To Weld or not to weld, that is the question...

[yomax4]

Look at your actual output. Most of those little Fuzzy Millers are only 150 amps. I have had my wedges pull loose using 250 amps on Pulse. I had to admit that stick was king in this department. I rewelded everything with 8018 and never had another issue. I hate to admit this but it's true.

 

[kiotiken]

I would think you would do fine with your welder (turned all the way up) *if* you grind a bevel so you can build a root pass and go from there. Also, welding 3" on each side as you go will keep the it from warping as much and also let the welder rest for a few seconds after each section so you don't overheat it.

I would also consider making the wedge a bolt in place piece, so it's replaceable.

Thanks, good tips. It will be bolt in place, actually, hang in place. A cylinder will hold the rectangular frame inside a vertical channel and raise and lower it to the desired height. If the cylinder is removed, the frame will fall out the bottom. With the cost of this frame (a lot of 1" flat stock), hopefully I don't have to replace it often.

You can have mild steel case hardened. The surface can be made as hard as a file to whatever depth you specify. I think they usually charge by weight. Just look in the yellow pages.

Excellent, that was my thought. I will look into the cost. My concern is it will cost more than simply building another cutting head in which case it's probably not worth it.

Look at your actual output. Most of those little Fuzzy Millers are only 150 amps. I have had my wedges pull loose using 250 amps on Pulse. I had to admit that stick was king in this department. I rewelded everything with 8018 and never had another issue. I hate to admit this but it's true.

The welder is rated 180 amps, I don't know how I'd be able to tell if it's putting that out or not. It's discouraging to hear your experience, but I'm still leaning towards giving it a try. A good groove on both sides and several passes. If it doesn't hold, I'll have to have it done by a pro.

 

[Reverser]

Splitting wedges give manufacturers headaches. Having worked closely with them and factories who make them, no ordinary steel will do. In fact it's hard to find good steel in the US that will hold up if it is a real productive processor. One company has to have the made in Sweden. It's not like building a log splitter.

It's too bad that it's come to that. Problem being that poor grade, low priced import steel has been allowed to flood the market, causing US steel manufacturers to go out of business, or have to cut back so severely that they are barely making ends meet.

 

[Sodo]

Look for something that uses a high grade steel wear part such like a roadgrader cutting edge = a replaceable section. And then cut that hardened steel wear part into 4 or 6 peices. Someone here probably has better suggestions what wear part to look for.

I don't know how to assess the heat affect on the cutting edge, but could you set up to weld with MOST of the cutting edge sitting in water? Or wet it before welding and if the cutting edge starts to steam (or dries up) then douse the whole thing.

If your welds are not much in bending I would go at it with 180 amps. I weld mostly with 120v and I can tell you that welds can be made a lot stronger than some folks think. You will be in a good position to test it, don't worry so much about those who aren't out there actually building stuff and mashing on it.

1/2" welded both sides? Peice of cake. I'm sure you can easily attain full penetration by welding 2 sides. For 1" I'd still do it with 180 amps and with confidence. If preheating (and not worrying about the temper) I'd preheat with a roofing or weedburner torch attached to a large propane cylinder. Or tack it together and set it in a good hot campfire. A little 1 .lb MAPP cylinder won't get you anywhere.

Good thing about having a welder - steel is such a great material you can just cut it off and do-over in many cases. Sometimes a test & do-over takes significantly less time than the research to "do it once." So what if you have to build it up again once a year? Big problem for the average joe, but you have a welder, it's trivial for you.

I'm pretty sure i know what you're describing (4 way or 6 way head). If you can post a pic of your project or the components, or find a similar item on google images, you may get better suggestions. Hope this helps.

 

[kiotiken]

I'm pretty sure i know what you're describing (4 way or 6 way head). If you can post a pic of your project or the components, or find a similar item on google images, you may get better suggestions.

Well, I have a really bad pic of my paper drawing of the splitter head. I was designing and re-designing so a lot of the scribbles may not make any sense. The second picture is the vertical channel that will hold the cutter head. It will be suspended from the top by a hydraulic cylinder to lift and lower. You can check out my other thread on the actual build, there's more pics there. I posted the URL a couple posts back.


Top section is the 6 way. Bottom section is the 4 way and in between the two is the two way.


Incomplete vertical channel to hold the splitter head and allow it to move up and down.

 

[Sodo]

Looks like a FUN project!

OK I got it. Not easy to change cutting edges. But it's a beefy unit all connected together. Might make it so you can turn the processor on its side (or at least easily remove the cutting head) for welding / sharpening maintenance. Or build one and if it doesn't last long enough then during that time you can search for harder material or another solution. Maybe just fillet-welding spring steel tines along the (now flat) cutting edge will give you a high grade cutting edge. If the knife is 1/2" material, maybe cut-offs from 1/4" spring tines would be just right. And easy to replace if ever necessary.

Heres a pic of a tine from Google images, you can cut them with an abrasive saw. They don't have to be straight, you can cut straight sections or even heat and bend straight, but should be fairly easy to find a source of hard steel to use.


I suppose you hand-select the position ( of the wood ) depending on the size of the round? I'd put the 6-way in the center because it will clearly use the highest force and you don't want that off-center (?). Not sure how that lays out I'm just typing not drawing.

One thing that concerns me is that it appears to be constrained and you might jam a peice of wood into a cavity. I suppose you are planning that when the ram comes up it goes over ejectors for each possible cavity?

 

[kiotiken]

The wood falls into the trough (not yet build), so it is always at the same height. The cutting head moves up and down by a hydraulic cylinder to match the size of the wood or the cutting head I want to use. The cutting head is braced against the back of the processor as well as up both sides by the angle iron. The head itself will block those gaps, so I don't think that's going to be an issue. The cylinder only has a 12" stroke so the only way I've been able to design it (not that somebody couldn't figure it out differently) is to have the 6 way at the top, the 4 way at the bottom and the 2 way in the middle, between the two of them. Anytime one of the heads is used, it is always centered in the processor and to the round being split. Here's a much more impressive version of what I'm trying to build. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbGtJYbXz7I

 

[Sodo]

OK I see it, the 'knife' is stationary & self clearing. Looks like you'll have to get used to your firewood stacks being 11 1/2" max.

Awesome machine, thanks for posting the video.

Pretty easy to do knife maintenance. If you're splitting for yourself you will never have to do any maintenance (just a guess). If this thing starts to make money for you then you may have to maintain the knives.

Here's a pic from the video

 

[kiotiken]

I'm curious, why do I have to get used to 11.5" Max?

 

[Sodo]

The cylinder only has a 12" stroke

Just guessing from this.