Wood splitter

[stray]

A stray blunder!!! I have shared many successes with you all so now I feel it only reasonable to show and ask for ideas on how to correct this situation. Although my splitter is working well and does well this situation bugs me. As you can see in the pic the wedge is tilted. It looks like the I beam has twisted. When splitting a tough piece of wood the splitter will flex and the wedge will tilt even more. It comes back to its original place but I am afraid that after a while it will keep getting worse. There are most likely many ways to fix and reinforce it but I thought some of you would have a best idea. AN 8" I beam was used for the main beam.
Thanks for every ones help and interest

 

[toy]

It looks like the beam is already twisted some or the wedge is not exactly upright. Could you box in the sides or double plate the upright part of the i -beam to stiffen it up a little?

 

[toy]

I like your log splitter, right now I heat my garrage with a coal furnace but if ever coal became hard to get here I would start using wood and that splitter would become a must build item. My coal furnace is a multi fuel source furnace so all I would have to do to start burning wood is slide a lever over and it would be ready to burn wood primarrily. I also like your big bucket that would be handy to have for light stuff like sawdust, and as shown in your pictures for hauling in wood. Your side mower is a great idea , but the bank where I would be mowing is real rocky so I have been thinking that one of those wheeled striing weedeaters on a boom would work well for that area.

 

[Piedmont3]

Stray,
You might try adding an additional piece of I-Beam vertically to the end of the splitter. It would go from the top of the wedge to the bottom of the current I-Beam. This would give you structural support for both the twisting as well as the bend or flex.

 

[MossRoad]

Time to bring this thread back to the top for a few days, since we are talking wood splitters.

 

[SPYDERLK]

A stray blunder!!! I have shared many successes with you all so now I feel it only reasonable to show and ask for ideas on how to correct this situation. Although my splitter is working well and does well this situation bugs me. As you can see in the pic the wedge is tilted. It looks like the I beam has twisted. When splitting a tough piece of wood the splitter will flex and the wedge will tilt even more. It comes back to its original place but I am afraid that after a while it will keep getting worse. There are most likely many ways to fix and reinforce it but I thought some of you would have a best idea. AN 8" I beam was used for the main beam.
Thanks for every ones help and interest

I beams are pretty fragile torsionally. Maybe you can torque it straight and hold it while welding a tube around it to hold it. Im not sure that would work against a damaged beam. Maybe heat it to get it to set straight, then the tube.

When I made mine I worried about torsion stresses on the beam and I split a length of 3" pipe and welded it back together down the center of the beams web. My beam is only 4x6" but has held its shape
over 25yrs.
larry

 

[tsteahr]

Seems like this would be a good application for a box section instead of the I beam. Much greater moment of inertia in torsion...

 

[J_J]

A stray blunder!!! I have shared many successes with you all so now I feel it only reasonable to show and ask for ideas on how to correct this situation. Although my splitter is working well and does well this situation bugs me. As you can see in the pic the wedge is tilted. It looks like the I beam has twisted. When splitting a tough piece of wood the splitter will flex and the wedge will tilt even more. It comes back to its original place but I am afraid that after a while it will keep getting worse. There are most likely many ways to fix and reinforce it but I thought some of you would have a best idea. AN 8" I beam was used for the main beam.
Thanks for every ones help and interest

I think heat would do the trick. An experienced guy with a torch would be able to heat the right spots to correct the twist. Then stiffen the I beam somewhat.

 

[SnowRidge]

I beams are pretty fragile torsionally. Maybe you can torque it straight and hold it while welding a tube around it to hold it. Im not sure that would work against a damaged beam. Maybe heat it to get it to set straight, then the tube.

When I made mine I worried about torsion stresses on the beam and I split a length of 3" pipe and welded it back together down the center of the beams web. My beam is only 4x6" but has held its shape
over 25yrs.
larry

I think heat would do the trick. An experienced guy with a torch would be able to heat the right spots to correct the twist. Then stiffen the I beam somewhat.

You guys are responding to a post from 2005!

 

[J_J]

You guys are responding to a post from 2005!

Oh no, time regression has set in again. I do that often. But did he ever fix it?