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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2005-12-12          120882


Splitter is up and running need to do some tweaking and add log lift etc. I still wanna add the 4 way wedge permenant mount.

The 4X24 cylinder is quite fast, however in real gnarly maple and some beech it will not push thru, sometimes. I have to reposition and try again or slab it off. But this is a tremendous improvement from before.

How much more force will a 5X24 give me at 3000psi vs the 4X24?

Most of the blocks are so big I use the bucket and a grapple to lift them on. 2 of us can not move them. Many times I quarter them up with a saw so 2 of us can pick them.

Will get some pics soon and post.




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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2005-12-12          120886


Harvey; going from a 4 in. to a 5 in. will take you from 37,000 to 59,000 lbs. of push. that is a lot of pressure, be sure the frame of your splitter is ready for that much power. Best of luck. Frank. ....


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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2005-12-12          120925


Thanks Hardwood

I believe it is. It is 8"X3/8" H beam reinforced on both sides with 6" channel. It weights almost as much as a dead whale...

Gonna make the up grade to 5X24 soon. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2005-12-13          120952


Harvey, going to a 5" cylinder will also slow it down a little since there is considerably more space for fluid in the bigger cylinder.

The shape of the wedge also makes a HUGE difference in the splitters performance. The ideal splitting wedge has a very narrow section at the front edge, then widens out further back. The lead edge should also NOT be perpendicular to the beam, it should be leading by about 15°, that is the part furthest from the beam should contact the wood first.

That way you are forcing the wood down into the beam, not up off of it, and the part starting into the wood is smaller, and therefore takes less force to get started.

Best of luck. ....


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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster  View my Photos  Pics

2005-12-14          121024


Thanks Murf.

I have looked at that wedge ??? I don't know how many times. I kept thinking it might be too blunt but then remember back to the early splitters blunter = quicker. It also seemed like like there was an avoidance of narrow knife like wedges.

Me thinks I'm gonna trim the sides to increase (make sharper/narrower) the angle or cut the edge off add 1" of 1/2" flat stock, hardface it and sharpen.

The full cycle time is 10 sec or less.

The cutting edge is hard faced and I broke about 1" of it off sometime Sunday pm splitting real nasty Maple.

I'm not sure if I need to hard face the cutting edge. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2005-12-14          121036


Any that I've ever seen or built never had anything special as far as metal for the cutting face.

In fact the best one I've had so far the splitting wedge is a piece of 1/2" plate with two pieces of 2"x4"x3/8" angle welded onto the sides such that the wedge ended up being 4.5" thick at the back end. It was all just made out of mild steel. The wedge should, IMHO, flare at a constant rate, IE be a triangle, a compound curve seems to offer more resisitance than a flat sided wedge. This seems to be backed up by the fact that any splitting wedge I've ever seen is flat-sided, surely it wouldn't be hard to make them with curved sides, but they don't.

All my experimenting has shown that a fairly narrow lead edge, followed by a fairly bold flare works the best, then you are combining cutting at the lead edge with prying the wood apart with the wedge as it moves in further.

Best of luck. ....


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