My beam's bent!

[pelhamjeff]

Hey folks. I have a decision to make that I need help on. Lately, the top plane of the I-beam on my home built splitter has this habit of warping up right at the back of the slider. For a while, this only happened when I was really straining it, but now it's normal even on a straight easy log. When it happens, I just beat it back flat with the back of a maul. Obviously, the metal in that area is weakened, so I really should replace the beam. My question is, could I buy myself some time by welding in a peice of angle on both sides and build a new slider to accomodate the new thickness? The existing beam is 6" square and made of 1/4 inch metal. Thanks for reading, and thanks again if you respond!

 

[drmiller100]

6 inch square. can't say i'ever heard of a beam like that.

most folks use I beam or H beam.

 

[eric_271]

Hey folks. I have a decision to make that I need help on. Lately, the top plane of the I-beam on my home built splitter has this habit of warping up right at the back of the slider. For a while, this only happened when I was really straining it, but now it's normal even on a straight easy log. When it happens, I just beat it back flat with the back of a maul. Obviously, the metal in that area is weakened, so I really should replace the beam. My question is, could I buy myself some time by welding in a peice of angle on both sides and build a new slider to accomodate the new thickness? The existing beam is 6" square and made of 1/4 inch metal. Thanks for reading, and thanks again if you respond!

What if it warp's some where else after you do that? If that would even work. This is just me but I would get a decent beam and not look back.

 

[turnkey4099]

6 inch square. can't say i'ever heard of a beam like that.

most folks use I beam or H beam.

Done that way because we (built 7 of them) got the iron for free. Would I build one that way if I was paying for the iron? No.

Harry K

 

[splittah]

Done that way because we (built 7 of them) got the iron for free. Would I build one that way if I was paying for the iron? No.

Harry K

I cannot see any bent metal from that picture, is there a better picture that may show the bends?

I would tend to agree with the post above about swapping it out and don't look back because even reinforcing it will most likely just be a short term fix.

Dave

 

[mga]

Hey folks. I have a decision to make that I need help on. Lately, the top plane of the I-beam on my home built splitter has this habit of warping up right at the back of the slider. For a while, this only happened when I was really straining it, but now it's normal even on a straight easy log. When it happens, I just beat it back flat with the back of a maul. Obviously, the metal in that area is weakened, so I really should replace the beam. My question is, could I buy myself some time by welding in a peice of angle on both sides and build a new slider to accomodate the new thickness? The existing beam is 6" square and made of 1/4 inch metal. Thanks for reading, and thanks again if you respond!

if i understand that right, the beam is bowing between the wedge and the cylinder when strained.....correct?

if the front of the beam is secure, then i would guess your beam can't handle the loads you've been doing. welding reinforcements under it could help, but 1/4" doesn't seem very strong when you're dealing with tons of pressure.

got a picture of the bend?

 

[gink595]

I've seen a Swisher built similiar to that, but on top of the 6x6 tube there was a 1/2 or 5/8 x 8" wide piece of flat bar stitch welded to the top of the sq. tube. I think that would help on the weak axis of that tube.

 

[merlynr]

Do you have a brace welded between beam and tongue? I can't tell because the oil resevoir is in the way. It would need to be at point where shaft stops at rearmost point. Is the tongue strong enough to give extra support?
Can you fill the void of square tube with a sleeve of some sort or reinforcement rods and concrete? Just brainstorming.

 

[pelhamjeff]

The picture that most people are refering to is not my splitter. Mine is built on a conventional I-beam or H-beam (I confess I dont know the difference). I have now gone outside and taken pictures of my splitter, but I am having trouble posting them. It seems that one picture exceeds the maximum file size. Has anyone else had difficulty attaching a picture? When I go to "my pictures" to select one of the shots I just took, they range from 491KB to 805KB, while the maximum file size is supposed to be 300KB. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

 

[triptester]

I don't know how your computer is set up but on mine I down load the pics to my computer first. Then when I right click on them a small window opens that asks what I want to do with them. One of the items is resize, I left click on that and another window opens that ask what size. I click on small and rename with a small after it.

 

[mga]

The picture that most people are refering to is not my splitter. Mine is built on a conventional I-beam or H-beam (I confess I dont know the difference). I have now gone outside and taken pictures of my splitter, but I am having trouble posting them. It seems that one picture exceeds the maximum file size. Has anyone else had difficulty attaching a picture? When I go to "my pictures" to select one of the shots I just took, they range from 491KB to 805KB, while the maximum file size is supposed to be 300KB. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

i figured everyone was talking about the wrong picture.

beams are simple: H beam looks just like an "H", while an I beam is just like an "I".

once you resize the pics, try again to post them.

or, go to photobucket.com and open a free account. very easy to use... you can upload all your pics there and then just use that as a picture referrence.

 

[pelhamjeff]

My computer doesn't give the option of resizing when you right click on a picture. There is a guy at work who is really a whiz with this kind of thing and I'll see if he can get me straight tommorrow. It would amaze most people on this website how little I know about computers.

 

[pelhamjeff]

I'm still a little confused about the beam configuration thing, MGA. As seen from the end, my beam looks like an I, but if I push the splitter over on it's side, that same beam will be an H. Maybe on an H-beam, the two parallel parts are longer than the web is tall. But I'm just guessing.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

My computer doesn't give the option of resizing when you right click on a picture. There is a guy at work who is really a whiz with this kind of thing and I'll see if he can get me straight tommorrow. It would amaze most people on this website how little I know about computers.

Time to start learning, and the best way is by doing.

Download and install one of these.

www.irfanview.com

www.xnview.com

Both are free. I think xnview is simpler, irfanview has more features.


Figuring out how to resize in either program is pretty simple. Once you resize, save the file with a new name so you keep the old one intact.

OR, do as suggested, get a free Photobucket or ImageShack account. Actually, with Imageshack, you don't even need to sign up.


http://www.imageshack.us/

http://photobucket.com/

 

[gink595]

A I-beam is proably not what you have nor a H-beam. It is more than likely a W-beam. A I beam has tapered flanges and the width of the beams are not that great. The H-beams are wider at the width of the flange rather than the depth. The W-beams have the same thickness of flange all the way to the web. And probably the most common, if you measure the width of the flange and the depth I can tell what it is. More than likely a W8x18 it will have 5.25 flange width and 8.13 beam depth.

 

[triptester]

Technically there is no such thing as a I-beam or H-beam. When the average person refers to a beam as an I-beam they compare it with the letter " I ". It is taller than the flange is wide. What they usually call a H-beam is a beam where the height and width are nearly the same or looking like the letter " H " laying on it's side.

 

[gink595]

Technically there is no such thing as a I-beam or H-beam.

That's not what my AISC American steel standards book tells me! Try ordering steel sometime and not designating what you need. H beam I agree with with, you never really see much on that, But for sure I and W you do have to specify. There is a huge difference in W and I or (S)correctly named and M for(misc. beam)

 

[pelhamjeff]

OK I have installed something called microsoft powertoy for windows xp. I was then able to resize the pictures. I now would like to get the pictures on my next response, but I cant click and drag, and I cant copy/paste. Here is what happens: I can right click any of the new resized pictures and copy is one of the choices. I left click on that, then I mouse down to where I want the picture to be, right click, and paste is not a choice I am given. The word is there, but it is dull, so I cant choose it.

 

[triptester]

Once the pics are resized there are two ways to add the pics to your reply. First you can click on the mountain scene located in the area above where you type your reply. A window will open that you type in the address of the image.
Or second you can scroll down to where it says "manage attachments " click on that to browse for your pic then left click open and then click upload. An address will placed at the end of the reply that can be opened to view pics.

 

[pelhamjeff]

Here are my pictures. View attachment 72240

View attachment 72241