Processor Build

[chaikwa]

Here are some pics of the processor I'm building.

This is the push-plate and 6" cylinder. There are 5, 5/8" bolts on each side that hold the retainers to the bottom of the push plate. The retainers are 2" X 2" solid squares that have had a 1" X 1" square cut out of them to accommodate the thickness of the top flange on the beam. The beam is made from 2, 1" X 10" X 10 foot solid flat bars spaced 1 1/4" apart. The wedge will sit between them and slide up and down as needed.



Side view of splitting beam assembly and push-plate.



End view of beam and push-plate



Another view showing the log lift at the end of the in-feed trough in the down position. When it is up, it will serve to take the cut off logs from the in-feed trough and roll them into the splitting chamber. The log lift will form one side of the splitting chamber in the up position. The purpose of this is so that I can use this thing as a conventional log splitter if I need to split wood that has already been chunked up.



At the front end of the processor is the engine, a 6BT Cummins producing 160HP.




That's all for now. I'll keep adding pics as I continue the build.

 

[Circle B MN]

A Cummins power head ? :msp_w00t:

 

[hupte]

that thing is a beast!!! I love it!! do you have all the parts yet or are you still working on em?

 

[chaikwa]

that thing is a beast!!! I love it!! do you have all the parts yet or are you still working on em?

Just waiting for a few more hydraulic parts, then I'll have to plumb everything, but I have plenty to keep me busy until they get here. Started installing the sprockets and chains for the in-feed trough and live deck today. That *might* be finished in a couple of days. Then I'll tackle the chainsaw assembly.

 

[zogger]

Subscribing, I love these build threads!

 

[EXCALIBER]

Wish I could find a nice cheap engine like that around here, but not as of yet. With the engine the processor is already worth more than $500 (there are a few of you who will recognize the sarcasm in that remark and know what I'm referring to!). Looks good so far

 

[chaikwa]

Wish I could find a nice cheap engine like that around here, but not as of yet. With the engine the processor is already worth more than $500 (there are a few of you who will recognize the sarcasm in that remark and know what I'm referring to!). Looks good so far

They're around. Sometimes you have to buy the whole rotted out POS truck from an owner who doesn't know what he has. The 6 cylinder engines are cheaper and more plentiful than the 4 cylinder BT's. EVERYONE wants those, me included. I don't really need the 6 or the 160 HP it puts out, but what will do a lot will do a little!

 

[nathon918]

They're around. Sometimes you have to buy the whole rotted out POS truck from an owner who doesn't know what he has. The 6 cylinder engines are cheaper and more plentiful than the 4 cylinder BT's. EVERYONE wants those, me included. I don't really need the 6 or the 160 HP it puts out, but what will do a lot will do a little!

buy 6BT's and just cut the two middle cylinders out, cut the crank,and cam and weld it all back together and sell em as 4BT's
im also "lookin" for a 4bt for CJ7 project in the next few years

are those old truck frames? they sure look like it...

 

[nathon918]

Wish I could find a nice cheap engine like that around here, but not as of yet. With the engine the processor is already worth more than $500 (there are a few of you who will recognize the sarcasm in that remark and know what I'm referring to!). Looks good so far

and i bet if he were a "professional" this should only take 4 days max to complete right????otstir:

 

[chaikwa]

are those old truck frames? they sure look like it...

Yes. And no.

They ARE truck frame rails, but they're brand new. A friend of mine runs a scrap yard and he bid on and got a contract with Spartan Motors. They make custom fire truck chassis' as well as all the chassis' for GM's cab-forward trucks. According to their contract with GM, any truck chassis in this line that isn't sold within a year of the model year close has to be scrapped. The only thing that can't be salvaged and has to be shredded is the cabs themselves. My friend was selling brand new big block gas engines with trannies and all the electronics to run them for $500 each. I got 2 fuel tanks, a 35 gallon and a 150 gallon for $75, and all the frame rail was .20 cents a pound. I think I have $600 into the steel for the main frame of the processor.

 

[chaikwa]

This was today's work. The adjustment end of the in-feed trough chain. Took all day tho.

 

[hupte]

are you planning to weld some kind of teeth on the chain links to grab the logs and feed em in? opcorn:

 

[Atlantic Trader]

That is one excellent build there.
what is your background ?

 

[EXCALIBER]

and i bet if he were a "professional" this should only take 4 days max to complete right????otstir:

No, only if it were you. Nobody else even comes close to how good you are, thats why you have so many build threads on here. Keep up the good work!

chaika I'm liking the processor build so far, if only you ground off that dodge sign on the intake it would run better. Keep the pics coming looking good!

 

[chaikwa]

are you planning to weld some kind of teeth on the chain links to grab the logs and feed em in? opcorn:

Yes. At this point I'm thinking of using short pieces of 3" channel, inverted so that the flanges are pointed upwards to grab the log, probably with some sort of points ground into them. Unless someone comes up with a better idea.

That is one excellent build there.
what is your background ?

Thanks!

My background... work or personal? Well, here's the short version of both:

Born and raised in the northeast corner of Massachusetts, up near the New Hampshire border. Started welding when I was about 14, making steel 'chock blocks' for trucks. Made .25 cents for each completed block! Became a career firefighter when I was 19, paramedic when I was 20, ran my own excavation company 'on the side' for about 12 years, along with doing a little logging here and there when I worked for some contractors that needed large amounts of land cleared for sub-divisions. A paper company noticed the 'neatness' in which we worked and asked me to contract to them to harvest logs for their operations. That lasted about 2 years before I got sick of their price games. Got into welding and fabricating when I modified one of my equipment trailers to suit my needs. Another contractor saw it and asked me to do some welding work for him. That snow-balled into about 20 other contractors asking for the same work. Finally came up with the brain-storm that if they just had ME build their trailers in the first place, they wouldn't have to bring their brand new trailers to me to modify before they even had a load on them. Abandoned the excavation stuff for full time welding and fabrication, (besides the firefighting stuff). Got my SAE, NHTSA and DOT numbers and certifications, got AWS to approve my welding methods and I developed my own welding standards for trailers. Started building fire trucks and rescue units as well as selling for a couple of larger manufacturers, (it was a kind of natural transition I guess!), and also did a lot of sawmill fabrication and repair for a local operation in the next town over from where I lived and worked.

During quieter times on the fire department shifts, I developed a curriculum for the identification and treatment of juvenile fire setters, which was picked up and adopted by the National Fire Academy. Quit the fire department in 2000 after having my fill of fire department politics and now teach for the National Fire Academy in Emitsburg MD as well as doing their field classes, and also teach for the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy as a contract instructor for training firefighters, juvenile justice personnel, law enforcement and mental health professionals in juvenile fire setter identification, intervention and treatment. I occasionally proof-read and offer suggestions on proposed and new rules for the NHTSA in regards to commercial vehicles and operators, although I stay away from the 'Hours of Service' stuff because even the people that make up those rules can't figure them out! Wrote a couple of instructional manuals in regards to CDL operator proficiency which has been/is published by Jones and Bartlett Publishing. I now live in Michigan and have 1/2 ownership in a 160 acre farm. I'm co-owner of a health and safety training business and run a non-profit fire safety organization. My first love is still welding though, even though I mostly just have time for my own insane projects.

I think that sums it up!

 

[rarefish383]

Emitsburg is just around the corner, some pretty farms up there. Often thought about moving up there when I retire. But, with the politics and taxes, I think I'll head over to WV. It's a shame, my Dads family has been in the state since 1721, and they are running us out. Oh well, there is more wood to cut in WV than MD, Joe.

 

[chaikwa]

I know it's been a while, but I've made some progress and I HAVE been taking pictures. So here they are:

Got the spikes on the in-feed chain. Every 8th link has a spike, 17 in all. Made from heavy 3" channel, cut at an angle 1" up from the bottom.



And a slide for them to ride on under the in-feed trough. That chain will bounce around something fierce if you just let it hang.



Got my wedge backer installed right behind where the wedge will go. Still need to machine the point into the wedge before it goes between the 2 main rails.



The pump is all mounted now. It is off-set to allow it to over-hang the frame as little as possible. I couldn't make the drive shaft any shorter than I did, so over-hanging was the only option. I didn't want to rigid mount it to the engine so that meant the shaft would have to have a slip yoke in it. The engine is mounted on rubber and the pump is solid, so there will be some movement between the two.



Got the valves all mounted and the operator station roughed together. The box you see on the right side of the pic is where the engine controls will be along with the gauges, lockable so no one can mess with it. The cover has a clear panel on the top of the door so the gauges can be seen without having to open the door or leave it open. This should limit the amount of sawdust that will get in there. Also, you can see the seat in the folded down position. I made it so if the operator should choose to stand, the seat will be out of the way.



Another view.



Here's the seat up.



And lastly, a side view of the operator station.



Next thing is plumbing and electrical. I was going to do the wiring from the engine to the control panel yesterday, but the flunky they had working the Sunday shift at the local NAPA didn't know what 'multi-conductor trailer cable' was so I said the heck with it until I can deal with the regular guy tomorrow.

After I get the hydraulic plumbing in place, I'll do a little enclosing on the operator station. The upper portions will get bars of some type to protect the operator from flying heavy debris along with some kind of plexiglass that can be opened or closed to keep the wind off or allow for ventilation. The bottom portions I think will be steel sheeting. Haven't decided for sure yet.

I only have a couple days this week I can work on it, I'll be gone at a conference all next week, I'll only have a day or two the week after that, then I leave for 3 weeks for our annual fall trip to New England with the Fire Safety Program, so I don't expect to make any major progress on it for quite a little bit. AND, I still have the outdoor wood boiler to install into two buildings. Gets me frustrated just thinking of all the work to be accomplished yet.

 

[woodman6666]

First and foremost your build looks very very good!! A few things that I noticed (coming from a guy who has owned, operated, and built a few of these in my day) your log infeed chain Im certain you will either build the spikes much taller or just go to a rolling shuttle grapple from the top and slide the logs with it. Like the multitek and to be honest it takes just a little more timeto build and is so much better to operate. You will fight gettting anything but very straight logs to feed in with your current design. The other is more of a question why did you not just direct mount the pump to the motor? it would take up less room and less stuff. Just curious.
I love your wedge, beam set up it looks very good and stout. I am assuming you will have a stationary initial wedge and then an adjustable wedge behind it operating hydraulically.
Again Looks Very good.

 

[Bushmans]

Yes. And no.

They ARE truck frame rails, but they're brand new. A friend of mine runs a scrap yard and he bid on and got a contract with Spartan Motors. They make custom fire truck chassis' as well as all the chassis' for GM's cab-forward trucks. According to their contract with GM, any truck chassis in this line that isn't sold within a year of the model year close has to be scrapped. The only thing that can't be salvaged and has to be shredded is the cabs themselves. My friend was selling brand new big block gas engines with trannies and all the electronics to run them for $500 each. I got 2 fuel tanks, a 35 gallon and a 150 gallon for $75, and all the frame rail was .20 cents a pound. I think I have $600 into the steel for the main frame of the processor.

How cool! That's where I work. I build the firetrucks!

 

[chaikwa]

why did you not just direct mount the pump to the motor? it would take up less room and less stuff. Just curious. .

I didn't have a stub shaft for one. Nor did I have a flywheel. The engine came out of a truck application with an automatic tranny, so I cut the torque converter in half along the circumference and machined a stub shaft to fit into the center hole of the converter. The converter then bolted to the flex plate and kept the stub shaft centered. I didn't have enough bell housing either, so I couldn't have put a plate across it to mount the pump on unless I found a deeper bell housing as well. I could've bought a PTO assembly, but the cheapest one I found was in the $2500 range and I didn't want to spend that on it. AND, with this set up, I can slide the shaft off the pump if I need to remove it for some reason. In short, it was just easier all around.

I love your wedge, beam set up it looks very good and stout. I am assuming you will have a stationary initial wedge and then an adjustable wedge behind it operating hydraulically.
Again Looks Very good.

The wedge will rest up against the wedge backing plate and slide up and down against it. The wedge fits between the two main beams and those are what keeps it centered. I'm going to have it set up so that if I want to change wedges, the hydraulic cylinder that lifts it will raise it entirely out of the slot in the two main beams. At that point I can slide something under it to support it, disconnect the hydraulic cylinder and remove the wedge.

I didn't make the spikes any taller because I didn't want smaller logs to be pushed to one side or the other in the trough. You may be correct in that I'll have trouble with crooked logs, but with the spikes every 12 or so inches, SOME of them will kinda HAVE to dig into the log I'd have to think. I'm sure there are going to be modifications to be made once I get the thing running and this may be one of them.

Seeing as how you've built a few of these things, do you see a problem with using AW 32 hydraulic oil as opposed to AW 46?

How cool! That's where I work. I build the firetrucks!

I remember! I don't think the firefighter challenge happened up there this year. Or we didn't get invited. But I was looking forward to meeting you if we went again.