Logsplitter 2.0

[rswyan]

Fabbed up and welded on a D-ring out of some 3/8" round stock and piece of small angle to chain the log lift up for transport:

I still have a clearance problem with the log lift and push block ... even after trimming the log lift a good bit. Today I'll have to see what it's going to take to eliminate that.

Also fixed (I think) another leak on the inlet side of the valve that controls the log lift.

I have some fluid leakage near the base end of the push block cylinder ... I'm hoping that it's just a matter of tightening the four threaded rods that hold the ends and tube of the cylinder together ... need to see if I can scrounge up a torque spec for the nuts.

Jury is still out on the restriction orifice for the log lift valve ... the hole may be too small ... builds a snot of pressure in a hurry if you don't go real light on the control valve. Probably would help if there was some real weight on the log lift.

Got side-tracked into the rebuilding the grate for the double barrel stove up in the shop yesterday ... got tired of moving around the 3/4" solid rod I picked up to do it ... lol ...

Got it built and installed though (a very messy job) ... along with a gasket for the lid of the bottom barrel. Next will be getting the gaskets installed on the doors.

 

[LD1]

Why did you decide to use an orifice instead of an adjustable flow control valve?

 

[rswyan]

Why did you decide to use an orifice instead of an adjustable flow control valve?

Was the cheap, easy, and immediately available solution ...

 

[LD1]

Perhaps not the easiest now?

 

[mikehaugen]

Was the cheap, easy, and immediately available solution ...

Now maybe the cheapest, easiest solution would be to put some sort of stop on the control valve lever? Though somewhat hokey I suppose.

 

[rswyan]

Perhaps not the easiest now?

Perhaps not ...

Only time will tell ...

Part of the problem maybe is that log lift control valve itself is new ... and it just seems kinda stiff ... which makes it "touchy" to operate.

Another part of it is amount of flow coming from the pump in high volume, low pressure mode. I think I have the unloader on the pump set as low as it will go ... which means that the switchover to low volume/high pressure should occur around 400 psi.

And I'm guessing a third part of it is how the valve actually operates: closing off the PBYD circuit in order to supply fluid under pressure to the work ports (dumping all that flow to the work ports)

I was/am looking for a little smoother action when raising the lift.

It would be easy enough to open up the restriction orifice with a drill bit ... but I'm not sure that is really a solution to the problem I'm trying to solve.

What I really need to do is get some real weight on the lift and see how it operates with the orifice in there.

 

[rswyan]

Now maybe the cheapest, easiest solution would be to put some sort of stop on the control valve lever? Though somewhat hokey I suppose.

mike,

I'm guessing that the best solution might be if the springs on the control valve which provide the "spring to center" feature were a little lighter ... it just seems hard to feather it.

 

[LD1]

getting some weight on the lift may require the high pressure and cause the pomp to shift. It may also require you to pull the valve more.

The reason the orifice builds pressure is there is no where for the fluid to go. Feathering the valve, you are only letting a little flow out the work port, but not building much pressure at all, cause most of the flow is still able to return to tank as with feathering you arent completely closing off the open center part of the valve. Which may not develop enough pressure to lift a round.

 

[mikefromnh]

I used a pressure compensated flow control from sun hydraulics on my lift. With them there is no change in speed as the lift rises and the pressure varies. And the amount of weight on the lift doesn't change the speed.

You can get them set to certain gpm and they are adjustable plus or minus 25% from the set point.

I am using a 1gpm cartridge for a 2x10 cylinder and the speed is about right. 2gpm would probably be fine but the 3.6 one I tried was too fast.

Sun Hydraulic Flow Control 1GPM Fxca LAN New | eBay

 

[rswyan]

Spent a good part of yesterday cleaning up the shop ... but I did manage to pick up another 18" hitch receiver from HF for the log lift outrigger/stabilizer when I snuck out in the afternoon ...

Cut that in half and welded some 3/8" solid round onto one end to reinforce it, drilled a 5/8" hole for a hitch pin, and then welded the receiver onto the end of the beam:

 

[rswyan]

I cut a 2" long section off a drop of some 2" Schedule 80 pipe I had lying around for the receiver cup and a 22" or so long piece off of some extra 1 1/2" Schedule 80 for the leg. Drlled 5/8" holes in both for a retaining pin.

Then I welded the receiver cup onto the drawbar and welded the leg onto a piece of 1/4" plate that had previously been a mount for the head/terminal of a Qualcomm satellite tracking unit:

 

[rswyan]

Still have to weld up a retaining pin ... and I'll probably use another short piece of that 2" Schedule 80 pipe to make a storage bracket for the leg/foot assembly, but the log lift outrigger/stabilizer is mostly done at this point:

 

[rswyan]

getting some weight on the lift may require the high pressure and cause the pomp to shift. It may also require you to pull the valve more.

The reason the orifice builds pressure is there is no where for the fluid to go. Feathering the valve, you are only letting a little flow out the work port, but not building much pressure at all, cause most of the flow is still able to return to tank as with feathering you arent completely closing off the open center part of the valve. Which may not develop enough pressure to lift a round.

Right.

If I open the valve completely with the restriction orifice in the line, it will build pressure to about 2000 psi.

BTW - I just checked the weight of a 2' long round of Northern Red Oak with a diameter of 48", using the calculator over at Wood Web: 1,539 lbs.

Yikes ...

Think we'll be doing some 1' lengths of stove wood.

 

[rswyan]

I used a pressure compensated flow control from sun hydraulics on my lift. With them there is no change in speed as the lift rises and the pressure varies. And the amount of weight on the lift doesn't change the speed.

You can get them set to certain gpm and they are adjustable plus or minus 25% from the set point.

I am using a 1gpm cartridge for a 2x10 cylinder and the speed is about right. 2gpm would probably be fine but the 3.6 one I tried was too fast.

Sun Hydraulic Flow Control 1GPM Fxca LAN New | eBay

mike,

Thanks - great info !

I see Surplus Center has something similar (different brand), but at about 2x the price ($43).

Now that I know what to look for, I might look around for something more in line with what your supplier was asking.

Just got a call from my young helper ... he ended up dropping a tree today that I was going to help him do tomorrow ... so I've got to stick the pallet forks on and go collect some more wood ...

 

[rswyan]

I did manage to get the engine to run at an idle last night ... by removing one of the springs attached to the governor arm.

It's not right - since the spring should be there ... but at least I have confirmed that the engine will run fine at an idle.

Also fixed the clearance issue between the log lift and the push block.

 

[rswyan]

Storage setup for the leg/foot of the outrigger/stabilizer for the log lift:

 

[rswyan]

Was looking at my steel supplier's currently available inventory of drops and noticed that they had a nice little piece of 1" plate available - 5" wide x 19 1/2" long - for seemingly reasonable money.

Thought about adding an extension onto the top of my wedge to make it taller ... which might be useful for doing large rounds. My wedge is currently 10" tall and the back side is boxed/plated so that it flares out to about 4" wide.

If I did this, I'd probably only add 6" to 8" onto the wedge (making it 16" to 18" tall overall) and I would probably not box or plate the addition ... meaning that it would be only 1" wide.

In thinking about it, I also realized that it might be a good idea to make the push block taller as well - otherwise there might be some tendency for the round being split to want to tip over towards the push block.

Anyone care to offer any comments on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of doing such a thing ?

Another thing I've been thinking about is splitting really large (36" to 48" in diameter) red oak rounds ... which I have available for the taking.

I've split a good bit of wood in my life ... but never dealt with anything that large before. Anybody here have any experience dealing with that size wood ?

At nearly 800 lbs for 1' long 48" diameter round, it seems like it wouldn't be something one would want to be careless about.

 

[LD1]

You dont want to go too tall.

Ideally you want the wedge and pusher about the same height. And the taller you make the pusher, you are putting alot more stress on the rod, and on your slides that keep the pusher on the beam.

As to the red oak, I am guessing pieces that large probably aint knotty. Red oak is some of the easiest wood I have ever split. IF you have a maul and a few wedges, quartering them shouldnt take much effort at all.

 

[rswyan]

You dont want to go too tall.

Ideally you want the wedge and pusher about the same height.

Right - the wedge is currently around 10"+ and the pusher is around 12"+ so they're currently pretty close.

And the taller you make the pusher, you are putting alot more stress on the rod, and on your slides that keep the pusher on the beam.

Good points.

As to the red oak, I am guessing pieces that large probably aint knotty. Red oak is some of the easiest wood I have ever split.

Yeah ... the smaller red oak rounds that I've already split (by hand) off the same property have been real easy ... very straight grained.

IF you have a maul and a few wedges, quartering them shouldnt take much effort at all.

Right ... considering the possibility of damage to equipment or personnel if a large round were to roll off the splitter, I think that's probably the better way to go.

Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[LD1]

I have never split red oak that large. But all the ones that I have split up to ~24" that were straight grained, if you just drop a 5# maul on them they pop apart. And even the knotted ones arent hard at all by hand. Red oaks are one of the few times I actually enjoy getting the maul out and setting up rounds. I think standing them up and swinging the maul might actually be less work than lifting them to the splitter