New to this site

[soul60]

Good morning all. I am new to this site and came across it through google when I was searching home made log splitters. My husband and I live in the country and have cut down a lot of trees that were a danger to the house. Some of these trees have a 2' - 2 1/2' diameter. Now, my husband is a seasoned mechanic (40 years) but we have never built a splitter. We need one but don't have the money to buy a $2000 one. So, my husband, having access to mechanical parts, decided we could build one. This is what we have and I need to know if this stuff can be used to build one.

14hp engine
everything from a 4 cylinder turbo car engine to an 8 cylinder car engine. (His friend built one using a 4 cylinder engine)
11 gpm 2 stage pump
a 5" x 48" piston from a backhoe (2 1/2" rod)
2 I-beams
rear wheels and axles from the back end of various cars
I am not sure about the controls but I know he has something

Now, we are overkill people. LOL. Hot rods must go fast, machines must work better, projects are huge. (we re-did most of the house by ourselves including the heating, plumbing and some electrical).

We'd like to make a powerful log splitter but I am not sure if we are heading in the right direction. I have read a bunch of stuff on here but I am lost when tech talk starts. What are the most important things to consider? What safety concerns should we address?

We were at a fair yesterday and saw a company that sold log splitters. So I used my cell phone and photographed every angle of the splitter. We have drawn out on paper what we want and the measurements. I am just not sure of what sizes of engine, pump, etc to use. We also have the brochure for the company and have researched online what we are looking for. We do want one that can be vertical or horizontal so we know we need to create a pivot point. Building it won't be a problem. But knowing what pump or engine to use is. WE don't want one that is just right, we want one that is better than alright. POWER.

My husband has been busy working on our 68 barracuda so he hasn't been able to research this. That is why I am. We do use all the wood for winter because oil is too much and we use our wood stove all winter long. Only filling up once with oil during the cold season. Previously, my husband chopped it by hand. I want it easier for him. Please, any advice would be appreciated. Also, keep it simple cause too much tech talk and I get confused. LOL.


Joanne

 

[leon]

project splitter

Good morning all. I am new to this site and came across it through google when I was searching home made log splitters. My husband and I live in the country and have cut down a lot of trees that were a danger to the house. Some of these trees have a 2' - 2 1/2' diameter. Now, my husband is a seasoned mechanic (40 years) but we have never built a splitter. We need one but don't have the money to buy a $2000 one. So, my husband, having access to mechanical parts, decided we could build one. This is what we have and I need to know if this stuff can be used to build one.

14hp engine
everything from a 4 cylinder turbo car engine to an 8 cylinder car engine. (His friend built one using a 4 cylinder engine)
11 gpm 2 stage pump
a 5" x 48" piston from a backhoe (2 1/2" rod)
2 I-beams
rear wheels and axles from the back end of various cars
I am not sure about the controls but I know he has something

Now, we are overkill people. LOL. Hot rods must go fast, machines must work better, projects are huge. (we re-did most of the house by ourselves including the heating, plumbing and some electrical).

We'd like to make a powerful log splitter but I am not sure if we are heading in the right direction. I have read a bunch of stuff on here but I am lost when tech talk starts. What are the most important things to consider? What safety concerns should we address?

We were at a fair yesterday and saw a company that sold log splitters. So I used my cell phone and photographed every angle of the splitter. We have drawn out on paper what we want and the measurements. I am just not sure of what sizes of engine, pump, etc to use. We also have the brochure for the company and have researched online what we are looking for. We do want one that can be vertical or horizontal so we know we need to create a pivot point. Building it won't be a problem. But knowing what pump or engine to use is. WE don't want one that is just right, we want one that is better than alright. POWER.

My husband has been busy working on our 68 barracuda so he hasn't been able to research this. That is why I am. We do use all the wood for winter because oil is too much and we use our wood stove all winter long. Only filling up once with oil during the cold season. Previously, my husband chopped it by hand. I want it easier for him. Please, any advice would be appreciated. Also, keep it simple cause too much tech talk and I get confused. LOL.


Joanne

It all depends on what your time is worth,


If you have a rental store nearby find out if they have a timberwolf splitter with a lifting arm and table grate to rent or call timberwolf toll free to find out if they have a retailer in your area that may rent you one for a a few days- they are very fast and efficient splitters and that is why I want to sell or trade etc. and buy a better one.


The problem is getting from a to z as you need a number of things, a control valve with an internal relief unless he has an independent relief valve that he can mount some where to return relief pressure to tank. An in line oil pressure guage is a must, fittings and hose etc. but you must research this thouroughly as a mistake will get you very dead very quickly.


A separate oil tank for the oil, a coupler for the engine to the pump-hypro brand most likely, amounting flange for the pump to te engine, a flat plate of steel to mout the gas motor etc. dont forget the higher you have to lift it to split it the more it hurts later so rule out a vertical splitter as you have to lift and roll the chunk and the lift pieces several times. IN MY OPINION.


Do you want to lift the logs by hand to the splitter or use a lift handle with a tray welded to the bottom of the splitter frame extended under the splitter to the other side or use a seconnd cylinder to move the lifting tray?, lifting chunks gets very old and unproductive. I am lazy, much older, and dont like doing things the hard way if I dont have to:^)


If you use a cars rear axle it is much higher and harder to get around etc., you still have to lift the wood.


The frame rail for the cylinder is another problem some are combined with a reservoir like mine and ride the top of the tank to spilt the wood, if you intend to use the I beams or H beams you need a separate baffled tank with a lot of capacity due to the size of the cylinder.

I would strongly suggest going to the library or central tractor or a farm and ranch store to pick up a book on hydraulics before you do anything.


My splitter is for sale by the way-montgomery ward/MTD 22 ton, 25 years old, new pump , new gas engine very few hours(less than 500) as is, where is no warranty but it works very well and has very low hours on it. I live in new york if you are interested in it.:chainsawguy:

 

[soul60]

Thank you

Thank you so much Leon. The info you just gave really helps. I am sure my husband will understand more about the guage and lines more than I do. We know it is going to be heavy but planned on pulling this around the yard with the truck.

We had planned on extending a tray to use for lifting manually. Thought od putting handles on both sides of the tray to distribute the weight a bit to lift. I didn't want to get too complicated using about piston to lift the tray. This is our first try.

The ones we saw online had two I-beams. One long one and one cross beam. That would sit on squared framing so the I-beam with the piston can be lifted to be vertical. The oil tank would be on one side between the tire and piston and the engien on the other. Both sitting on metal plates for stability. At least I saw things like that online that were homemade. I have seen about 10 of them online and some professionally built ones. Told my husband that if the majority do things one way, we will do it too cause there must be a reason and everyone who made one has already gone through the mistakes. Do you know of any photos online of homemade log splitters that I can check out?

Whya re you selling yours? Is it heavy duty? How much? If the numbers are right and it is what we are looking for, we don't mind traveling.

Joanne

 

[Herbs Garden]

Welcome! I'm new too!

 

[infomet]

EXETER! Good grief, I lived in Carolina (South County), RI, from 1968-81, when Exeter was very much in the country!
I have a Vermeer splitter that came with my place here in NC. I use it often and have used several others too, so I have some feelings on the subject.

There's no need to build a monster. Most wood splits easily, so the two stage pump will split a lot of it at the fast rate and hunker down on the twisty ones. It's nice to be able to move the splitter with a lawn tractor or riding mower. You'll often want to take it to the wood, to avoid handling big pieces. I often take it into the woods and then go back and get the little lawn trailer. Then the wife, kid, and I split the wood into the trailer and haul it right to the pile. Also, in your climate you will want to keep the splitter inside, if at all possible. I think the rear axle from a minivan would be great. It would be easily shortened to get a reasonable width. Some light duty spare tires would lower it.

I like going vertical. Then I can roll big rounds onto the plate and split them while I sit on a round or kneel. I often have a small kid to work the valve. It's pretty easy to throw the pieces into the trailer from that position. I sometimes stack right onto a pallet that I can carry with the tractor and carryall.

14 HP is fine. Most of the time you can run it just above idle. That's how I run my 12 HP Kohler. The noise is tiring, even with muffs on. Do all you can in coolish weather....summer is too sweaty!

It usually hardly pays to build, but with all you have, you can make out. Even so, you'll spend $100 or so on the valve, similar on hoses, and something on the tank. Considering you can buy used for $5-700, you can see the problem. Of course the used might not be 14HP, but they all work. Look at the Northern Tool catalog or website for typical valves. I've never had a gage, but it would certainly be informative.

I like having my own, because I split whenever some wood shows up. If you rent, you really have to stockpile rounds and split when you have a year's worth.

You can weld up a fine tank from sheet stock. Five gallons is fine, even three, in spite of people talking about bigger ones. Mine never heats up beyond barely warm. 1/8" sheet stock will be fine. I don't see the point of baffles, since the tank is all at the same temperature anyway. Use a screen at the output and a good filter in the return line.

As someone mentioned, mounting and driving the pump is the hardest part. Look at the bolt pattern of the pump and see what pattern, if any, is on the engine. You'll have to have a sleeve/bracket to hold the pump to the engine and a coupling to do the connection. The sleeve will be a problem, unless you can do some fabricaton. Go to the store and look at them, and check your pictures. I don't think belt drive would be good. The torque is high for a belt and the pump bearing generally isn't made for the sideloads a belt would impose. Lovejoy is a big coupling company. They have some rubber, to absorb minor misalignment.

Your beam may be fine. You don't have to build for the whole 48" stroke. Unless you have a big stove or outdoor furnace you'll not need over 24". Give a lot of thought to locating the hinge, so the beam may be raised to vertical easily. The hinge should be just behind the genter of gravity of the beam/cylinder combination.

That's about it. Start looking for a used tank of some sort. It can't be sheet metal, but it's not under pressure, so most any durable tank, perhaps from a small air compressor, would do.

Let us know what you find.

 

[Bowtie]

With that big 14 hp engine and big cylinder you would get a better result from a 2 stage 16 or 22 gpm pump. The 11 will work, but will be much slower. I have an 11hp briggs with a 13.6 gpm pump, 24 by 2 inch ram cylinder and pressure gauge. I am think about getting a 16 gpm barnes pump for mine (Haldex/Barnes). Good Luck!!

 

[soul60]

EXETER! Good grief, I lived in Carolina (South County), RI, from 1968-81, when Exeter was very much in the country!
I have a Vermeer splitter that came with my place here in NC. I use it often and have used several others too, so I have some feelings on the subject.

There's no need to build a monster. Most wood splits easily, so the two stage pump will split a lot of it at the fast rate and hunker down on the twisty ones. It's nice to be able to move the splitter with a lawn tractor or riding mower. You'll often want to take it to the wood, to avoid handling big pieces. I often take it into the woods and then go back and get the little lawn trailer. Then the wife, kid, and I split the wood into the trailer and haul it right to the pile. Also, in your climate you will want to keep the splitter inside, if at all possible. I think the rear axle from a minivan would be great. It would be easily shortened to get a reasonable width. Some light duty spare tires would lower it.

I like going vertical. Then I can roll big rounds onto the plate and split them while I sit on a round or kneel. I often have a small kid to work the valve. It's pretty easy to throw the pieces into the trailer from that position. I sometimes stack right onto a pallet that I can carry with the tractor and carryall.

14 HP is fine. Most of the time you can run it just above idle. That's how I run my 12 HP Kohler. The noise is tiring, even with muffs on. Do all you can in coolish weather....summer is too sweaty!

It usually hardly pays to build, but with all you have, you can make out. Even so, you'll spend $100 or so on the valve, similar on hoses, and something on the tank. Considering you can buy used for $5-700, you can see the problem. Of course the used might not be 14HP, but they all work. Look at the Northern Tool catalog or website for typical valves. I've never had a gage, but it would certainly be informative.

I like having my own, because I split whenever some wood shows up. If you rent, you really have to stockpile rounds and split when you have a year's worth.

You can weld up a fine tank from sheet stock. Five gallons is fine, even three, in spite of people talking about bigger ones. Mine never heats up beyond barely warm. 1/8" sheet stock will be fine. I don't see the point of baffles, since the tank is all at the same temperature anyway. Use a screen at the output and a good filter in the return line.

As someone mentioned, mounting and driving the pump is the hardest part. Look at the bolt pattern of the pump and see what pattern, if any, is on the engine. You'll have to have a sleeve/bracket to hold the pump to the engine and a coupling to do the connection. The sleeve will be a problem, unless you can do some fabricaton. Go to the store and look at them, and check your pictures. I don't think belt drive would be good. The torque is high for a belt and the pump bearing generally isn't made for the sideloads a belt would impose. Lovejoy is a big coupling company. They have some rubber, to absorb minor misalignment.

Your beam may be fine. You don't have to build for the whole 48" stroke. Unless you have a big stove or outdoor furnace you'll not need over 24". Give a lot of thought to locating the hinge, so the beam may be raised to vertical easily. The hinge should be just behind the genter of gravity of the beam/cylinder combination.

That's about it. Start looking for a used tank of some sort. It can't be sheet metal, but it's not under pressure, so most any durable tank, perhaps from a small air compressor, would do.

Let us know what you find.

Great to hear from someone in my area! Exeter is still very much country. No stop lights, street lights or sidewalks. No police station either and only vol. fire stations. I love it here.

It is my piston that is 4 feet long not including the shaft. I am not sure how far that extends. I paid $35 for it. Someone I know was selling it because hewas going to make a log splitter but never got around to it. So, so far I am vested $35. Everything else was free.

I need a pump that will move that monster of a piston. My husband can weld this thing together and on our drawing we had the hinge just off center like you said. We also have a minivan that my husband wants to rip the rear end out of and use it for the log splitter. But I don't think he is planning to shorten it. We can pull this around the yard with the F150. It's 4x4 so we won't get stuck in the back yard. Something that happens with rear wheel drive cars. We have a stream in the back yard so it gets soft back there. The trees we have been taking down are average 80' tall and 2-3' wide. So we have a lot of wood laying around. We still have a few more to take down but one is going to have to be left up to a pro. Hangs over the house. We have beenthinking about renting a boom to take it down but financing is stopping us.

Do you think the 14 hp engine is enoug for a piston that size? And is there a formula that figures out what size pumpo you need?

It'd almost midnight here so I am goign to cut the questions short but I will be checking back in the morning. Thank you so much for the valuable info.

Joanne

Can't wait to build this thing. I get to do the planning and numbers part and he puts it together but every once in a while I do a few things. Think I will try my hand at welding.

 

[soul60]

With that big 14 hp engine and big cylinder you would get a better result from a 2 stage 16 or 22 gpm pump. The 11 will work, but will be much slower. I have an 11hp briggs with a 13.6 gpm pump, 24 by 2 inch ram cylinder and pressure gauge. I am think about getting a 16 gpm barnes pump for mine (Haldex/Barnes). Good Luck!!

That is great news to hear that the engine will be big enough. The piston is huge. 4; long without the rod. 5" diameter and 2.5 diameter rod. This think is the biggest one I have seen. We went to a fair the other day with tractor pulls and there wasn't a piston in sight that big. Not even the tractors there from Timberwolf and Kabota. Trying to find a pump cheap. I am sure eventually we will either get one free or almost free. My husband seems to know everyone who is getting rid of things.

Joanne

 

[Bowtie]

I got my pump from northern tool and supply. You might also look at eBay if you dont find anything local.

 

[leon]

log spltter etc.

Great to hear from someone in my area! Exeter is still very much country. No stop lights, street lights or sidewalks. No police station either and only vol. fire stations. I love it here.

It is my piston that is 4 feet long not including the shaft. I am not sure how far that extends. I paid $35 for it. Someone I know was selling it because he was going to make a log splitter but never got around to it. So, so far I am vested $35. Everything else was free.

I need a pump that will move that monster of a piston. My husband can weld this thing together and on our drawing we had the hinge just off center like you said. We also have a minivan that my husband wants to rip the rear end out of and use it for the log splitter. But I don't think he is planning to shorten it. We can pull this around the yard with the F150. It's 4x4 so we won't get stuck in the back yard. Something that happens with rear wheel drive cars. We have a stream in the back yard so it gets soft back there. The trees we have been taking down are average 80' tall and 2-3' wide. So we have a lot of wood laying around. We still have a few more to take down but one is going to have to be left up to a pro. Hangs over the house. We have beenthinking about renting a boom to take it down but financing is stopping us.

Do you think the 14 hp engine is enough for a piston that size? And is there a formula that figures out what size pumpo you need?

It's almost midnight here so I am going to cut the questions short but I will be checking back in the morning. Thank you so much for the valuable info.

Joanne

Can't wait to build this thing. I get to do the planning and numbers part and he puts it together but every once in a while I do a few things. Think I will try my hand at welding.

Joanne

If your log splitter engine does not have four holes in the back surrounding the output shaft you will not be able to use that engine; lets get that out of the way first, if the flange holes are there it may be able to accept a common hydraulic pump mounting flange to allow connection with a two piece coupler mating the pump shaft and motor output shaft.


The engine is not the issue for power as much as the pump output volume and flow to the cylinder-as long as you have good pressure and flow to the cylinder you will have power to split wood so do not worry as (the greater the piston diameter the greater the presssure exerted against the load.

A hydraulic cylinder cosists of:

The cylinder barrel.
The packing gland-which is what the cylinder rod rides through back and forth. The packing gland has a wiper and and packing to seal the cylinder from dirt and an o-ring on the outside edge to seal the oil in the barrel.
The cylinder rod which is usually chromed.
the cylinder rod has an o-ring to seal the piston inside diameter to prevent a bypass leak from th eback side of the piston.
The piston rod may have an oring for a piston packing or a standard hydralic packing consisting of a mono-one packing chevron packing or a built up packing with several layers of packing nested together to allow take up for wear in the cylinder bore.
The same can be said for the packing gland as well.
The back side of the of the cylinder does all the work and you must remember the rod side of the cylinder has less oil in it due to the piston rod and it travels faster due to the cylider rod taking up more space-dont forget that part- that is why I said you need a ten gallon tank for the oil surge.

There are many types of cylinders in use today so its easier to give you the basic idea of how they work.

You will need a big tank for that cylinder simply as you will be moving a lot of oil all at once and you do not want oil geysers blowing out of your breather filler cap- a ten gallon tank at a minimum should be adequate for your needs simply due to the volume needed by the cylinder-dont forget that it will travel the full distance occasionally and you need that room for the hot oil.


Regarding the rental of a a lift- a 4 wheel drive aerial lift is not suited for taking down timber that is in the wrong place(due to the basket design) as it is not set up to handle down lines and moving to carry sheave blocks to lower wood trunks etc. as you will need several hundred feet of wood cuting rope, heavy rope for lowering trunks and slings to choke off the wood pieces for control and sheaves for the additional slings to lower the wood pieces and two more people to control the timber coming down from a cut due to the rope arragements and sheaves- the wood to be cut is always tied off in one or more spots(for control of the limb or trunk) and the section is cut and then is free swinging depeding on how heavily it is lashed prior to cutting and then lowered to the ground using a winch or by hand depending on the weight of the trunk in question etc. so its not for the fool hardy or brave to do as it takes time effort and training and lot of insurance so its something you need to have done by a professional arborist.


leonZ

Think about my splitter for a bit and let me know as I want to (buy a bigger one) with a remote, DVD, VCR, coffee pot-decaff, beer cooler, lounge chair, air popper for popcorn and tread mill for my dachsunds lamont and grady to tire them out.

I simply wish to upgrade so we can talk about it if you like.


It does not matter whether its your first mistake or your last one as either way it will get you killed- old mining saying. opcorn:

 

[sawinredneck]

Here is bigger, here is badder, here is ignorant.

I will discouarge, continually, anyone from building there own. Unless you have something that is not on the market, or features not available on one on the market. IT'S JUST NOT FEASABLE!!!!!!

Motor:$500 (find it cheaper, I dare you!!!)

Pump: $328

Hoses: $578

I-beam:made $20 on it.

Steel:Free

hyd res: free

filter housing:free

One burnt up chop saw, two burnt up angle grinders, over $300 in grinding discs and welding rod. Hours wiring it up. Hours and hours and hours and hours welding cutting and grinding. Not including filling my oxy acet. tanks three times already, and will have to do it again to fix it.

Yes, it's a one of a kind, yes it's what I wanted. But I have to rebuild a bunch of it after the first run. It was amazing watching 70,000#'s of force TEAR 1/2" steel plate!!! It's not for everyone!!!!

There is more information on it, but the video is at the end of this thread:

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=32575