Logsplitter

[rswyan]

This is a log splitter I'm in the process of building. Would have been nice to have it for this season but I got started a little late and haven't been able to work on it as much as I would like due to work and having too many other projects going. Hopefully I'll get it done in time to still use it this season. The attached image shows the I-beam which I am using. It's a 8' 4" piece of W8 24 that I got as a drop from a fab shop where a friend used to work. The cylinder is an 4" x 24" Eaton Fieldmate that I picked up from Surplus Center (would have like a bigger cylinder but it was cost prohibitive), the hoses came from TSC. On the end of the beam you can where I welded in some 8" x 6" x 1/4" plate to reinforce the part of the beam that's under the wedge, which makes it 3/4" thick, the same thickness as the wedge.

 

[rswyan]

Attached is a close up of the end where I welded in the plate for reinforcement.

 

[powerstroke2000]

I don't think your I beam is heavy enough the one we built with a beam a little heavier than that bent over time of hard splitting wood

 

[rswyan]

Really ? Interesting ........

Well, it could be that it isn't. Actually, the I-beam seems pretty large to me in comparision to other splitters I've seen - about 8 inches tall by 6 inches wide - although it isn't all that heavy, only 24 lbs a foot and about 1/4 inch thick on the center spine.

Just curious - over how long a period of time did it take it to bend ?

How much did it bend ? (enough to become unusable ?) And what were you splitting .... dry oak ?

 

[Deerlope]

I have made several and used a 6x6 wide flange beam. If you are useing a 2 stage pump producing 2500 PSI you should be safe from any bending, with the wedge on the end. I put my wedge on the ram and the stop block on the end. That way when splitting 3' dia blocks I am not pushing them off the end each time I split a piece off.

 

[dullpain]

rswyan - Nice work , you will love it! I built one like yours years ago using the same beam and I did not have any bending problems. Split a lot of wood and some really big stuff. Sometimes the beam would torque or twist slightly on the big stuff but would return. Sold mine to a friend and always regretted that , felt like I had sold one of my kids. Tried to buy it back from him last year, said he wouldn't sell it for $400 profit!!

 

[bczoom]

rswyan,

Looking good so far.

In the pic, the steel frame that it's sitting on appears to be the crating material for a tractor. Is that just a bench to work on or was it going to be part of the splitter? If the latter, it may be too light duty for mounting the splitter beam.

 

[rswyan]

Fred,

Glad to hear a 6 x 6 beam has worked for you - that's encouraging. I am using a Barnes 2-stage pump (13 gpm @ 650 psi & 3gpm @2500) and I think my SCV's relief is set at 2250 psi anyways.

The reason I didn't go with the wedge on the ram is because I also plan on building a 4-way wedge that I can slip over the top of the fixed 2-way wedge welded on the I-beam. I'm going to 'cap' the ends of the I-beam with two pieces 8" x 6" x 1/4" plate, which should beef up the ends a little. I'm also going to make a 'table grate' like the Timberwolf splitters that I can mount on the end of the beam, just past the wedge, to catch big chunks that I want to split futher (and to save me from having to bend over to pick up the splits off the ground)

 

[rswyan]

DP,

Thanks. Yes, I'm looking forward to using it. Very encouraging to hear that you had no troubles with the same size beam. I will probably add a few gussets on each side, perpendicular to the I-beam, that come out from the web and go out to the edges of the flanges. My welder friend stopped by today and said that if I was really concerned with the beam bending I could 'fishplate' the entire length of the web from where the cylinder attaches out to the wedge with some 1/4" plate. I think I'll try it and see if I notice any flexing before I do.

Amazing how attached we can become to our creations, isn't it ? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I guess the fact that your friend would not sell it back, even at a $400 profit, is a testament to the quality of your worksmanship.

Beings how we are supposed to head into the deep freeze tonight and we were running low on firewood, I went out this morning and cut down and bucked 18 trees to restock the woodpile. Got about 4 or 5 bucket loads in the FEL. The trees ranged in size from about 3" to 10" inches in diameter, all were about 25' or so tall. I'm not sure what kind of trees they were - I think they might be white ash. We have alot of them growing around here in with the maples and slippery elms. The wood seems to not have alot of sap, is very dense and burns well even when green.

Would be nice to get the splitter functioning for some of the larger pieces.

 

[rswyan]

Brian,

Thanks. The steel frame is actually another project. It's the dump bed frame for the 2 ton E-Z Trail running gear that the P.T. wood, frame, and I-Beam are all sitting on in the picture. Attached is a little better picture. The hydraulic cylinder was originally going to be for the dump wagon and I was going to try and get a larger cylinder for the splitter. I ended up scrapping that idea for a couple of reasons, mostly the significant difference in price (the Eaton 4" x 24" was only $88 plus shipping - about $25 - from Surplus Center - a larger cylinder would have been 2 to 3 times as much and the freight would have killed me) A couple other considerations were that a smaller cylinder would operate faster with with a given pump output, and that a 15 ton splitter should be just fine for my needs.