Logsplitter

[Paul99]

Nearly finished with the latest project - a log splitter to fit the mini digger. I started this nearly 6 months ago after giving up waiting for a friend of a friend to get on with one for us. Sods law said that just a week into the build and a good 3/4s finished said fabricator turns up with the one we had been waiting on . Completely independently we both based our designs around ones made and sold on eBay by another clever bloke - we were both gobsmacked at just how similar our builds were. We both opted for a 10tonne ram though I went for one slightly longer. With a pile of wood to split and the bought one nearer completion my build went on the backburner. The last few days saw me revisit the splitter project - more to give my new Oil cooled Arc welder a good testing than out of necessity to finish the splitter.

It took a little while to get into it but wow what a difference to the old buzzbox I've made do with for the last 10 years or so. Easier to start, much, much smoother but best of all...100% duty cycle - happy days. So nice to use it's already got me thinking of more new projects

Anyway here's a few quick pictures of the build near completion:

A Close up of the splitting head (8" long and 16mm thick before the secondary wedge) :

It's a bit of a patchwork quilt as I tried to use what I already had as much as possible. I still need to replace the temporary pins (one a scrap stub axle and the other a section of scrap driveshaft) with something more suitable and replace the nails with some r clips. I also need to finish off the hitch side of things with some extra bushings and add drilled stubs to retain the bucket pins with lynch pins etc and then of course it all needs wire brushing and painting.

There's a few things I would do differently next time around but given a very successful initial test it will certainly do for us - if it turns out to be half as good as the pro made one then I'll be very happy

Once I've sorted some more wood to split I'll get a video up of it in action.

 

[madkayaker]

Looks good do you operate from cab or from splitter?

 

[Paul99]

Looks good do you operate from cab or from splitter?

At the moment it's set up to work using the spool block on the splitter itself but I had originally planned to add a second set of quick release couplings on the pipes to the ram or possibly add a couple of diverter valves so that the spool block could be bypassed and the splitter controlled from the cab instead.

I did make sure that the hitch allows the splitter to be tipped right forward (actually below horizontal) and lowered over large rings stood up on edge but I'd have to add some protection for the hydraulic pipes as it is (one if the improvements I would make next time would be to allow enough spaces to have the ram connections at the back).

One of the advantages to it being on the digger is being able to lower the table to very near ground level which makes sliding / rolling large rings onto it very easily almost no lifting needed. The leg is adjustable to allow it to be set at whatever height is comfortable.

 

[ytre]

Great job Paul and an extremely useful implement .

 

[armalites]

Looks good, nice work on the splitting blade.

I've made a very similar one for the rear on my tractor, I did find that you need to have a longer angle on the point especially for wetish wood or it didn't split too well it just compressed the wood.

I like the way you've done the blade mounting too, I did find with mine that once up and running hard it would snap bolts easily so I had to increae the size

I think I may redesign my blade mounting now I've seen yours

From a safety point I would consider getting some safety fabric for the hoses as they will be near to head level, that way if one springs a leak you'll be ok.

Your local agricultural spares place will have the pins you need for a few quid.

 

[Paul99]

Looks good, nice work on the splitting blade.

I've made a very similar one for the rear on my tractor, I did find that you need to have a longer angle on the point especially for wetish wood or it didn't split too well it just compressed the wood.

I like the way you've done the blade mounting too, I did find with mine that once up and running hard it would snap bolts easily so I had to increae the size

I think I may redesign my blade mounting now I've seen yours

From a safety point I would consider getting some safety fabric for the hoses as they will be near to head level, that way if one springs a leak you'll be ok.

Your local agricultural spares place will have the pins you need for a few quid.

I would of liked to have put a sharper / longer point on it TBH but it was hard enough to get it as is with a 9" grinder - and that was after a local barn fabricator, where I sourced the metal, took off as much as he could (before getting to hot to hold) on their industrial belt sander - the chap who sells these on Ebay uses a mill and does a very good job of it but he was asking £50 for the blade itself - I chose to make do with what I could achieve myself - I just wish I had the space for a lathe, a mill or even a small shaper so I could it myself.

I can't really take any credit for the design myself - I spent hours looking at log splitters all over the net and came across ones on eBay (one of only a few who make specifically for mini diggers) which looked to my eyes to be the best designed of the lot - it was from these pictures I managed to come up with mine. It is this chap that deserves all the credit to be fair.

Your right about the hoses - I will get some covers and now you mention it I've seen spare pins at local agri spares place in town will call in tomorrow to see if they have what I need - if not there's an engineering place a few miles away that I had intended sourcing the round bar from to make a few up myself.

 

[normspanners]

Good job but just a suggestion how about a piece of channel welded to the ram top mount coming down in front of the ram with two plates back to the rsj just about where the spool valve is, with the flat of the channel towards the operator, it would protect the hoses plus give YOU burst pipe protection from hot oil in the face, at the same time.

 

[madkayaker]

It is also worth noteing that to comply with the relevant British standard the control must be two handed.

 

[armalites]

It is also worth noteing that to comply with the relevant British standard the control must be two handed.

That's an interesting point but you often need to hold the log while splitting.

I bought a special spool valve for mine that has a pressure knock out on the return.

I reconfigured it so I had to push it in to make the blade come down, that way if I lost my footing and ending up pulling the lever the blade would come up and not down.

 

[madkayaker]

There lies the problem! The standard also says an effective log holding device.

 

[Paul99]

Good job but just a suggestion how about a piece of channel welded to the ram top mount coming down in front of the ram with two plates back to the rsj just about where the spool valve is, with the flat of the channel towards the operator, it would protect the hoses plus give YOU burst pipe protection from hot oil in the face, at the same time.

Yep good idea - I'll look at adding some cowling like that at some point.

It is also worth noteing that to comply with the relevant British standard the control must be two handed.

I don't doubt it for one min - but I'm not one for rules and regs - I'll use it with some applied common sense instead (something that's prevented more accidents and saved countless more lives than all the rules and regs put together ever will). It's a one off for our own use and will not be used by, or sold to, anyone else and I have no plans to make any for others either especially when they are already available to buy with CE approval.

 

[normspanners]

I have just had an idea, if you had access to an anvil and heat you could pein the blade down to a taper that would have two advantages it would reduces the angle and make the cutting edge stronger by closing the grain on the cutting edge, and a quick tidy with a grinder to finish it.
A blacksmith would do for not a lot i would have thought.

 

[ChrisJ]

Bet it cuts sarnies great too, nice work :-)

 

[Paul99]

I have just had an idea, if you had access to an anvil and heat you could pein the blade down to a taper that would have two advantages it would reduces the angle and make the cutting edge stronger by closing the grain on the cutting edge, and a quick tidy with a grinder to finish it.
A blacksmith would do for not a lot i would have thought.

I do have a proper anvil and could sort heat but it seems like quite a bit of extra effort. It's actually not as blunt an edge as it appears in the photos - in fact compared with a log splitting maul and some designs out there (including one my uncle uses) it's a relative razor blade. So far the ram has had more than enough power for what I tested it with - I haven't at the moment got any really nasty gnarly blocks to test but I'm pretty certain (based on what the other splitter does) that it'll fly through anything I throw at it - clean slicing through anything that doesn't spilt nicely... I'll see how it goes, thanks for the suggestion though will definitely keep it in mind...

 

[Paul99]

Spent another hour or so this afternoon on this splitter. The temporary pins have been replaced with some tidy ones (30mm EN24T and split pins) I've added a carrying hook in case I want to move it and am too lazy to take the bucket off the digger. I also added a shield to protect the lower grease nipple. The next job is to source the hydraulic pipe covers / protectors and some MIO paint and while I'm at it I'll get some hydraulic 3/8 - 3/8 male elbows which should allow me to reverse the ram so the couplings at the back which saves more work adding extra protection.

That's pretty much all the metal work done bar for a bit of tidying up before painting.

And here's a video of it on another trial run to check all is still running right (and a test of the video recording on two different phones) annoying youtube defaults to lower quality - better in HD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-IR2g8E3E

That's the knottiest block I could find quick - it doesn't look at all bad in the video but it's far from a straight grain block of ash - it's the very butt of a blackthorn stump (where it starts dividing into the roots) - not something I'd look forward to tackling with a splitting maul or axe much.

So far so good.

 

[armalites]

Looks really good. Blade certainly goes through well.

You can't lose can you, had fun building something that is fun to use and saves loads of time and effort.

Was playing with mine at the weekend and split 2 1 tonne gravel bags full in less than 30mins

 

[normspanners]

Looks and works good Paul
That looked like a nasty block with it going all the way down before splitting totally.