his design, if you asked for custom changes, then it's on you, because it's no longer his design, it's yours. Therefore any issues are on you.
That machine looks to be well built and well designed, what did you do to break it? I have a strong feeling it's you did something that resulted in it breaking. He offered to fix it and you refused, because he doesn't want to keep making design changes.
I'm thinking your the problem, not the machine.

 

[muddstopper]

I spent 41 years operating all kinds of equipment that most here have never heard of or would even have a clue as to what it does. I have worked with many factory reps that would bring out equipment in the field to test and modify to improve. Some things they just couldnt get to work, somethings worked better than expected. I have also worked with some of the best and worse skilled operators that there has ever been. One thing I will say for certain is you can take the best, most perfect piece of equipment and put a bad operator on it and that operator will proceed to destroy a perfectly good piece of equipment. You can take a poorly designed piece of equipment and place a good operator on it and that operator will find a way to get production out of that equipment. I havent seen bryan operate the splitter, but my money is he threw on the biggest knarliest piece of wood he had on the machine and tried to run it thru the 6way wedge. Since his machine started having problem right off after he go it, I suspect that action was probably one of the first actions he performed, just to see how strong the splitter was. Everything was down hill from there.

I first saw Eastonmade splitters on the internet almost exactly 2 years ago. I made a comment at the start of this thread of what I thought might be a possible problem with the wedge and beam design. I havent seen a good enough picture of the beam to know if my suspicions might have been correct. Bryan keeps talking about a bent beam. All I have been able to see in the pic is it appears the flange of the beam is bending, and I suspect the cause to be the loose bolts in the slide. Like I have already suggested, remove the bent slide plate and straighten back out and reinstall all the bolts making sure they are tight. If the flange is bent, take a BFH and a little heat and bend it back down. Sure this requires the owner to do a little work that one wouldnt expect to be doing to a new piece of euipment, but this would be far better than ******** about it, and it would put the machine back into operation. This would give Andrew time to get the new frame to Bryan and down time would be minimal. I really feel, Bryan is being unreasonable and would rather ***** and gripe than seek out a actual solution. Trying to blackmail someone and hold them hostage with threats is a very poor way to conduct business. I have fired customers before for being unreasonable. It always felt good to see a customers jaw drop when you tell them, Your Fired, I no longer need you as a customer.

 

[jrider]

I'm still waiting to see these videos you promised Bryan....

 

[sirbuildalot]

I have fired customers before for being unreasonable. It always felt good to see a customers jaw drop when you tell them, Your Fired, I no longer need you as a customer.

That's awesome. LOL

 

[Waltzie]

I'd be impressed to see 2 cords a machine hour out of a splitter. I have about 2000 hours on my processor. No way I've made 4000 cords. More around 1500. Hours get racked up... fire it up and warm up in the winter, let it idle while answering a call or talking to a customer, etc, etc.

2 cords an hour is easy. No BS’ing on the phone, and all of the rounds are all ready cut to length.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Like I have already suggested, remove the bent slide plate and straighten back out and reinstall all the bolts making sure they are tight. If the flange is bent, take a BFH and a little heat and bend it back down. Sure this requires the owner to do a little work that one wouldnt expect to be doing to a new piece of euipment, but this would be far better than ******** about it, and it would put the machine back into operation. .

I cant afford to take a month off while you fix your mistakes, it has already been a month if not more since our last texts about the grade of steel being used on your wedge and material being used for your slide since the last failure. I spend more time trying to prevent any further damage than I do in actual operating time.

I take it from this quote he's still using it. Go figure. Might be subject to change though.

 

[KiwiBro]

What's wrong with taking up Andrew's offer of the redesigned frame and other bits replaced? I understand it's not compensation for consequential losses but it's a reasonable offer that seems to have been declined because of the delays it would involve. However, Bryan isn't going to be any better off from a delay perspective taking any other route with this.

Alternatively, what's wrong with a return of the machine and a refund of the purchase price less machine hours accumulated?

 

[Bryan Dodge]

I spent a fair amount of time googling up things in an honest & fair attempt to find how much other bad stuff was being said out there on the internets about these machines. I found absolutely nothing else. That doesn't mean of course that one of these hasn't ever had issues before, but in this day & age, if there were the serious flaws as being claimed by Mr. Dodge, I am sure I would have found something. Likely a whole bunch of something.

I did look, watched hours of videos, unfortunately most where from the manufacturer. My own Attorney said Bryan don't waste your time, chalk it up as a lessoned learned. Next time you purchase equipment get referrals!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

2 cords an hour is easy. No BS’ing on the phone, and all of the rounds are all ready cut to length.

I wasn't factoring having the logs already all cut.

 

[Bryan Dodge]

What's wrong with taking up Andrew's offer of the redesigned frame and other bits replaced? I understand it's not compensation for consequential losses but it's a reasonable offer that seems to have been declined because of the delays it would involve. However, Bryan isn't going to be any better off from a delay perspective taking any other route with this.

Alternatively, what's wrong with a return of the machine and a refund of the purchase price less machine hours accumulated?

Andrew has said a lot of things, have the texts, hell I've been waiting since October for edges in which he was notified in September of the issue. October he acknowledge the edges and I quote " we have changed the material for the wings on the wedge of the 22-28's. I can get you down an updated replacement. Your missing a nut underneath the pusher. Did it strip? The material is phenolic" the nut in question was sheared off. Today is December 22, 2018. After describing over calls, texts , emails sending photos of material being wedged under pusher, don't worry we are working on it. And now I am being told to wait till the end of January, should I wait o see what happens and then start complaining. How long should an individual, a paying customer wait patiently before becoming irritated, upset and then pissed, 30, 60, 90, 120 days. And now after downtime and the feeling the costs of the downtime. Now, in the one of the busiest times of the year I have to go to rent someone's equipment and spend more money. When I purchased this equipment, he didn't wait for payment for 30, 60, 90, 120 days
The offer was simple, send the replacement units, not the upgraded frame to essentially compensate me for the downtime and financial losses and in return I will disclose what every individual, fabrication shops, steel workers, and I believe one is an engineer told me. The fixes are simple, the modifications take time and money. He refused, I asked if he was sure and then he replied that it is best to part ways. Hell, the Attorneys could have drafted a NDCA along with a Hold Harmless agreement and we could have both went on our separate ways.
The machine has been parked in the corner and waiting for videos and we should be ready to post on a much larger platform in the coming days, YouTube, Facebook.
If some one asked you to take off your job for a few months with little to no pay you would blow a gasket.

 

[Bryan Dodge]

What's wrong with taking up Andrew's offer of the redesigned frame and other bits replaced? I understand it's not compensation for consequential losses but it's a reasonable offer that seems to have been declined because of the delays it would involve. However, Bryan isn't going to be any better off from a delay perspective taking any other route with this.

Alternatively, what's wrong with a return of the machine and a refund of the purchase price less machine hours accumulated?

Just out of curiosity, in regards to a refund of the purchase price less machine hours accumulated. My question to you, what is 7 months of your wages worth. What is months of aggravation worth. I purchased new equipment for I didn't have to deal with these issues, I purchased new equipment for their warranties. Now look at what has evolved in the last 7 months.

 

[Franny K]

I did look, watched hours of videos, unfortunately most where from the manufacturer. My own Attorney said Bryan don't waste your time, chalk it up as a lessoned learned.

I think you have received responses here that might have been different if you had started out differently.

What is the problem with the conveyor, this is hardly addressed, that spilled oil looks to me like really used engine oil not hydraulic fluid.

Hydraulic equipment needs a lot of sizing so they do not damage themselves. I have a hydraulic band sawmill and it is amazing how hard to damage it they have refined the product. How some folks that make their can get it right that the band breaks or a pressure bypass exists without tearing up and making adjustments is beyond me. Hydraulic stuff can be expensive, even if things need modified it is likely less expensive to get an existing unit that has purchased the stuff in bulk.

What I see in your pictures is the top half of an 8 way a 6 way is in video on page 1 here.

How about your suggestions for improvements? I made my own splitter, just the beam portion not the pump portion and can spot some design deficiencies.

The raising of the starting point of the bottom of the log is good, for anything but a vertical blade. The cylinder is low hardly more than a few inches above that, this will make massive stresses on the slider holding the ram.

I think those wing things on the multi attachments are too thin for their length.

I have not really paid attention to processers lately but it seems the cylinder and the center of the multi blade are in line and after the cylinder (round of firewood) is cut by the hydraulic chainsaw it drops down to the splitting area where it is raised so the center of the round is at the center of the multi blade. All this done from a safe distance. You must have realized this type of thing existed and opted for the movable splitting center.

Unless that Ford pickup bent because it had 5 tons of gravel dumped in the back of it....

I think the damage is from jumping the truck, the stop or bumper creates a deformation in the frame that deflects the more rear portion of the frame. Not sure what load them might have but do know one person quite a while ago that damaged a new F250 jumping it when empty virtually new. The description of the bumper damage is from many pictures on the internet I have seen and the current F150.

 

[Andrew@eastonmade]

Where is the communication from september about a defective wedge? This was october 31st. The wedge wings being bent does not affect the operation of the machine. It will indeed still split wood. At this same time (oct 31st) you sent pictures of everything else. You also said that 50% of the blocks were not cut square (again use some common sense and follow instructions in the owners manual). You also mentioned getting the phenolic made locally. I didnt feel there was much of a point in paying freight on a wedge that still works when I needed to send you a frame anyways. I knew if i sent you what we normally use you would detroy that one also. Again I had to find a better solution. 5 weeks later when contact had been made the machine had 40 more hours on it (clearly it could still function) and i was told it had gotten worse. At this same time I had told you that I had been working on new design for you. You felt that was unreasonable and wanted DRASTCIALLY more from me, in return you wouldnt slander and blackmail me. I declined. Now we are here.

Throughout the last 5 pages of this post my story hasnt changed and I have all the supporting documents and communications. If you interested in what i have to offer send me a pm and i am more than happy to look after you.