Hydraulic Pump RPM

[imported_28buick]

I am in the process of buiding a log splitter and have a hydraulic vane pump. The pump was manufactured by Borg-Warner Wooster Division and has the numbers P319AH21 L01 dated 8/72. I am trying to determine what RPM to spin this pump at but cannot find any information on Wooster pumps. The pump is oval shaped about the size of a big alternator. Any help is appreciated

[art]

Most pumps for wood splitters run direct thru lovejoy couplers so they would spin at roughly 3200 rpm.

[Deerlope]

Your vane pump will not produce enough pressure for a log splitter that is using a 4" dia. cyl. Also depending on the GPM of the pump you may not have enough HP. Tell us a little about you design. I have used to good results a 2 stage Barnes gear pump with a 4' dia. cyl. Northern tool catalog has some good info on building splitters.

[imported_28buick]

The splitter is a collection of parts someone assembled 10 years ago to make this project. The piston appears to be from a front end loader or somthing similar. Its 4 feet in length with about a 3 inch ram. 1 1/2 inch dia. pins attached the cylinder to the bucket. At this time I have both 6 and 12 hp flathead gas engines to drive the pump. I don't have the pump in front of me but the inlet and outlet ports on the pump seem to be about an 1 1/2 inch dia. thread with the inlet a litter larger than the outlet. I don't really care if the splitter operates slow. Even if it takes the same amount of time as hand splitting its easier that swinging a maul.

[Deerlope]

It takes 2500 psi on a 4"dia cyl. to produce a splitter with 20 tons of force. your pump will produce a lot of volume but not the high pressure needed to power a splitter. Whtaever you do just make sure that your control valve has a relief valve in it, so that something will not blow apart. Don't get hurt.

[Villengineer]

Actually, 2500 psi really isn't outside the range of vane pumps. I used to design hydraulic systems using vane pumps that operated at 3000 psi all the time. The pressure capability of the pump in this case will be dependent on the pump itself, not the type. Chances are if the pump is really old that it will have a lot of slip and won't produce pressure due to "blow-by".
A relief valve is a must on any hydraulic system, no matter the type or operating pressure. By the way at 2500 psi it shouldn't require a 4" cylinder (at 2500 psi that's 31,416 lbf) to split wood.

[L3710GV]

Sounds like you have the wrong pump for a splitter, The pumps that northern hydraulics sells are 2 stage made just for splitters-the ist stage moves high volume (this moves cylinder fast up & down) then the second stage kicks in as the pressure rises to finish the splitting cycle(low volume high pressure) end result is a fast splitting cycle.

[Deerlope]

I am not trying to start a lenghty debut but this is how I design mine. A 4"dia cyl has an area of 12.566x 2500 psi=31,415 just a little over 15 ton. you get that wedge into some good knotty sugar maple and it is not enough or better yet try some elm. we split hard wood here and I personally do about 60 face cords a year for the outdoor furance and sugarhouse. I been doing fire wood for 30 years now. before the hyd splitter I did 35 face cord with a double bit axe.

[Villengineer]

You were right, I was wrong. I should have researched it more before I opened my pie hole. It's been awhile since I split wood and I didn't recall the cylinder being that large. But it looks like that 4" is actually on the smaller end of splitters. No wonder they're kind of $, 4" bore is actually a relatively large cylinder.

[DocHeb]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( we split hard wood here and I personally do about 60 face cords a year )</font>

The court will now recognize Deerlope as an expert in the area of "firewood" [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Now, my first question: Why does wood have to be split? Are there other considerations other than the wood being able to physically fit into the woodstove?