Splitter Design

Wesspur
Rugged made
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It doesn't look like the swinging tables are going to leave much clearance for the engine and hydraulic tank.
On the first table splitter I built I had a piece of 6" I-beam for the foot with a 24"x 66"x 1/4" thick diamond plate top. It didn't take long for the diamond plate to get deep indentations either side of the I-beam. I ended up with 1/2" thick by 24" wide gusseted backer under the table top.
 
triptester said:
It doesn't look like the swinging tables are going to leave much clearance for the engine and hydraulic tank.
On the first table splitter I built I had a piece of 6" I-beam for the foot with a 24"x 66"x 1/4" thick diamond plate top. It didn't take long for the diamond plate to get deep indentations either side of the I-beam. I ended up with 1/2" thick by 24" wide gusseted backer under the table top.
Click to expand...

The indentations were from the log splitting in half and pressing on the table top? At this point my plate is 8" x 8" x 3/4" which is the biggest piece of 3/4" I have laying about. I might go to the scrap yard and see if they have anything bigger in 3/4".

Thanks for the tip.

John
 
What method are you planning for raising and lowering the beam. Another thing to consider is the positioning of the hydraulic hoses as the beam is going form one position to the next.
 
iowa said:
Geez.... Must be nice having a cnc plasma cutter!
Click to expand...

I built that a few years ago and it does come in handy. I just finished adding a coolant tank and modifying the water table and slats a couple of months ago... still need to paint the water tank.

View attachment 276436

That was my first use of EMC2 now known as LinuxCNC. I was so happy to get a computer that would load Linux much less run EMC2 on it that I just had to build a CNC machine.

This is an early photo when I was testing/building in the beer cave.
Plasma010.jpg


John
 
triptester said:
What method are you planning for raising and lowering the beam. Another thing to consider is the positioning of the hydraulic hoses as the beam is going form one position to the next.
Click to expand...

One way I'm considering is to use the cylinder to raise itself up with a cable or chain. Another thought is to use a hydraulic jack to raise and lower. Another thought is to use a cable type of log lift to raise it up... I still have to ponder that and if you have any ideas my mind is open.

There are only 2 hoses that come from the valve to the rest of the splitter right? The return and the pressure hose. I assume at this point they will have to have a large radius somewhere near the pivot point... the devil is in the details for sure.

John
 
Nice CNC build. I envy you young guys with your toys and the smarts to operate them.
Getting a good angle of pull with a cable may be difficult due to limited anchor points.
With the hydraulic jack a safe controlled lowering may pose a problem.
Every thing can be conguered, it's the changes that are a pain.
 
Are you going to put a log lift on this??

I'm going to use a small cylinder to raise and lower the beam from transport to split mode. Also will use a cylinder for a log lift most likely. I did the cable deal on my last one. It works great! I just wanna do something different!
 
triptester said:
Nice CNC build. I envy you young guys with your toys and the smarts to operate them.
Getting a good angle of pull with a cable may be difficult due to limited anchor points.
With the hydraulic jack a safe controlled lowering may pose a problem.
Every thing can be conquered, it's the changes that are a pain.
Click to expand...

Thanks it is usually more like brute determination than smarts for me... but I get there eventually.

If I use a cable/chain then I would need some kind of gin pole until the beam is at a 45 deg angle. I've done this type of thing many times in the past with machines and sail boats. I have a couple of cable hoists that I scavenged from some imaging equipment installation/shipping containers that was just installed in the new hospital and only used once! It is a proper lifting hoist not a boat winch type so that is an option too.

One of the reasons I like doing it in CAD first is to work out as many design faults as I can before I fire up the welder.

Thanks for the input.
John
 
Started on some of the frame components. Got the front spring hangers more or less done. Took a couple of scrap pieces of 2" x 4" 11ga tubing and glued on a 11ga doublers on the sides. Through drilled them then cut the hanger out with my angle grinder... I think they came out ok.

View attachment 276473

John
 
I did find out that my Lion TH cylinder is due to ship from the factory on Feb 6th so that is good news. I'm pretty happy with the frame size and will build it while I wait for the cylinder to show up. The trailer will be kinda heavy on the tongue vs a normal trailer tongue weight of 10% or so but I don't think that will have any affect on something this light. This will be inside most of the time so maneuverability will be a priority. So I'm thinking of putting something like this on the tongue.

View attachment 276869

John
 
Do you have an estimated weight at completion? Heck with it being on SW you should be able to do a pretty good estimate in addition to seeing where the CG is. Nice work.
 
mhrischuk said:
Do you have an estimated weight at completion? Heck with it being on SW you should be able to do a pretty good estimate in addition to seeing where the CG is. Nice work.
Click to expand...

I don't have enough details drawn up in SW yet to check the mass properties but I know it will be tongue heavy. I have a couple of Briggs engines in SW but not the one I'm using but I could fake that by weighing the one I have.

Thanks
John
 

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