Big_Eddy Mk III Splitter build

[Big_eddy]

This is the 3rd splitter I have built. It was built for my son, based upon the splitter that we have been using here for the last few years. Having put a few hundred cords through our splitter, I had a list of enhancements that I wanted to incorporate into the next iteration, and my son added a few asks as well.

But first up – some background on the Mk II splitter. I built this several years ago, after studying pictures and videos of most of the better splitters and firewood processors on the market. As we do 60-100 cord a year, much of my attention was spent looking at the ergonomics and workflow of the operators using the splitter. This led me to design a self-centering log hopper, a 4-way manual lift wedge on beam and a covered cylinder pusher. The Mk II splitter has a 390cc engine, 16GPM pump, 4" cylinder and a standard splitter valve. The tank holds about 32 gallons and the relief pressure is set at 2250 psi. It will split most logs we see 4 ways, and almost everything 2 ways. 

After several hundred cords, my list of enhancements was as follows. 
1)   Lower lift-over height on the operator side.
2)   Lower sides on the exit table due to very large pieces bending them outwards.
3)   More clearance under the 4-way wings to allow the lower splits to drop away.
4)   Shorten the hopper length so that the pusher stroke extends beyond the end of the hopper. (also to improve the way the lower splits to drop away at the end of each stroke)
5)   Longer tongue (to avoid the 4-wheeler bumper hitting the tank on tight turns)

My son's additional asks were
1)   Hydraulic wedge lift
2)   Autosplit Valve
3)   More Powah!!
As the build progressed a few more niceties were added.

Mk II



 

 

[Big_eddy]

Basic Frame build.
Rather than an I beam, my splitters have two rectangular tubes for the frame, plated with a flat bar on the inside. The cylinder anchor and wedge support are welded between the two tubes. The pusher is a piece of heavy square tubing with followers welded on. The followers travel in the slot and are secured below. The enclosed cylinder design is something I really like with the self centering hopper, as you can toss in the next block anytime during the return stroke, then when the cylinder is fully retracted, the block drops down into the hopper for the next split. This is really handy when two people are working together. I can literally toss blocks into the hopper from 15' feet away while the last piece is being split. As soon as the pusher retracts, my wife switches the lever back to forward and there is never any wait time at all.


 

[Big_eddy]

I don't have a mill, so I had to cut my wedge angle on the band saw. It took some time and patience but the job got done. This time around, I got lucky and had some found material (grader cutting edge?) to use for the wings. Last time I had to cut those on the bandsaw too. The wings are set back about an inch from the vertical blade, and are upswept about 4 degrees. I like a deep horizontal wing so when we have a large block, the upper splits sit on the wing and are easy to flip forward for a resplit. The backs of the wings are tied together with a curved piece of tubing for reinforcement.


 

 

 

[Big_eddy]

More power is just more money. And it's not really more power with the same cylinder and pressures - it's just more speed. Twice the speed! (more later) The Mk III splitter has a 420cc engine, a 28GPM pump and Autosplit valve. For the Mk II splitter, I built the hydraulic tank. This time I was on a deadline, so I bought a pre-made tank. It cost a little more, but the in-tank filter is an improvement over the separate filter. It is a 25 gallon tank, which was the largest available at a reasonable price. It's at the lower limit for the 28GPM pump and it doesn't take long to get the fluid up to 150F on a warm day, although it seems to stabilize around there. All the valves are rated at 25 GPM, so we are running the engine around 3100 RPM instead of flat out.

[Big_eddy]

The catch tray design was changed substantially. The Mk II was designed thinking we would have a conveyor to take away the splits. I built solid sides to keep splits in so each new block would push the previous splits through and off the splitter onto the conveyor. Currently our splitting and stacking areas are on opposite sides of the road, so a conveyor is out of the question. We off load from the splitter into the tractor bucket to transport splits to the pile. I wanted better access to the outlet for the operator, so I took the sides away and replaced them with a tray with upswept edges to keep the splits in. (More on this later) The tray is a couple of inches lower than on the Mk II, so that the lower splits will drop away better, and the hopper was cut back ~2" so that the pusher stroke extends beyond the end of the hopper. On the Mk II, the pusher stopped about ½" before the end of the hopper, and the end of the lower splits would rest on the edge of the hopper, making them hard to pull out. This would not have been an issue if we had a conveyor and were just pushing the splits forward with the next block, but when we are manually offloading into the tractor bucket, it's annoying. Not being attached to the hopper at the front, the new tray design also allows bark and scraps to drop off better than the old.


 

 

The lower lift over height on the sides meant I needed to arch the rear support and hose guide. The back panel of the hopper also acts as a support for the sides.

[Big_eddy]

Changing from manual wedge lift to hydraulic was straight forward. A beefed up pivot point and rocker was needed, along with the cylinder and valve. The wedge lift valve is plumbed ahead of the splitter valve so that it takes priority over the pusher movement. The downside of hydraulic over manual is that there are no fixed positions (other than full up and full down) and with ~25 gpm and a 2" cylinder, it's tough to nudge the wedge just a little bit – although it got easier with practice.


 

 

[Big_eddy]

The Autosplit valve installation was easy. Single line to the base of the cylinder, Tee to the rod end. It's been several years since I used an autosplit valve, so it took a bit of time to get used to it again. Especially if a log does not center correctly and you want to pause the pusher while you adjust - because you pushed both levers down, as soon as you stop the forward movement, the pusher retracts. But it didn't take too long and after the first day, it felt natural. We will have to tweak the cutoff pressure on the forward stroke – with ~25GPM flow, the pressure would spike just enough when the log hit the wedge to pop it off, even on an easy splitting log.

Other enhancements added during the build are a tachometer / hour meter, a retractable tongue, and a tool cage to hold an axe and hookaroon.


 

 

 

[Big_eddy]

My son lives several hours away and we were heading there to visit for a week, so I was in a rush to finish things up. After finishing the plumbing and adding the fluid, I split about 20 blocks to check for leaks, set the relief pressure to 2250 like ours, and onto the trailer it went for the trip. When we got there, it was put straight to work on his pile. Up until now, he has been splitting with a maul and Fiskars, so as you might expect, he had a substantial pile of "unsplittables" awaiting its arrival. It got a good workout that first day. I was loading, my wife was splitting, and he was cutting and taking away. We put about 4 hours on it and split a TON of wood. Even with nasty crotches, there was only 1 block we failed to split.

[Big_eddy]

Like anything, you never get it right the first time (or in this case the third time) so there were a few improvements / fixes made after the first day. He managed to jam a block under the wedge wing while running the wedge down and bent the pivot point – so it got some major reinforcement. And the open sides were fine when splitting 4 ways, but not fine when splitting large block in half – as each half would flop open to the sides, off the splitter, and right onto the ground.  We dug around in his resource pile and added additional wings to each side.



 

 

[Big_eddy]

We stayed through the week and put another 4 hours on it before we left for home. Last I talked to him, he had 13 hours on it and no more failures. Next enhancement will be to build a front dolly wheel to plug into the tongue receiver, as the tongue weight is too much for his 4-Wheeler. As a side note, my wife ran our Mk II splitter for a few minutes this weekend and her immediate reaction? "OMG this is slow!" I predict an engine and pump upgrade is in the Mk IIs future. (As well as some of the other modifications that were incorporated into his)

[Hilltop366]

Nice build, thanks for sharing.

[mudfarmer]

Very nice! You really put a lot of thought into this to get it right.

[thecfarm]

Now that's a nice splitter!!

[jmur1]

Enjoy reading this one.  Nice work and great summary as well!  Well built machine.

jmur1

[Stephen1]

That looks like a great splitter. Nice pics.......but....where is the pictures of it in a action.lol

[Big_eddy]

We were way too busy making short work of his pile of blocks to stop and take pictures of it in action. We had the timing balanced pretty well, with me bringing blocks, my wife splitting, and my son stacking into the bucket and moving to the pile. I wasn't going to be the one to interrupt the flow, or I would have heard about it the rest of the day! : It kinda becomes a game - how fast can you go? - so if the ram hit the back stop before I dropped a new block in, I was getting the "hurry up" look. At about a 5 sec cycle time and 8-10 steps to the pile, I was hustling or tossing. Every few blocks I would throw in a nasty crotch or one of the biggies that required resplitting, as they gave me a chance to catch my breath.
(Of course we didn't start 8-10 steps from the block pile, but it kept getting further and further away as the pile shrank)

[GRANITEstateMP]

Big Eddy, what does the Mk stand for?  Real nice build!

[Big_eddy]

Mk 3 = Mark 3, I.e. Splitter #3.

[Big_eddy]

So our splitter went into the operating room yesterday. 
First up was a tool holder addition. 



 

No more "where'd I leave that axe now?" Or forgetting it in the shed.

[Big_eddy]

Next was the major surgery.



 

 

 

Operators side lowered.  I still need to add the wedge stops back on.

[thecfarm]

I made a welding dolly with all my welding tools for the same reason.

[Big_eddy]

I'm sure there will still be the occasional round that calls for my "log-lifter", but hopefully fewer now.


 

[beenthere]

You recently posted and showed us your firewood box on the FEL of the JD 850. That's what I would use to lift the big ones up to the splitter height.

That method or drop a chainsaw cut down through to make them half the weight for easier lifting. Less work than splitting with wedges and as easy as lifting the chainsaw "one more time".  8)

[bitternut]

WOW!, that's quite the log lift. I use to be one like that but it was a long time ago. Now I noodle them as suggested by Beenthere. I really like your splitter. Good job.

[Big_eddy]

That looks like a great splitter. Nice pics.......but....where is the pictures of it in a action.lol

Did a video this weekend
Big_Eddy MK3 in operation
We were pleased.

[Big_eddy]

The 

As a side note, my wife ran our Mk II splitter for a few minutes this weekend and her immediate reaction? "OMG this is slow!" I predict an engine and pump upgrade is in the Mk IIs future. (As well as some of the other modifications that were incorporated into his)

The modifications happened earlier. I finally got around to the pump ant engine upgrade.  The difference is significant.