6 x 30 cylinder price OUCH !!!!

[Sandhill Crane]

I started with a flat plate for a stroke reducer. It fit in front of the mount for the valves. First off the push plate rocked a bit vertically when it stopped on return, an 1/8" or so, which also stressed the rod/push plate bolt. The rod mounts loosely in a cup on the push plate, held by a vertical bolt. I used a low grade bolt on purpose, replacing it a few times a year. Second, after months of use, it broke the weld on the valve mount where it connects to the beam with little more than spot welds. Stroke reducing collars worked very well without issue. If a piece jammed on the wedge, the collars were easily removed to allow another piece to be used to push on one half, or one side, of the stuck round and that usually cleared the wedge.

 

[milkie62]

I made the mistake of not building my splitter where the pusher would go all the way to the wedge. I had a 4in bore cyl on hand and the measurement was 2 inches shorter than the 5in in bore cyl I was looking at to use. I went ahead and built the splitter with the 4in cyl and left enough room so I could later just pull the pins and install the 5in cyl. I later found a 5in cyl on sale and it was the same lenght as my current 4in cyl. This goof allows me to split 26in wood, but it doesnt split all the way. It isnt a real big problem as the next round pushes the first round the rest of the way thru the wedge and I cut my wood at 20in +/- lenghts anyway. I once added a piece of 2x4 tube to the pusher thinking that would take care of the hanging splits but that didnt work out either. The tube just squished flat. Once I get thru this winters splitting, I plan on a complete change on my wedge design and getting rid of that 2inches of space between the wedge and the pusher.

when I built mine I pushed the cylinder out with air and allowed about 1/2" between pusher and wedge.