Super split

[Al Smith]

If this works I think I may have figured out how to get some pics up ,using my other 'puter because my usual one is giving me trouble

I've been fiddling with this danged splitter for a month or so and just about have it done .

11 Hp Briggs engine ,double Parker pump ,5" Parker super duty cylinder rated at 5,000 psi surge ,3500 working pressure. 10 H beam ,

 

[darkstar]

Whats that new linkagae between the moter and the pump?
I used to have one just like it on my splitter little rat would break sometimes because the crank shaft was wobbly

 

[Al Smith]

That is a Falk grid coupling .

 

[Altissimus]

That is a Falk grid coupling .

Watch you languauge people get banned...ya know..

 

[Al Smith]

--not on this site .

 

[stehansen]

Awesome Al. I've never seen that kind of coupling either. We always used either a lovejoy coupling or the chain couplings.

 

[Al Smith]

I must two five gallon buckets full of various type couplings .Lovejoys ,Falks ,Moreflex ,double chain and some really odd ones .That comes from a life time of dumpster diving ,auctions and horse trading .

These Falks are used in most industrial applications in these parts . They can take a certain amount of shock loading and misalignment better than most .Once it is assembled the outer covering is filled with grease .

I suppose if I paid full price it could have been a hundred and a half for that thing .I doubt I have over a buck or two in it .

 

[JonnyHart]

Looks beefy Al, but the names taken already. http://www.supersplit.com/

 

[Al Smith]

Ha,I'm not going to market the thing, nobody could afford it .

 

[Cobleskill]

I have been thinking of building a splitter for a while. My plan uses 2 cylinders so you could split both ways. The other brainstorm is to be able to mount it in place of the tailgate of my big flatbed. Dump the unsplit on the bed. One person to roll them to the splitter and one to operate and stack the wood. It would save a lot of bending over.

 

[Al Smith]

In my lifetime I must have seen fourty eleven splitters .Some were rather innovative and some were just junkyard specials .

One of them used a long double ended cylinder which carried double end wedge mounted to the cylinder which moved ,the rods were stationary and it would split both directions . The thing had a wedge two feet high that rode on a top guide made out of a 4 inch I beam .That contraption used a dump truck hydraulic pump and had a Wisconsin 4 for power .It did OK but because of the high volume single stage pump ,even with 30 HP behind it ,on a tough piece it would nearly stall that Wisconsin engine .

Well,whatever works but bear in mind if some provisions are not made to either get the beam nearly on the ground or tiltable it is a beech loading a 3 foot piece of wood in them .

That gizmo I'm working on is tiltable .Even with that chunk of 2 inch plate for a foot I'm going to have to add counterweight to it so I can tilt it up .That heavy azz 5 inch cylinder and 10 " beam are heavy as lead and nearly impossible to lift . I can do it as it is ,just don't want to do it that way forever .

 

[vharrison]

Al, you are amazing!

 

[Al Smith]

Not really V ,just a flatland hillbilly with a vivid imagination .

 

[BlackSmith]

That gizmo I'm working on is tiltable .Even with that chunk of 2 inch plate for a foot I'm going to have to add counterweight to it so I can tilt it up .That heavy azz 5 inch cylinder and 10 " beam are heavy as lead and nearly impossible to lift . I can do it as it is ,just don't want to do it that way forever .

Al, this ghetto splitter l saved from the scrapyard isn't tiltable so l put a kinda crane boom and boat winch on it so l can split those monster blocks. Werks like a charm. l'll try to get a pic of it on here soon... if it doesn't break my camera.

 

[Burnham]

Al, sure looks to me like you have decided that you will not take "no" from any round of firewood on the planet .

Hellacious machine. Good on ya.

 

[stehansen]

My cousin's husband in Oklahoma used to split his firewood with an axe and he had this reallly knarly piece of wood that was all beat up. He sees me looking at it and says "that's my therapy piece". Then goes on to explain that when he's frustrated or mad about something he comes out and beats on that piece of wood with his axe. Said that when he does get it split it's going to be real satisfying. You're not going to be able to have that outlet Al.

 

[Al Smith]

My cousin's husband in Oklahoma used to split his firewood with an axe and he had this reallly knarly piece of wood that was all beat up. He sees me looking at it and says "that's my therapy piece". Then goes on to explain that when he's frustrated or mad about something he comes out and beats on that piece of wood with his axe. Said that when he does get it split it's going to be real satisfying. You're not going to be able to have that outlet Al.

Ah,not so fast,I still have "Excalber" my old 5 pound splitting axe .

 

[Al Smith]

Well,after a few design changes I finally got the thing done at last .

I think I've only got the engine maybe running 2400 RPMs or so but with the 16 gal per minute pump it seems as fast as most splitters using a 4 inch cylinder .Mine is 5 inch .

It did pretty gone splitting some plump oak .Of course oak splits easy . When I did some gnarly 30 inch honey locust it did shift into low speed a time or two .

Those 5 pieces of oak are what's left or a 10-12 cord pile I started on last fall . I've got about another 10 -12 cords back in the woods once I finish them up .

 

[Ax-Man]

For a shop made handyman splitter it looks pretty good Al. It will get the job done for whatever wood you need to split. That is for sure.

I don't how your going to get those big rounds under it though. With my splitter we found it is easier to flip and rip those rounds down the middle so you have a flat side for the first split. Makes them easier to handle also. Sometines those big rounds don't split clean and you have to keep turning them till you can get the round actually split.

I have seen alot homemade splitters also. Like you said AL most of them are junk. Always someone trying to sell me one. One guy even thought because his homemade splitter would bust a cement block it was really a good one. Didn't have the heart to tell him it doesn't take much to bust a cement block. I could do that with a small sledge hammer

The most creative splitter I have seen was one with two independent cylinder. One horizontal cylinder with a lift to break the bigger rounds. The other cylinder was vertical only built high enough so you could stand up with a heavyduty base about waist high for a work bench. The finished wood was then sent down a chute. The chute connected to an elavator run by a hydraulic motor with a two way valve for forward and reverse if the elavator was to jam so it could be unjammed. All this was constructed as one working unit. The only thing that could be disconnected was the elavator so it could be towed as a seperate unit.

The guy who bought my Timberwolf had this set-up. I would have liked to seen it when it was working. Unfortunately there was fire on the woodlot from a kiln that didn't have a chimmney cap. The fire destroyed his splitter. I couldn't see much else of it because of all the high weeds they let grow up around it. It was a well made thought out design. I did see enough that if I was to get serious with firewood this would be the way to go.

There is a splitter made in Canada that is a vertical mounted one that you stand up and has a workbench base about waist high, has a real narrow wedge on it. It has a patiented flywheel for the engine that really delivers torgue to a single stage pump. ( I think) That thing really flies, three times as fast any regular hydraulic splitter. You could almost call this a firewood guillitine it is that fast. It scares me to see it. Space out for a moment and you lose a finger. My sawmill buddy has one and he can really produce the wood with it once the wood is cut.That thing doesn't slow down even for crotch pieces. Damn fast splitter.

Anyone from Canada happen to know who makes these splitters.

Looks like it is done raining. Guess I should go and do something called work.

 

[Al Smith]

That flywheel spitter is called a "super split " .It uses the kinetic energy in the flywheel in conjuction with a gear rack I think .

I've seen the videos of them and they scare me to death .That thing could take an arm off at the elbow in less time than it took me to type this .

About those three feet pin oak rounds .I pry them out of the dirt with a spud bar and roll them in place .Too darned heavy to carry .Most likey over 150 maybe two hundred pounds each . That splitter has a high wedge and will bust them clear through .

I have a couple of 4 footer red oak rounds ,back in the woods .It's going to take the skid loader to move them . That or one of the 100 plus cc saws and rip them .

 

[stehansen]

Looking good Al.

 

[Ax-Man]

That flywheel spitter is called a "super split " .It uses the kinetic energy in the flywheel in conjuction with a gear rack I think .

I am familiar with that type of splitter. Wasn't the one I was thinking of.

The splitter I was asking about is totally vertical. Built along the same lines as a shop press. Has a workbench type base about waist high. The wedge is very narrow not more than 2 inches wide and beveled. It basically will slice wood because it is very fast. Too fast for my taste. It will take a crotch piece apart just as easily as it does a straight grained piece.

I am not a hydraulic expert but I think this particular splitter uses a single stage pump verses the two stage that gives it it's speed. This splitter also uses a patented flywheel type adapter that multiplies torgue.

I am not sure but it may be manufactured by Time or Tyme Industries up in Canada.If they are still in business that is. They make all kinds of inovativeequipment for the nursery trade.

If it is the same comapany I might have some very old literature around here that I can scan that shows that splitter. Their deluxe set-up has two of these splitters set-up side by side for two people to operate with an elavator in the middle. Very high production.

I couldn't even imagine the supple of wood it would take to make a set-up like that make it pay for itself

 

[sotc]

cool al, im working up my 3rd version now with the right beam. should be the final effort

 

[Al Smith]

Coincidently I just trotted in from the woods from splitting .Taking a little pause for the cause .

That heavy duty Judy I threw together works as well as any splitter I've ever seen .If I were to make another one though I would use a tad smaller beam . That 10" H piling beam weighs a flippen ton .I can set it upright but it takes a cable come - along to set it horizontal again . An 8" wide flange would most likely have worked as well although this one is or would be nearly impossible to bend .

With the 3000 psi pump this junkyard special should be rated at a tad over 30 tons although it's highly unlikely it will ever reach that pressure .

 

[Al Smith]

I couldn't even imagine the supple of wood it would take to make a set-up like that make it pay for itself

Oh the same with some of those processers or set up for selling bundled wood at gas stations . I've seen processers they have listed for over 80 grand . You would be at it night and day to pay for the thing .

Most tree service people that sell the stuff simpley do so as a supplement to their income during the winter months when things are slow . Hard work but hey a buck is a buck .