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skinnykid02

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Alot like a new saw, I need a splitter but cannot spend alot of $$.

Who makes a good strong splitter for a good price. I split Oak, Maple, Ash, Birch and Pine.

What is the lowest tonnage you would go?

Thanks for any input.
 
Alot like a new saw, I need a splitter but cannot spend alot of $$.

Who makes a good strong splitter for a good price. I split Oak, Maple, Ash, Birch and Pine.

What is the lowest tonnage you would go?

Thanks for any input.



How big is your wood? That's the question that has to be answered before you know what tonnage you need.


Size and TYPE of wood will tell you what tonnage is required.

Amount of wood will tell you what cycle time you need.

Working alone, I don't think cycle time is a big deal. Your throughput is limited by other factors.

But if you're splitting 40" oak crotches, you just might need a wee bit more power than if you are splitting 12" straight ash. ;)

So, what about that wood?
 
I work alone most times and I cut my lenght to 14-16 inches.

Nothing to big, just normal sizes blow downs, standing deads, and problem trees. My buddy has a MTD? yard machines splitter. I think it was like 22 tons, it hickuped on a couple of pieces of ASH but thats it.
I can't afford $1500 on a splitter.
 
No longer heat with wood?

Nope. I was to busy this year to go get fire wood, plus most of the hardwood jobs i did this year the H.O.'s kept. So i burn rice coal now. I fill it once a day and empty the coals once a day, plus my yard isn't a mess with the wood and i can keep all the coal in my root celler.
 
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The 22 ton splitters seem to be pretty popular around here. I have a homemade one. 5hp honda, ram off of a one ton dump truck, and a 16gpm pump. Not the fastest that's for sure, but i can split 24" diam. beech crotches without much fuss. I have no idea what kind of tonnage it has though.
 
Figuring Tonage

The 22 ton splitters seem to be pretty popular around here. I have a homemade one. 5hp honda, ram off of a one ton dump truck, and a 16gpm pump. Not the fastest that's for sure, but i can split 24" diam. beech crotches without much fuss. I have no idea what kind of tonnage it has though.

Its not to hard to figure tonnage. 4" cyl x Pie (3.14159) =12.56636 (which is the square inches) x Oil Pressure (usually about 2500) = 31,415.9 or about 15.7 ton or if you are in a marketing department - 16 ton.

Another thing you can determine is the cycle time of the piston. To move a 4-inch-diameter piston 24 inches, you need 3.14159 x 2 squared x 24 = 301.44 cubic inches of oil. A gallon of oil is about 231 cubic inches, so you have to pump almost 1.5 gallons of oil to move the piston 24 inches in one direction.

In our log splitter, the maximum flow rate is 11 gallons per minute with 5 HP Motor. That means that it will take 10 or so seconds to draw the piston back after the log is split, and it may take almost 30 seconds to push the piston through a tough log (because the flow rate is lower at high pressures is only 2.5gpm).

This is figuring that you have good seals and perfect efficiency.

I have been very happy with my 16 ton, no it will not do the log from hell, but for my home use, its fine and I am always amazed what it will go through.
 

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