Log Splitter

[stevec]

I, for one,  love the colours Dave. What worries me is where did the other half of that perfectly split log go? Did your wife stack it already?


Steve

[DaveH]

   
Nice one  
 
DaveH

[DaveH]

(01-30-2015, 10:56 AM)vtsteam Wrote: The 1 horse powered splitter has a very interesting capability -- anybody notice?

Look at the split and retract speed. That has it all over my hydraulic splitter. I'm wondering what the mechanism driving the ram is -- friction, rack and pinion?

Could be rack and pinion
The two large fly wheels to store the energy
The operating handle keeps the rack in contact with the pinion.
This shows how it works






DaveH

[stevec]

So, it's spring return . I'm impressed that they offer such a warranty.
But, once again I say if it weren't for the relatively "slow" retract of a hydraulic cycle time I'd be tuckered out long before the job was done.

Steve

[dallen]

bet he never tried to split hickory blocks from a tree that got twisted in a tornado when it was little.

looked like Ash that he was splitting,

Love the Axle on this one




DA

[f350ca]

The momentum idea is neat, wonder if you could do it with a flywheel on a BIG hydraulic pump.

[DaveH]

I also liked the idea seemed easier to make than a hydraulic one.
I just couldn't find any large flywheels here I thought about making them but my lathe just isn't big enough.
The other thing that put me off a little the speed of the ram - scary But there again I'm easily scared  

 
DaveH

[vtsteam]

Dave and Dallen, thanks for those videos! I didn't realize that type was so common or that they used flywheels and rack and pinion.

The first video was ash up until the last piece which was red maple, I believe. The other video was splitting hemlock. None of the above are usually difficult woods to split. Around here yellow birch, hard maple, and elm (if you have any, nowadays) and beech can be tougher to split.

I wonder if a spring is enough to retract out of a bad jam?

I also wonder about what happens if you get what I call a popper. They usually hit you just below the belt! And a high speed ram seems like it would make for more poppers.

I wonder if the wedge at the end is better in that regard than wedge on the ram. Seems like it would be.

I have a wedge on the ram, and generally avoid poppers by keeping a hand on this side of the log. Keeps en from launching. I realize that's considered unsafe by some, but with a slow hydraulic, like mine, and care to keep off the split line, it works for me.

I definitely would like one of those rack and pinion jobs, now that I see them in action, and would like the added speed. To me it's just as tiring to stand stooped over the bed with 10 cords of wood to split waiting for the hydraulics to cycle as it is to be lifting them aboard more quickly. I'd just as soon be done in half the time, which looks do-able. Besids you can always slow down if you want.

One other thought about wedge on ram vs wedge on bed -- I've lifted some pretty big maple butt sections onto the bed -- I'm wondering if these impulse splitters with wedge on the bed can bog down then, because the ram has to move the log, as well as split it, while with a wedge on a ram, the log is stationary and all the impulse goes into splitting.

Just a bunch of thoughts about this stuff -- it's always intersting to think about how things work....

[stevec]

(02-03-2015, 07:48 PM)vtsteam Wrote: I wonder if a spring is enough to retract out of a bad jam?

vt, in both videos I watched the wedge was fixed and the ram was the "pusher" how could it get in a "jam" ?

Steve

 

[DaveH]

(02-04-2015, 07:31 AM)stevec Wrote:

(02-03-2015, 07:48 PM)vtsteam Wrote: I wonder if a spring is enough to retract out of a bad jam?

vt, in both videos I watched the wedge was fixed and the ram was the "pusher" how could it get in a "jam" ?

Steve

 

You are on the ball to day Steve

I think Vt was thinking about the wedge being on the ram and getting jammed.


DaveH