home made wood splitter

[Diesel_Boy]

ok. the thing is running! and it splits wood just fine. i have a hydraulic cylinder with a 4 inch bore and 18 inch throw. i have an 11 gpm pump. i calculated it should take 5.3 seconds to move the cylinder all the way in one direction. does this sound right? it is actually taking 12 seconds. i am trying to speed things up. i am using high pressure hoses with 1/2 in fittings, since that is what the ports are on the cylinder, and the hoses have an I.D. of 3/8 inch. is this the bottleneck? should i be using hoses with an I.D. of 1/2 inch, and fittings of 1/2 inch? any help on what is slowing the thing down would be appreciated. maybe i just need to get the 22 gpm pump, but if i can speed the system up just a bit without spend $350, that would be even better! thanks.

 

[RonMar]

That 4X18 cylinder holds .98 gal on the push side of the piston. With a 11 GPM pump, that 5 second figure is about right, assuming no other estrictions. What is the outlet port size on the pump? Obviously it is rated for 11 GPM through that size hole. I would think you would need to maintain that size throughout all the plumbing(or larger if the length of hose is long) to get that flow thru the system. I am also assuming you are getting the pump to the RPM specified for that 11GPM flow rate? You also need to make sure there are no restrictions on the pump supply as this will really hamper the pumps ability to meet it's specs. Preferably the resovoir is above the pump and has a good gravity feed to the pump inlet.

 

[turnkey4099]

A possible (not likely). If you used scrounged fittings, check the hydro connectors. Some of them are 'restrictor' types with only small holes in them. That happened to me, the cylinder would barely move until I replaced those connectors.

Harry K

 

[herringchoker]

Diesel_Boy
At what RPM is your pump's flow rated? If the pump is turning at that RPM it should put out 11 GPM. If it's turning at half that speed, it will put out 1/2 the rated GPM.