difflock

Well then, why state "Everyone else" Ca?

Indeed! From someone who voted against the GFA.

Not to paraphrase onyone, but "go fcuk yersel" 'ow about Tories 13,650,900 Labour, whatever:001_rolleyes: Others, the balance o the votes. Stupid is as stupid says. mth

Der Guinness were reet good. Hic!

Yes, possibly:001_tt2:

I wished to test the concept, and knew the hook on the splitting wedge was the weakest point being subject to the full 17 tonne force. So I will order a proper wire rope wedge socket, and beef up my fabrication. Also need to throw another couple of pallets below my wooden bundler frame so as to leave the pipe/wire rope at the right height. But HEY! it WORKED!! first time too. Also I dont need the plastic tube(Ex bale wrap, and perfect for the job) as the bale spike will penetrate the bundle easy-peasy. I may purchase a proper Euro 8 bale spike frame for peace of mind and indeed handiness, since that is my forklift frame I am using for the ad-hoc arrangment. Time for Guinness ! !

Right, here goes ! ! A wee EDIT The bundle failed because I had not left a long enough tail on the strapping (see 2nd last photo) i.e. the cut end rather than tension induced failure. So the strapping is strong enough.(bundle possibly about 300kg-350kg, being a tightly strapped 0.5m3 in volume of soaking wet Lodgepole.) P.S. The only permenant modification to the splitter is a 30mm hole to allow the wire rope through, the "L" shaped piece of 76mm tubing merely sits in place, held secure by the tension of the wire rope, a sweet arrangment I thought!

Re above post, Any prizes for "all the 3 'ziz ? mth

Yes, it was cheap(er) than a hydraulic winch, but only good for snatching logs out of a pile, or bringing them near the splitter, impossible to effect any fine control, either freespooling or winching depending on the clutch modulation, and even if I managed to balance the slip/drag equation, it would only result in burning the small dry clutch out. A hydraulic winch, however small, is an entirely different animal. cheers mth

That appears to be a hydraulic/electro hydraulic winch set up, as best I can tell. cheers M This clip(of a larger Krpan admittedly), is def hyd/electro hyd, which gives the necessary inching, fine control & braking. [ame] [/ame]

1/2 the speed, 1/2 the(already limited) reach, double the power, but still no brake? cheers marcus I had a quick look on ebay and £650.00(ish) would buy a hydraulic winch designed FOR logsplitters, Ex Germany. Hmmm! Oi do loike my toys

I do, unfortunately it is not hydraulic, being direct chain drive from the PTO, & with no brake, so therefore either winching(& quite fast) or free-spooling, which makes it useless for positioning timber with any control. I may consider retro-fitting a hyd winch, for simplicity driven off the tractor hydraulics. cheers mth P.S. Currently just about to test my prototype billet bundle wire rope tensioner, powered by the splitting ram, i.e. to pretension the bundle before strapping. You may well hear the expletives this afternoon if/when it fails! IF It works, & I might just surprise myself, pics will rapidly follow:001_huh:

Now yer talking!

Having considered buying a firewood processor, but not particularly keen to invest in and store boxes/potato boxes/IBC crates to store the short lengths in. So deciding stick with billets and bundling.(better for seasoning/drying as well, I imagine) I decided to revisit the subject of billet production and bundling & onward handling. Now with a bale spike on the wee loader tractor I can easily handle/rehandle 0.5m3 (and indeed 1.0m3 bundles, if the *strapping were strong enough or the wood semi dry) *Since I am currently working with fresh felled Lodgepole with a bulk density of 850 to 900kg/m3, (and btw I put a nice straight 300mm dia log in a bath of water to see how it floated, just barely being the answer, hence my 850-900kg assessment.) Note to self **Really need to let it lie a 12month before splitting. So my next "project" is the splitting operation, and how to minimize the back bending manual input associated with a vertical splitter. Before I bought the vertical splitter, I had intended to buy a horizontal splitter. Ergo! I still think this might make sense, but any horizontal splitters I am aware of are 20 tonne and upwards, and appear to be intended for larger dia hardwoods. Being "fed" from logs rolled on to a hydraulic platform at ground level. Not the relatively slender conifer I am working with. Thoughts please. mth P.S. What I suppose I really want is a firewood processor to produce 1.0m lengths!

The above comment best sums it up, for the majority of voters.

Truth - Album on Imgur just to lighten things up a trifle.

About time I should perhaps mention the successful Israeli approach, to these perps. And they are surrounded by them. BUT, Throwing money at the security forces is NOT the answer, most of it will be wasted on bloated overtime claims and pensions, a more targeted approach is required. cheers mth

Can I reply and, cough cough, wonder why our NI Security forces are still being accused of various "shoot-to-kill" incidents during our troubles, if I recall the world seemed to be aghast at our vile murderous Security Force tactics, when, for Gosh's sake all they had to do was ask the terrorists to stop and share a cup of tea!

"Stress propagation at the root of a crack" being the title of some homework I remember doing for Structural Analysis. The reason gun action parts were finished with all those overlapping circles, so that the cracks could not propagate, if I recall. cheers mth Anyway got it sussed, a ground in notch will suffice to hold a welded on locking tab, at the unstressed rear.

Thanks Peatff, I was vaugely aware of this phenomena, I did not imagine it would/could be so definitive, or so critical or fast acting I suppose. I then take it, that this is what is so special about Hardox, being readily weldable, despite being high strength. But on reflection I was, for whatever reason, unwilling to weld, but I thought I ud get away with a teensy weensy little bit, BUGGER, should have listened to my male intuitions. cheers mth

For pristine nature try Sloviania

I broke a crowbar:blushing: Did the wee tack of weld upset the temper or sommat, it literally snapped when I first took the weight of the 0.5m3 billet bundle, guessing an abs max 300-400kg. Perhaps better to buy a bale spike. I will first try boxing around (after first removing) the stub, then only welding at the back, leaving the front merely supported by the 30mm dia hole, which had been my plan, but I got lazy/hasty to try it out. P.S. The 4 tack welds were each done at timed intervals so as not to unduly risk softening the crowbar by tempering it, the last thing I expected was an overhard brittle failure.

As a non firewood processor owner nor operator, the key is sustained production, which, unless running multiple staff and support machinery, can only be well sub 60 minutes in the hour, guessing 1/3 sorting and loading incoming logs up, 1/3 splitting and 1/3 dealing with the produced firewood, leaving it sorted and stacked for re-sale. So I guess for a rule of thumb divide by 3 or 4 to allow for essential maintenance, refuelling, tea breaks, snags and stoppages. From 20 years of rueful observation of my own(and working alone) low producitivy, to include felling through to stacking under cover for use or resale. Never mind the time spent tidying up the work area afterwards. So while the manufacturers quoted figures are in no way dishonest, they are more than a little misleading. cheers mth Edit; Obviously if pulling into a yard to operate a machine by the hour, one would presume the hirer has a huge pile of clean timber waiting, and will attempt to maximize processor output, choosing to tidy up once the machine is off-site. Which is totally different to owner-user "big picture" hourly productivity.

I saw a 4*4 Sprinter in Ballymoney recently, v new looking and liveried as " Mountaintop Windmill Maintence", or somesuch. Very nice. Hmmm? I thought, those will be hitting the 2nd market in 3 years or so. Cheers mth

All I know is, as a car licence holder who passed their test in 1977. And assumed I still had the 1200kg GTW entitlement(until about 10 years ago) But when I checked the credit card part of my licence, it clearly states that since 1979 I was limited to 8250kg GTW Ditto for a local Utilities Company running a fleet of 7500kg trucks towing plant trailers, mostly being driven by car licence holders with( they thought 1200kg GTW Grandfather rights), one of whose drivers was involved in a RTC. They were, it transpired restricted to 8250kg, ergo, not legal to tow 3500kg behind 7500kg cheers mth