Homemade Firewood Processor - Got One?

[difflock]

I am considering making my own firewood processor too.

By setting up a PTO driven log splitter close coupled (but quickly detatchable) to a PTO driven saw/elevator combination, a simple double groove pully on each PTO stub, with V belts, and connect the tractor to the log splitter since it is the heavier load.

This would really require two operators for max efficency but has the virtue of being able to work with any size/akward timber.

And up the elevator straight into vented bulk log bags.

Simples?

Yes?

Ps

Also cheaper than any firewood processor

[Michael C]

I am considering making my own firewood processor too.

By setting up a PTO driven log splitter close coupled (but quickly detatchable) to a PTO driven saw/elevator combination, a simple double groove pully on each PTO stub, with V belts, and connect the tractor to the log splitter since it is the heavier load.

This would really require two operators for max efficency but has the virtue of being able to work with any size/akward timber.

And up the elevator straight into vented bulk log bags.

Simples?

Yes?

Ps

Also cheaper than any firewood processor

 

 

 

See video and pics in the new machinery section.

 

McCord Machinery - Farm Machinery NI, Agricultural Machinery NI, Ploughs NI, Mowers NI, Sowers NI

Edited October 21, 2011 by Michael C

[difflock]

But I intend to winch the trees (boles?) into beside the splitter, cut 1.0m length off, split to size, then cut to length. My trees are very varied in girth & straightness.

Considering using new bought Krpan equipment.

Krpan do a simple affordable PTO mounted winch for their 21/25 tonne splitter, which I tink should be fittable to the 13 or 17 tonne model also.

Ps

I appear to like overcomplicated or even bodged solutions

[northumbriaforestry]

But I intend to winch the trees (boles?) into beside the splitter, cut 1.0m length off, split to size, then cut to length. My trees are very varied in girth & straightness.

Considering using new bought Krpan equipment.

Krpan do a simple affordable PTO mounted winch for their 21/25 tonne splitter, which I tink should be fittable to the 13 or 17 tonne model also.

Ps

I appear to like overcomplicated or even bodged solutions

 

 

 

I LIKE YOU! Good luck, & I've started collecting parts for my boy to knock something up.

[slack ma girdle]

I've started collecting parts for my boy to knock something up.

 

What is your end product ? is it to season the wood forr your kilns or is for firewood. If you are after budget firewood production then you want a setup like this: (see photo)

Timber is cut to 3' lenghts and split and stacked to dry.

Saw bench is used next to stack and cut to size and tossed straight into trailer.

Tractor: £800

Splitter: £250

Saw bench : £50 (needed a bit of welding)

Each of the above can be used seperatly for different things therfore giving better value for money.

Just a thought

[likeitorlumpit]

Someone commented earlier

Even with factory bought machines- you have to have your wits about you.

If you design your own then please be careful

Definately be careful if you ask someone else to use it- any injury and you will be in deep dung- you will have no kite mark /BS and I doubt insurers will help.

I have to say I love some of the homegrown affairs though- very imaginative:thumbup:

[northumbriaforestry]

What is your end product ? is it to season the wood forr your kilns or is for firewood. If you are after budget firewood production then you want a setup like this: (see photo)

Timber is cut to 3' lenghts and split and stacked to dry.

Saw bench is used next to stack and cut to size and tossed straight into trailer.

Tractor: £800

Splitter: £250

Saw bench : £50 (needed a bit of welding)

Each of the above can be used seperatly for different things therfore giving better value for money.

Just a thought

 

Hey there,

Thanks for the reply. We're looking to make some sort of cord rack, we'll pile it on with our little crane. Then the cords roll down one at a time onto a roller based (like a boat trailer) conveyor that we operate manually (not hydraulic) & pull the timber along to a gimble mounted petrol driven saw to cut to our desired length. The cut round then drops into a splitting troft where a hydraulic ram working off an auto kick out lever will split the round into logs & push the split logs onto a conveyor & take them away to drop into bags for firewood,or into the storage area for the kiln.

Proper Heath Robinson but will be massively cheaper & easy to tinker with as we find what needs to be changed & adjusted.

I understand what everyone says about buying one. But it's on deaf ears,we wont buy one,they're stupidly expensive & we're quite capable of building something ourselves for a fraction of the costs. Plus, we like doing things ourselves.

They told us we'd never get planning permission to build our house in the woods too & we did. Then they told us we'd never be able to build it ourselves as we had no experience, & we are. They told us we'd never build it to such a low budget & keep it within building control regs & we are. They told us we'd never build the house,manage the woods & produce enough firewood manually to keep up with demand. THEY WERE RIGHT, SO A PROCESSOR WE WILL BUILD!

 

Come on anyone with a home made machine, get ya pics out for the gal!

[Nic Johnson Contracting]

Hey there,

Thanks for the reply. We're looking to make some sort of cord rack, we'll pile it on with our little crane. Then the cords roll down one at a time onto a roller based (like a boat trailer) conveyor that we operate manually (not hydraulic) & pull the timber along to a gimble mounted petrol driven saw to cut to our desired length. The cut round then drops into a splitting troft where a hydraulic ram working off an auto kick out lever will split the round into logs & push the split logs onto a conveyor & take them away to drop into bags for firewood,or into the storage area for the kiln.

Proper Heath Robinson but will be massively cheaper & easy to tinker with as we find what needs to be changed & adjusted.

I understand what everyone says about buying one. But it's on deaf ears,we wont buy one,they're stupidly expensive & we're quite capable of building something ourselves for a fraction of the costs. Plus, we like doing things ourselves.

They told us we'd never get planning permission to build our house in the woods too & we did. Then they told us we'd never be able to build it ourselves as we had no experience, & we are. They told us we'd never build it to such a low budget & keep it within building control regs & we are. They told us we'd never build the house,manage the woods & produce enough firewood manually to keep up with demand. THEY WERE RIGHT, SO A PROCESSOR WE WILL BUILD!

 

Come on anyone with a home made machine, get ya pics out for the gal!

 

haha I like you. I would say your a very determined person no one will stop you making your own. I havent built a processor but id be very interested in pics of your house build.

[Tom D]

I would say that a processor was quite a complicated thing to build compared with a home made log splitter. Personally I would make a home made splitter to split your wood into billets, then buy a circular saw (with conveyor) which ought to be cheaper. Sometimes building your own kit isn't cheaper, by the time you factor in your time and any re-design costs if it doesn't work right first time you would probably be better off buying a machine tried and tested and designed for the job. I have been using a jappa 700 lately, it speeds up the processing of our cord wood no end, we have also split some of our larger timber into bilets and cross cut them with the saw on the processor. Our next purchase will be a large horisontal splitter for making billets and splitting multiple rings at a time.

[treequip]

Has anyone watched it till the end where the ram fails?! he proper poops himself.. understandable really.

 

I use some failry dodgy stuff but that puts me to shame!

 

That thing (the modified remains of a conventional bailer) is lethal and thrown together with no thought or skill, but it looks like fun, kind of like playing chicken with a train but with a better chance of getting hurt.