Flicks Log Splitter Build

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A good part of my justification for buying a new tractor was to make it easier for me to produce firewood.... I have my heater burning 24/7 for about 6 months of the year, (May to October)... I usually spend a good part of April getting a few tonnes cut, split and stacked to get me through winter...

All the wood I burn is Eucalyptus (Gum Trees), it a very dense heavy wood and most the stuff on my property is very knotty with a tight twisted grain, it's a nightmare to split by hand, the jarring makes my joints feel like I'm a 90 year old ...

So with winter only a couple of months away, and considering I have a nice new tractor with remote hydraulics, I thought I'd better start building a wood splitter... Down the track when I have some money to spare I'd like to get a "auto return detent valve" like Larrys, but for now the tractors on-board valve will do...



I had a hunt around and found I have enough odd steel to build a splitter, so I only needed to buy a cylinder and hoses ....

My heater only takes 14" wood but I plan on having a bigger heater eventually so I went for a 24" cylinder (4" bore, 2" rod)... I got it from eBay for a good price, it was meant to be a tie-rod style but they sent me a welded one, When I contacted them they were willing to exchange it for the correct one, but considering the welded one is rated at 3000 PSI and the tie-rod one is 2500 PSI I decided to keep the welded cylinder

This is the Tie-Rod cylinder I purchased:


This is the one I received:



4"bore x 24"stroke x2"rod , 3000PSI, 1" clevis ends, KC4024W Chinese made...

Today I started building it... I started with the top cylinder mount which I recycled from an old lamp post arm:


It's a bit over 1/2" thick with an extra bit of 1/4" on 1 side, (I'll weld another bit of 1/4" on the other side so it'll be 1" thick at the cylinder mounting point...

Now for a 1" hole to mount the cylinder to...... I only have a little drill press with a minimum speed of 600rpm so I just use a hole saw to cut the hole... I use a pump up weed sprayer to supply a good quantity of water to cool the hole-saw and help clear the chips...

I should probably use a smaller pilot drill but I find a 1/4" bit lasts longer when drilling thick steel like this (and they don't break if they catch)...






To Be Continued.....

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A lot of the wood I split is 2' to 3' diameter so I thought it best to go for a fairly basic 3ph upright design with a moving blade.... Eventually I'd like to build the splitter into a table with a log lifter, or maybe build it into an attachment on a dump trailer.... But for now I'll just do a basic design....

Now for the blade and carriage... I'm using 8" x 8" x 1/2" mild steel plate, I purchased them (cut) a couple of years ago to use for gate post bases, I have them so I might as well use them...

Drilling 1" hole in the blade:


For the cutting blade I think I'll just run a bead of SS weld along the edge and grind the edge sharp, and weld a piece of 2" angle on either side to help force the logs apart.... No doubt the edge dull fairly quick, but it'll do for now

The carriage:

It's another bit of 8" x 8" x 1/2", with a strip of 1" x 3/8" down each side, I tack welded these together to make it easier to drill. (I generally use Stainless welding rods to tack weld because they flow better than mild steel and I can break them apart easer if I need to)


I've used some old steel for the back of the carridge that I think was originally holding bricks up above a fireplace, I used this because it has a curved back that will suit the tapered top RSJ I-beam I'm using for the spine of the splitter...

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The beam is 5" across the top, 6" deep and 8' long, the profile is 3/8" near the edge, 3/4" near the middle, with a 3/8" flange? between top and bottom.


It was originally part of the deck for a truck hoist, before I had a tractor I used to drag it behind my Subaru to smooth my tracks out a bit. (Another length of the hoist bed I've used for my 3ph ripper frame)

I've been fretting about how I was going to cut this beam, I've run out of oxy gas (I'm poor ATM so can't get a refill), and I'd like a cleaner cut than the gas axe.... I really didn't want to do it with a 9" angle grinder because I doubt I could cut the end squarely and it would take forever....

I realized it would just fit into my 14" cut off saw so gave that a go:


It didn't quite make it all the way through so I finished it off with the cheapo Chinese 9" grinder:


I'm going to use the left over I-beam for a T shaped foot so I had to do another cut:

I was quite surprised how well the 14" cutoff saw went, I put a new disk on when I started and it survived really well...

Edit: BTW... With the Cheap Chinese power tools I've Discovered it's best to let them cool down regularly, I've burnt out a couple of $10 4" angle grinders in the past by running them too long and too hard, luckily they had a 12 month warranty... I let the cut off saw cool for a while 1/2 through each cut ...

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Here's the top cylinder mount, carriage, and blade sitting on the 6' beam so you can see where I'm heading


I'll weld the 2 short bits of beam to the right hand end so they form a T-foot.

The Supervisor:


That's as far as I got today... It's all coming together nicely.... I'll continue with it tomorrow...

Matthew

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First job today was to cut and drill a piece of 4" x 1/4" to go on the top cyl mount:


The current adjuster mechanism on my arc welder has been jammed for quite a while, and last time I used it I suspected it was low on amps.... so I though I better pull the lid off and give it a check-up before I start welding all this heavy steel...


I built the welder from scratch 20years ago when I was a first year apprentice (16)... (cut laminations, wound the transformer, bent up and fusion welded the case, hand made the voltage selector switch, and so on.... about the only things in it that I didn't make are the nuts, bolts, and screws)

The voltage is adjustable from 38 to 48 volts, and it pumps out a max of 145amps....

It's done a lot of work over the year so I checked the current today just to make sure it was still working well, and to ensure there are no shorts in the transformer....

I dried out a few 3.5mm mild steel and stainless steel rods in the oven for 30mins, they always weld better when they're 100% dry... (I like stainless rods, they flow a lot better than mild steel and it's easier to get a good looking weld in awkward spots)

I really need to buy a 200+Amp arc welder now I'm welding a lot more large stuff... I don't think 145A is enough.....

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...Now back to the log splitter...

Started by tack welding the foot on:


I struggle to do decent corner welds on large steel....

I wish all my welds were this tidy



Then I moved onto the top cylinder mount:


I took great care to get it tack welded on squarely, and then welded around the extra bit of 1/4" plate I added on 1 side:

Then did a butcherous job welding the first side of the mount, I ended up doing about 3 runs of mild steel, and finished it off with a couple of runs of stainless to try and tidy it up a bit and fill in the holes...


Then moved to the other side which I did with stainless rods:


It wasn't till now that I realized all the welding I did on the first side had caused the mount to lean over that way.... So the mount is a bit lop-sided now.... It shouldn't effect the splitter (I hope)..... I should done bigger tack welds on both sides before doing the full welds....

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.....Next I started grinding the edge off the carriage with a 4" grinder, It was just too slow so it'll have to wait until I get some new grinding wheels for the 9" grinder....


Then I moved onto the blade...
I took the corners of with the 4" grinder then ran a bead of stainless along the edge.... (I'm hoping the stainless will help the mild steel blade stay sharp longer)


Then a bit more grinding:

I'll add a bit more weld to the edge another day, and finish sharpening it with the 9" grinder (when I get some disks).

..... Next was to start the 3 point linkage mounts:

I'm cutting up a couple more old lamp post arms for the lower mounts and I'll weld bits of 7/8" bright steel rod in the ends.



Here's a mock-up of how the 3PH mount will be: (maybe)

Ignore the bit of square tube held on with the clamps, it's just there to hold the other bits in place while I decide what to do.....

That's enough for today


Matthew.

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I Installed the cylinder today and roughly clamped everything in place just to make sure it all fits together




Everything fits well I'll finish it off later in the week...

Matthew.

Edit: ... Assuming the tractors remote hydraulics put out about 8GPM @2000psi (at near max revs).

The cylinder should have a push force of 25,120lbs and a pull force of 18,840lbs .

It should take 10 seconds to extend and 7.5 seconds to retract the full 24" ... (17.5sec cycle time)

If I run the tractor at 1500rpm I should get about 5.5GPM, and I'll probably only use about 18" of stroke, so I figure I'll probably have a cycle time of about 20 seconds

I used the Hydraulic calculator on this page:
www.surpluscenter.com/Hydraulic.htm

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I had the hoses made (& purchased a 5gal drum of oil)


And the Tie-rod cylinder I origionally purchased arrived....

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Some action finally


I still need to build the hitch and a couple of other bits....

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I started today grinding down the blade and front edge of the carriage with a 9" angle grinder... The stainless steel bead I welded along the cutting edge can be seen, it's about 1/8" thick, I think this might end up chipping off because stainless is fairly brittle.... If it's a problem I'll follow Robs suggestion and get some "Hard Facing Rods" and redo it...


Then I started welding the carriage together:

I didn't weld the spots where the angle was going.

Tack welded the angle on:

Then finished off all the welds:



The carriage back plate has a bit of a bow in it now from all the welding.


......Then I cut and drilled a couple of plates to re-enforce the ram mounting point.

And welded them on:


Semi finished carriage:

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Then I assembled the hoses using Loctite 542 Hydraulic Thread Sealant:



Now Assembly time:



Due to the bow in the carriage back plate it was too tight on the beam so I've temporarily packed it out with some washers so I could test-drive it, I'll grind a bit off the back plates later so it slides freely without the washers in there... BTW, the bolts are some recycled high tensile bolts.

.....The test drive videos are a few posts back.....
(Here they are if you missed them)
s2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/FLICKed/Tractor/Log-Split/?action=view¤t=3.flv
s2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/FLICKed/Tractor/Log-Split/?action=view¤t=6.flv
s2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/FLICKed/Tractor/Log-Split/?action=view¤t=4.flv

The upright spine flexes left to right a bit on the base I-beam, I'll weld some braces into the base to make it a bit more rigid.

Due to the way the wood flies apart I'll weld some 1/2' flat on either side of the blade between the cutting edge and the angle, and grind it down, so the blade is a smoother slope.... (BTW, I went for 2" angle on the blade to protect the cylinder mounting pin)

In the next couple of days I'll build the 3ph mounts, finish off and tidy up a few welds, and do the finishing touches... Then I'll get it outside and take some decent pics....

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Made up the lower 3ph mount:

Started by grinding a taper on the ends of the 7/8" bright steel bar I'm using for the pins, and drilled the holes:


I'm welding the 7/8" pins into 1" ID pipe so I put a few spots of weld around the pins so they're a tight fit in the pipe:




I was originally going to weld the 2 arms to the sides of the splitter, but I've changed my mind, I'm just going to bolt it to the back of the I-beam now... So I had to weld the 2 bits together:


I then moved onto re-enforcing the foot by welding some 2" x 1/4" angle onto/into the corners:

I think I'll weld a 1/2" thick gusset into the foot below the front edge of the upright beam...

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Made the toplink mount ouf of 2" x 1/2" flat,




And my cut-off saw died I'll have to repair it later, just need to replace a female spade lug that's melted.


Welded a 2" x 1/2" flat brace either side of the foot:


I was going to weld gussets into the I-beam but I was feeling lazy I think it'll be fine as it is....

I decided to bolt the 3ph mounts of so I can remove them if I end up building the splitter into a trailer...