logsplitter design question

re: horizontal hydraulic log splitters.. i've seen quite a few on the internet.. all shapes and sizes. i was wondering if someone could tell me what the difference is between having the hydraulic piston

1) push an axe into a log to split it, or 2) pushing the log through a (stationary) axe

it seems that option 2 is more popular (from web results).. and ramming a log through a stationary axe is preferred.

as far as i know, its all the same for the log.

but i'm wondering if its a design issue for the logsplitter. are they easier to build this way? is the design more reliable?

curious,

-tony

Reply to
tony
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If you weld the wedge to the beam it can be sharp the entine height of the wedge. If you weld it to a moving platform, the wedge will not extend all the way to the beam leaving room for wood to slide under it. Rick

Reply to
Rhbuxton

I'm wondering why this is the first post of this thread I've seen. Any ideas?

My response: This is not necessarily true. When I built mine, the movable wedge rode on a beveled piece. The wood merely rode up the 1/2" incline where it met the wedge. Not a problem at all and I've split close to 15 cords of wood with it.

Lane

Reply to
lane

All the vertical/horizontal units I have seen use the ram with a wedge. This allows for the log to rest only an inch or so off the ground when using in the vertical mode. Mine is both and the vertical is a great feature, when you have 3 foot round logs that are well over 100 pounds you only need to out do gravity for the bottom plate thickness. The horizontal is nice for the smaller stuff.

Reply to
Wayne

i have a homebuilt ~12T horizontal splitter. sits on the ground, not on a trailer axle.. the first log has to be lifted about 8" onto the Ibeam.. i roll the other ones up after that.

its been working great for the last year.. and i've been asked to make another one.

when i first built mine, i kept blowing the plate off the bottom of the Ibeam. i was absolutely awestruck by the amount of force needed to split a piece of wood. (sure i broke my back for years before that, i knew it wasn't easy.. but sheesh, under a 12T piston?!)

the second and third revisions saw bent plates. i welded the ass off of the 4th one, plenty of steel this time.. and its been holding up fine.

now that i've been asked to make one for someone else, i dont want to complicate my life by overdesigning the thing.

seeing the stationary wedge type made me wonder if it was inherently more rigid. the plate can't really go anywhere since it has a piston pinned behind it. other than the wedge breaking clean off the end, i can't imagine it bending.

these aren't all that pretty. but they sure are alot better looking than an axe and long saturday in the snow.

-tony

Reply to
tony

One advantage to the movable wedge is you can rotate the device vertical and only lift the log the inch or so to get it in the way of the ram.

Reply to
Nick Hull

On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 14:18:39 -0800, "lane" wrote:

I have built three so far but they are all basically the same. All have had the wedges welded on the beam end. I make th beam end flexible. It allows the wedge to sort of follow the grain of the log, for easier splitting. Of course it takes a better steel i beam to contend with th flex, but the fellow at the steel yard recomended this beam to me and it has proven to work and work well. About 8 1/2 Tall with a 4 1/2" flange. In the area the ram slide moves its topped off with a piece of HRS 1/2 x 6" plate. the ram itself is supported way back under the cylinder as well so it gives a much longer footprint to keep it from cocking or wedging up on hard splits. The support to hold the splitter up is well towards the rams cylinder and its a trailer type splitter. This placement of the forward support leg allows free movement and flex of the beam. I don't care for vertical types, as you always have to move what you split to split some more. I start splitting and let it build up a pile, which is usually around

4 or 5 feet wide and perhaps 3 feet tall. Eventually pieces jam and wedge into the pile and pushes the splitter backwards. This makes windrows of split wood, nice uniform width and height, which is easy to cover with a tarp if need be until its picked up and stacked. I have made windrows of wood over 75 feet long already. I also have hydraulic aprons and log lifts, so no log is really too large and no lifting is involved. At the most roll what you need to split up to lift apron and let hydraulics do the rest. The lift apron goes a bit beyond the level point and allows easy roll of the log onto the beam. There is a stop to keep any from rolling off the other side of the beam. An additon as such is easy to make and takes no power away from splitting at all, and does not really require all that large of cylinder just to rasie a 100 or 800 pound piece. I often use this lift apron as a hydraulic jack to lift the pickup trucks front or back or my Ford Tractor off the ground. My wedge is made of 1" thick A36 nothing extremely exotic, just regular steel, with a machined cutting edge ground at 37 degrees. Have not found anything it would not bust bend or tear up yet, and it serves double duty as a pipe bender, and horizontal hyrdaulic press, an aluminum crusher for busting up aluminum auto wheels and parts like transmission housings to bite sized pieces for my foundry. I did use 8018 rods to put everything together for no other reason than its what I had at the time. Nothing has yet to break or tear loose on the splitters, and the one I am using now has been in use for close to 15 years and splits 35 to 40 cords a year of Oak, Hickory and Mock Orange and pine.

-- Visit my website: Remove nospam for correct address http:// snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com Contents: foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects. Regards Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever. Remove nospam from email address

Reply to
Roy

I've seen the "move the log" style used with smaller (8"to

12"diameter logs) with a chute that sends the logs up into a pile. Just pick up the log, set in place, hit the control, repeat. Works really slick, minimizes the work.

But the stuff I was cutting was during the dutch elm disease days and now in the oak wilt days. These tend to be HUGE rounds, 16" thick by up to 36" in diameter. Weight can push close to 500 pounds. A wimpy 18" diameter one is close to 150 pounds. Only way to deal with these is a vertical spliter with the 1" thick foot plate solidly on the ground.

Difference between a horizontal and vertical splitter is minimal. Just put an appropriate pivot point in, tilt the beam as required. Run it horizontal for small logs, verical for big logs. Motor, tank, pump, and controls stay put.

D> re: horizontal hydraulic log splitters..

Reply to
Roy J

Mine is a 25 ton unit with a flat plate on the end of the beam and the wedge on the ram. I can use it vertical or horizontal. I prefer horizontal (less bending as I just take the log from the tailgate of my truck and rotate around and drop it on the beam, ready for splitting). I prefer, also, the splitter on the ram --- reason --->

the log *doesn't * move lengthwise. I can place a fairly good sized (diameter) piece on the beam, and just shear chunks off of it without "chasing the remaining big piece I'm holding onto past the wedge. Just my personal preferences. Ken.

Reply to
Ken Sterling

Roy, I still want a transfusion of your blood...do you ever sleep?

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Reply to
JR North

COnsider this on a log splitter.

I have logs from time to time - not often - that need bucking and then splitting.

I was doing it the hard way - wedges and sledge or axe. A neighbor had one of the 'gimmick' axes - those with cantilever wedges part down the wedge of the axe. These put massive sideways pressure on the split in the wood.

It was the easiest job in all to split wood with this axe.

The other axe was in a loggers hand. It was a splitter - looked like a log curve on the edge - no pun intended - it as a progressive curve from a rather thin and sharp edge. He would swing it along his right leg using one hand - and whack the logs in half! THese were 16-18" in length oak. I couldn't watch him do it - just knowing he would split his shin some day.

Martin [ still looking for a side splitter axe like I saw years ago ]

Reply to
Eastburn

No matter how you cut the cake a splitter with wedge on the ram makes it necessary to move the splits or your work area is cluttered. Thats time and energy, when a splitter with a push plate on the cylinder and a welded wedge on the beam, allows splits to b shoved off the end and out of the imediate work area. All one has to do is add an apron or table to one side or the other that catches and holds and returns the remaining section of log for further splitting. I can o perate m y splitter from one spot, that spot remains uncluttered, and remaining pieces of logs to be plit again are within easy reach, require no lifting, just a mere roll or twist. I hate handling things two or three times, and having to move splits out of the way to be able to split more in my opinion is wasted time on my part.

-- Visit my website: Remove nospam for correct address http:// snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com Contents: foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects. Regards Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever. Remove nospam from email address

Reply to
Roy

Well Tom, I would not know whose blood you would get, as I have managed to screw myself up so many times in my life I doubt I have any of my original blood left anymore, so I may have been fortunate in getting some god blood at one time or another myself.

Yep, I get sleep......average 5 or 6 hours a night. I usually hit the sack about 10 or 11pm, and am up by 430 am at the latest, without an alarm clock to aassist me. I swore after I retired I would lay in bed a bit longer, but old habits are hard to break. After spending close to 32 years military and being up very early, I guess I am destined to get up early the rest of my life. I'll get all the sleep I need when I am laid out in the prone position 6 feet under ;-)

-- Visit my website: Remove nospam for correct address http:// snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com Contents: foundry and general metal working and lots of related projects. Regards Roy aka Chipmaker // Foxeye Opinions are strictly those of my wife....I have had no input whatsoever. Remove nospam from email address

Reply to
Roy

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habbi

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