Logsplitter 2.0

[LD1]

I just played with some numbers.....boy you are right on the cusp. Just barley not working.

You know how an over center latch works....like skid loader quick attach pins......that's sorta what you got going on when you lower the lift. It's almost cam-locking itself into place in which no amount of force will lift.

Assuming AC is 25", BC (cylinder) is 19"....simply lowering the cylinder base mount by 1" has a huge impact.

With AB at 7"....you now have a 9.5* angle. Which yields 16% power. Using a nice round 14k @ 2000 psi.....that 16% gives you a lift force of 2240#.

Account for the leverage aspect....25"/34.5"... you have about 72% of that 2240# available at the center of where a round would be....or about 1600#. Less any dead weight of course.

Drop the pivot another inch....down to 8" and you are now in a 14* angle, with 24% power avaliable to lift. Accounting to the 72% leverage effect....you can lift 2400# at log cl.

It seems you didn't miss the geometry my much at all. Moving that pivot away from the table for clearance....made that cylinder way too close to parallel with the AC line. Like I said....you "just" missed it. But shouldn't be a terrible fix at all.

If you are handy with trig (sin,cos,tan) look up law of cosines......you can easily follow what I did. Only other formula required is the formula for a cylinder on an angle. And that's simple cylinder force x sin(angle)

 

[Leejohn]

The center line of the cyl pin and the C/L of the table well work a lot better if they are not the same. I.m talking away from splitter.

 

[rswyan]

I just played with some numbers.....boy you are right on the cusp. Just barley not working.

You know how an over center latch works....like skid loader quick attach pins......that's sorta what you got going on when you lower the lift. It's almost cam-locking itself into place in which no amount of force will lift.

Yup, sure do ... had to allow for that when I built the grapple, to avoid having the upper jaw become "locked" if it went past 180 degrees.

With the original rod end attachment point (for the 2" cylinder) on the log lift, the (smaller) cylinder sat at more of an initial angle ...

When I redid it for the 3" cylinder, I moved it lower and inwards (C closer to B) ... which reduced the initial angle.

While the original 2" cylinder wouldn't lift very large (48") or heavy (green sycamore) rounds, it would actually lift quite a bit ... I had it piled up on a number of occasions with 3, 4, 5 or 6 decent-sized rounds.

Moral of the story: The angle of the dangle do make a difference.

Assuming AC is 25", BC (cylinder) is 19"....simply lowering the cylinder base mount by 1" has a huge impact.

With AB at 7"....you now have a 9.5* angle. Which yields 16% power. Using a nice round 14k @ 2000 psi.....that 16% gives you a lift force of 2240#.

Account for the leverage aspect....25"/34.5"... you have about 72% of that 2240# available at the center of where a round would be....or about 1600#. Less any dead weight of course.

Drop the pivot another inch....down to 8" and you are now in a 14* angle, with 24% power avaliable to lift. Accounting to the 72% leverage effect....you can lift 2400# at log cl.

Both are probably way, way more than what I'd ever want to lift ... considering the hazard if a round that large - or even just half of it - got away.

But it probably wouldn't be bad to have the power there.

It seems you didn't miss the geometry my much at all. Moving that pivot away from the table for clearance....made that cylinder way too close to parallel with the AC line.

Exactly.

Like I said....you "just" missed it. But shouldn't be a terrible fix at all.

Yeah ... it won't be too bad.

Worst part will probably be having to overhead weld the cylinder base end attachment point on the beam.

The rod end on the lift itself will be fairly easy, since I can just pull the lift off after marking it.

If you are handy with trig (sin,cos,tan) look up law of cosines......you can easily follow what I did.

I am anything but handy with trig ... :laughing:

Although I could probably learn it, now that I'm older ... and a bit less of a wild child as I was in HS ...

Only other formula required is the formula for a cylinder on an angle. And that's simple cylinder force x sin(angle)

Surplus Center Tech Help ...

 

[rswyan]

I would change the log lift design to one long side, one angle and the base. I think that would give you a better push angle for the log lift.

View attachment 479290 View attachment 479291

The one long side works well to stage smaller rounds to be split.

Probably would have been the better way to go, all things considered (like those hinges ... :thumbsup

Might consider it at some point ... if I ever get flush again ...

 

[rswyan]

The center line of the cyl pin and the C/L of the table well work a lot better if they are not the same. I.m talking away from splitter.

C/L of the table hinge ?

 

[rswyan]

May be onto to something ...

Was just inspecting the screw for unloader valve ... I can turn it either way and there is no change in the height of the screw head.

Almost looks like it's turned in so far that it went beyond the threads.

If that's the case, I'd imagine that it's set as high as it will go ... which would explain the engine stalling.

Ok, after doing a some poking around on the internet, it appears I was mistaken.

What I thought was the unloader adjustment screw - located under a threaded plug on the output side of the pump - is apparently a "plunger" ...

Evidently, the unloader adjustment screw is under a cap on the supply/inlet side of the pump ... at least according to the info in post no. 4 in the thread below:

Adjusting unloading on 2-Stage log splitter Pump

Kudos to TBN member jejeosborne for his research on the matter.

Off to put this newly acquired into to practical use ...

 

[rswyan]

Lo and behold in my email inbox this morning there was an email from HF with a Super Coupon for the 6.5 hp Predator engine for $99.99 (regularly $119.99)

Called the local store and they have the hemi version of the engine (item no. 60363) in stock, which is supposedly better than the non-hemi.

So I think the die is cast as far as the re-power goes.

Also called my steel supplier back on the pricing of the 1" x 3" bar stock - was $30 for 2' ... and $25 for 1' ... lol.

They will have 2' cut and ready tomorrow morning.

Now to go check that unloader valve ...

 

[/pine]

These were the two logs I tried last night.

The one on the left (that I couldn't lift) is what I think is ash ... notice how the cracks along it's length are straight, as opposed to the smaller sycamore on the right where the cracks spiral:

View attachment 479277

The (longest) diameter dimensions were 31" for the ash, 19" for the sycamore.

Do you split/burn sycamore for heat?...I'm familiar with where it stands on the BTU/cord charts...but have never split enough to see how it burns...am curious as I have loads of sycamore logs...

 

[rswyan]

Do you split/burn sycamore for heat?...I'm familiar with where it stands on the BTU/cord charts...but have never split enough to see how it burns...am curious as I have loads of sycamore logs...

I'm about to ...

I tried burning a little of it last year, but it was mostly very green when I got it (around this time last year) - to the point that the sap was just oozing out of it when I tried to split it.

I split a little of it tonight and it seems pretty well seasoned at this point. Split, it doesn't look like it would keep real well ... mebbe two years or so ?

My understanding is that it isn't particularly great as firewood, but isn't too bad either.

 

[rswyan]

Re-power done:

Everything mated/matched up perfectly. Threw some Permatex anti-seize on the inside of the engine-side Lovejoy coupling, also threw some on the bolts for the pump bracket.

Filled the crankcase up with Castrol straight 30w and filled the tank with gas and a shot of Seafoam.

Engine fired right up ... once I figured out that I had bungied the log lift control valve in "retract" and took that off ... :laughing:

Let it run at 1/3 throttle for several minutes just to make sure nothing sounded weird and then cranked it up and let it run for another few minutes at full throttle. Was pretty surprised at how quiet it is ... seems way quieter than the Briggs Intek that it replaced. Makes me wonder if it is actually running at full rated RPM.

Before I fired it up I ran the adjustment screw for the pump unloader valve all the way in and then backed it out three full turns (I think ... )

Loaded it by deadheading the log lift valve (Prince RD5200) and checked the relief pressure ... 2000 psi ... and it didn't kill the engine ... although it might have if I had held it there long enough.

Popped the cap on the log lift relief and cranked in the adjustment screw, setting it to 2500 psi by the gauge.

Then threw a piece of that sycamore on the rail and attempted to split it with the 4-way ... no soap ... need to add more of a knife on the edge like LD suggested.

Pulled the 4-way and split the round with the fixed wedge.

After that I took it out and gave it a little workout ... mostly ash and a little oak:

Only thing I noticed is that I probably need to adjust the detent pressure up on the valve for the push block cylinder ... it kept popping the valve out of extend while I was trying to split.