4 way wedge on home build splitter

[DonTee]

Interesting. Yes the fluid was leaking out of that hole.

I sent a pic to the hydraulic shop to see what they think. But I bet they can’t fix it.

And yes, a ton of crap gets in between the tube and sleeve. It’s probably why it looks so worn.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

That's exactly why it IS worn. You would be much better off with a modern 4 inch cylinder of the right stroke length and pin mount ends. Some welding is required, but it sounds like your friend could take care of that. I still suggest running the pusher within an inch of the wedge. I get a lot of stringy wood that does not release until the very end of the stroke. If you think a 20" cylinder would be long enough, then have the cylinder for him to use when doing the work. That way he can extend it and know exactly where the mount needs to go.

 

[DonTee]

Agreed that I want to get the pusher as close to the wedge as possible. The current setup gets it about an inch away. I’d like it closer than that.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

When I built my splitter, I had another guy weld the wedge on, since I didn't have a big enough welder at the time. He put it too far away from the pusher and I had to tear stringy pieces apart. I made a slip on 4 way and it takes up the gap so the pusher just kisses the wedge. It works a lot better now and is at least 3x faster than with a single wedge.

 

[ClintonH]

When I built my splitter, I had another guy weld the wedge on, since I didn't have a big enough welder at the time. He put it too far away from the pusher and I had to tear stringy pieces apart. I made a slip on 4 way and it takes up the gap so the pusher just kisses the wedge. It works a lot better now and is at least 3x faster than with a single wedge.

I have a few scraps of square-ish 6x6 or 8x8 timber cutoffs to make a spacer on the push end--gets the end of the round closer to the wedge. Obviously, span capacity is an issue if the pieces to be split are too long for the spacer.

 

[DonTee]

Yeah I’ve had to take pieces and flip them around to finish the split. It’s a pain.

Just barely touching the wedge sounds like where I want it to be.

 

[Ashful]

I have the moveable wedge type, and it stops about 3/4" shy of the foot plate. On the rare occasion something isn't split by then, I curse myself for being too stupid to leave that garbage in the woods.

I'd say 70% of what I split doesn't require more than 30% travel into the wood, before it pops completely wide open. It's very rare I need to go past 2" from the foot plate, but I'm picky in what I drag home.

 

[ClintonH]

I'm picky in what I drag home.

Life lesson for you single lads.

 

[salecker]

Life lesson for you single lads.

but a lot less fun...

 

[Ashful]

but a lot less fun...

... but fewer regrets!

 

[DonTee]

Lol. Both are true

 

[salecker]

... but fewer regrets!

only if you get caught...
Like riding a Moped
lots of fun till your friends see you

 

[ClintonH]

only if you get caught...
Like riding a Moped
lots of fun till your friends see you

"Moped?!" She's a nice lady!

 

[DonTee]

There’s a guy with a couple Prince PMC-5520 cylinders for sale. He’s asking 125$ each, but maybe he would take 100$ for one of them. It’s a 3.5x20 cylinder.

I asked my welder friend if he could weld me on a new bracket and he said no prob. So do we think this 3.5x20 is enough cylinder, or hold out for a 4x20?

 

[Ashful]

I've run a 3.5" cylinder a half dozen times. It will sometimes stall in gnarly stuff, but it will be faster in nearly everything else, especially the return stroke. So, are you willing to hand split (with wedge and sledge) or noodle (with chainsaw) one round out of every hundred, to get better speed on the other 99?

Knowing it's about half the price of a 4x24 cylinder, I'd give it a whirl, but that's just me. I like speed.

 

[DonTee]

I’d rather just leave the really big gnarly pieces of wood in the woods, and have a faster splitter.

I contacted the seller and asked about the cylinders. They look like they might be NOS. Or not used that much.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

That seller has quite a few cylinders, or did. Go with the 3.5" and don't look back. It won't be a lot faster than a 4", but every bit helps, especially when you add up the strokes per cord. It'll save more time with a single wedge than a 4 way because there are more strokes. You'll save about 2 seconds per cycle at 11 gpm. A 3" would be twice as fast as a 4", but then you are down to about 10 ton, which will still do 90% of most rounds.

I would love to try a 3 and 3.5 and see how they compare next to each other.

 

[DonTee]

It looks like he has 6 cylinders right now. At least that’s how many are shown. I messaged him earlier but haven’t heard back yet.
If I can get the 3.5x20 for 100 bucks I’ll try it out. It’s saving me at least 100$ over buying a new cylinder.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

Go for it.

 

[Jags]

I had a 3.5 cylinder on one of my splitters once. I stalled it way to frequently and changed it out to a 4”. Just throwing out the other side of the discussion.

If you care, the link to the build is in my signature.

 

[Ashful]

I had a 3.5 cylinder on one of my splitters once. I stalled it way to frequently and changed it out to a 4”. Just throwing out the other side of the discussion.

If you care, the link to the build is in my signature.

Yeah, but aren't you also the one who likes to split elm?

It definitely comes down to what you're splitting. When I was using the old 3.5" Iron and Oak "Fast Cycle" I was splitting mostly oak, ash, and walnut, and didn't have many issues. I'd guess I'd hit maybe one or two round per cord, that I either had to really work at, or set aside.

I did ultimately go with 4" on my own mod'd splitter, but if I had a line on a 3.5" cylinder at half the price of any 4", I'd probably be splitting with that today.

 

[DonTee]

I usually don’t split anything too stringy. My property has mostly hard and soft maple, with other hardwood varieties sprinkled around.

Honestly the most difficult wood I’ve split has been from a pretty big black walnut tree. Some of the pieces were super gnarly. That was from a yard tree that my uncle cut down.

I’m supposed to go check out the cylinder tomorrow. He says they’re new old stock.

 

[Jags]

I have been known to get into some tough stuff

 

[DonTee]

Lol. I try to avoid anything over about 30” diameter.

 

[Ashful]

Is this our chance to post big wood pics? I have a few squirreled away.