Typhke

Interesting thread, this is for sure something I also want to do in the future!

Full 25-30 ton trailer with crane was around 41 stacked cubes for me with hornbeam. So around 55 loose cubes or 1m³ builders bag would be my estimate. The supplier sells them as 58 cube loads.

Anyone made one here? These look awful expensive tbh, would like to try one though.

Interesting results. Thanks for putting all the work in, really enjoy following the process!

Quite a difference, but what's the moisture content?

This should do it. Nice machine!

Where did you get the grapple Wainy? Do you have a link for it? Looks nice.

I would go for speed. I've made a 16 ton with a cycle time of 5,5 seconds (14"/36cm stroke) and love the speed. It splits almost everything with a small but 12"/30cm tall wedge, I did have some oak and hornbeam/ironwood that was really hard to split though. With 3000 psi and 42 lpm, you're aiming for +-50cm stroke? Depending on the wood, the extra tonnage may be useful.

Have a look at the Hiab, Hmf and Maxilift cranes and you'll have a good idea about the weight for the size crane you want. They aren't cheap but built simple so getting an older one to revive would be possible. I bought a Hmf 150T myself a few years back and have it on a trailer (max 200kg at 3,5m). I would go with 4 stabilisers for that sort of reach. You'll need a pump or powerpack to run it. These are pretty slow btw, I've got a slightly bigger pump on mine to improve it a bit. Don't know the law there but they probably need to be checked yearly if it's for commercial use. With that kind of reach, you'll probably have a 2 piece boom instead of 1.

This link can give you an idea: http://www.boehlerjosef.at/k_02-2014_at.pdf Prices for Austria since August. That's the latest I've found online.

Some 54mm P&C's will fit without a problem, others won't. Depending on how old the case is you'll need to adapt the holes in the cylinder base to fit and it's best to change the bolts from M5 (064) to M6 (066). When these changes are needed, you'll probably also need to grind a little bit on the cases to clear the piston. I've got a old 064 here with a 066 P&C on it and that fits without adapting anything, just replaced the crank, case and piston (new Meteor) and that happened to fit also. The original case had 1.1 stamped on it, the new one is stamped with 2.1. So hard to say when a 54mm will or will not fit without trying it out.

The regular Stihl 034 was different from the 036, smaller cylinder (46mm vs 48mm bore). The 034 Super had the same displacement as the 036 if I recall correctly (both 48mm). I think they were somewhat country specific, although they both were available in Belgium. Don't know the reason behind it. The current 441 and 461 are as far as I heard completely different styles of saws. While the 441 is very smooth and has the m-tronic, the 461 should have quite a lot more torque and hasn't got a m-tronic version (yet). So it's smooth but powerful vs raw power I think.

I've used Flowfit for most of my hydraulic splitter parts, I've been happy with their products and their prices. Their customer support could be better sometimes (incomplete deliveries because a product was on back order without any notice, products "in stock" weren't in stock, delaying a shipment without notice, etc) so I would advise to figure out exactly what you need, because it was sometimes hard to get the right info from them. I suppose you need a 12V motor combined with pump, 1 or 2 hoses and a ram? Can be single or double acting depending on your wishes.

There has been talk in Belgium about taxing houses based on how much roof surface they have. The government gets creative when they see a possible revenue. Has been a while ago though, think they dumped the idea, but for how long?

yea, 1 turn out for both. Then fine tune it for optimal performance. Idle rpm should be around 2500, WOT around 13 500 rpm.

Good luck with it! I hope it serves you well! Np and thank you!

Flexible braided armour would be even better ofc. Not really needed in my case imo. I'm just a homeowner and the line runs through a safe path, between some flowers and then under/next to a hornbeam hedge. Only there when needed and no one except me that can go there. We've got 380V by the way (Belgium). I got a little higher voltage than normal myself.

Sorry if I sounded like that, didn't want to offend you . I only have limited experience with electricity, some smaller stuff at home and connecting a few 3ph machines. But I had to figure it out when I was building my splitter. Just wanted to share what I learned, nothing more . I've read on a Belgian forum that some of the cheaper brandless extension cords only reach 22% efficiency, that would cause enough burned up motors even when the extension cord is the right size. Not a user mistake but just bad quality, inferior goods that shouldn't be sold at all imo.

As long as the extension cord is sized well, distance isn't a problem. I'm running my 7.5kW splitter with 50m extension cord (3ph 380-400V) using a 5x2.5mm² Nexans LineAX cable (I think I can go to 74m before losing 5%, which is the official norm). There are websites to calculate loss on extension cables but they only mean something when you have a good extension cable. One using copper and of a decent brand, the cheaper ones in the building stores have a far higher resistance causing a higher power drop (like not even half the efficiency of what they should be). A friend of mine has a Güde 1050/10 TL Horizontal splitter. He has been very happy with it, splitting logs for 3-4 families for a couple of years now. I can't seem to find them on their website though, seems that they are no longer available, but they were within you price range. It also depends on the wood you are splitting, easy or hard stuff. But there are some decent machines available for that price. And if you don't like it or decide to buy a more expensive one, you shouldn't have a problem selling the cheaper one either. Good luck

Not really surprising imo. And just like car producing companies (or gun companies) trying to keep the safety obligations as low as possible, there will always be lobbies. Just like chainsaw companies try/tried to hold off the environment changes, strato saws. Just as damaging, just harder to see a link (at this time). By the way, glyphosate is used in a ton load of other products too, and as long as we keep buying it, cuz it just works better than most alternatives, it will be available. Maybe in smaller portions and it will be prohibited somewhere in the future, but that will still take ages. Same story for a lot of medicines (that are freely available), they turn out to be just as bad. The same for x-rays. I don't know if they advise women to get scans for breast cancer in the UK, but there are studies showing that the scanning can just as well cause cancers for cells that are genetically more receptive for it.

I started in Januari 2013 and have done around 90 stacked m³ by now, I've also got 35 stacked m³ (should be around that once split and stacked) ready to be split. Started out with oak and working with blue-beech and beech right now. We use 12-15m³ a year. We had no wood left after my parents got divorced and no tools either. I started with building scraps first (not counted in with the above amount of m³) and then moved on to real wood. Only tools I use are 2 chainsaws (Stihl 362 and 064), started out with a Fiskars x27 (first 72m³, weekly workout for sure, free gym) and have a homemade log splitter now. Stacking off the ground on a pallet or something like it is best, I tarp it all on top. I prefer this to stacking inside a building because it is easy accessible and dries better, faster than in the wood shop we have (open from 3 sides). I don't know your knowledge about chainsaws and the use of it but you can learn a lot on a short time if needed. Lots of info on the internet, just always be careful. I agree with Pumpy on the softwood thing, not worth the hassle. Hardwood ain't much more expensive and the work stays the same. You just end up with better wood. The buy in price is also important, because that will be your main expense. So finding a good supplier is crucial, I'm still trying different ones. The thing is, you don't know how much wood you have, how expensive it was, until you have processed it all. A small tractor would probably help you out big time (my father and I used to have one), but you can do without. I did make a trailer with a small crane on it, trying to use standalone pallets in the future so I don't need to load the wood manually again but can easily move it to the house. You can save some money by doing this, but it will take some time each year. If you and your brother enjoy working outside, this can be a good hobby that pays for itself and more and more tools. Also nice to spend time with your brother on it. If not, well you'll find out soon enough. Good luck