Firewood processor build thread

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

OK, I'll bite.
Where do you buy / how do you make those bags?

Can you safely stack pallets on top of one another without racking?

Really like the cart conversion for the bag filling process and am glad that everything is finally up and running.
You have gotten this far, you will work the remaining kinks out for sure.

 

[kiotiken]

Toronto Ontario Canada Commercial Bag Suppliers, Bulk Bag Manufacturers, Wholesale Fabric Grocery Bags, FIBC Bags - Bag Supply Canada, they ship to US as well. I've been ordering them for about 5 years. They cost $3.50 / bag and if you're careful/lucky, you can use them 2 or 3 times. Yes, they are stackable. I build a pyramid with them, 2 on the bottom and one in between them. I do a couple rows deep, as many long as I need to, then cover the whole thing with a tarp. They dry very well like that, much better than in a pile and I find even better than in my woodshed.

I looked up your tractors specs and I'd say you could lift them no problem, but you'd be on the limit of stacking them, especially when the wood is green. CNDFarmBoy bought a bunch of them this year and he was able to lift them but not stack them with his B3030 but he was using very light forks. I feel the weight on my tractor with loaded tires and a 1500#+ snowblower on the back.

I've discussed the bags in other threads and people always say they just won't fill them all the way up. That doesn't work. I made that mistake when I had my CK30 and couldn't lift a full bag. If they're not as full as you can make them, they slump over and it's a PITA to try and move them. I would have said 2000# lifting is a minimum, but at 1800#, you're darn close. My forks probably weigh close to 300#.

 

[kiotiken]

Well, the dump trailer/chute conversion is an epic fail! Way too steep to get to the height needed to empty into a bag even with the processor raise pretty much to it's full height. The flap doesn't fit with it on that angle and the wood would come out of the processor and be driven into the bottom of the chute far too hard. I need to give it a 4' extension. Not sure if I'll go buy yet again more steel or if I'll just make something out of plywood for now.

 

[Depmandog]

Looks like you could use a 30" piece of steel with a slight radius formed into it. Like a 30" section of a 6' diameter tank...OR SO. (I haven't taken the time to draw it out to scale). Place it between the processor and your ramp. That would provide a transition from your horizontal to the angle, plus the angle would decrease since you would be adding length. Not sure how that would impact your flap design.

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

Looks like you could use a 30" piece of steel with a slight radius formed into it. Like a 30" section of a 6' diameter tank...OR SO. (I haven't taken the time to draw it out to scale). Place it between the processor and your ramp. That would provide a transition from your horizontal to the angle, plus the angle would decrease since you would be adding length. Not sure how that would impact your flap design.

I would tend to agree, I think you'd want at least 24" that is pretty much flat before you try to force it up the chute.
Also wondering if taking the rust down and putting a nice gloss coat of paint on there would help to reduce friction and binding.

 

[Scooby074]

Firstly it looks great!! Must be a very satisfying feeling for you. Now you know why firewood processors start at $10k lol

Your cycle speed is a bit slow, but I wouldnt sweat that, it'll still give you a workout. Its very easy to get wood bound with a processor! The bags should help a lot keeping your area clear.

Your oil is getting diverted from the rollers. Its going to follow the path of least resistance when you are operating 2 circuits unless you put a divider in there to force it to go where you want. Adding a dedicated pump isnt a bad idea especially if you plan on making a outfeed conveyor (yup!) I do like your infeed system, rollers are a lot easier than what I have to do with the cable.

Im not sure on your diverter idea. Its in a place where it can see considerable force. Trying to push splits up an incline is a hard thing to do. I did this with mine and its never worked all that right. I got the idea from the Wallenstein processors. Splits go all over the place and jam. And my incline isnt that steep, maybe 20* if that. Im going to rework it. mine needs to be deeper and tighter to keep the splits on the right path. Im not sure on the flat section either (I got a flat on mine). The best solution is an outfeed conveyor, it pulls the splits away from the machine and piles them right after the wedge. I just missed out on one for $500 last spring. Im still watching.

If you went with a conveyor, your diverter idea could work fine, just remove the center and use it after the conveyor when the splits are falling, similar to this:

 

[kiotiken]

Firstly it looks great!! Must be a very satisfying feeling for you. Now you know why firewood processors start at $10k lol

Your cycle speed is a bit slow, but I wouldnt sweat that...

Thanks and yes, I've very happy, but... I'm not done! Yes I was a little disappointed with the cycle speed and now I think I see why. I let Princess Auto lay out the hydraulic pieces for me, that was my biggest mistake. I fixed one of the two leaks that developed during my test, but the other one is the result of two fittings that don't go together and will never seal properly. I finally got to the hydraulic shop today and got the right fittings but I got thinking about some of the other fittings from Princess. From the power beyond valve on my 3 valve bank, they reduced the fittings from 3/4 to 1/2 and then back to 3/4. So the logsplitter valve isn't getting the flow that it should be getting making the cycle time slower, I'm just not sure how much it's slowing it down.

Anyway, now I'm going to tear the hydraulics out. I have to uninstall both valve banks to be able to remove those fittings. I'll take the fittings to the hydraulic shop and have them give me the right ones. Unfortunately, the support bracket for the valve is placed for the existing fittings. Once that changes, the support bracket will no longer line up with the valve. I'll have to cut it off and re-weld it or add another bracket.

I think this means I'll have thrown away all the fittings Princess Auto sold me, they were all wrong. A new video will follow with 16' logs and hopefully a faster cycle time.

Look at the fittings between the valves, they reduce to 1/2. The 90 fitting behind it is wrong too and leaks.

 

[aczlan]

Look at the fittings between the valves, they reduce to 1/2. The 90 fitting behind it is wrong too and leaks.
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=416442"/>

That is just a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer, a 1/2" nipple, then a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer right? It should be possible to match the length of that with a 3/4" nipple so that you can re-use the existing mounts.

Aaron Z

 

[kiotiken]

That is just a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer, a 1/2" nipple, then a 3/4" to 1/2" reducer right? It should be possible to match the length of that with a 3/4" nipple so that you can re-use the existing mounts.

Aaron Z

I really hope you're right.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Wow. PA really screwed up with you didn't they? I guess that's why their prices are much cheaper then a proper hydraulics shop....they don't have to pay for a competent employee