Worlds Most Sophisticated Home Made Log Splitter?

[Industrial Toys]

And if it's not, I would love to see it, or them. I had nothing to go on for ideas, in building this.

I have used many splitters, and never liked a one. So I built my own. Some components were Wallenstein, surplus items.

FINISHED!

Moveable Control Console. Pretty much shows features.

Far side E-Stop. Buttons Illuminate to Indicate Power and Alternate when the RAM is in motion.

Main Equipment Cabinet. I would have liked to put ALL electrical control equipment in one oil tight box, but ran out of room.

Relay Logic Board, that I had to put in console.


Unit Goes ON or Off in Seconds, Scaffold Castors can come off. A woman can move the thing around for storage easily.

Loader is just purring away at just above idle. Can't stand noisy splitters.

Button does split cycle. Never liked standing there like a bump on a log, when I could be stacking wood.

Variable back stop positions. This has proved to be more usefull and a time saver than I anticipated. Joystick can over ride this at any time.

Joystick mimicks any other splitter if required.

Loader can adjust height as desired. It could go vertical, but with the wedge at the end, would not make much sense. Those are the components I got, but would put the flat plate at the end if I had to do it again, for vertical splitting.

 

[KennyG]

That's really impressive. The only problem, from my perspective, is that it would take me about one day to accidentally trash the controls. That's probably just my personal problem. Did you think about log tables?

 

[strantor]

As a Controls Engineer, I love the electro-hydraulic control scheme. Brilliantly unnecessarily sophisticated. Very nice, professional; I'm envious. The only borderline negative thing I have to say about it, is your e-stop on the end sticks out like a sore thumb and IMO is begging to be knocked off by a stray piece of wood. I might be wrong. Time will tell.

 

[strantor]

If you grow bored of a mere overly sophisticated log splitter and want to build an overly sophisticated wood processor, check out this build for inspiration. With a few boxes of surplus industrial control components, this thing could be a robot. It could run all by itself and shoot you a text message to let you know that it's done with the pile you tasked it to cut.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I sheared the end E-Stop off on the first trial on a very large log! The PVC fittings are not glued and can move it out of the way, but I should think of some other approach.

The controls are all industrial, and mounted on a flexible arm, so some impact should be absorbed.

Not sure what log tables are.

Aside, from the quiet, I have just found the process, whether one or two people running the thing to be extremely smooth.

It could also sit on the wheels and be plugged into any (open center) hydraulic source and would just need a little 12 volts.

 

[murphy1244]

What is the speed to slit wood?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not sure. Faster then any 3PH splitter I ever used, but not the fastest. Oh, I could run the engine faster, But, it's not an issue, since when I get back from stacking my wood, or getting another round, the split cycle is always finished. As, intended.

 

[KennyG]

Log tables would be some sort of flat surface on each side of the beam so that when you splits a large round, the halves don't fall to the ground and have to be lifted back up to be split again. Mine seem to save a lot of lifting.

 

[Industrial Toys]

That does sound like a great idea. I don't like bending although I read that it is important for flexability and health.

Any suggestions on a table for this design of splitter?

 

[ericm979]

Neat!

Most of the good splitters (wolf ridge, timberwolf, wallenstein etc) have tables available, you can look at them for ideas. I added one to my horizontal/vertical type and it's a huge back saver. I need a table on the other side too. Since yours is a push through your table would be on the other side of the wedge. I wish I had a horizontal push through with a table and lift but I got mine cheap and it works (in horizontal mode, vertical is pretty useless).

What's the difference between "return" and "backwards"? Return goes all the way back with one touch and backwards is momentary?

You could add a pressure sensor which will determine if a round is too much for the splitter and shut it off. Just to complete the over engineering.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve got a catch table on mine and it’s a huge work saver. I’d recommend re locating the switch on the end to somewhere safer.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The safety people will be out of sorts if I move the switch. lol I thought about putting it on a hinge, or even trailer plug, so I could remove it for large rounds. But the table idea will require a total rethink.

Yes, backwards is Momentary (Jog) and Return latches it to return to either the 1-5 preset or all the way back. The Joystick always takes priority, no matter what the thing is doing. Like I said, I didn't realize how much I would like the preset. I have three different size stoves on the place and a large fireplace, so all of my firewood is of varying sizes.

So far, the thing seems to have unlimited power for the ELM rounds I have put through it. Since no hearing protection is required, I'm guessing, I would hear something, either the motor or a relief making a different sound if it stalled. I imagine, that the really knarly stuff, I would do manually anyway.

 

[Diggin It]

If you grow bored of a mere overly sophisticated log splitter and want to build an overly sophisticated wood processor, check out this build for inspiration. With a few boxes of surplus industrial control components, this thing could be a robot. It could run all by itself and shoot you a text message to let you know that it's done with the pile you tasked it to cut.

If I can point it at a tree and have it call me when it has the splits stacked next to my stove and I can buy it for under a Grand, I'm all ears.

 

[4570Man]

If I can point it at a tree and have it call me when it has the splits stacked next to my stove and I can buy it for under a Grand, I'm all ears.

If we’re talking about mythical contraptions I’d rather just have a house that maintains its own temperature without a utility bill.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Once you have the electrical hydraulic valves, the possibilies are endless. I was even thinking mind control. But I never managed to levitate the rounds onto the splitter.

 

[4570Man]

Once you have the electrical hydraulic valves, the possibilies are endless. I was even thinking mind control. But I never managed to levitate the rounds onto the splitter.

But I bet you have more than $1000 in this build and not even close to being able to cut and split and stack a tree by itself.

 

[ptsg]

Great job!

Any videos of this thing running? Would be sweet to see it running.

 

[/pine]

Once you have the electrical hydraulic valves, the possibilies are endless. I was even thinking mind control. But I never managed to levitate the rounds onto the splitter.

Nice build...:thumbsup:

If you wanted to you could add a microprocessor and switch out the current relay board with a similar one that interfaced via serial bus or USB even...install one of the mini Linux kernels and it could be run with voice commands from a cell phone or other device...automated operations would only need a looped shell script...

FWIW...an eight channel 10A relay board with either a serial or parallel port interface is about $50...

 

[Industrial Toys]

Actually, it didn't cost much at all. The D05 Valve on sale at Princess Auto was probably the worst. I have some amazing friends.

As for the time spent, that's another discussion.

And, a video? It's kind of like a woodsplitter going back and forth. lol Not really much to see here folks!

I just like it because it's everything I always wanted in a splitter that others lacked and it actually got built and most importantly, got FINISHED!

 

[Diggin It]

If we’re talking about mythical contraptions I’d rather just have a house that maintains its own temperature without a utility bill.

Not really all that mythical, but I don't think I'd like living in a cave or an old Missile Silo.