Firewood Conveyor

[Wood Splitter]

Is there any reason why I cant fabricate my own flight bars out of heavy duty nylon plastic sheeting like 3/4" think piece?
Because I got a used conveyor but the flights bars are all Fubar! and I also am going to shorten the whole unit down to 24' or 16' Im thinking 16' is plenty long enough....Any and all ideas appreciated.
And what solution is better: 1) Let the flight bars drag on the conveyor platform or 2) let them be raised up a little bit.
I'm thinking drag them so no pieces of firewood get hung up as it is dragging along......

 

[cmsmoke]

I am working on an old 36' conveyor myself. It will be shortened to 24'. It has metal flights or paddles. They are cut so that the chain and paddles contact the tray at the same time. This will cut down on wear, since it spreads out the contact. You may want to consider this. I think your nylon paddles will work fine, but will make more friction sliding on the tray than a steel padle will. Mine is early 1900's with steel wheels. The tray is 18" wide. It is twisted, bent and rusty. It is going to take some time, but it is coming along. We will have to post some pictures with progress to share ideas.

 

[Wood Splitter]

I agree about the pictures. I am thinking of also laying down like a thin plastic liner on the tray itself to help with the friction and rubbing, so basically the paddles will be plastic paddles with be hitting against the plastic tray. And i am HOPING that this heavy duty plastic will hold up like they say it doesn to the chain rubbing on it. I think it should as long as i keep it well oiled. Do you agree/ disagree?
Thanks Bud!

 

[cmsmoke]

Depending on the type of nylon you are using, it could outlast the chain. I bored cylinders for many a motorcycle/atv because on previous rebuilds someone put in nylon buttons instead of circlips to hold the wrist pin in the piston. Strangly enough the buttons wore the cylinder. I have thought about using old engine oil on mine for lube, but rehandling the splits could be messy unless they sit a while and the little bit of oil that may or may not get on them soaks in. Sawdust and splitter fragments will find there way under the chain and paddles and could actually provide less friction or slight lubrication. I think the hay/corn would do this when these elevators were origionally working. The only way to know is to experiment and see what happens.

 

[cantoo]

I use an old hay elevator for my firewood. It was at least 30 years old when I bought it and well used, I've used it for 5 years and there is hardly any sign of wear on the steel. I wouldn't waste my time putting oil on it. Pics of mine are in my thread titled " my firewood tools"

 

[T. Mainus]

This is a picture of our elevator that we use for firewood. Paid $200 for it. The paddles bust every so often, we either fix them or remove them. We oil ours when the squeaking gets so loud that you can't stand it anymore.

 

[KiwiBro]

Can only find static coefficients rather than sliding but it's reasonable to assume the sliding coefficients will not change relative to each other enough to alter the overall 'what's best' findings.

Nylon on steel is about 3 or 4 times more slippery as steel on steel. Yeah, there are heaps of variances - what type of nylon/steel (oxidation thereof), etc, etc, but I think it's safe to assume Nylon would be more slippery than steel.

Whether Nylon would last as long as steel in such an application remains to be proven.

If your supplier has UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) then most definitely give that a go too. It's generally more slippery than nylon and is highly abrasion resistant.

Would be great to see some photos and read your impressions of the materials in use if you get the chance.

 

[4b316]

conveyer

We also use a old hay elavator pretty near like the one you posted..Probably 40 years old,we have had it awhile and have put many cords of wood thur it.I thought that we would replace the chain when we first got it,it was worned right out and figured it would just keep on breaking,I think we have replaced one link since then.apaddle weld will break once in a while but just weld it back up and good to gur new wood shed is going to be 12 by 20 with a peaked roof and we are setting it up so that I can take one sheet of tin off the roof and put the conveyor over it and fill up the room.Going to put the OWB next to it in a overhang

 

[doug4k]

uhmw is very wear resistant and can be used for chain guides or other wear contact surfaces. we use it all the time in the automation industry. it machines, cuts or routers very easily and is readily available in many different size and shape configurations. it feels soft but wears well.

 

[mikereynolds]

conveyor

We use old roofing conveyors they work well and were cheep! Bought them from a lumber yard that was downsizing

 

[Wood Splitter]

Nylon UHMV

Final Thought......

And right now the chain rides in a little troff itself but if i was to put nylon on i would just run it flat over the entire surface leaving no more troff but with the chain having sprockets at both ends it should still stay aligned right?
Thanks Everyone!!

 

[Wood Splitter]

Can only find static coefficients rather than sliding but it's reasonable to assume the sliding coefficients will not change relative to each other enough to alter the overall 'what's best' findings.

Nylon on steel is about 3 or 4 times more slippery as steel on steel. Yeah, there are heaps of variances - what type of nylon/steel (oxidation thereof), etc, etc, but I think it's safe to assume Nylon would be more slippery than steel.

Whether Nylon would last as long as steel in such an application remains to be proven.

If your supplier has UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) then most definitely give that a go too. It's generally more slippery than nylon and is highly abrasion resistant.

Would be great to see some photos and read your impressions of the materials in use if you get the chance.

I will deffinetly send you some photos of before and after and will also make a new video. I'll get back in touch with ya. Thanks again for the comments.