It's almost alive! My splitter build.

[dave_dj1]

Well me and the splitter spent some quality time in the shop today. I had a couple of pinhole leaks where I welded the top on the tank, it only surfaced from being transported, there was wet spots and the 1" bung for the supply line would seep around the top of my weld. What a pain in my &%#@ ! One nice thing is that it doesn't take long to empty the tank, un hook return line from tank and put in 15 gal. container and start it up. LOL
I bought some fittings and plugged the tank and put some air to it, about 2 psi and some spray soap and water to find the little buggers. All seems to be good now. Time will tell.
On the movement thing, I have decided that I will make an adjustable leg for the opposite side of the jack, get that one set and crank the jack to match. I'll be on the hunt tomorrow for some square tube that fit's inside one another.
dave

 

[farmboss45]

OK, a couple of things have been bothering me with my splitter. One is that the diamond plate is going to have to be replaced with some 1/8" steel, diamond plate or otherwise. It took a beating in what little we used it, no biggie, it's just riveted on. I'll take care of that this week.
Second thing is how the whole splitter wobbles, if you watch the video you'll see what I mean. Now I purposely offset the jack to help compensate for the lift being on that side. I'm wondering if another swivel jack on the same side by the tire would help? Or just live with it. Of course we were set up on frozen snow and ground.

Hey Dave, instead of the plate on your lift, you might try welding on some small angle, spaced out. This will help keep rounds from rolling down into you before your ready, and allow bark, etc. from collecting on it, a "curb" on the operator side helps also. For the wobble, maybe a leg or jack under the table for support. I leave mine hooked to my tractor. It all looks good though, some minor tweeks and you'll have it!:msp_biggrin:

 

[dave_dj1]

Thanks farmboss45.
Yeah there's always something. In all reality I don't even need anything on the lift, I just had the diamond plate and thought it would look cool. LOL
There is about a 4" space at the bottom of the long side to let the debris slide out, seems to work ok.
I thought we were going to get rain tomorrow but now they say Tuesday so I may wait until then to get my pieces.
dave

 

[Preston]

Dave.......you said you had leaks around your welds. Did you TIG weld your tank?

 

[mga]

OK, a couple of things have been bothering me with my splitter. One is that the diamond plate is going to have to be replaced with some 1/8" steel, diamond plate or otherwise. It took a beating in what little we used it, no biggie, it's just riveted on. I'll take care of that this week.
Second thing is how the whole splitter wobbles, if you watch the video you'll see what I mean. Now I purposely offset the jack to help compensate for the lift being on that side. I'm wondering if another swivel jack on the same side by the tire would help? Or just live with it. Of course we were set up on frozen snow and ground.

why not just lower that log lift to the ground when splitting to help stabilize it?

from the video, it seems like with that in the air, it's making it wobble.

 

[dave_dj1]

Dave.......you said you had leaks around your welds. Did you TIG weld your tank?

No, I don't have a tig or do I know how to use one...lol
In hind site, I should have done the pressure thing in the beginning.
MGA, I like having the lift up to hold the pieces, you are probably right though, I'm sure it would help.
thanks,
dave

 

[farmboss45]

MGA, I like having the lift up to hold the pieces, you are probably right though, I'm sure it would help.
thanks,
dave[/QUOTE]

It is nice to use that lift for more surface space for "re-splits", less bending over.

 

[mga]

i have leaf springs on my splitter and i have never had any issues with it wobbling.

watching your video, what i see is you have no support for the beam (which is rather small) and you have a ton of weight attached to it on the end. (wedge, side tables, lift) and you are using a long beam. of course it's going to twist and eventually fail some where.

i used a small boat trailer to mount mine and my "H" beam is just bolted to the frame....but, it's fully supported almost all the way:

 

[Preston]

Though I'm no expert on these things, I do have idea from time to time. To me it look like if the beam was turn with the wedge was toward the rear, overhanging the trailer frame, with the engine, tank and such on the hitch side of the axle, the entire operation would be so much more stable. The only stability the system has is the width of the axle. That may mean shortening the hitch beam to the hitch, but the balance would be better. It just seems to me the logical answer. That is if no Y type of a support is used in the front.

 

[Blazin]

Though I'm no expert on these things, I do have idea from time to time. To me it look like if the beam was turn with the wedge was toward the rear, overhanging the trailer frame, with the engine, tank and such on the hitch side of the axle, the entire operation would be so much more stable. The only stability the system has is the width of the axle. That may mean shortening the hitch beam to the hitch, but the balance would be better. It just seems to me the logical answer. That is if no Y type of a support is used in the front.

Did you cut that pesky tree yet?

 

[farmboss45]

i have leaf springs on my splitter and i have never had any issues with it wobbling.

watching your video, what i see is you have no support for the beam (which is rather small) and you have a ton of weight attached to it on the end. (wedge, side tables, lift) and you are using a long beam. of course it's going to twist and eventually fail some where.

i used a small boat trailer to mount mine and my "H" beam is just bolted to the frame....but, it's fully supported almost all the way:

I think the width of the axle helps as well, nice looking set up, by the way, rep sent!!

 

[Preston]

Did you cut that pesky tree yet?

No, but I did cut another one. I was headed to that one and wind really got up. I did some plowing getting my garden area ready. Now it raining so it'll be a couple more days. :msp_w00t:

 

[dave_dj1]

Well I made another leg to go in the receiver tube opposite the crank up one, the new one is fixed height. Just get that one in and crank the other as needed. What a difference! Night and day, this thing is wicked stable now. I'll get some pics up tomorrow and maybe another video.
I started on a slip on 4 way and ran out of welding wire. :taped:
dave

 

[Blazin]

Well I made another leg to go in the receiver tube opposite the crank up one, the new one is fixed height. Just get that one in and crank the other as needed. What a difference! Night and day, this thing is wicked stable now. I'll get some pics up tomorrow and maybe another video.
I started on a slip on 4 way and ran out of welding wire. :taped:
dave

Good deal!.... not on the wire part, that pizzes me off too

 

[Preston]

I got a small roll of .035. Want it?

 

[dave_dj1]

Sure, I'll use it up for ya.
Probably cost more to ship it than it costs to buy it. LOL
thanks
dave

 

[dave_dj1]

Here's a couple pics. I'm working on the video.
She's stable as can be.
We split this pile of wood in about 40 min., that included cutting it up to length. I love the 4 way! This wood was cut short for the garage.

 

[Blazin]

Excellent!

 

[dave_dj1]

OK, where's my embedding guru? LOL
SDC10870 - YouTube

 

[Blazin]

Here ya go :msp_smile:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZWeKNhkvLTI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>