homemade log spiltter

thomasthomas19

ok so , i,m gonna build a log spiltter for the back of the tractor for the trees i just cut down , most are in 3foot lenghts ,
i was wondering which kind is best a horizontal or vertical one

thanks for help advice

dharn

dont make the mistake i did, i kept the ram stationary and had the chrome bar extend with a wedge on the end of it, eventually a piece of wood deflected the ram sideways and bent it , so keep the ram connected to a guide that the wedge slides along, otherwise i would go with horizontal

pakalasa

Find out the hydraulic flow rate and max pressure for the tractor. The max pressure over the bore of the cylinder will give you the force generated.
100 Bar on a 50mm bore will generate 2 Tonne for example.
The flowrate then will give you the speed of the cylinder. A 50mm bore and length of 1 metre, with a 50 LPM pump will take 2.3 secs to advance.

blue5000

Lots of (crazy) ideas on you tube. Be prepared for the elf an safety brigade on here telling you it's dangerous etc etc.

Have a horizontal homemade one myself, based on 8 x 4 inch H iron and a ram with about 2 foot stroke, rigid blade which goes up as a toplink connection. make sure you can wrap a chain around the moving end of the ram in case a block gets buried in the blade, at least this way you can pull a stuck block off the blade. You can also rig up a valve that automatically returns the ram stroke to open after each split, don't have one though.

Lots of info here

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/search.php?searchid=1384383

dharn

thats what my design was basically horizontal ram off a hydraulic toplink mounted on the 8x4 h iron pushing a wedge in to the timber but as a said previously the ram got deflected by a knotty piece of wood and bent the ram i never went back to it since, the old sledge hammer was brought back in to use to split the logs

thomasthomas19

thanks for all that thinking horizontal, with a blade that divides log into six pieces, seen on you tube
i got a old jcb mark 3 so i,ll take a ram of that and use a zetor 6718 for pump

dharn

could be ambitious soft piece of spruce ok but if you have dry knotty logs you could be constrantly getting stuck in them with six way splitter

thomasthomas19

maybe just try a single blade first, and see how i get on .
what kind of valve do i need to make it return by itself

moy83

thomasthomas19 wrote: »

maybe just try a single blade first, and see how i get on .
what kind of valve do i need to make it return by itself

If you make a single blade first , you could make a 6 way splitter that sits over it just to use on clean timber that will split handy

Hill123

How much do you plan on spending to make the splitter?

thomasthomas19

never reallly thought above that, i have most of the stuff lying about, like steel and ram,

pakalasa

thomasthomas19 wrote: »

.what kind of valve do i need to make it return by itself

It's safer not to have it returning by itself. You need a spring return hand valve. Push lever up to lift ram up and down for ram to move down. When you take your hand off the lever it should stop. Much safer that way. Like this one;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-BANK-HYDRAULIC-LOG-SPLITTER-LEVER-VALVE-40-L-MIN-3-8-Free-UK-and-EU-Delivery-/310351018693?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item48425cbac5

It's up to you, but to make it fully safe, you should have a two hand operation system. In fact by law, it should be this way. Any decent electrician could wire it for you. You will need solenoid operated valves though, instead of hand ones. Here's one on youtube. You could wire it up to the tractor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwpaJCSVfgc

Hill123

moy83 wrote: »

If you make a single blade first , you could make a 6 way splitter that sits over it just to use on clean timber that will split handy

vertical is best less pressure on your back when splitting wood for a long period.

Juniorhurler

Hill123 wrote: »

vertical is best less pressure on your back when splitting wood for a long period.

Agree with this. I have used both and the vertical is easier on the back, but I used a horizontal and found it handy enough as I was able to back it in through the door of a low garage and use it on dark wet evenings in comfort.

Having said that when I built my own I built a vertical one. I must post up a pic or 2. I had all the steel lying about the place and bought the hydraulics from Ramko in Tyrone through their ad on Donedeal, €260 all in.

dharn

cannot see how vertical is easier if both are at the same height, you can lay the log flat with horizontal, you have to stand it up and push it in to place with vertical

Juniorhurler

dharn wrote: »

cannot see how vertical is easier if both are at the same height, you can lay the log flat with horizontal, you have to stand it up and push it in to place with vertical

I think it could be to do with the fact that on some of the horizontal ones you need to hold the log in place, if its any size at all, until the ram grips it. With the vertical the log sits on a table and there is no balancing on it.

Conor556

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Agree with this. I have used both and the vertical is easier on the back, but I used a horizontal and found it handy enough as I was able to back it in through the door of a low garage and use it on dark wet evenings in comfort.

Having said that when I built my own I built a vertical one. I must post up a pic or 2. I had all the steel lying about the place and bought the hydraulics from Ramko in Tyrone through their ad on Donedeal, €260 all in.

I saw that ad aswell. Is the kit good and worth the money.

Juniorhurler

Conor556 wrote: »

I saw that ad aswell. Is the kit good and worth the money.

Howya Conor. Yeah it seems to be worth the money. The ram has plenty of power and is able to deal with the knottiest of timber. The only drawback is that the ram is a little slow for my liking.
Just to qualify my point though, it is as fast as any other splitter that I ever used but they were all homemade off rams from tractor lift arms or tipping rams from jcbs. I don't know if a factory built splitter would be any quicker or not.
I do know its a lot quicker than an axe or a wedge and sledge hammer:D.