Woodsplitter build #2

[6sunset6]

Wife made me go away for a long weekend. Was good except I kept dreaming about 5gal cans of hydraulic fluid. Ordered a 0-5000 psi gage from Northern.
That was a mistake. 2-3 days to get out of their wharehouse and then UPS to local and UPS drops it at the post office and I get mail around 5pm. 6 days. I should have looked closer at McMaster Carr. I get those deliveries the next day.
Then the Tractor Supply cut off saw. No receipt except CC. SO they say sure we take it back. Exchange or store credit or they will send a check. Cost $39.
SO I am feeling better, NOT good you understand , it is junk. But there are none left of probably 20. HMM 20 coming back at one store. Not my problem.
SO I say ok I will get some other stuff like another 5 gal of hydraulic oil. I think $39 even steven. At the cash register , since I have no receipt, He types in the SKU no and it comes back $25. I say Huh. He says thats what it says, no receipt nothing he can do. OK I got 25 gal of oil for $30 and I cut all my return hose for nothing. I think.
I paid 40 for saw got 25 back 15 out of pocket
5 gal hyd oil 39 used the 25 and another 15 out of pocket
Seems like 30 out of pocket to me but I get confused easy.
Moral of the story SAVE THE RECEIPTS There is only a 90 day return so use it hard fast. Or buy better stuff.
Back to work tomorrow. Wheels on the Power Pac and Welding on everything. When the mail comes, a gage on the power pac and fill it with oil.
I have one fitting I should try to get another 360d out of . IT will see peak psi. But it is a PITA to get at. The first tee at the pump hose out. All the relief valve stuff screws on after that. I have to think on it.

 

[6sunset6]

Wife made me go away for a long weekend. Was good except I kept dreaming about 5gal cans of hydraulic fluid. Ordered a 0-5000 psi gage from Northern.
That was a mistake. 2-3 days to get out of their wharehouse and then UPS to local and UPS drops it at the post office and I get mail around 5pm. 6 days. I should have looked closer at McMaster Carr. I get those deliveries the next day.
Then the Tractor Supply cut off saw. No receipt except CC. SO they say sure we take it back. Exchange or store credit or they will send a check. Cost $39.
SO I am feeling better, NOT good you understand , it is junk. But there are none left of probably 20. HMM 20 coming back at one store. Not my problem.
SO I say ok I will get some other stuff like another 5 gal of hydraulic oil. I think $39 even steven. At the cash register , since I have no receipt, He types in the SKU no and it comes back $25. I say Huh. He says thats what it says, no receipt nothing he can do. OK I got 25 gal of oil for $30 and I cut all my return hose for nothing. I think.
I paid 40 for saw got 25 back 15 out of pocket
5 gal hyd oil 39 used the 25 and another 15 out of pocket
Seems like 30 out of pocket to me but I get confused easy.
Moral of the story SAVE THE RECEIPTS There is only a 90 day return so use it hard fast. Or buy better stuff.
Back to work tomorrow. Wheels on the Power Pac and Welding on everything. When the mail comes, a gage on the power pac and fill it with oil.
I have one fitting I should try to get another 360d out of . IT will see peak psi. But it is a PITA to get at. The first tee at the pump hose out. All the relief valve stuff screws on after that. I have to think on it.

What was I thinking Full price for oil and $15 out of pocket for saw returned.
So it cost me $15 to cut all my return hoses. I can live with that.

 

[6sunset6]

My usual couple steps forward and one step back. Put casters on the power pac. Not for off the road speed racing but just to move it around in the shed after forklifting it out there, full of oil. The shed has a concrete floor . Had to drill and tap 16 5/16 - 18 holes to mount the casters. The bolts came with the casters but were not long enough to put nuts on the back. So buy longer bolts and use up 16 nuts , lockwashers and flat washers or tap 16 holes. I went with tap. Still don't have the gage but tracking says it's out for delivery. In the meantime I decided too many threaded fittings in the line to the relief valve. IF I ever had to take anything apart I would be unscrewing pipe fittings for ever. Besides I had to turn the last, or first, depends how you look at it, another 360d, which I did . Would have leaked for sure. So I had to order another fitting 3/4 jic female nut thing , Acts like a union. That will allow the relief valve to come off with out all the rest of the fittings. A lot cleaner.
Then I was going to do some welding but I got distracted by the quick attach latches not working easily. Works better when they are greased. Then I got more distracted by the fluorescent lamps right over my bench going dead. Only 20 years old can't imagine why. Got 2 bulbs down at the Depot, still dead, must be the ballast #$%$#. So then I pulled out the flotation feet under the beam legs and wire brushed and primed. That's it for today.

 

[Scooby074]

Never fails does it :thumbsup:

I always get a kick out of guys (like myself) that want to build a XXXX instead of buying.. After you pay for the materials, screwups and consider what your time is worth... sometimes you gotta wonder if its just better to buy But whats the fun in that, eh?:thumbsup:

 

[6sunset6]

Never fails does it :thumbsup:

I always get a kick out of guys (like myself) that want to build a XXXX instead of buying.. After you pay for the materials, screwups and consider what your time is worth... sometimes you gotta wonder if its just better to buy But whats the fun in that, eh?:thumbsup:

I always look at the cost of these things as college tuition I don't have to pay loans on. Pretty good return for the money I think. When did you ever learn anything when you hand over plastic except to keep receipts.

 

[6sunset6]

All right The pump package is finished Ready for oil I got ISO 46 oil good efficiency between 0 and 60d F. Should be ok. Who wants to split wood colder or hotter. Maybe oil tomorrow and let it go over the relief valve at 300psi for a while. Let all the little bits make it to the filter. Everything coming back from the beam will return through the filter. The casters are really nice for pushing it around.
Rain tomorrow. I can probably weld on the beam just inside the door. Although it will be in the 50's on Friday.
I forgot to mention that the electrical switch is a 2 pole 30a switch . It is the biggest switch I have ever seen that looks like a normal wall switch. Should handle the 20A load with out any problem at all. Currently I have a 220 15A plug on the line cord. I will probably change that to a 30A plug.
The line cord is 12g but pretty short so I will leave that. I am debating with myself on the out let in the shed. I have run my other splitter off a 12g ext cord from a 220 outlet for 10 years. I want to put a more permanent outlet in and I am trying to decide between 10g romex or 3/4 PVC and pull some 10g pump wire through it. It is all 8ft off the ground and under a roof. PVC is the right way. The feed to the shed is 10g and terminates in PVC now.

 

[oughtsix]

Bit the bullet and use the PVC conduit. If you don't some day you will probably be wishing you had.

Nice build!

 

[6sunset6]

Put in 18 gal of oil. Turn the pump by hand for a bit. Backed out the relief valve. Plugged it in. Held my breath and turned it on. 500 psi ran for a while.
All seemed good. Took a breath. Cranked up the pressure at 2400 psi the 20A CB popped. Not unexpected. At 1900 psi it runs on the 20A CB. Then I noticed an oil drip. It was coming off an 1 1/4 pipe. I almost had a heart attack BUT it was a 1/8 pipe plug ,second port for the return gage at the filter.
I never even looked at that fitting other than to notice it had some kind of red sealer on it. I have a spare 4 way out on the beam. Reminds me to use pipe dope on the plugs. The return gage read zero as it should.
No pictures you will have to take my word for a line cord, a gage at 1900 psi and another gage at zero
Swapped out the cb to my shed for a 30A. Now I have to wire out there.
I suppose to test the beam near the shop I will have to run it at 1900 psi. OR make an adapter and plug it in my welder outlet. Think I will do that
Rainy day today no outside work.

 

[6sunset6]

Still Raining. Looked through all my electrical stuff. Found 2 plugs and 2 receptacles that are the same as my welder 50A 250v. Thought about it for a while and decided if I want to run the pump at the shop I would plug it in the welder outlet but I needed a 30A extention cord. Looked some more and found 10ft of SO 10g. So now I have a 50A plug on the power pack and a 10ft 10g ext cord with a 50amp connector on each end. Running at the shop is a one time or maybe a couple of time thing. I am not worried about running it on a 50 amp breaker. I have one 50 A receptacle left ,I will use that at the shed with a 30A breaker on it. No harm just a really big plug. I will probably dismantle the ext cord when I am done so it can't be used for a 50A service.
I will run it tomorrow and see if I can get 2700 psi out of it and lock down the relief valve. I was welding today inside , got smoky after awhile. Put feet on the beam legs and some diagonal braces on the legs and did some welding on the log lifter. Pictures tomorrow

 

[BillP603]

I used to use Autocad but with so many upgrades to new operating systems my Autocad became non compatible. I don't use it enough to pay for one. I tried google sketch bit can't make it do what I want.
Tried Doublecad ,free, but not comfortable with that either. So pencil and paper and some old tricks like cardboard and pivot points.

I've been accumulating some steel and pieces to build a splitter and was reading through all the posts to learn from everyone's experiences, when I saw your CAD comment. Have you seen the freeware AutoCAD alternative called DraftSight? It's by the company that makes SolidWorks, I've used AutoCAD at work for 15+ years and had not kept up with home copies for a while either. Found DraftSight a couple of months ago and seems to have full functionality for whatever I have needed at home.

DWG files with DraftSight - Dassault Systemes

 

[6sunset6]

Good tip. I will try it. Thanks

Wow I looked at it . It looks like the most comprehensive free CAD program I have ever seen. I was told once that if you can use Autocad, you can use Solidworks. Draft Sight looks just like Autocad.
I will have to dust the rust off my cad skills. Actually sandblasting will probably be required. Wish I had it when I was trying to work out the pivot points on the log lift.

 

[6sunset6]

Pictures Running on my 50A welding outlet
The 10ft 10g line cord stayed cold The 12g pigtail to the motor stayed cold
The filter was getting warmer.
Amp meter on 60A scale
1900 psi at 21A
2500 psi at 25 A This is where I wanted to leave it but after 3-4 minutes the thermal cutout in the motor cut out. Motor was hot. This was going to be a safety setting for the pump. I set it at 2000 psi . I will have to see what happens when the beam is connected and most of the flow is at 600 psi, although the flow is higher.
I can always go to a ,shutter, fossil fuel fired engine.
The hour meter seems to be running fast. Don't know how that can be , they clock off 60 hz. I will time it with a watch some time. Maybe I am having so much fun time just passes.

Edit: What am I thinking. Set the relief at 2500. It's a safety. I don't care if the motor stops 5 min after oil is going over that valve. It should never happen. I can set the valve on the splitter ram cylinder to the minimum that works.

 

[6sunset6]

You guys forgot to tell me that the difference between a 20" cylinder and a 24" cylinder is 8" not 4". I had to unbolt the cylinder anchor , unbolt the hydraulic tailgate , put the mag drill back up there and drill 4 more holes. I debated with myself for a while whether or not to bother but I finally decided to do it. Also finished, almost , the mount for the log lifter. Needs some right angle braces but I need to put it together to see where they go. Finished the mount for the off side log stop. Just going to stick bent 3/4 rebar in those pipe sleeves with those orange caps on the ends.
Started thinking about the outfeed mount. Looks like 3/4 pipe will slide nice and loose into 1 1/4. I have to find a couple of feet of 1 1/4 pipe somewhere.
It was cold today, well 33F and once I got the shop warm I did not feel like opening the door to take the tractor out. I wanted to collect some amps vs PSI data points. Need the space to get the pump unit closer to the welder outlet.
50d F tomorrow , good day for that .
I plotted the 2 points I have and the theoretical lets see if I can attach it. The 2 points in green are real measurments. The others derive from the PSI x gpm /1714 = hp and then converted to kw and then amps. They are not too out of line from each other . I am curious to see what the rest of the real numbers are.
One of these days I will move the beam outside and leave it there Then I will have to run it

 

[6sunset6]

Almost there. Bolted on lifter bracket and off side mount. Bolted in the lifter. This is the first time those big nuts have been on the pivot bolts. The up position with out the cylinder is the travel position. IF you look at very first pictures you can see forklift pockets. The left hand one ended up under the log lifter . That why the cylinder push point is off center and why there is a travel position. I am going to run the lifter one more time on air to make sure up is slightly beyond horizontal.
Also got the out feed table going. I worked till 5pm today IT was warm out but it was 2 hrs past my quitting time. So of course I managed to goof up a few things. Lost track of my tape measure and the angle iron is an inch longer on one side than the other, Also welded a bar right over the bend slot on both sides. I can weld on an inch if I need to. Cutting out welds is what grinders are for. IT is heavy , I will need legs at the end, Pipe and pads. Good thing I have forks for my tractor. Those orange things are rebar caps. I got 10 for $5.

 

[Scooby074]

Bob are you going to put a lip around the outfeed?

I have about a 6" lip around mine and it does a good job keeping the rounds from shooting off. Something to think about.

 

[6sunset6]

Yes I am Just got late and I was tired of bending over. I think I have to extend a couple of the inner ones back past the splitter

 

[westcliffe01]

You can avoid this problem by adding a bypass solenoid valve that is normally open from the pressure side of the pump to the tank. So when you turn the system on it cannot build pressure at all, will draw very little current (drive motor) and it will be quiet and can run this way for basically forever.

Then when you want to want to run the splitter, you just need a way to trigger the bypass valve closed temporarily (like a switch that is closed when you operate the hydraulic lever to "extend" the cylinder. Then you have a second device which holds the bypass closed while the ram is away from its "home" position, connected in parallel to the momentary switch. This could be a proximity switch of some sort which picks up off some part of the cylinder rod and is open circuit only when fully retracted.

So the workings go something like this: Throw the lever to advance the cylinder. This makes the momentary switch, closing the bypass and allowing pressure to build, which advances the ram. As soon as the ram advances, the proximity switch goes closed circuit, holding the bypass closed. From this point it works like a regular splitter. When the ram retracts, the proximity switch goes open circuit, the bypass opens again and there is no hydraulic pressure. Life is good.

I have built quite a few hydraulic machines and this kind of "idle mode" was incorporated in all of them and it reduces power consumption and heat build up (and noise) quite a bit. When you work with a machine that does not have it and it is permanently under load working against the relief valve from the moment you turn it on, it seems downright primitive by comparison.

One just needs to consider whether there are any loads which need to be supported when the ram is idle since they would not have hydraulic power at that point. Or if the other accessories are OK with reduced pressure, you put a second lower pressure regulator between the bypass valve and the tank so instead of going to zero pressure you just drop down to whatever pressure you need for the other parts of the machine to work.

Hope I didn't bore anyone to tears with that...

2500 psi at 25 A This is where I wanted to leave it but after 3-4 minutes the thermal cutout in the motor cut out.

Edit: What am I thinking. Set the relief at 2500. It's a safety. I don't care if the motor stops 5 min after oil is going over that valve. It should never happen. I can set the valve on the splitter ram cylinder to the minimum that works.

 

[6sunset6]

Westcliffe01
That's an interesting thought. I think when everything is hooked up and the cylinder valves are centered then flow is return to tank , no relief valve involved.
As soon as a 4 way is shifted oil goes to a work port until the pressure build to a point where the relief valve opens and pump pressure hold the relief valve open and oil returns to the tank but the pump is working against the relief valve.
The relief valve in my previous post is only to protect the pump if a QD becomes disconnected. In normal operation it should never open.
The relief in the 4 way is set at 2000 . The 4way is an automatic valve with detents set at 1500 and 1700. The detents throw the 4 way to center . 2000 psi is a sweet spot in the motor current curve. Should be fine. I am more concerned about 600 psi at 16gpm. It looks like that will strain the motor some.
All those loads are intermittant. Have to wait and see how the motor behaves.

 

[westcliffe01]

For some reason, the valve on my husky splitter must be too restrictive, since the engine labors even when the valve is in neutral. The pump on mine is a 2 stage. I would probably benefit by going to a bigger valve body or trying to identify the source of the restriction.

 

[6sunset6]

For some reason, the valve on my husky splitter must be too restrictive, since the engine labors even when the valve is in neutral. The pump on mine is a 2 stage. I would probably benefit by going to a bigger valve body or trying to identify the source of the restriction.

You might have a collapsed hose Suction or return. I just fixed that on my old splitter. On suction. Went from 17 sec cycle to 10.