My home made firewood processor

[czechsonofagun]

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[Wild Bill the 2nd]

I plan on running 42" circular saw, splitter ram, hydraulic motor for live deck, hydraulic motor for propulsion, and a couple of stabilizer cylinders, hydraulic cylinder for saw arm and maybe a couple other things. If that one pump with four banks isn't enough I'll run another pump off the front of the crank shaft. But I'm thinking one pump should do it since there are only a couple functions that will be run at the same time. Does that sound reasonable to you guys watching or am I missing something
Lea

Without knowing the volume of the pump sections, the RPM that you will be running, what motors you are planning on running, etc it is really tough to tell. It is certainly possible.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Interesting. I Want to watch.

 

[Lea]

I'll have some new pics in a day or so. I've been busy but I have to go for minor surgery on my neck tomorrow so I'll likely be out of commission for a few days. But I'll update asap

 

[Lea]

I'll have some new pics in a day or so. I've been busy but I have to go for minor surgery on my neck tomorrow so I'll likely be out of commission for a few days. But I'll update asap

Here some pics of a bit of progress. I have hydraulic pump mounted, hydraulic motor for propulsion mounted and the splitter Belem laying in place
Been busy rounding up more parts, now I'm looking for a longer splitter cylinder, the one I have only has a twenty inch stroke,I think I'd like to have about 26"0

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

That thing looks like it will be a beast like no other.
Very impressive!

Looks like some beefy rectangle tubing you're planning on using for the beam. What is the wall thickness on that? Do you know how you are planning on running the pusher on it? Wrapping the pusher carrier around the beam / welding some stock on the sides to create a lip / something else?

 

[Lea]

I may weld some half inch square stock to the top edge of it or maybe heavy angle welded to the sides so it sits above top of beam half inch or so.
The beam is eight by twelve inches and half inch thick

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

Do you know what kind of tonnage you are looking to run?

 

[Lea]

If I find the cylinder I'm looking I should be around 20 tons

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

20 tons? That's it? Box store el-cheapos are 20 ton. Seems almost a waste of a machine to only put a 4" ram on it

 

[Lea]

Bring one over and I'll cut it in half for you

 

[Rustyiron]

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[Wild Bill the 2nd]

I hear where Canadian Farm Boy is coming from but in our experience the beam design needs to be real solid in order to handle real high tonages.(ours apparently aint that solid)

What kind of wood are you likely to be splitting? And what diameters? If 20 ton is the route you take I wouldn't put more than a 6-way wedge on it. A 6 way would certainly be pushing it for some logs but others it would be just fine.

You have any plans for the wedge Design?

 

[Lea]

I'll be splitting mostly jack pine birch ash and maybe some poplar, the biggest would be 16" diameter ,but remember I'm just building this for fun.
I do have a question tho, what length of stoke do most of you guys use on the splitter ram?

 

[Lea]

I'll be splitting mostly jack pine birch ash and maybe some poplar, the biggest would be 16" diameter ,but remember I'm just building this for fun.
I do have a question tho, what length of stoke do most of you guys use on the splitter ram?

 

[MossRoad]

No point in making the ram too long. Most people base a cord of wood as 4' x 4' x 8' with three rows, each being 16". So 16" pieces of firewood is almost a standard. With that said, some folks have woodburners that take much longer pieces and those outdoor boilers can take logs. So a 36" ram is usually plenty. Just remember that the longer the ram, the longer it takes to cycle if you let it go full cycle. No reason to if you're in the zone tossing in fresh pieces as soon as the ram retracts enough, then grabbing the valve lever and starting the split. But each time you turn you back on the machine to walk over to get a new piece of wood to split, the ram will keep retracting and then you'll have to cover that wasted time getting it far enough forward to start the next split. Make sense?

If you waste 5 seconds of ram travel 300 times in a day, you've wasted 1500 seconds, or 25 minutes. Time is money.

 

[murphy1244]

My ram is 24" and thats enough.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I was considering a 5x20 ram for my future build as I only ever expect to do 16" blocks. Might go up to 24" but certainly no longer than that

 

[oldnslo]

Lea,
Looking at the pictures you posted I believe you have a 4 section pump. Do you know the displacements for each section?

On the propel/ travel circuit be sure to include some form braking or run-away control like counter balance valves. If not the first slope could be a wild ride.

Interesting project.

 

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

I would suggest a 24" stroke on the cylinder. Even if you only cut to 16" today you may have a stove that takes 24" in the future.

Not that most people are thinking of selling their processor but a 24" ram will make it more sought after at that point.