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

[BukitCase]

Sodo, even after being blinded by all my "shiny metal", I still figgered out that 12" cylinder was for raise/lower of the wedge...

Sorry, couldn't resist (Oh, wait, NO I'M NOT :laughing... Steve

 

[Sodo]

Brother,,,, I understand. I've been polishing a turd all afternoon!

Steve if you made a firewood processor it would crap out finished table legs, sanded, stained & varnished. :laughing:

 

[muddstopper]

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.

View attachment 395911
Top section is the 6 way. Bottom section is the 4 way and in between the two is the two way.

View attachment 395912
Incomplete vertical channel to hold the splitter head and allow it to move up and down.

View attachment 395913

Looks to me you plan on using angle to support your wedge. I am afraid that might be a weak link in your splitter design. I cant tell from the pics, but it looks like maybe 1/4in angle. Even welding braceing between each upright, I am afraid the angle will just turn inside out once pressure hits it.

 

[kiotiken]

Looks to me you plan on using angle to support your wedge. I am afraid that might be a weak link in your splitter design. I cant tell from the pics, but it looks like maybe 1/4in angle. Even welding braceing between each upright, I am afraid the angle will just turn inside out once pressure hits it.

Hmmmmmm... I've been concerned about that. Its not even 1/4" , I screwed up there for sure. I've already decided to brace it with angle on the back side. Hard to describe, but it will make the shape of a Z.

 

[muddstopper]

Hmmmmmm... I've been concerned about that. Its not even 1/4" , I screwed up there for sure. I've already decided to brace it with angle on the back side. Hard to describe, but it will make the shape of a Z.

I will just make a suggestion, Go find a forklift and look at how the mast is made. I think that will give you a better ideal of how to make your slide box. Might even find a junked out forklift and you can get the old mast and adapt it to your needs. Using what you have, if it isnt even 1/4in, just wont hold up if you apply any decent amount of tonnage to your splitting ram. To prevent the angle from just straighten out, you can make some C type braces that wrap around the outside edge of both pieces of angle. This would tie the two pieces together to prevent spreading and give some extra support to the flanges. With that thin angle it will take several C braces. Another ideal is to use some thick wall sq tube instead of the angle.

 

[Sodo]

I agree that 3/16" angle will require significant bracing. Looking at a forklift might be overkill. Even a small forklift is made to hold 3500 lbs a few feet off-center from the lifting track, and this "moment" or "torque" occurs anywhere along a 6 foot track, could be at the ground, or at full lift height, even 18 feet above ground. A forklift track would have to be a hundred times stronger than your splitter.

I say look at other splitters for ideas.

At the moment the knife starts to dig in, there will be forces in every which direction, but these forces will diminish significantly after the first few inches. Agreed with Mudd that you need to brace the whole track, but I think you can use what you have, add material, bracing. Maybe even 1/4" rect tube rather than another angle. Focus on strengthening the first few inches of splitting.

 

[kiotiken]

Thanks guys. Fortunately, there's 3.5 inches of solid frame behind the vertical angle iron and I can either add .250 angle or square/rectangular tube, my plan is for angle installed opposite of the current piece. That means that edge will have 2" of .250 steel behind it. A couple other things to consider; The current angle is 2" and the frame is 1.5", so the angle only sticks out 1/2 which is the same as the thickness of the splitter head frame that slides inside the channel. The other thing is the processor is being designed with a 22" max diameter log size. Because of that, my re-enforcing is only going to extend up 22.5 inches and then I'm going to have a horizontal piece to tie the two side together on top of that. I'm no engineer, but my thought is that will provide a huge amount of strength just where the forces are concentrated and will be more than enough to resist the force of the splitter. The splitter head frame is also pushed against the processor frame so a lot of the force is put into the processor frame, not just the vertical angle on the sides.

Funny enough, my neighbour just told me they have a forklift at work that has a damaged boom so it can no longer be certified. His boss asked him if he wanted it and he was thinking about it to use the parts for a splitter. You can imagine my response to that! Free forklift in working condition seemed like a no brainer to me!

 

[Sodo]

Free forklift in working condition seemed like a no brainer to me!

HAAAAAAA ! You are my hero. Sort of. I have a forklift that runs great but has no brakes, been wondering what the heck to do with it! Scrappers are offering 6cents per pound that's $360. Now I have to keep the dang thing,,,,,,

 

[muddstopper]

Sodo, I dont know where you came up with your 3500lb numbers for a forklift, or that it might be over kill. The processor he is building will have a 4in bore cylinder and at 3000psi, thats 37,699 lbs of force. Over 10 times what you are estimating. If you look at some of the Youtube videos of processors using adjustable wedges in slide boxes, none of them use 3/16 steel angle to hold the wedge. I have built several splitters and have broke off well welded wedges and even the end off of 1/2in thick w6x6 hbeams. I dont consider myself an expert, but I dont think you can add enough braceing to 3/16 angle and it hold the wedge in place. Especially if you start adding 4 and 6 way splits. I use a 5in cylinder with a 6way. My hbeam is reinforced on both side with 3/4 plate making the web of the beam 2in thick. I also boxed the beam with 6x1/4 channel. I can tell you that I can bow this setup doing 6way splits in knotty oaks and hickory. Even doubling the 3/16 angle I dont think is going to be enough. I am not a engineer, but I am pretty sure the light angle is going to fail.

 

[Scooby074]

Mudd is right.

Your support for the box wedges is too thin. I would build a Euro style knife wedge if I was you. Its easy to support and gives you the option of "1" way or 4 way. If you want a 6 way or more you can build one to drop in place they are easy to change out. It maximises your splitting force while reducing stress on the machine. Im likely going to convert mine to this style wedge next year.

You will likely be ok with cold or hot rolled steel. I used AR plate for the cutting edge on mine because I had a piece but its not necessary IMHO. Its a pretty easy thing to sharpen with a grinder if needed.

I wouldnt over complicate the wedge. Otherwise you could end up with something like this one lol .. Must be 20 different wedges or more on it (dont like how its supported either!)