Logsplitter building

[JimR]

With all the talk of logsplitters lately. I figured it was time to put mine back together. The main beam is quite similar to the last posting on logsplitters. I believe it is 6" x 6". My wedge is at the end of the beam. After reading all the info here and looking at new splitters, I think it should be attached to the piston ram. I just picked up very nice 4" x 41" piston with a 2.5" dia. ram tonight with 2 like new hoses for $75.00. My splitter beam is long as I use to have a backhoe piston on it from my old backhoe. So the length of the piston in this case didn't matter. If I got a shorter piston I would have cut the beam down a bit. Using the info on Surplus Center. I figured out that my cycle time will be about 11.5 seconds going out with a 26 inch stroke and a 7 second return. There would be 13 tons of force according to the calculations. For some reason this seemed low. The pump pressure is 2133 psi and the flow is 7.3 GPM's. Has anyone else used their tractor hydraulics for their woodsplitter? What kind of pressure do you have and tons of force? Hopefully in the next few weeks I can get my splitter back together. I need to refit it for 3pth capabilities. It use to hang on the rear lower mounting bracket for the backhoe on my old Ford 8N. I also need to weld a rear mount with a hole onto piston as it is flat. The piston is off a "I have no idea". The top has an 8" x 8" flange that is over an inch thick. It is welded to the piston and will need to be notched to fit my beam. Any ideas what this piston came off of?

 

[B2400]

Your splitting force can be determined by taking your cylinder size and figuring it into square inches. Radius squared times pi will give you this, thus a 4" cylinder would be: 2"x2"=4, 4x3.14=12.56.... so you have 12.56 inches of surface area for the fluid to push against. If your operating pressure is 2000psi ( one ton ) you would be making 12.56 tons of pressure.Since your stated pressure is 2133psi you can figure it like this 12.56 x 2133 divided by 2000= 13.39 tons of splitting pressure

 

[JimR]

Thanks for the info. I hope to have this splitter back together this week sometime. I picked up my other two hoses today and a 3pth drawbar to bolt the splitter to. I still need to fabricate and weld up the upper 3pth mount and cut the large base off the piston to wrap around my I-beam. Projects are so much fun.

 

[JimR]

Here's my splitter all finished and working nicely. The cost to put this back together was more time than money that's for sure. I only had to buy two new hoses, two fittings, drawbar and a used piston. Total cost was around $130.00. The steel for the 3pth was all from scrap. The piston was a little shorter than my original backhoe piston and needed an extension on the ram end. The ram extension piece was the cutout piece from the large flange on the piston. The ram is threaded. A simple drill hole in the front plate attaches it to the piston using a 3/4 - 13 bolt. I did weld the flange and rear of the piston to my I-beam. I can cut it off real quickly with a torch should it ever need to be removed. The valve is made by Cross with the auto return detent. I have this setup with a forward control lever. Actually it is a brake lever from a Model A or something similiar. By using this the splitter can be used two people without the second person getting in the way or worrying about cutting off someone's fingers. I split about a cord of wood with it this morning. Wood sure splits nice when it 10 degrees out.