firewood lenght for a OWB

[beenthere]

that is 1m x 1m x 1m (roughly half a cord?).

That would be roughly 3.28' x 3.28' x 3.28', or 35.3cu. ft. With a cord being 128 cu. ft., roughly shy of 1/3 cord. If'n I figure right.

Great pic, and some people don't back trailers up very well so maybe prefer by hand.

[stumper]

Increasing the length poses an whole set of interesting challenges.  Just adding the length adds a lot of stress to the system as a 36 inch cylinder and H beam flexes more then 24 inch ones.  You can upscale the H beam and cylinder rod diameter to compensate for this up to a point.  Only using the first 24 inches of the cylinder stroke would be much more desireable then using the last 24 inches of stroke in minimizing stress on the cylinder rod.

To me I would want a processor that I can quickly change wedge styles and 4 way or 6 way wedge height.  To my way of thinking that fixes the location of the wedge on the beam. 

Additionally as you said the saw location and therefore the freshly cut end of the blocks position are also fixed.

So to accomplish what you desire, and use the fisrt of the stroke, and keep wedge adjustability moving the splitter H beam is what is left.  As you are unlikely to change its position often, say more then twice a day.  I would look to move the H beam with the cylinder then pin or bolt it in place to remove any stress from it (and any stored energy).

All that said why stop ay 36 inches?  Go for 48 inches.  Then yo have the ability to cover everything.

[Ivan49]

I just returned from a trip to Germany. They cut their wood long there; 1 meter. My buddy told me that wood is sold by the meter; that is 1m x 1m x 1m (roughly half a cord?). He said that most people then cut that in half if they have small stoves or burn it full length if they have bigger whole house boilers. It seems like the wood they burn is a soft wood for the most part.

I took a picture out the window of my buddy's apartment of his nieghbor moving a pile of wood. Not sure why he didn't have the trailer hooked to a vehicle, but to each his own I guess....

 

The area of Germany I was in last year they had wood piled in some of the fields and I bet they were 40 acre fields. They stacked the wood upright where we lay ours down and each stack had the date it was cut on it. The guy I talked to told me he could cut it to length or they buy it like you said. I saw some being cut into what looked like 10 inch long pieces. In one of the wooded areas by Baumholder they had long lengths cut and piled about 15 to 20 foot high and in lenght about 15 foot long. It looked like it had been cut to lengh with a machine as each pole was the same length. I went into another area where I use to live and someone had a firewood operation set up and they had a machine simulat to a small trackhoe but it was on legs the had a grapple on it. They used this to load and unload trailers and put wood on a table to be cut. I tought this was interesting to see how things were done in different countries.

[Ivan49]

Increasing the length poses an whole set of interesting challenges.  Just adding the length adds a lot of stress to the system as a 36 inch cylinder and H beam flexes more then 24 inch ones.  You can upscale the H beam and cylinder rod diameter to compensate for this up to a point.  Only using the first 24 inches of the cylinder stroke would be much more desireable then using the last 24 inches of stroke in minimizing stress on the cylinder rod.

To me I would want a processor that I can quickly change wedge styles and 4 way or 6 way wedge height.  To my way of thinking that fixes the location of the wedge on the beam. 

Additionally as you said the saw location and therefore the freshly cut end of the blocks position are also fixed.

So to accomplish what you desire, and use the fisrt of the stroke, and keep wedge adjustability moving the splitter H beam is what is left.  As you are unlikely to change its position often, say more then twice a day.  I would look to move the H beam with the cylinder then pin or bolt it in place to remove any stress from it (and any stored energy).

All that said why stop ay 36 inches?  Go for 48 inches.  Then yo have the ability to cover everything.

I thought his intension was to slide to I beam to the length as needed. I agree that the beam flexs a lot at 36 inch. That is the first thing I noticed when I used mine. I have been thing about fixing my wedge so that I can move it closer to the cylinder to help prevent the flex in my beam

[DeerMeadowFarm]

that is 1m x 1m x 1m (roughly half a cord?).

That would be roughly 3.28' x 3.28' x 3.28', or 35.3cu. ft. With a cord being 128 cu. ft., roughly shy of 1/3 cord. If'n I figure right.

Great pic, and some people don't back trailers up very well so maybe prefer by hand.

Yah, you figured right. I always think a meter is closer to 4' than 3'....my bad!

[beenthere]

 ;)

Hey, that works, just depends on if you are buying or selling.   ;D

[muddstopper]

Increasing the length poses an whole set of interesting challenges.  Just adding the length adds a lot of stress to the system as a 36 inch cylinder and H beam flexes more then 24 inch ones.  You can upscale the H beam and cylinder rod diameter to compensate for this up to a point.  Only using the first 24 inches of the cylinder stroke would be much more desireable then using the last 24 inches of stroke in minimizing stress on the cylinder rod.

To me I would want a processor that I can quickly change wedge styles and 4 way or 6 way wedge height.  To my way of thinking that fixes the location of the wedge on the beam. 

Additionally as you said the saw location and therefore the freshly cut end of the blocks position are also fixed.

So to accomplish what you desire, and use the fisrt of the stroke, and keep wedge adjustability moving the splitter H beam is what is left.  As you are unlikely to change its position often, say more then twice a day.  I would look to move the H beam with the cylinder then pin or bolt it in place to remove any stress from it (and any stored energy).

All that said why stop ay 36 inches?  Go for 48 inches.  Then yo have the ability to cover everything.

I am going to go with whateverr lenght cylinder i can find, so 4ft isnt out of the question. I found a 15ft cylinder today, but will probably pass on that one.

I understand what you are saying about the stress and flex on the Hbeam. I have been studying that problem a little. I did look at a Builtright processor today that actually splits 4ft wood. 16in was the limit on dia of the block and the guy says he only runs good straigh wood thru it for a specific customer. Just looking at the hbeam, it was a 6x6x1/2, no special re-enforcement had been done to the machine. I will be using a 8x8x1/2 with an extra 3/4 plate on each side of the web and another 1/2 plate on the top flange. If this doesnt work, I'll pull out the big guns and crank up the amps on the welder.

While talking to the owner of the Builtright processor, he also had a Cordking with another splitter setup for resplitting. He is also an seller/installer of OWB's. With the exception of a few customers, he mostly splits 16in lenghts. Even for his OWB customers. The 4ft stuff goes to a resort and this wood he splits to small dia. After our talk, I have come to the conclusion that a 3ft or 4ft splitter is probably overkill. Still since the upgrade to a larger cylinder before doing the build would be a lot less than trying to re-engineer the machine at a later date, I think I am still going to use a longer cylinder if I can find one. I would rather have the option of splitting longer wood if needed, than tell a customer I cant supply what he is asking for.

On a side note, the Cordking splitter had a 5in bore cylinder and it was struggleing to split 14-16in dead locust. He was splitting 6ways and I thought he was going to rip the wedge off the machine. With all the rewelds, I suspect he has ripped it off sometime in the past.  I bring this up simply because I know my current splitter, with a 4in cylinder, wont slow down thru what he was splitting today. After watching the cordking struggle, I have decided, I like my wedge design better than what was on the Cordking. I have a straight blade wedge, where as the cordking has a spreader wedge. I feel the straight knife edge cuts more and puts less stress on the wedge for multi way splits. Any other opinions on this subject.

[stumper]

I would not waste and effort time adding plate to the web.  That will do little to combat flex (it will help with shear but that is not an issue for your application).  Adding to the top flange is the way to go. 

I would look for a cylinder from something like a loader or an excavator.  You want the largest rod diameter you can reasonable get.  The larger the rod diameter is the less flex it will have and the faster it will retract.  Yes, you loose retractive force but that is not a factor for you.

[yellowrosefarm]

My stove would take a 4'x16" piece. Can I pick that up and get it through the door? NOT! My size firewood pieces are determined by what I can pick and handle without hurting myself. Right now, that's about 10x22.

[muddstopper]

I would not waste and effort time adding plate to the web.  That will do little to combat flex (it will help with shear but that is not an issue for your application).  Adding to the top flange is the way to go. 

I would look for a cylinder from something like a loader or an excavator.  You want the largest rod diameter you can reasonable get.  The larger the rod diameter is the less flex it will have and the faster it will retract.  Yes, you loose retractive force but that is not a factor for you.

Large used cylinders have become increasingly harder to come by around here. Seems anything that could be scraped, has already been scraped. I understand the shaft flexing of longer cylinders, and yes the bigger the dia of the rod, the less like to you are to bow the cylinder. And of course the large dia shaft also helps make up for some of the speed you lose when using a bigger bore cylinder. And with a processor, your right, who cares if you cant make 50 tons of power when you are retracting the cylinder. Just get the cylinder retracted as fast as you can in order to prepare for the next block.

I do think I will disagree with your statement, "I would not waste and effort time adding plate to the web". Hbeam will bow under pressure the same as it will twist. This bowing just doesnt start next to the splitting wedge, but expands from the wedge all the way to the rear mounting point of the cylinder. My observations, (after ripping a few wedges off of Hbeams), is that the hbeam tends to start to bow downwards first as tonnage is applied to the wedge. As the hbeam bends or bows, it will then start to twist. Side to side deflection shouldnt be an issue since you are applying pressure longitudally over the the lenght of the hbeam.

Shear forces on the splitting wedge are pretty high. Simply welding a piece of iron on top of the hbeam isnt going to hold under multisplit situations. Best way I know to combat this problem is by attaching the wedge backbone support to the end of the hbeam and use re-enforcement plate to attach the support to the hbeam. I think this is best done by extending the re-enforcement down the length of the hbeam. This procedure is also important to duplicate at the opposite end of the hbeam where the cylinder is going to be supported. No use in having a super strong wedge if you are going to rip the cylinder off at the other end. Now I know that there are thousands of factory splitters that are not made this way, but I aint building a 27 or 30 ton 2 or 4 way splitter. I am thinking 50 ton and up, splitting 8 and 12 ways at a stroke.

Top plating the flange on the hbeam is a no brainer if you are going to have any kind of decent tonnage. This does help with the flex issues, but it also helps prevent the pusher block from bending up the edges of the flange when under stress. Of course, I am not an mechanical engineer, so I am just expressing my opinons and sharing my experiences.