log splitter build

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Im building a log splitter for my grandpa whos 78 and has no heater other than the fireplace.  I got tired of splitting it by hand with a maul and wedges, so heres the buildUnfortuneately someone reset my camera to take low quality pictures and i didnt realize until i went to upload them.  Ill try and take some more tomorrow that arent fuzzy.I started with the rear axle from my sisters car that her ex boyfriend totalled.  It was an 86 VW jetta, axle had just been replaced.Cut the control arms off with a sawzall and boxed it in with some scrap i had lying around. (pictures of this are on a second camera, will post them tomorrow)I spent a couple hours getting the fit correct and all tacked into place.  My uncle was hanging around and says "hey, can i weld some of it?"  I say sure, thinking hes going to weld about 2 inches.  I come back and hes welded up all 8 feet of itHe owns his own autoglass business, but not much of a welder.  Needless to say i spent the morning grinding out 8 feet of weld and re doing it.After that i start making the frame for the motor and pump, and where the h beam will rest in the horizontal position while in transit.  Side rails are 3" C channel.  They are notched to go down to and mate to the hitch, which will sit lower than the axle.Thats as far as i got today, tomorrow im hoping to get the frame tacked all together and tacked to the axle, and who knows what else.Stay tuned... Attached Images
Reply:That's one nice beam you came up with there. Looking good so far.
Reply:All right! I can't wait until we get to the slide.Thanks for the pics.
Reply:So i didnt get much work done yesterday other than scratching my head and messing up some cuts.I did get the frame rails tacked to the axle and one cross member added.The camera is still taking fuzzy pictures, i think ill switch back to my cheapo camera tomorrow.  i did pick up some tubing to make the hinge for the beam to rotate on today, along with the ball coupler and a 2.5" square tubing to mate the coupler to.More pics tomorrow. Attached Images
Reply:So today i finished up the frame for the splitter.got the coupler drilled and mounted, tomorrow if i get a chance ill start making the hinge, and mount it to the axle and splitter.Here are some pics of todays workpic 1-added a bigger drop to mate to the ball on my grandpas truck, which has no receiver or detachable tow hitch (integrated into the bumper, its a VW)pic 2- Whole thing tacked together, ready for welding.pic 3-rechecking my centerline, checking for square and making sure its still level before welding.pic 4-done welding with a mockup of where the hing will be, coupler drilled and bolted in with nylocs.next... Attached Images
Reply:here are some pictures of welds, most places didnt have mill scaled removed, makes a huge difference on how smooth welds go in obviously, but i just didnt feel like trying to stick the grinder into a bunch of different places to clean it up, or breaking it apart and have to retack it all together.Welds were made with millermatic 250 set somewhere around 18.5V and in the area of 230 on the wire speed.  C-25 gas at 20 cfh.anyways, here we go...pic 1-butt joint of where the axles was boxed in.pic 2-where the C channel butts up to the axlepic 3- C channel mating to the center box tubing, i should have taken a picture of the gap first, it was huge...used a triangle weave to fill it in.pic 4  Underside where the box tubing meets the 2X2 cross brace.  2 passes, wide stitch pattern. Attached Images
Reply:Very nice.   Thats a good beam.  It looks like its going to split whole trees.Welds are good, I don't always grind off millscale either.Keeping an eye on this one.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:so for a small update, the beam is mounted to the frame with a hinge i made out of some inside and outside pipe.  Also added in an extra support and some tabs that holds the beam horizontal for traveling down the road, as well as two safety chains.  The 8hp motor is getting some TLC, a two stage pump is being sourced, hydraulic line and fittings are being ordered, and once everthing is together, ill start making brackets to mount everything.  The camera had some unscheduled grinding dust introduced to it so i only have one pic of the hinge.  Ill try and get some more later next week.The peice in the picture then got welded to a peice of 3/8 plate attached to the beam, then a peice of pipe in an upside down U sort of shape was welded to the top of the axle that i boxed in, creating a hinge.  Hope that makes sense for now.  More pics are coming... Attached Images
Reply:Looks like a great project!Thanks for the pics, too
Reply:no new progress made this weekend, the 8 horse briggs is being rebuilt, and a new project was started (head gasket on a vw rabbit) but here are some pics of the hinge and some miscellaneous crap.pic 1: hitch, and 2 safety chains for this sucker, keeps the highway patrol happypic 2: a simple bracket i made to hold the beam horizontal for travel.pic 3: the hinge, just some pipe that fit inside each other, then mitered and angled back to the axle.  To keep the outside pipe centered i cut 2 rings out of the peice and welded them to the inside peice of pipe, works like a charm.  The beam is so well centered that my grandpa whose 78 can move the beam from horizontal to vertical and vice versa by himself, and i think the beams has to weigh over 250 pounds.  pic 4: the beam we wanted to use, its massive, the picture doesnt do it justice, im a pretty strong guy, and it hurts my back to even look at it.  Its from a cat loader, but its just to big for the beam and the pump from the cat the goes with that cylinder needs a huge motor to turn it, so its not getting used for this project, back to the shelf it goespic 5:  the trusty 8hp briggs motor getting gone through after it caught fire a few years back.If this ever actually splits a log, ill post pictures Attached Images
Reply:so its been awhile, but the splitter is almost done.Since the last update i have mounted the handle to the axle, mounted the tank, mounted the engine and pump, made some lines, and got the top of ram mounted.Pic 1engine mounted to a peice of plate with braces on both sides which are through bolted to the channel, one side is removeable so that the plate can be removed (a different 8hp instead of the honda 6.5 hp may be used later)pic 2 its a 4X24 ram, had to hog out the plate that was already there from an inch to 1.25".  Drilled out a hole in a peice of 1/4" plate and used the drop to hammer into the existing one inch hole on the beam.  used that to center the new hole to be drilled.  worked like a charm.pic 3 Tank mounted to a triangle 2x2 angle frame a made.  there was a weird mounting pattern on the tank so i just built the base to what was already there.  Made some reinforcing plates for the cantileevered side and welded some support tubes on the side closest to the beam.pic 4 handle mounted per grandpas instructions.  i dont care for the box tubing though, i think it looks cheesy, ill have to redo it with something a little nicer.pic 5- Another pic of the engine mounts.Just need a few more fittings and a couple bolts and some gas and we will have new firewood. Attached Images
Reply:I can't stop looking at the frame.  I think it's my favorite part of your splitter."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:haha thanks, i sketched out some stuff on the ground for gramps, he shrugged his shoulders and said "sure".  Its a heavy duty son of a gun, one day ill inherit it, and i would like it to still be in working order when i do, so i overbuilt the holy hell out of it.  Eventually i want to add storage for gas cans, axes, wedges, mauls, chainsaws and the rest of the logging equipment so that its all in one place when we drop trees around the property
Reply:SPLITTER SPLIT ITS FIRST LOG LAST NIGHT, finallysome picturespic 1-had to notch the frame where the return from the tank goes back into the pump.  Didnt have the pump when the engine got mounted so it was an unforseen problem.  Notched it with the air cutter, cleaned it up with a die grinder.  Luckyily enough i had a peice of pipe with the same inside diamater as the hose so i cut it to length and welded it in there, works perfect.pic 2-another viewpic 3-after i had split a few, notice the hydraulic oil all over the ground.  The "cylinder rebuilder" we got cylinder from put a plug in one of the side ports that had a hole in itsprayed oil all over me, my brand new shop vac, and a battery charger, and of course the floor.  I put a real plug in it and it works great, cycles quick and splits wood like it was butterpic 4-weld i put on a plate i machined to connect the working end of the cylinder to the splitting head, kinda blurryanyways couple things left to do on it, i need to make a cupport for the ram so it doesnt buck when its stroked all the way out, and it needs some paint, and it needs to go to work after 6 months in the making. Attached Images
Reply:You timed finishing it just about right. Now that its getting cold you won't mind using it. I never liked cutting wood in the summer all that wasted heat you generate. Wood should heat you a few times at the very least before you burn it. 1st time cutting it, 2nd time splitting, 3rd time stacking.
Reply:haha very true, but we have like 12 chords already split, no heater, just the big fireplace, ill take a picture of it today.This is gonna get some serious use this summer when i drop a few trees with the old man,
Reply:Originally Posted by flatbustedbrokeYou timed finishing it just about right. Now that its getting cold you won't mind using it. I never liked cutting wood in the summer all that wasted heat you generate. Wood should heat you a few times at the very least before you burn it. 1st time cutting it, 2nd time splitting, 3rd time stacking.
Reply:Originally Posted by tresiNot only that but wood cutting is best done after the tick season. Oh, we have fire ants too in this part of Missourri.
Reply:After getting it all together we have conjectured that a hydraulic lift for the beam would be very nice.  Scrounging around in the "hydraulics" department of the garage i found a roughly 3" bore 12" stroke with a 1.5" shaft cylinder in the garage.Couple setbacks, cylinder was frozen and wouldn't extend (rod clamped in vise with a 3000 pound ratchet strap wouldn't budge it.  Cylinder guy only charged 250 to rebuild it, dont get me started, long story and both me and gramps about had a sh*t fit.  His excuse was "its a high quality cylinder, and i had to machine a clamp for it and a spanner to get it apart"  Had i known any of that i would have bought the seals from him and done it myself which is what i think ill do from now on, but i digress.Next problem is the cylinder is some sort of special application deal, it has a tie rod end on one side and no way to mount it on the other end.  Must have been a cylinder used in a constant compression where the weight of the object ran the ram back in instead of pulling with hydraulic power.  The way i see it i have a couple options.  I machine a peice of pipe for it to ride in then attempt to drill through the the shaft of the cylinder ( i have a couple ideas to do it on the mill) Other idea is to machine a shoulder on the rod in the lathe then machine a tie rod end and weld it on.Pictures to come soon.
Reply:So here are some pictures of the log splitter.Picture 1: Hydraulic lift for the old man.  Took about 3 hours of autocad work to figure out where to place all the parts so nothing would bind and i would have the correct extension and retraction of the hydraulic cylinder.Pic 2:  "Finished" at the time.  Since then i have modified the way the fenders mount and added a tool box to hold wrenches, pins, files, etc...pic 3: Close up of the beam liftpic 4: Clamp i made to hold the ram in place,  All pieces cut on our waterjet and designed by me.  Its ugly, but it works, and i utilizied holes that were already in the I beampic 5:  Fenders Currently mounted this way,Ive also added a trailer light/license plate kit to make it highway legal as i do tow this thing all around the bay splitting wood when work is slow.I also let a buddy of mine borrow it and managed to twist up the beam lift where it attached the the frame, so that was cut out and replaced.If i find more pictures i will post them up. Attached Images
Reply:pic 1: Doing some welding on the fender mountspic 2: toolbox mounted Attached Images
Reply:few pics of machining the piece that mounted the wedge to the cylinder1: Beveled the edges with a big ole roughing end mill.2: Popping the rough diameter with a annular cutter3: Didnt have the right size cutter so i had to bore the plate with a boring head (and chipped boring bars) to make clearance for the pin from the cylinder. Attached Images
Reply:not that it probably matters much in this case, but those vw rear beams are heat treated due to being a torsional member. build looks cool to me!
Reply:Originally Posted by chrisbmx68not that it probably matters much in this case, but those vw rear beams are heat treated due to being a torsional member. build looks cool to me!
Reply:I built a 30 ton for a buddy, I really like that cylinder that would push it vertical... Neat feature I never thought of....Lincoln Power MIG 210 MP ( boat anchor )Lincoln Weld-Pac 100 HDHobart IronMan 230Cutmaster 42Jackson NexGenSumner Ultra ClampsDWM120Originally Posted by MadMax31I built a 30 ton for a buddy, I really like that cylinder that would push it vertical... Neat feature I never thought of....