Pete's recycled log splitter.

[Valiant]

This project has been a few years in the making between a friend and I.

We've been scrounging parts and looking for bits and talking shit.

The plan is to make a good splitter for as little as we can get away with.

It needs to be a trailer mounted, with a WOF and rego, upright ram, with a nice big table, good motor, fast cycle times and good force.

So here's where I'm up to.

All the steel has been recycled and or dragged out of skips around and about.

So far I'm quite pleased.

It's very heavy, too heavy to weld successfully with my little Mig so it's out with Arc which is rather satisfying.

More later.

[felixx]

looking good sir

[Valiant]

I've been working hard on this and it's starting to look the part.

11hp Honda to power it and an old LPG cylinder for a hydraulic reservoir.

Table's all framed up too.

Industrial accident is just around the corner!

[CaMpylobacter]

Awesome!

[brocky41]

shit yea - so compact

[Valiant]

Chipping away, nearly finished.

Lots of little bits done.

Mud flaps, half done tail lights, safety chain, decent pins for each end of the ram, most of the table top welded on, and a hydraulic tank that was a LPG cylinder.

The tank was quite a bit of work, It has a removable top so I could get inside it and clean and paint it inside so no grit or welding splatter goes through the pump. It also mounts the return filter. If I did it again I'd do it a bit differently. So it goes.

Everything's plumbed up, pump is mounted and it works!

Well even.

There's a couple of things to do yet, the Chinese ram has a pin hole in a weld and leaks oil, there's a couple of braces and guards to make, and wire up some tail lights. Then it's all go.

[Valiant]

This is finished!

I took it to the firewood pile this afternoon and gave it a good work out.

It works great!

Fast and powerful, it chomps through the knotted pieces of wood with ease.

The tables are a good size and height Dave and I had no problems stacking blocks on it we split probably fiveish? cubic meters of old pine and gum, on about two thirds of a tank of petrol, in about two hours.

The engine doesn't even need to be on full RPM.

It doesn't have WOF and Reg yet but that's not a problem we'll sort that out next season.

Project finished.

WIN!

[Rookie]

Awesome work, hydraulic splitters are so legit. If you find yourself getting bored at some point may I suggest adding a hydraulic lift to the side, that way you don't beat yourself up too bad lifting a thousand rings off the ground.

[Valiant]

Cheers.

I saw a really clever lift the other day that used a pulley and a wire cable that hooked onto the axe to raise the lift.

It was a cheep solution and I did think quite seriously about making one.

But yeah it's down to man power at the moment and using your head when cutting rings.

[cletus]

now you need a bulldozer to shift big piles of firewood with!

[Valiant]

yes Yes YES you are %100 right I do need a small going Bulldozer!

Things have been happening behind the scenes, and all things going well I'll have one soon.

Once I have a 265 that isn't a dick.

[AndyGal]

Thats an awesome machine. Pining those truck mud flaps

[Valiant]

Pining?

 

Or.

 

Blue Gum?

[Taistorm]

Sweet build man. Decent wood splitters really make the difference. Spent a good half of my life splitting firewood with various splitters over the years for my Olds firewood company. Any reason in particular you went for a vertical setup? We've always rolled with the horizontal as it's more quicker and efficient (can usually pump out 4 cubic meters in a bit under and hour).

[Taistorm]

**Elaborating with the quicker/more efficient side of things. Horizontal setup is sweet for gripping the rings with your hands as you can just roll it over and split through at a really quick pace. would imagine the vertical setup would be a little bit more work moving the rings around physically.

 

[Valiant]

Crikey, now things are getting technical!

I find the horizontal ones hard to use, As the rings split half of it falls away and you have to re handle it over and over. If you're splitting large blocks they fall off the splitter or you're fighting to balance them.

I always think of cutting a cake, I never turn a cake on it's side when I cut a piece.

I am a part owner of this with a friend, we find that working as a team we can split much more working together with a vertical splitter. One person stacks rings/blocks and the other splits and throws the blocks into the pile.

*This is just my opinion*

[Taistorm]

Fair enough man, I know what you mean by that, having to rehandle etc. I suppose a big part is on how the rings are cut up with the chainsaw as well!

Always better with someone feeding the rings on the splitter and the other smashing it out, splitting away.

[MIRAGE-MAN]

You needa put this thing into production, you'll fill up your pockets with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[yoeddynz]

Good work. Damn I need one of these! We have many a pine tree to fell and wood is stacked up doing nothing due to no splitter.

Where did you get the ram from and what type/size pump did you use?

[Valiant]

Hi Alex.

The ram came from Trade me it's a specific log splitter ram. 3 to 4 inch bore is the ideal size for slpitters according to the guys at the hydraulic shop. It has a large spear so it retracts quicker. It's Chinese, the first one had scratched chrome and this one had poor welding that leaked. Chinese parts life I guess.

The pump is a two stage one that I got from the hydraulic shop. It does high flow under low load and high pressure when it is loaded up.I can't remember what size it is. It works well, the equivalent is on TM for about half price.

It has chomped through everything we have thrown at it so far.