I bent my splitter's toe plate!!

[BlueRidgeMark]

Wonderful!
Now, Mark, while you have been getting Speeco's attention and service, I have managed to collect seven more cords of huge rounds that range from 12" to 30" in diameter. They need your attention immediately, but I can't figure out if it's better for me to ship the rounds to Virginia via rail freight or for me to arrange a UPS pickup and have your splitter transported to Nebraska. opcorn:

Okay, where's the 'raspberry' smiley here, anyway?

 

[Wood Doctor]

Okay, where's the 'raspberry' smiley here, anyway?

I'm aghast at the quotes from UPS for the pickup and delivery of the splitter and the alternative of UP Railroad for the rail freight charges to transport the big rounds to VA. Doesn't look good in either case. Looks like the firewood business is destined to be a local operation.
We're toast. :spam:

P.S. Mark, I just saw another vintage log splitter today with only a 3" cylinder, a 16 gpm pump, and a 5 hp Briggs driving it. The toe plate was solid steel, at least 1-1/2" thick, welded to the I-Beam. Guess what? The weld was tight, but the toe plate was bent down about 1/2" on the end from the perpendicular. Even that monster plate gave a little.

 

[ericjeeper]

I have the 28 ton Speeco

We were splitting some green Beech today about 22 inch diameter. Some of it had knots like beeches do.. My splitter would drop into low gear and just keep on pushing.. It is one of those deals where you stand way the heck away from the wood and grimace, But that dude just kept on cutting through it. I am very pleased with the unit. Only downfall is cycle time is pretty slow compared even to our 30 plus year old 21 ton lil brave splitter with hundreds of cords ran through it.
That Honda engine is a jewel.. sips fuel and starts easily..

 

[FarmerSid]

WOW... that guy from Canada that reported the first bent 35 ton toe plate was not making it up.

well this makes the first documented failure for speeco splitters.

I'd talk to speeco before doing anything... sure would like to see how speeco handles this warranty issue. steel is warranted for 3 years.

So now you believe me! LOL! It has bent again since is we tried to straighten it. Since we are in Canada, they may not warranty it. I'm going to call the speeco rep and see what they say.

 

[046]

yes... please accept my apologies for not believing you... standard mode on AS is no pictures... it didn't happen

please do call speeco... betcha they'll warranty it... wonder how the shipping will be taken care of?

So now you believe me! LOL! It has bent again since is we tried to straighten it. Since we are in Canada, they may not warranty it. I'm going to call the speeco rep and see what they say.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Awwwww, that's sweeeet! Okay, group hug now!









Alright! That's enough! No need to go on and on about it!







Hey, I said that's enough! Knock it off! Leggo o' him!




Okay, that's better.





Sid, glad to help out a fellow Canadian!

 

[creyes@speeco]

Toe plate & valve repair

BlueRidgeMark,

Good to hear you finally got taken care! Sorry it was such an ordeal with service. We are trying to organize a dealer network to reduce the lack of communication between service centers, the selling dealer and ourselves.

Always like to hear suggestions like yours because they come from people who really use the splitters! An hour meter is an idea that we may see in 2009 & I have forwarded your ideas along to R&D for consideration.

Quick question. I thought you might be able to help me with something; we have come up (finally) with a four way wedge that sleeves on to the existing wedge. It is intended for soft versus hard wood. You wouldn't happen to have an idea where we might get a chart that shows the relative hardness of wood, would you?

Have a great day! Carolyn@Speeco

 

[PA Plumber]

BlueRidgeMark,

Good to hear you finally got taken care! Sorry it was such an ordeal with service. We are trying to organize a dealer network to reduce the lack of communication between service centers, the selling dealer and ourselves.

Always like to hear suggestions like yours because they come from people who really use the splitters! An hour meter is an idea that we may see in 2009 & I have forwarded your ideas along to R&D for consideration.

Quick question. I thought you might be able to help me with something; we have come up (finally) with a four way wedge that sleeves on to the existing wedge. It is intended for soft versus hard wood. You wouldn't happen to have an idea where we might get a chart that shows the relative hardness of wood, would you?

Have a great day! Carolyn@Speeco

Wouldn't a btu chart be "good enough?"

Or were you looking for something along the lines of Rockewell results?

 

[timothykamp]

I bought the same splitter from TSC and bent the foot with a tough oak crotch exactly the same way. I welded 2 chains to the sides of the foot and just pulled it back. I brought it to TSC and they took a month, but got me a new beam for free, and told me to keep the old one. Now I have 2, and the old one I'm going to torch the foot off and add a 4 way wedge and instead of pushing the wedge to the wood, I'm going to push the wood into the wedge.

 

[Andyshine77]

I bought the same splitter from TSC and bent the foot with a tough oak crotch exactly the same way. I welded 2 chains to the sides of the foot and just pulled it back. I brought it to TSC and they took a month, but got me a new beam for free, and told me to keep the old one. Now I have 2, and the old one I'm going to torch the foot off and add a 4 way wedge and instead of pushing the wedge to the wood, I'm going to push the wood into the wedge.

That's a good idea, but you lose the ability to split vertically.

 

[046]

sure glad to hear a four way is finally an option... a four way used in vertical mode can be hazardous ... pieces of wood can fly off at speed...operator is directly in front of log in vertical mode.

species of wood matters more than hardness determining hardness of split. how fibrous wood determines difficulty. for instance elm has a reputation for being difficult to split. http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=75394

here's closest chart that I'm aware of... a link to the JUCA site, which has the most wood burning data on the WWW. chart has a rating for difficulty of split. (oak is rated hard, but is one of the easiest to split)

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html

FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY has the data you are looking for
http://usasearch.gov/search?input-f...+split+wood&affiliate=fpl.fs.fed.us&x=42&y=14

Wood species guide
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/usda/amwood/woodspeciesguide.pdf

we have come up (finally) with a four way wedge that sleeves on to the existing wedge. It is intended for soft versus hard wood. You wouldn't happen to have an idea where we might get a chart that shows the relative hardness of wood, would you?

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

BlueRidgeMark,

Good to hear you finally got taken care! Sorry it was such an ordeal with service. We are trying to organize a dealer network to reduce the lack of communication between service centers, the selling dealer and ourselves.

Yeah, I got the impression that they just had never done one before, and had no clue what to do, so they did nothing. It was great to have you guys call and coach them a bit.

Always like to hear suggestions like yours because they come from people who really use the splitters! An hour meter is an idea that we may see in 2009 & I have forwarded your ideas along to R&D for consideration.

Great!

Quick question. I thought you might be able to help me with something; we have come up (finally) with a four way wedge that sleeves on to the existing wedge. It is intended for soft versus hard wood. You wouldn't happen to have an idea where we might get a chart that shows the relative hardness of wood, would you?

Uh, sorry, no clue on that. A BTU chart, as suggested, would get you into the ballpark, I think. But hardness isn't the only factor, and maybe not even the biggest factor. Grain has a lot to do with it, too. That gnarly old oak that bent my plate is easy to split, when I'm working straight grained pieces, even though it's hard as nails. I'd think a 4-way would work just fine on it. With the regular wedge, I had it popping before I was halfway through it.

The crotches are another matter!

Then, too, some wood is just very stringy (elm, locust) and holds on tightly (straight grain or not!), even though it's not as hard as oak.

I think you should consider getting some different species and trying them out, rather than relying only on hardness to guide you.

OR, publish a guide and discuss all the factors that make a wood either difficult or eazy to split, without trying to say this wood is suitable for the 4-way, and that wood is not.