Fabbing my own Autocycle. Tell me what you think.

[aadoublea]

Hi guys,

I have an old Speeco 20 ton or so log splitter. Hell, I think that's what my splitter is? I'm not even sure. It has a single detent valve on it. I hate having to hold the lever while ram is extending. It retracts on its own though.

What I am planning to do may sound crazy to you but I just don't want to spent $275 on an autocycle valve and don't know what else to try.

Here it goes:

I am in the process of building an arm out of a piece of angle iron that sits just below the handle that you pull down on to make the ram extend. At the end of the arm I fabbed up a slot that the handle drops into. On either side of the slot I mounted some rubber mounts that will hold that handle down by friction of the rubber. I made both the rubbers mounts adjustable so I can adjust how tight they grip the handle. Its like taking your index finger and thumb and spacing them apart a half inch and putting your other index finger between them perpendicular. That probably just made things even more confusing This should take care of having to hold down the handle for the ram to extend.

Now to get it to retract automatically. Here is what I am going to do and I already know this works because this is what my father has on his splitter:


Then of course I had to take a piece of like 4.5 foot angle and weld it to the pusher sled and then back to to the handle(not welded at this end). As the ram extends all the way a "raised piece" I welded onto the angle hits the handle and pushes it into the retract position to retract the ram. Then there is already a stopper in place to kick the valve in neutral once its fully retracted.

I should have it finished tomorrow. I'll get some pictures up because its probably tricky to understand just what I'm talking about without them.

I also made my four inch tall pusher plate about 10 inchs tall, moved it closer to the wedge. Now after I split a bigger round in half I can just turn the round a quarter turn and split the halves into quarters without the top half sliding over the top of the pusher plate. That I finished this evening. Thats going to be a godsend!!!

Also I plan on fabbing up some railings on either side of the I-Beam so after I split a huge round the halves don't fall to the ground. God I hate that.

I just made this post to see what you thought about my "friction" idea to hold the valve handle. Any of you know a better way(I'm sure there has to be, I just can't think of any).

My dads splitter is double detent. All he had to do was weld the angle to the pusher plate and he was good to go.

We are too poor to put a $300 valve on a $400 splitter.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

[Patrick62]

I gave this some serious thought a few years ago

I know it can be done with linkage, just could not quite visualize it.

The end result is that it is better to have a fast enough ram that it isn't a issue.

Now a spring loaded cradle with a 4 way and blocks dropping onto a conveyor and you got something :hmm3grin2orange:

I am interested in seeing your pic's tho.

 

[aadoublea]

I know it can be done with linkage, just could not quite visualize it.

The end result is that it is better to have a fast enough ram that it isn't a issue.

Now a spring loaded cradle with a 4 way and blocks dropping onto a conveyor and you got something :hmm3grin2orange:

I am interested in seeing your pic's tho.

Man I'd love to have a conveyor. Someday. This is only my fourth winter burning wood. I've got lots to learn yet.

 

[aadoublea]

Man I'd love to have a conveyor. Someday. This is only my fourth winter burning wood. I've got lots to learn yet.

Also I'd love to have an adjustable(hydraulic) 4-way but this splitter is just a little too puny I'm afraid. In 20 years I'd probably like a log lift as well, but for now I can wrastle them bad lads up thar no prob.

 

[blades]

In 20 years I'd probably like a log lift as well, but for now I can wrastle them bad lads up thar no prob.[/QUOTE]

That sneaks up on ya a lot sooner than ya like!!!

 

[Mac88]

I've been thinking about doing something like this for a long time, but my splitter is a whole different animal. It uses a hydraulic lift unit, belt driven, with internal pump and valve. I've got the system designed, just need to put the pieces together. One of these days. ;o)

 

[Whitespider]

That’s not quite correct Del.
I didn’t fabricate my auto return, all Log Boss splitters come with it… and automatic throttle control. Unfortunately I can’t help with this because I have zero idea how the make it work. They (Log Boss) fabricate their own valves and cylinders, which look nothing like anything commercially available. The valve looks like a piece of pipe and contains a single, simple spool sealed by a common o-ring. The “auto cycle” is accomplished by the hydraulics in some way, the only “mechanical” part of it is the thumbscrew and collar that pushes the lever into neutral at the end of return stroke (the collar also determines how far the ram returns before the lever goes into neutral).

It works like this…

1. The engine is at idle with the ram returned (to the collar setting).
2. Push the lever forward and take your hand off it (you do not need to hold it)
3. The engine throttles up and the ram extends
4. At the end of the forward stroke the lever flops back into retract position and the ram returns; the lever will automatically go to retract position even with all other mechanical linkages disconnected (i.e. it is accomplished by the valve internally and hydraulically… somehow?)
5. The ram only retracts as far as the thumbscrew and collar allow because it mechanically pushes the lever into neutral.
6. The engine returns to idle whenever the lever is in neutral
7. At any time during the cycle the operating lever may be moved to any position with simple hand pressure (i.e. you can reverse the direction of the ram or put it in neutral at any time)

In the first picture I have drawn arrows to the valve and collar, the second picture shows a different (and closer) angle of view. This splitter is 30 years old and the only repair it has ever needed was replacement of the o-ring on the valve spool.

 

[aadoublea]

Well boys I hammered out the last bit of it with my father. Works like a charm. Isn't pretty but I have full autocyle that we made in the garage with scrap metal for FREE!!! Plus all the other stuff I talked about....

I'm going to go back outside a little later and try to take a video so you can see how she works. I'll warn you now, we built this for function, not to win a beauty contest. I could do a little grinding to tidy some of the rough edges and paint the metal we added to it but until I know everything is going to work AND hold up I'll leave it how it is.


I tell ya though, its so friggin awesome to just throw a log on and push the lever, go grab another log and the first log is split and the ram is retracted ready for another.


Pics and vids to come.


Has anyone else taken a single detent log splitter and made it an autocycle? Not just double detent, that's easy. FULL AUTO we are talking here.


Have a good one guys,

AA

 

[Whitespider]

I tell ya though, its so friggin awesome to just throw a log on and push the lever, go grab another log and the first log is split and the ram is retracted ready for another.

I agree with ya' 100%. That's what I've always had and wouldn't be without it.
It really speeds things up a lot... even working by myself I can get in a rhythm where the ram never stops moving.
Now, if ya' wanna' speed things up even more, ya' need to make it so the ram returns just the length of your logs. I cut to 16 inches and set my ram to only travel about 18 inches or so... cuts cycle time down under 7 seconds.

 

[aadoublea]

I agree with ya' 100%. That's what I've always had and wouldn't be without it.
It really speeds things up a lot... even working by myself I can get in a rhythm where the ram never stops moving.
Now, if ya' wanna' speed things up even more, ya' need to make it so the ram returns just the length of your logs. I cut to 16 inches and set my ram to only travel about 18 inches or so... cuts cycle time down under 7 seconds.

Wow is all I can say. I just split a loader bucket worth of wood and its so so much nicer. Like you said. Ram never stops once you get the hang of it. My dads splitter is double detent so I was already kind of use to it, but this is even better!

When I added the taller pusher plate I also made it closer to the splitting wedge by a few inches. Also the way its set up now the ram doesn't retract as far by about an inch. NOW ITS PERFECT, for the lengths I cut my wood. And if a peice is too long now to put on the splitter I know its too long for the woodstove. It really works slick.

I'm uploading a crappy I-Phone vid to Youtube as I type. As soon as its done, I'll post the link. Half hour or so.

AA

Oh yeah I was going to ask you, does your circle pusher block screw in and out? Because that would be a super easy way to to get the correct amount of pushing distance. Seems like I read somewhere that splitter does that??

 

[aadoublea]

Without further a do!

Auto-Return/Auto-Cycle Log/Wood Splitter - YouTube

I'd love to hear your guy's comments/questions/concerns!


Thanks,
Aaron

 

[ric5141]

Pretty slick nice job.

 

[Ductape]

Appears to work well enough. My concerns when someone does a modification like this is when someone else.... anyone else operates it. As long as no one but you runs it, great ! I would certainly be interested in having auto cycle on my own splitter.

 

[aadoublea]

I live alone and split by myself, hence wanting the add-ons. So it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Garmins dad]

:clap That's darn slick.. nice work.. :msp_thumbup:

 

[brenndatomu]

That's some mighty fine red-neck-git-er-dun engineering right there I'll tell you whaht! I give a 8 out of 10.

Oh, and the pre splitting belch...little weak, 4 out of 10. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[aadoublea]

That's some mighty fine red-neck-git-er-dun engineering right there I'll tell you whaht! I give a 8 out of 10.

Oh, and the pre splitting belch...little weak, 4 out of 10. :hmm3grin2orange:

If you want to hear a better belch go to my youtube page and click on my 9 minute video on my payloader. :tongue2: Its only a minute in. I might have been drinking some Busch. :redface:


It wouldn't look so african engineered if I would have just dropped the splitter off at my dads and came back a week later for it. He is actually a perfectionist about his metal work, but not when his son is yelling at him over his shoulder, "That's good enough I just want it to work". He also didn't think any of the things we did to the splitter were even necessary. He gets sick of all my crazy projects


And if anyone was wondering we worked on it four hours yesterday and four today. 16 total hours to do that stuff.

 

[Ductape]

That’s not quite correct Del.
I didn’t fabricate my auto return, all Log Boss splitters come with it… and automatic throttle control. Unfortunately I can’t help with this because I have zero idea how the make it work. They (Log Boss) fabricate their own valves and cylinders, which look nothing like anything commercially available. The valve looks like a piece of pipe and contains a single, simple spool sealed by a common o-ring. The “auto cycle” is accomplished by the hydraulics in some way, the only “mechanical” part of it is the thumbscrew and collar that pushes the lever into neutral at the end of return stroke (the collar also determines how far the ram returns before the lever goes into neutral).

It works like this…

1. The engine is at idle with the ram returned (to the collar setting).
2. Push the lever forward and take your hand off it (you do not need to hold it)
3. The engine throttles up and the ram extends
4. At the end of the forward stroke the lever flops back into retract position and the ram returns; the lever will automatically go to retract position even with all other mechanical linkages disconnected (i.e. it is accomplished by the valve internally and hydraulically… somehow?)
5. The ram only retracts as far as the thumbscrew and collar allow because it mechanically pushes the lever into neutral.
6. The engine returns to idle whenever the lever is in neutral
7. At any time during the cycle the operating lever may be moved to any position with simple hand pressure (i.e. you can reverse the direction of the ram or put it in neutral at any time)

Ummmmmmm, yeah. I'm sorry to be the first to burst your bubble here, but that sort of technology has not been invented yet. :msp_razz:

 

[Whitespider]

Oh yeah I was going to ask you, does your circle pusher block screw in and out? Because that would be a super easy way to to get the correct amount of pushing distance. Seems like I read somewhere that splitter does that??

No, it doesn’t screw in and out. It floats so it grabs rounds cut at an angle and keeps all (or as near to all as possible) the force directly in line with the ram. When it’s pushing a round into the wedge there is rarely any bind on the slide… the slide will be loose on the beam and even rattle a bit. No wasted force or energy… it all stays directly in line with the ram.

Ummmmmmm, yeah. I'm sorry to be the first to burst your bubble here, but that sort of technology has not been invented yet.

Yeah? That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.
And I’ve won a few friendly bets also.
A mechanic buddy of mine and I spent an entire afternoon (and a couple boxes of beer) devoted to figurin’ out exactly how it works… and the only conclusion we came to was that I didn’t have enough beer on hand. He still claims that what it does ain’t possible. He couldn’t figure out how that little Tecumseh, little pump and relatively tiny cylinder can produce so much force… after all, it will cut 8 inch diameter oak log in half… sideways! And after disassembling the valve (well, just pulling the spool out) three times he says the “auto-cycle” is nothing short of magical… and he has no clue how it works either. The darn thing doesn’t even have a bypass of any sort… if ya’ can find a crotch nasty enough it will keep building pressure until it stalls the engine. Couple more side notes… the hydraulic reservoir (the beam) has no vent at all and the whole splitter (with fluids full) weighs less than 200 pounds!

 

[aadoublea]

WhiteSpider wrote:

No, it doesn’t screw in and out. It floats so it grabs rounds cut at an angle and keeps all (or as near to all as possible) the force directly in line with the ram. When it’s pushing a round into the wedge there is rarely any bind on the slide… the slide will be loose on the beam and even rattle a bit. No wasted force or energy… it all stays directly in line with the ram.


I wrote:

Hey now that's a good Idea. Takes the trickiness out of splitting them angled pieces. I knew there was something special about that "circle pusher plate".