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New processor

Started by OH logger, May 17, 2020, 04:11:43 PM

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barbender

All of our Ponsse harvesters have hydraulic tensioners. They work very well, but you can still throw chains, for instance hitting small brush on the back of a cut. They wouldn't be throwing chains in the situations you describe, OH, unless something was wrong, like a bad bearing on the shaft.
Too many irons in the fire

Kcorey

OH Logger, how are you liking your blockbuster? I bought a new 18-20+ last year. I sold it about a week ago. I wasn't over ally impressed, the wedge setup really annoyed me with it always raising while splitting and seemed like i could never get consistent pieces out of the machine. I ended up drilling a hole in wedge and putting a pin in it so it wouldnt lift completely out of machine while splitting. I got the attached 12' conveyor, i took that off the machine within the first 15 hours of using it. Always getting jammed up , and stopping production.
I'm not sure what to buy next, really wish the logging expos would have been open this year. Im thinking a multitek, with a circular blade. The bar setup worked, but it is definitely slow.  

mike_belben

Sorry to hear that.  Can you please post some pictures of the wedge and conveyor design so no one clones them on a build?  
Praise The Lord

OH logger

I really like it now that i put  the heavier spring in the auto tension. I see what U mean about the wedge coming up and even worse almost out of the machine. That sucks. As far as the pin u put on the wedge did u attach it to the arm that raises the wedge? Or just through the wedge so it can't come up and out of the slot it's in? I didn't get the attached conveyor NoW I'm glad I didn't. I already had a 40' conveyor from them. The only time I need another little conveyor is when I split and load directly onto a truck which I only do prolly 100 cord like that. So I just bought a 12' ABS stand alone conveyor a month or two ago. Cheaper than attached and put it in barn when I'm not using it. I put it right behind the processor and it dumps into the cleaner and that dumps into the big conveyor and onto the truck. 

As far as a different brand I'd look at bells. But if I HAD to get a circle saw I'd dang neared only get a multitek. The 2020 I think it is. They make 2 with the guillotine style and it's the bigger one of the 2. Seems not as fast coming down as the regular style but seems like the guillotine style would be WAY less stressful on the machine. 
john

OH logger

Also what wedge were you using most of the time?  I bought the 4,6,8,12 way with it. I thought I was gonna use the 12 way quite a bit. I tried it for a few hours one day. It's kinda hard to explain but the bottom wings on the "box" part of the wedge are angled pretty decently down so the wood don't get jammed in the box part as it goes through. That is nesessary. But it's also a problem cause the wedge floats. So if it's a smaller log that only contacts the bottom half of the wedge it wants to lift the wedge. Then the next piece and the next piece so pretty soon it's REAL high. I think it's gonna work fine when in big wood that makes contact with the upper part of the wedge as well as the lower part of the wedge. Does that make sense to anyone else but me? I'll just have to sort my logs which I really didn't want to do but I might have to. Lately anything that's too big for the 8 way to make nice sized wood I've been separating to use the 4 way on for boiler wood
john

stavebuyer

The floating wedges on my Dyna had the same issue of continually creeping up. I would have to run a small piece through and empty the wedge in order to reset it. My Eastonmade splitter wedges were height adjusted by a hydraulic cylinder which held better than the Dyna but still suffered the upward "creep" and would need to be cleared before you could lower it back. Made no difference; 4 way, 6-way, or box they all crept up. I think a wedge would need to be bolted or pinned in place for it not to be forced up but then you probably will start destroying wedges. Some stuff is better left to rot.

OH logger

What i TRY to do is while I'm splitting a bigger log keep my eye on the next log on the deck. When I have 2-3 split cycles left on the big log I'll lower my wedge down to where I'll need it for the smaller log. If I let the splitter cylinder go all the way out as I'm finishing the big log by the time I get to the smaller log it's usually down. 
The guy that used to make wood for me had a woodbine and the wedge was attached to the cylinder. On his the cylinder was above the wedge. He bent MULTIPLE cylinder rods before Reworked the setup to give it some slop. Worked better after that. 
john

Kcorey

I had the 6 and 8 way wedge, didn't matter what wedge i had on. I drilled a hole in the wedge and pinned it just to stop it from coming all the way out. The other thing i wasn't too keen of is that the bar chain oiler uses the same "hydraulic" tank as the rest of the machine, and it is ATF which can get expensive . It was a learning experience, and from what i hear talking to other firewood guys in my area - we all go threw it haha. I am looking at multitek or a CRD rapido loco . I know the CRD's are out of business and were built semi cheap but everyone around here says they just plain work, and work well. 

hedgerow

When I first built my firewood processor I had my hyd multi wedge operated with the cylinder over head pinned solid. It worked that way for a while with no issues and then that knotty piece came along and it broke the over head mount off the processor so I made it with some slop in the cylinder mount and that worked for a while then a piece came along and broke the mount clean off. Know the cylinder is mounted down at the table behind the multi wedge and its not pinned at all. Sometimes it will push up and make the pieces different size but it doesn't tear the mount or the wedge up. I can always resplit if needed. That's better than tearing the machine up. 

Corley5

My 14-12 came with a bolt to keep the wedge from pushing up and out.  I got nasty twisted pieces stuck exactly twice and had to cut them out with a chainsaw because there was no way to get the bolt out to lift the whole thing out of the machine to do it.  I took the bolt out so the wedge could float as intended and never put it back.  I run tractor fluid in mine.  It's cheaper than ATF for sure and bar oil too.  The hydraulics warm up so it lubes the bar.  A separate system for bar oiling never warms up when it's cold and most recommend winter grade bar oil year around.  I'd much rather have the oil come from the hydraulics.  One less system to fail and no bar oil to buy.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

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