My firewood processor build
- Thread starter muddstopper
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Another slow day. Had to clear some trees so the well pump guys can set their truck up over my well. We used to have 20gpm of water in that well and now its down to about 1 quart. We think it had a blow out somewhere down in the well as it has filled with mud. They are going to clean it out and see if the water comes back, if it dont, its punch the hole down until they find water. Right now its so full of mud, I only have about 30gal of storage. Have to be really careful until the well drillers get here.
Did get around to laying out my wedge on my welding table. The wedge will be 30x30 inches with a 12 way split. My pusher block is 27in wide which I decided to mae as the maximum wood this machine would accept. The 30in wedge is to allow the wood a little room to spread as it passes thru the wedge. I think most of the wood I will split will be way less than the 27dia, so the 30in inside width of the wedge should be plenty of spread room. took a few pic to show design and give a feel of scale.
Did get around to laying out my wedge on my welding table. The wedge will be 30x30 inches with a 12 way split. My pusher block is 27in wide which I decided to mae as the maximum wood this machine would accept. The 30in wedge is to allow the wood a little room to spread as it passes thru the wedge. I think most of the wood I will split will be way less than the 27dia, so the 30in inside width of the wedge should be plenty of spread room. took a few pic to show design and give a feel of scale.
Are you going to have all the knives on the same plane? If so, that would require tremendous force to bust open anything but straight grain ash. I would stagger them back a couple inches each so the force is spread out at different intervals. Or unless I missed how much pressure you are going to be pushing with.
Knifes will be staggered and the center circle will be expanded in the rear to allow the wood some room to spread. Sharpening the center wedge only on the outside edge will help lower the compression issues. I expect some problems with compression with the really bigger rounds, but the smaller, normal stuff should pass thru pretty easily. I'll have around 50tons of force to split with. The blades are all T1 steel, 3/4in thick. I think my biggest problems is to keep the wedge, as well as the base of the cylinders, intact. My first few rounds will not be wide open pressures until I find all the weak points. I have a few 20in dia white oak rounds to test with. In my area, second growth whiteoak, seems to be one of the hardest wood to split. Old growth seems to split pretty straight, but the second growth seems to have a denser grain thats all twisted. Cant explain it, but around here, only blackgum seems to be a harder wood to split, but I dont seem to see to much large dia blackgum. Typical hickory, red oaks and the like will just pop apart. Pissoak is another hard wood to split. Not sure of the proper name for that oak, swamp oak maybe?? My plans for a processor mounted knuckleboom wll allow me to use my current splitter for anything the processor wont split. I've split 40in dia knotty white oaks with it and anything it wont handle, dont need to be messed with in the first place.
Came back in to take a break. Made a really big screw up cutting the wedges to proper length. I laid everything up on the table and marked the cuts, but didnt allow for the thickness of the metal in the center. I ended up cutting two of the wedges to short. I have to sit and think about how I want to fix this problem. I dont have any more blade material so it looks like I got to fill in a 3/4in gap in 3/4 plate. Not what I am looking forward to. Take a break, eat a sandwich and think some more.
Nice work.
After the sandwich break and a little nap, I went back to the shop and looked at it some more. Decided it wasn't as big a screw up as I first thought. The only part of the blade that has to be filled is where the stepback is for the opposite blade, about 2 1/2inches. I took a grinder and vee'd out both sides, clamp the blade to the welding table and started running beads. It took about 6 passes on each side using 1/8 7018 rods, but I got it filled. I had to keep flipping the blade over with each welding pass to keep warpage down, and managed to lay a straight edge on it after I finished the weld and you had to look hard to see any gaps between the straight edge and the plate, Good enough for who its for, which is me. A real handy tool when making multiple passes with the welder is one of those cheap harbor freight Needle Scalers. they pretty much remove all the slag and peen the metal at the same time. I think the peening helps a bunch with controlling the warpage as it helps remove some of the stress introduced by the weld. No picture of blade, I have several more to do and will take a pic once finished.
Wedge coming together, 
Well after about a year of delays, and surgeries, I am finally getting back to this build. spent the last two days just cleaning up the shop. With three sons wanting to use the shop and a neighbor I am always doing little jobs for, my shop was a mess. I still cant go wide open all day, but I can manage a hour or two here and there. The heavy stuff still really slows me down. My plans are to finish building the wedge which will require a bunch of grinding. The bigger pieces I have already sharpened, so now its down to the center circle. There are 4-1/4 circles to the center wedge, If I can just sharpen one a day, I should have the wedge built by the end of next week. The pic of the circle in the wedge in the pic above was 8 pieces, I have since changed that to where there is only 4 circle pieces. Once the wedge is built, I still have to cut the plate to re-enforce my hbeam and then mount the wedge. I have to finish cutting up the forklift frame to mount the wedge in. Lots of cutting and welding to do. Cooler weather ahead, time to get back to work.
D
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Glad your feeling better. I've been following this thread and look forward to seeing the progress.
spent most of the day in the shop. Got the 4 circle wedges sharpened. Took about 20 min per wedge. 
Then turned to welding up the wedge,
I still have to build the box for the wedge and then I will add the other 4 wedges to make it a 12way. The long straight pieces are actually short pieces I had to weld together to make them 30in long. In the center there are 5 passes of 7018 on each side, 40 passes total. Flipped it over for each pass, but still had a little warpage. Legs worn out from all that standing, but a shot of shine and a good bath, watching The Ranch on nexflix. Feels good to finally be able to actually do a litte work.
Then turned to welding up the wedge,
I still have to build the box for the wedge and then I will add the other 4 wedges to make it a 12way. The long straight pieces are actually short pieces I had to weld together to make them 30in long. In the center there are 5 passes of 7018 on each side, 40 passes total. Flipped it over for each pass, but still had a little warpage. Legs worn out from all that standing, but a shot of shine and a good bath, watching The Ranch on nexflix. Feels good to finally be able to actually do a litte work.
I'm glad to see your back at it as well. I can relate after having a heart attack two years ago. I finally feel like doing stuff and it took me two days as well to clean out my garage.
Hang in there. I picked up a new toy today, will do a build thread later but it has four wheels and is getting a bit of bling for the front of it
Hang in there. I picked up a new toy today, will do a build thread later but it has four wheels and is getting a bit of bling for the front of it
Spent last two day cleaning my shop. Finally found the tool I was looking for.
Spent the day salvaging metal from my junk forklift mast. Took a lot longer than I expected. The mast is 3/4 in thick channel. All the bracing and mounts where about 1 1/2 inch thick. Cutting those mounts off and grinding everything smooth was a major pain. Once the cutting and grinding was complete, I cut the hbeam to length and laid it back on the table, hope to finish putting the wedge together tomorrow. Heres a pic of the channel still in the bandsaw. 
and a pic of the forklift mast I cut it from
you can see all the junk I had to cut off before I could use it
and a pic of the forklift mast I cut it from you can see all the junk I had to cut off before I could use it
Well today, I was just lazy, didnt even go to the shop. To tell the truth, my leg wont hold up to all day standing on the concrete. Had my brother come over yesterday evening to help me turn the box for the wedge over so I could finish up the welding. Things are getting heavy fast. I welded a little and had to just quit. Thought I was going to have to get bro to help me to the house. Tomorrow is a new day, I should be able to finish up the wedge and set it aside while I re-enforce my hbeam. Brother had a great ideal, wish I had thought of it sooner. Old school buddy teaches welding at the local community college. He suggested calling him up and seeing if they need a welding project. They do things like that from time to time. Any ways going to see if he will come by and give a look see and if he agrees, I plan on turning some of this project over to the school. Young bucks eager to weld, just what I need.
Timbercreek
ArboristSite Operative
granted im late to the party, but i wouldnt be afraid of the air cylinder to run the saw bar if you already have air.
granted your going to want a large storage tank, but air cylinders are fine, and are used for more then just manufacturing.
believe it or not, the debarking head on a sawmill debarker, is raised/ lowered by a 3" air cylinder. 2 reasons: biggest, is the give when the log has a knot, or bell, or knee, that keeps it from being round on the rollers. also speed, the thing moves rather quickly up or down.
so i would think, in a sawbuck application, air would be rather beneficial, FAST down to touch the log and start the cut, yet SLOWER to put a large amount of pressure on the teeth and bog the saw. it will put plenty of pressure downwards, but any lag from the line sizing will make this pressure build slowly.
I myself, prefer to stick to my guns and prove the naysayers wrong, versus let every little thing people say change my plans.
the criticism i find most helpful with these forums is the things you didnt see that someone else picks up on. and parts locating. very helpful with that.
looking forward to seeing your build progress.
im trying my best NOT to build one, but like you, ive been saying for a long time that someone should put the log loader right on there.
only bad news i have for you is that a old cheap prentice or barko loader is worth way less then the time you will have into building one. 800 in materials, no grapple yet, 80 hours plus welding vs 2k on a working loader. bolt on and go. you have enough fab time on the rest of the processor.
love the wedge too. always like the circle wedges.
granted your going to want a large storage tank, but air cylinders are fine, and are used for more then just manufacturing.
believe it or not, the debarking head on a sawmill debarker, is raised/ lowered by a 3" air cylinder. 2 reasons: biggest, is the give when the log has a knot, or bell, or knee, that keeps it from being round on the rollers. also speed, the thing moves rather quickly up or down.
so i would think, in a sawbuck application, air would be rather beneficial, FAST down to touch the log and start the cut, yet SLOWER to put a large amount of pressure on the teeth and bog the saw. it will put plenty of pressure downwards, but any lag from the line sizing will make this pressure build slowly.
I myself, prefer to stick to my guns and prove the naysayers wrong, versus let every little thing people say change my plans.
the criticism i find most helpful with these forums is the things you didnt see that someone else picks up on. and parts locating. very helpful with that.
looking forward to seeing your build progress.
im trying my best NOT to build one, but like you, ive been saying for a long time that someone should put the log loader right on there.
only bad news i have for you is that a old cheap prentice or barko loader is worth way less then the time you will have into building one. 800 in materials, no grapple yet, 80 hours plus welding vs 2k on a working loader. bolt on and go. you have enough fab time on the rest of the processor.
love the wedge too. always like the circle wedges.
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Looking great, Mr Mudd. Given the setback on the knives, I wouldn't be too worried about compression pressure/friction of the splits against the knives. I'm sure you've done the maths but just looking at the pictures, it looks like the first splits will splay out more than enough, and thus creating some clearance space/wriggle room, before hitting the subsequent knife edges.
After two hours of looking, I'm off to buy another one. Two weeks later it is still on my mind and I'll spend ten minutes here and there looking even after I picked up a replacement.
15" Crescent for changing the hitch ball. No where to be found. A year later it was sitting in the tool drawer on top of the one I bought to replace it. That was an odd moment. I'm sure there is a story too be told there, probably by my boys at my funeral. They swear not. Maybe my daughter... (or it could just be me and old age)
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