|
|
Hello everyone,I purchased a taller wedge for my Dad's log splitter for Christmas and he's itching to have it installed. The existing wedge is 5" tall and the replacement is 8" tall. I picked up a fresh can of Lincoln Electric 1/8" 7018 and my Dynasty 200DX will be more than capable of tackling this project. I'm also very confident in my ability to weld the new wedge properly.I have, however, a few concerns about welding to the existing rail. It looks as though the rectangular tubing below the rail could be a housing for the hydraulic fluid? I'm curious if anyone might have any idea as to whether or not this is true, and if so, if there is any concern going through with this. I attached a few pictures to help illustrate. In addition, I want to make sure I keep this wedge exactly 90° straight up and down from the rail. Does anyone have any recommendations on how I might accomplish this? The only idea I had was to use a C-clamp or some other clamping device to try and hold it still after running that first bead.Thank you for any feedback anyone might have! Scott
Reply:I wood imagine that the piston is further enclosed within a cylinder within that rectangular tubing you mentioned. So the fluid can do its job and push the piston out. With that being said I would do a little research on what is exactly under that surface your going to weld. Maybe find the manual if its still around or the trusty internet. Just to be safe. But That surface looks like 1/4"-5/16" thick so you probably won't have any problems. Better yet completely drain the hydraulic fluid from the splitter before welding. Remember with stick welding your amperage is based off of the diameter size of your electrode. So if your using 1/8" your amperage should be somewhere in the ballpark of 125 amps. Use some scrap that is equally thick to the splitter and do some practice runs. When you tack it on there remember the heat is going to make that wedge tilt and lean so tack one side then the opposite side to try and compensate for it walking out of line. You don't want it looking like the leaning tower of pisa. SAFETY FIRSTEastwood TIG 200NAPA 83-315 MIG
Reply:Where are the hoses coming from and going to?That will tell you if it holds fluid or not.....zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Why not just weld a piece of the new wedge to the top of the old one and forget about it. Pick the height u want.TA Arcmaster 300CM3XMT 304S22P12 suitcase feederX-Treme 12VSOptima pulserTA161SMaxstar 150STLHypertherm PM45OP setupStihl 020AVP, 039, 066 Magnum
Reply:I'd weld it with the tank full, if it is a tank. Air in there would leave the possibility for fire, with a full tank there won't be enough air for a fire to happen. Just plan on letting things cool down between passes and go at it.
Reply:I decided to call customer service (now that I know the brand and model #). They confirmed the rail is welded onto the tank, and the entire beam underneath contains fluid. The rep recommended draining the fluid and keeping the cap off for air to vent. Attached are pictures of the entire splitter, as well as a 3D drawing of where the funnel is welded to the "tank."I will post an update with some pictures after I have finished the project. Thank you for your replies!
Reply:Exactly 90* straight up and down. No, knife/wedge should lean towards the pusher plate (end of cylinder) slightly. About 1* or so. Or, the top front edge of the knife should be canted forward about 1/4" from the point where the knife bottom edge touches the bed rail of the splitter. The slight forward angle does 2 things, 1 it causes the wood billet to crowd downward toward the bed rail, making sure it can't try to climb upward on the knife if a knot or gnarl causes a lot of pressure to develop.The second thing the slight inclination does is to compensate for any deflection (bending) of the bed rail under a load, which will also allow the stubborn billet to try and climb the knife. If you are replacing a 5" tall knife with an 8" tall knife, the tendency for deflection increases exponentially. The taller the knife and the larger the billet diameter, the greater are the bending forces developed during splitting.As drf255 suggested, welding a a 3" extender piece to the extant knife structure would have been the logical procedure to attain a taller knife.If you have the wherewithal and equipment to cut off the knife on the splitter now, you certainly would have been able to fabricate an extension segment to the OEM knife. And, you would not have been faced with the prospect of welding on what is essentially a hydraulic oil reservoir.The knife that is on there now was "built up" in position in separate steps. The main knife plate was welded on first, then the spreader wings were added.It is not too late to rethink your strategy. The new knife could be used as a donor for the 3" extension. Then Vee the bottom edge of the extension piece on both sides in order to attain full penetration weld. The extension piece should be positioned onto the OEM knife about 1/4" ahead of the top front edge of the OEM knife to produce the needed down force to keep the billets against the bed frame.Last edited by walkerweld; 02-19-2014 at 11:19 AM.
Reply:Originally Posted by walkerweldExactly 90* straight up and down. No, knife/wedge should lean towards the pusher plate (end of cylinder) slightly. About 1* or so. Or, the top front edge of the knife should be canted forward about 1/4" from the point where the knife bottom edge touches the bed rail of the splitter. The slight forward angle does 2 things, 1 it causes the wood billet to crowd downward toward the bed rail, making sure it can't try to climb upward on the knife if a knot or gnarl causes a lot of pressure to develop.The second thing the slight inclination does is to compensate for any deflection (bending) of the bed rail under a load, which will also allow the stubborn billet to try and climb the knife. If you are replacing a 5" tall knife with an 8" tall knife, the tendency for deflection increases exponentially. The taller the knife and the larger the billet diameter, the greater are the bending forces developed during splitting.As drf255 suggested, welding a a 3" extender piece to the extant knife structure would have been the logical procedure to attain a taller knife.If you have the wherewithal and equipment to cut off the knife on the splitter now, you certainly would have been able to fabricate an extension segment to the OEM knife. And, you would not have been faced with the prospect of welding on what is essentially a hydraulic oil reservoir.The knife that is on there now was "built up" in position in separate steps. The main knife plate was welded on first, then the spreader wings were added.It is not too late to rethink your strategy. The new knife could be used as a donor for the 3" extension. Then Vee the bottom edge of the extension piece on both sides in order to attain full penetration weld. The extension piece should be positioned onto the OEM knife about 1/4" ahead of the top front edge of the OEM knife to produce the needed down force to keep the billets against the bed frame.
Reply:Can you post a picture of the replacement wedge as it was provided?The difficulty in reproducing the same integrity in the new wedge is going to be determined by how the welding is done (regarding how you have access to all the edge parts you are going to need to cut off...and reweld).The first difficulty is in removing the OEM knife. I presume you will sever it with oxy/acetylene. If so, you will have to cut out a section of the welded spreader wing on at least one side in order for you to get access to cut off the main wedge blade plate.And even if you do that, you still run the risk of gouging into the bed rail in the process of lancing the main wedge off. Then you gotta grind off all the slag and look for gouges. Gouges would ideally be filled with weld deposit and ground flush before proceeding with welding the new wedge on.If you were only extending the OEM wedge, all that could be eliminated.If adding an extension, the extension piece would be flame cut to a Vee profile and deslagged. Then, the extension piece would be positioned and held firm by clamping a plate of steel against the sides of both the OEM wedge and the extension while you lay in some tacks. Then switch the steel plate to the opposite side and lay in some tacks on the remaining side. Then, run your passes in alternating steps switching from one side face of the wedge to the opposite side face to control heating and warping. Once you commence welding on it, do not stop until you have filled the vees on both faces of the wedge with the necessary weld passes.That is how I would do it if it were my project.As to reinforcing the wedge end of the splitter. Not needed nor would it compensate for any increase in the bending moment of the bed rail. Any bending will occur between the leading edge of the wedge and the point where the pusher cylinder is anchored on the opposite end of the bed rail. Adding 3" of height to the wedge will increase the tendency to bend but it is not likely to cause concern unless you are always splitting billets that really do not want to split.Yes, there are grave (possible pun) concerns when it comes to welding on any type of tank or container harboring combustible substances. Just do a forum search for welding on tanks and you will witness an outright debate (fist fight) on how it should, or should not be done. But the bottom line is that it is not advisable to weld on any vessel that may contain combustible substances. Only if the vessel can be filled with an inert gas can you be 100% certain that no explosive event will occur.Last edited by walkerweld; 02-19-2014 at 12:40 PM.
Reply:Attached are two pictures of the new wedge vs. the existing. Not to say that it isn't bigger in general, but believe me, it looks much larger in pictures than it does in person. What you also can't tell from the pictures is the new wedge is about 1/8" thicker than the old. I have a welder, I have a Portaband saw and I have an angle grinder. I don't have access to any oxy/acetylene cutting equipment or any fancy machinery that would allow me to bevel these edges easily. If I take that route it will all be via angle grinder. I was planning to use my Portaband to remove the existing wedge. I have 5" worth of throat on my saw, which should be just enough to make a nice clean cut. I was also going to remove the "wings" or "spreaders" from the existing wedge and attach them to the new one. I can understand your concern with using an oxy/acetylene torch for removal. Honestly, that would have been a last option. Too much heat and I don't want to risk gouging into the rail.Your last sentence could not be more correct walkerweld. Searching for information pertaining to welding on hydraulic tanks yields a slew of information with people on both sides of the spectrum arguing their point is more valid than the other. Typical internet. Thank you for your replies, they have been very helpful with this project.
Reply:Angle grinders work fine for beveling it's all I use.
Reply:I would wonder about using a porta-band to cut the wedge. Some wedges are hardened steel and would be difficult or impossible for the blade to get through. You could remove the old wedge with your angle grinder although it would be tedious. Since the new wedge is thicker and deeper than the old one I would think better to replace it completely than to splice the new one on top of the old one.I've never worked on log splitters before, so take my opinion with a grain of salt... JohnA few weldersA lot of hammersA whole lot of C-clamps
Reply:Are you sure that 12 tons is enough to push the larger wedge through the wood? There's usually a reason for the OEM builds. Just wondering. I bet that the oil in the reservoir will cool the tank as you weld to it if it's totally full.My splitter is a 28 ton unit and has a 5" blade that's angled to push the wood against the beam.TA Arcmaster 300CM3XMT 304S22P12 suitcase feederX-Treme 12VSOptima pulserTA161SMaxstar 150STLHypertherm PM45OP setupStihl 020AVP, 039, 066 Magnum
Reply:Customer Service fellow was wrong, empty tank has fumes/air in it.Fill it all the way up! Tilt the beam so the end you are welding on has fluid touching the surface where you are welding. It'll boil the oil but will also minimize and cool the fumes as they need to travel to the other end to escape through the Vented Cap.Try the Porta Band. Not enough throat? Cut it twice if necessary.Heck, you could even use it to cut the bevels on the new Wedge!
Reply:Originally Posted by Drf255Why not just weld a piece of the new wedge to the top of the old one and forget about it. Pick the height u want. |
|
发表于 2021-8-31 23:19:32