GUILLOTINE TYPE WOOD PROCESSORS

jerry sundberg · February 22, 2020, 08:55:44 AM

Any of you have any experience with guillotine processors or making one? They look interesting to me as they can cut and split on the same stroke.

jmur1 · February 22, 2020, 10:52:39 AM

Do you mean something like this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=35&v=x-04SUmi_2U&feature=emb_logo

Seems like it would have trouble with wood around my area. Definitely an interesting concept!

jmur1

HuZzEy · February 25, 2020, 10:26:37 AM

I purchased a Rainer hydraulics chomper 14 last august and ended up selling it in October. It worked I give it that but if you sheared blocks 16" and under it would break the blocks apart at almost every growth ring. It just made more waste then I wanted to deal with and sometimes the shear didn't like knotty wood like oak and beech

jerry sundberg · February 26, 2020, 06:00:57 AM

I do believe they are more suited for soft wood types, they don't seem to shatter as much. All the wood I use is Aspen,Birch,Black Ash, and Spruce.If you look on youtube you'll see water squirting out of the cut end which will help in quick drying which is good for my Garn. I'll post some pics as I build this. I made the shear plate yesterday out of a 3/4"x12"x16" plate.

HuZzEy · February 26, 2020, 06:38:56 PM

Oh yea it would push the water right out of birch and maple

leonz · March 05, 2020, 04:29:11 PM

Quote from: HuZzEy on February 25, 2020, 10:26:37 AM
I purchased a Rainer hydraulics chomper 14 last august and ended up selling it in October. It worked I give it that but if you sheared blocks 16" and under it would break the blocks apart at almost every growth ring. It just made more waste then I wanted to deal with and sometimes the shear didn't like knotty wood like oak and beech

If you tried to stuff 16 inch blocks through the 14 inch simplex chompers shearing chamber it is no wonder that it damaged the firewood you were trying to make as the chambers size would have broken the outer rings of the split while it was pushing it through the chamber.
They were designed to handle and shear and split 14 inch diameter logs of any length.
Just as the 16 inch super simplex chomper was supposed to handle only 16 inch diameter logs of any length.
If the previous owner of the Simplex 14 abused it may have needed to have the hydraulic pump tested and the shearing and splitting cylinders repacked too.

TeaW · March 06, 2020, 06:56:19 AM

I got to agree with HuZzEy. I had a 16 inch chomper back in 96 and used it in the bush for a few years. The machine did what they said it would, but it made a mess and made good wood look like crap. They claimed the wood would dry faster and it probably did but it would also soak up moisture faster than sawed and split wood.Sold it to a guy near Ottawa , he had it for sale with in a year.

woodmills1 · March 06, 2020, 06:09:57 PM

I bought the prototype from rainier for the smallest chomper to process my sawmill slabs. It did a good job, but with no campsies close I couldn't sell the product.

jmur1 · March 09, 2020, 03:45:53 PM

Have you ever seen this beast?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIWViK3aT7Q&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3GOxrzmEI57QuG7fQ7bV72dtiewP2RAtHPpRI1oiz5BWF-MdW8nZvw9mA

It does both guillotine and chainsaw!

jmur1

jerry sundberg · March 28, 2020, 06:30:00 AM

Yes I've seen these, it's a Hahn Harvester, the are made in Two Harbors Mn. Not too far away.

jerry sundberg · March 28, 2020, 06:37:59 AM

I haven't got to use it much yet as I'm waiting for a winch for the jib. I tested it out on a 5" maple log and it works well, maybe a bit slow though.Shearing off a piece it runs 2200#of pressure not to bad I think. I've only got a 17gpm pump on the skidder so I might go a little bigger.

Logger RK · March 28, 2020, 08:01:37 AM

I have one of the first Hahn's when Can Car made them. Each of my 2 Sons have there own Hahn's. We like them. I changed out my shear blade years ago & discovered just hardened steel wasn't strong enough to hold up. I had to get it made out of Hardox 500. The other steel bent up pretty easy. I do like the idea of the splitter wedge mounted on the shear blade. I'll be curious to see how it works

jmur1 · March 29, 2020, 08:02:20 PM

Hi Jerry:
I was just looking at your pictures and noticed a couple of areas to watch.

1. The frame looks nice and heavy except the mount at the bottom. You will need some good structure here to resist the uplift when the blade encounters some stubborn wood. It is hard to tell but from a distance it looks like its mounted on a flat plate. This even if it is fully welded onto the plate you will need a cross brace to resist the bending developed here. See 1st attached circled pic.

2. The little stub wedges (great idea!) on the blade are held on by the two bolts. If you can add a welded flat plate behind them it will help the resist the shear loading the bolts will face. These are very large forces in shear and it will not take long to break these completely off. Note shear capacity is significantly lower than tensile. See 2nd attached circled pic.

Very interesting concept - please follow up with how its working out.
jmur1

jerry sundberg · March 30, 2020, 05:41:18 AM

I appreciate your alls' input. I did weld the splitting wedges onto the shear plate as the bolts got in the way of the "ejector bar". Also the base plate (5/8"thick) is welded to a 5"x5"x5/8" angle that is under the base. Can't be seen in the pics. I won't be surprised if something may need some tweaking. I'd like to give it a good test before painting. So when the winch comes we'll get it tested to see what needs be changed or not.

BrushSaw · April 03, 2020, 12:13:34 AM

I like the homebrew guillotine. I've also been looking at shear style splitters for feeding whole logs. Since I burn a lot of softwood, aspen, birch in my owb I'm not too concerned with total tons pressure required.

There is a video on YouTube of a TLB case 580 with a shear style splitter in lieu of the loader bucket. Seemed to work great for him. I've been kicking the idea of building one like his. I believe he used 3/8 hardened steel for the knife to shear the log and a splitter wedge to half the round.
I also found some articles that had a graph for knife width and total tons pressure needed to shear. From when shear heads were common on pulp bunchers.

HuZzEy · June 19, 2020, 01:31:20 AM

Quote from: leonz on March 05, 2020, 04:29:11 PM
Quote from: HuZzEy on February 25, 2020, 10:26:37 AM
I purchased a Rainer hydraulics chomper 14 last august and ended up selling it in October. It worked I give it that but if you sheared blocks 16" and under it would break the blocks apart at almost every growth ring. It just made more waste then I wanted to deal with and sometimes the shear didn't like knotty wood like oak and beech
If you tried to stuff 16 inch blocks through the 14 inch simplex chompers shearing chamber it is no wonder that it damaged the firewood you were trying to make as the chambers size would have broken the outer rings of the split while it was pushing it through the chamber.
They were designed to handle and shear and split 14 inch diameter logs of any length.
Just as the 16 inch super simplex chomper was supposed to handle only 16 inch diameter logs of any length.
If the previous owner of the Simplex 14 abused it may have needed to have the hydraulic pump tested and the shearing and splitting cylinders repacked too.

Leonz I was talking about the length of the block not the diameter of the trees and chomper came equipped with pressure gauges.