redheadwoodshed
Freebird
What a beast that thing is.The toughest old wood ain't going to stand a chance!
Catersplitter Build Thread
- Thread starter Kevin in Ohio
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Blazin
Addicted to ArboristSite
Awesome build thread Kevin, I love to see a pile of steel turned into a vision! 
What amp is that miller you have? Just curious because my lincoln 255 with .035 wire burns in nice up to 3/4", after that I usually have to preheat to get the penetration.
What amp is that miller you have? Just curious because my lincoln 255 with .035 wire burns in nice up to 3/4", after that I usually have to preheat to get the penetration.
Awesome build thread Kevin, I love to see a pile of steel turned into a vision!
What amp is that miller you have? Just curious because my lincoln 255 with .035 wire burns in nice up to 3/4", after that I usually have to preheat to get the penetration.
I've got a Miller 250X and a Miller Syncrowave 250, which is stick capable. As shown, I tend to V groove stuff that is really critical to me with several passes of weld. That said, it's pretty easy to blow through 1/2" plate when it's cranked up. Probably not right by the book but it has worked well for me over the years.
I started out stick welding everything as that's all we had at my former job. Lots of repairs done while I was there and learned a lot about what works and doesn't. Nothing like welding so much the stinger is too hot to hold even with welding gloves on
Thanks to all for the kind words and glad you guys are getting some from this. Projects like this are my recreation from the daily grind. Big plus is it makes your life easier and will last a long time.
Haven't found anything yet. Problem with most newer tires is dealing with the steel belts. It's hard enough cutting thick rubber without steel in it, I can't imagine trying to do it with one that does. Something will turn up in time, there is no real rush on that one. We have gotten earthmover tires before and they were corded. It's just, what do you do with the rest of it
redheadwoodshed
Freebird
I've got a Miller 250X and a Miller Syncrowave 250, which is stick capable. As shown, I tend to V groove stuff that is really critical to me with several passes of weld. That said, it's pretty easy to blow through 1/2" plate when it's cranked up. Probably not right by the book but it has worked well for me over the years.
I started out stick welding everything as that's all we had at my former job. Lots of repairs done while I was there and learned a lot about what works and doesn't. Nothing like welding so much the stinger is too hot to hold even with welding gloves on
Thanks to all for the kind words and glad you guys are getting some from this. Projects like this are my recreation from the daily grind. Big plus is it makes your life easier and will last a long time.
That syncrowave 250 is a nice machine!
2 stage screening system is being used and they thread into each other. One more reducer to barbed fitting for suction hose and it should be good to go.
Next was to lay out a pattern for the motor mount. This also will be used for the mounting bracket for the hydraulic pump. Here is an easy way to get it right. Need to find a diameter that is exactly the same size as the crank and clamp it in the vise.
Get some cardboard(like cereal box material) and lightly tap the edges till it is "cut" to size.
Slip it over the crank.
Next, use the other end of the ball peen hammer and tap lightly till it cuts the hole.
Put a bolt with washer in and snug it up. Move to the next one and repeat till you get them all.
Now you have an exact pattern of the holes and when I measured it's a 10 inch bolt circle. the holes are offset but they are all in the outer edge of a 10 inch circle. this comes into play when you make the hydraulic pump bracket as they have to be true to each other. Notice I give a point of reference (exhaust side) so I don't make a mistake on locations.
Found the best position to mount the pump for the inlet/outlet ports and used the same method to mark the hole position. Double checked positions measuring out and the bolt circle was even so it is good.
Here is the final pattern ready to transfer to the steel plate. This takes the guesswork out of it and idiot proofs it, which is needed for me!
After drilling the holes I recessed the adapter plate holes on the motor side. Normal bolts would hit the bottom of the motor and needed a way to hold them. I used angle head allens and TIG welded them into the countersunk holes.
Mounted the motor and pump to the plate and blocked it up to where I wanted it. It'll set high but the ground clearance will be nice will going through the woods with it.
Hard to see but I positioned it so the outlet from the tank is inline with the inlet to the pump. I'm trying to keep hard 90 degree bends out of the system but I'll have to have one on the suction hose.
Tacked it on along with some small angle braces. Leaving everything tacked till everything checks out positioning wise. I'll put angle braces on the outer edges as well and they'll meet with the braces for the hydro tank. Basically binding on each other which will make it plenty strong.
On the Hydraulic return I needed a dispursion tube to even out the flow. I used a 1 1/4" pipe about 2 ft long and cross drilled holes down the length. Threaded both ends and will put a cap on one end.
Needed to make sure it was clean and free of burrs/shavings that might fall off, damaging the pump. I used an old trick of wrapping a rag around a drill bit and winding some emory. Makes for a cheap method of getting the job done. I've welded a rod to a long bit and it about 16 inches long here. Under the hone you can see the almost done top mounting plate for the return into the tank.
After a LOT of layout and thinking I welded the now finished plate to the down pipe. Put a Union on it so I can pull it all out if need be. Return is low pressure and 1 1/4" in size so I used pipe for this. I've seen commercial splitters set up with pipe so I went this route. All High pressure stuff will use the correct fittings.
7sleeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hello Kevin,
Going great! Three things I do not approve (if I may say so and I know your build is already done). First the angle from the horizontal blade is too sharp. I donot believe that it will stand, although very thick(!), a long time. Second, at least I didn't see it, did you streghten the bolt hole for the cylinder on the wedge end like on the stationary end? I think it would be a good idea. Third looking at the probable power of your splitter, I believe that you are wasting a lot of potential energy not going directly to a eight cut blade. That will just zip through normal wood and you would be much quicker with a higher cut amount with one passing. I hope that that was clear .
Of course we all have understood by now that you donot own a chainsaw and expect to cut all your wood with the splitter!
7
edit: one thing I forgot to mention, for that build sofar you sure must have eaten a lot of corn flakes! :hmm3grin2orange:
Going great! Three things I do not approve (if I may say so
and I know your build is already done). First the angle from the horizontal blade is too sharp. I donot believe that it will stand, although very thick(!), a long time. Second, at least I didn't see it, did you streghten the bolt hole for the cylinder on the wedge end like on the stationary end? I think it would be a good idea. Third looking at the probable power of your splitter, I believe that you are wasting a lot of potential energy not going directly to a eight cut blade. That will just zip through normal wood and you would be much quicker with a higher cut amount with one passing. I hope that that was clear . Of course we all have understood by now that you donot own a chainsaw and expect to cut all your wood with the splitter!
7
edit: one thing I forgot to mention, for that build sofar you sure must have eaten a lot of corn flakes! :hmm3grin2orange:
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Nice build. Love the redneck dovetail cutting operation, gonna use that one. Impeccable welds. Subscribing.
MATTYB11
ArboristSite Operative
Awesome job! I wish I had the talent you have.
Hello Kevin,
Going great! Three things I do not approve (if I may say so
Of course we all have understood by now that you donot own a chainsaw and expect to cut all your wood with the splitter!
7
edit: one thing I forgot to mention, for that build sofar you sure must have eaten a lot of corn flakes! :hmm3grin2orange:
The horizontal blade has held up so far. I do tend to only use it when I get a pile of straight grain or easy stuff though, we'll see as time will tell.
There is 1 inch of steel per side there on the pin. Box slide has a good fit so I'm pretty confident it is fine. we'll see again there.
I think it would be way to much to ask for a 5 inch cylinder to do an 8 way. there is a tremendous amount of splitting surface when you try that much. Does someone out there do that? It would surprise me if they do. The wood I was doing was basically seasoned before splitting and I had a lot of popping going on. I made my vertical wedges pretty aggressive and it adds to that but it spreads fast.
You just gotta get out there and try. Start small and build your experience base, that is what I did. Some of the best words of wisdom I ever heard came from a guy at work. If you never try, you will never have a failure but you'll never have a success either. I know, too many nevers but it is a pearl of wisdom to me.
Made up an adjustable mount for the return filter. This is the other end of the pipe from the previous pic. On the other side of the filter is the bypass valve. This keeps from having all the oil going back through the valve, saving the wear and tear on it. There's a cross there that the returns from the 2 spool and auto cycle feed into as well.
I was ready to work the mounts out for the hydro tank. I decided I'd better do the axle first so I can have the main beam and lower beam distances set. I'm using a 10 ton wagon gear's one axle. Good for 5 ton.
This gear was originally for an anhydrous tank used in farming. The existing riser only needs 1 inch more to be right. I got extremely lucky there. Nice feature of this gear is the width is adjustable to 20 inches. I'll set it to the narrowest setting.
One problem I found was some VERY poor welds on the spindle attachment points. How this got out the door is beyond me. No excuse for this from a manufacturer and I'll redo them.
Other side is worse as hardly any penetration of the 2 pieces. Just a high bead in the center. Looks like they had the heat setting WAY too light. Maybe it was a bring your kid to work day and he let him do one.
Gouged it all out with the angle grinder and laid a root pass. Put a second bead on long bridging the 2 pieces for a solid, safe joint.
Pic of the fix from the same view as the first pic. I smoothed the corners out while I was working on it.
Other side the way it should have been done to start with.
Must have had a hitch mount here that someone roughly cut with a torch. I'll clean this up too. Redid the stitch welds below as well. Front axle has quality welds eveywhere but the rear was a different story in spots.
A little work with the torch and angle grinder and it's a lot nicer.
All narrowed up with the 1 inch spacer block welded on. I'll slip it under the main beam next. I'm going to leave it all together with the front axle for now. It'll just make it easier /safer to work on till it's all final welded. This thing is heavy enough to crush you if something went wrong.
With the back solidly held up by the wood rounds I lifted the front with the overhead hoist. Slid the gear under to the farthest point back I can. It'll be rear heavy but I'll see how much I have to add to counterbalance once it's completed. Kinda stuck on the position of it.
The front wheels hold the axle in position really close to right. Just a little lift was needed. Spent quite a bit of time measuring here to get it correctly positioned.
Put a couple of beads to the beam so it is set now. I slid the front axle out as I have to get that collar on the lower tube off.
I needed a lower flat surface to mount things on and used 3/8" angle iron. It's set to the same width of the main beam so I'll just bridge the 2 with flat plate. Took a little bit of creative cutting to tie it all into the existing gear bracing.
I left the angle iron long as I haven't got the hitch design figured out yet. I have to extend the tube and make it drop down for a hitch point. I'm leaning towards a heavy Reese type so I can switch from a ball to a hitch pin type depending on what is being used to pull it around.
Glad you are getting something out of it. I've found that taking pics as you go helps motivate me to keep going. Nice to look back too after it is done, sometimes it is just to prove to others you DID do it!
Cut out 2 1/4" plates and tacked them on. This side will be the tank side.
Bent up some 1/4" X 2" strap to hold the tank in place. Used the compact bender after figuring out the measurements.
Both of them bent up and I'll add steel toes on the ends to spread the load. Tank will have some weight with over 30 gallon in it.
Attaching it to the cylinder mount and threaded both hole. It's 1 inch thick so it has plenty of strength. Bonus is I can put nuts on the backside to have a locking system.
Here you can see how it works. Majority of the weight is held by the lower 3/8" angle. The straps hold it to the beam.
Time to do the front hitch mount. Basically necking it down by sliding a box beam into the larger one. I cut the center section out of the angle iron and will weld the remaining to the beam. Still need to extend the gears round beam.
To extend the heavy wall pipe I made up a transfer plug so they would align easily. It's an oddball size and I could only find triple wall pipe at the local scrap yard to use. Id on the one was 3.00" and the other was a good bit smaller.
Cut the pipe extension to length and marked the angle needed. Cut that and smoothed it up till it sits flush on the beam. I'll weld it in place once the angled box beam is in place
This gives you an idea of what it will look like. I need weight up front to counterbalance the back so that is why this is overbuilt. Have plans to mount stuff up here as well. I went ahead and marked the locations of the box beam while it was mocked up.
Cut it out with the plasma. Sides kinda sprung open as normal but I'll pull them back to clean the edges to keep everything straight. I'm going to put a thick plate top and bottom to surround the removable hitch.
I didn't want to cut out the whole backside for strength issues so I cut out a slot and ground the edges of the top plate so it'll slide in there. Kind of a pain to do and get everything aligned right but it'll be worth it to me.
After checking and rechecking I tacked it in place. Checked again and I was ready to start fill welding.
All welded in and ready for grinding smooth. I welded it on the inside as well as the box beam I'm using has large rounded corners and it won't hit anything.
All smoothed out and ready to weld in the side spacers on the inside.
Cut out the side spacers and welded them in. Just needed .125 per side so an easy fix. Welded them now as I can get to it easier.
Cut a piece of 3/4" plate for the bottom. I put the hitch box beam inside along with one layer of cereal box cardboard. Gives it just the right amount of play when you take it out. Here it is all welded up.
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