I'm a self-taught hobby welder and this is the first major fabrication project I've taken on. I worked strictly off of photos, memory and reading a lot of the fabrication threads here and elsewhere.
It still needs a good paint job and a few modifications/tweaks. My intent was to use as much recycled material as possible. The only purchased items are the valve, cylinder, hoses, wheels/tires, pump and eventually the engine. I had a scrapped 5.5 HP mower engine that I brought back to life but it had an accident while I was away from the project for a few weeks... Gas tank was cracked and engine was leaking oil... Who knows what happened?
The ram carrier/wedge are built from steel I found laying in the street several years ago! I stuck it in my garage and pulled it when I started the project.
I incorporated a lot of small items from my late father's tool chest (nuts, bolts, washers, pins) and used his wrenches and sockets. I had plenty of new stuff, and my own tools; I did it mainly as a tribute to him.
I had picked up this 6.5 chinese clone on sale at Harbor Freight a while bvack and still had it in the box, so I cut off the old engine mount and re-built it to accept the pump and hydraulics. It sat quite a bit higher, so I had to cut the 4x4 square tube down by about 5 inches so the pump would clear the I-beam. I'm running an 11gpm two-stage pump, Prince valve, Prince 4x24 cylinder. It cycles around 14 seconds; not blazing fast, but plenty of power. I don't have a ton of wood to split ,so I'm in no hurry. I enjoy running the machine and seeing the fruits of my labor (and frustration!) I can split up to 23 inch logs although I keep most of mine around 18-20. The blade stops just less than a 1/2 inch from the base plate, and the angle iron wings I put on the wedge do a pretty good job of splitting the logs by then.
I still have a pesky leak from the reservoir/axle where I must have had a pinhole when I welded the end caps on to the square tube. The base plate has developed a slight bend in it - it may be a bit "tall" for the knotty oak I've been splittin'... In any case, I can use it either horizontal/vertical and I made the tongue where I could remove it for storing the machine away in my garage and still have room for my daughter's car. I also built a removable table to handle the splits, but I had it off during the pics.
I have picked up quite a few tips and tricks from reading a lot of the posts and I plan to make a few changes to it after seeing some of the pics in this thread. It's been a lot of fun building this thing; now. I just need to track down some oak for next years logs!
It still needs a good paint job and a few modifications/tweaks. My intent was to use as much recycled material as possible. The only purchased items are the valve, cylinder, hoses, wheels/tires, pump and eventually the engine. I had a scrapped 5.5 HP mower engine that I brought back to life but it had an accident while I was away from the project for a few weeks... Gas tank was cracked and engine was leaking oil... Who knows what happened?
The ram carrier/wedge are built from steel I found laying in the street several years ago! I stuck it in my garage and pulled it when I started the project.
I incorporated a lot of small items from my late father's tool chest (nuts, bolts, washers, pins) and used his wrenches and sockets. I had plenty of new stuff, and my own tools; I did it mainly as a tribute to him.
I had picked up this 6.5 chinese clone on sale at Harbor Freight a while bvack and still had it in the box, so I cut off the old engine mount and re-built it to accept the pump and hydraulics. It sat quite a bit higher, so I had to cut the 4x4 square tube down by about 5 inches so the pump would clear the I-beam. I'm running an 11gpm two-stage pump, Prince valve, Prince 4x24 cylinder. It cycles around 14 seconds; not blazing fast, but plenty of power. I don't have a ton of wood to split ,so I'm in no hurry. I enjoy running the machine and seeing the fruits of my labor (and frustration!) I can split up to 23 inch logs although I keep most of mine around 18-20. The blade stops just less than a 1/2 inch from the base plate, and the angle iron wings I put on the wedge do a pretty good job of splitting the logs by then.
I still have a pesky leak from the reservoir/axle where I must have had a pinhole when I welded the end caps on to the square tube. The base plate has developed a slight bend in it - it may be a bit "tall" for the knotty oak I've been splittin'... In any case, I can use it either horizontal/vertical and I made the tongue where I could remove it for storing the machine away in my garage and still have room for my daughter's car. I also built a removable table to handle the splits, but I had it off during the pics.
I have picked up quite a few tips and tricks from reading a lot of the posts and I plan to make a few changes to it after seeing some of the pics in this thread. It's been a lot of fun building this thing; now. I just need to track down some oak for next years logs!
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