Log splitter for splitting very knotty,beech, oak etc

[niftysteve]

heres the one i made if its of use to you ,it splits any wood i put on it . a real knarly or burred wood i use the front inch of the blade

I have moved the lever lower down as it was a real pain being so high

[Nat]

I have just bought a £445 eBay tractor mounted splitter.

 

Not got the neatest welding, claims 10 ton of pressure.

 

We've been trying hard all week to break it and have failed, We're very pleased with it, the old Leyland 344 running at 1200rpm is well upto the task and good on fuel.

[_tc]

HI

 

Can agree with everyone build ur own, i looked at buying one as they were 'cheap' on the bay but decided they looked like they might break with a match stick!! You can work out ram pressure but using pi to work out the internal area of the ram cyclinder and multiply that by the max pressure of the hydraulic system ur gonna use, usually somewhere between 2500psi and 300psi depending on machine. Then divide by 2.2 to give you the metric tonnage of force. I use an 75mm ram cyclinder and our big tractor produces 3000psi at 140l/min, which priduces around 16tons of force which splits 99.9% of all knotty wood. Larger the ram slower cycle times will be, that size ram at 140l/min gives a 500mm cycle time of about 3.5secs. I made a knife blade so it'll cut through the timber if needed, and made it work on a foot pedal so u've always got hands free. Also it returns to 'open' position automatically and that is adjustable with a simple 'r' clip to suit the size log u want saving time cycling back to the top everytime. HSE would love that i know!

 

If u want some pics i'll pop some up, or if ur close enough u can look, i only used scrap from around the farm so it doesn't look like no high production machine but u'll never break it!!!

 

I'd love to see pictures. Mainly of the self return gubbins and the foot pedal please.

[mendiplogs]

three factors affect your choice of splitter, the diameter of the ram, the pressure of the supply, and the strength of the structure, you will need to build your own to maximise all three. I had to build my own to split some real twisted knotty stuff that had been lying a while, uses a lift ram from a D9 cat, a pump from a slide-back car transporter, various other bits, calculations say it puts out around 40 ton running off the pto on the mog and ive seen it flex 1 1/2" plate on the base splitting some weird knotty crap, oh and it somtimes bursts 4wire hoses!

 

HI mate ref your d9 cat ram my mate has one looking at doing splitter with 40 ton plus ram just the job :thumbup:jon:thumbup:

[MikeTM150]

I'd love to see pictures. Mainly of the self return gubbins and the foot pedal please.

 

i'll get the camera out and take some pics for you!!! I apologise in advance for the colour of the machine, but i ordered DARK green paint for a grain store and its painted in what was left over!!!!!

[Joy Yeomans]

our browns has a nice big splitting ram, bit slow cause the ram is so big compared to a barrowed oxdale we tried, which is quick but a small ram struggles on the notty stuff, our large horizontal machine has a double speed ram which runs off pto and has its own oil tank, but if building one i would price in a oil cooler as we have retro fitted one to ours as you wouldnt believe the heat build up after a days splitting and its cheaper than fitting new seals

joy

[MikeTM150]

I'd love to see pictures. Mainly of the self return gubbins and the foot pedal please.

 

Right here u go, a few pics and i'll try to describe how it works!

 

First pic just shows what it looks like, properly agricultural!

 

2nd pic shows the rod that comes up from the foot pedal assembley to operate the control level and if u look carefully u maybe able to see the 'r-clip' which you can move to adjust the height to which the ram returns.

 

3rd pic shows the guide attached to the splitting wedge plate that guides the rod and 'lifts' the r-clip when it comes up to stop the ram in the upper position.

 

4th pic just shows the 'r-clip' and hopefully if u can see them the holes which u can select to stop the ram at a different height in the upper position for differing height logs if u want to, thus saving wasted time returning right to the top everytime if ur only doing small logs.

 

5th pic shows the pedal assembley underneath the table, with the added return spring to help bring the rod down when your foot is taken off to make the ram return back up.

 

So basically you put ur foot on the pedal until the ram decends and the log is split (i have quite a sharp narrow blade that comes within a few millimeters of the tableso it will cut any stray wisps of wood), you take ur foor off and a combination of the return spring and the weight of the actuating rod bring the pedal into the up position which then makes the valve lever move into the down position making the ram return upwards. As the ram lifts the guide attached to the splitting wedge plate travels up the rod until it reaches the r-clip and lifts the rod and consequently the control lever into the neutral position. I use a 'detent' on the control lever just to make sure it 'flicks' into its desired positon fully and easily. The other lever on the right is for the log lift that i haven't quite got fitted on yet!!!!

 

Hope that helps and is not too complicated to follow!

Edited October 23, 2011 by MikeTM150

[_tc]

Great thank you. Looks professional and not Agri at all. Thanks for the photos as my brain isn't particularly engineering so I need pics.

[_tc]

Well I just managed to pick up a pto pumped splitter on eBay. It's all working but I think I will convert it to be a vertical splitter so I can move the rings around instead of having to pick them up in pieces. Will look to make it foot operated too. Ps that's not me in the picture, I'm taller and balder.

[Daniël Bos]

Right here u go, a few pics and i'll try to describe how it works!

 

3rd pic shows the guide attached to the splitting wedge plate that guides the rod and 'lifts' the r-clip when it comes up to stop the ram in the upper position.

 

 

Great looking bit of kit you built, like the pedal swithgear.

 

I often use a big Simba cultipress and it uses very simply clamp-on collars around the main lifting ram for depth adjustment. Imagine a big peg pegged on the cylinder with chamfered inner edges to protect the seal. There's three different widths for endless combinations for fine tuning.

 

Edit: Would it not have been easier to just drill some holes in the H-beam for different hights of R-clippage?