Building a new firewood processor

gorshi · November 20, 2012, 04:58:49 PM

This is my second firewood processor that I am building. My goal is to use a bar and chain. There is still alot of work ahead of me. I posted some pics in my album and will also continue to post pics of my progress.

r.man · November 20, 2012, 08:56:33 PM

Thanks for the thread Goshe but a few questions arise from your post. They are, where did your first processor go, are you building to a set plan or an idea that changes along the way and have you identified definite things that you will do different with processor #2 because of processor #1.

gorshi · November 22, 2012, 05:10:49 PM

I still have my first processor. It has a circular saw blade and is hand fed, which is a lot of work, and could only cut up to a 12 inch diameter. Due to an injury, the new one will have a live deck, bar and chain, and will be able to be operated with one hand. The plans come from watching hundreds of videos and bringing a little bit everyone's ideas into one machine. The parts come from various machines, farm related and other. I am basically recycling to help cut costs. 8)
The first processor will be revamped for further use after I am done the 2nd.

Anyone know of a good brand name for orbital motors to use for the saw?

blackfoot griz · November 23, 2012, 10:15:01 AM

Gorshi,

What are you using to power the new build?

r.man · November 23, 2012, 04:55:18 PM

I like the sound of that, nothing better than re purposing things. Have you seen Red Green ? Will a K car or Dodge van be involved?

gorshi · November 23, 2012, 07:17:37 PM

The motor running it is a Wisconsin flat head 4 out of a street sweeper as well as the hydraulic system.

No K-cars or Dodge vans were injured in the making of this processor, or any duck tape. :D

hdsuperglide1972 · November 24, 2012, 09:56:23 AM

Good morning ben wacthing this fourm for a while and figured i should join and help so follow back yrad enginiers like me out. I did the same thing looked at a lot of builds the put it all together. The frist one I used a vovlo motor witch is know parker. It was given to me and I had nothing but trouble with it and could not aford to buy a new one. Parker wanted $4000 for a new one. We rebuilt it 2 times Chris at sun soruce did it one time and I did it once. Got fed up and talked with Chris and he set me up with a SUNFAB motor and it cost me about a $1000 but works great. I could have got away cheap with a smaller one but I have the oil to run a big motor. The part # is a scm17 then you brake it down for there on seal and the nounting plate. A 2 bolt sae it cheper the 4 bolt sae mount. It comes from .77cu in/rev to 2.09 cu in/rev the one i got was 1.04 cu in/rev. I hope this helps. I also used a Wi. but when I find the right deisel its gone suck way to much gas. I will try to fiuge out how to post a vid when I get time. The only thing I did wrong is in the 4 Years to biuld did not take any pics.
Good luck Kurt.

muddstopper · November 24, 2012, 10:37:09 AM

The parker motors are great, if you can find a used one, but expensive if you have to buy new. I am going to use a Rexroth gear motor on my build. The rpm speed is about half the parker units but it has twice the torque. To speed it up, I will be using a Vbelt pully and jackshaft system to give me about 6000 rpms at 12 hp, using 18.5gpm oil at @2500psi. My bar is only 26inches, I will also be using a .404 chain.

cp881 · November 26, 2012, 10:06:58 AM

I got my saw set up from CRD metalworks. If you talk to them they can lead you in the right direction. I got the bar, chain , sprocket and valving to contol the saw all from them and it works great. One valve contols the clamp, saw motor and saw cylinder. Its not cheap but its worth it .

blackfoot griz · November 26, 2012, 10:30:59 AM

I got my saw motor from CRD. Works fine. I agree about the 1 lever controlling the saw motor, clamp and saw cylinder, it sure makes things easier.

cp881 you have any pics of your processor?

Ivan49 · November 26, 2012, 04:43:31 PM

You can get a Parker saw motor from Surplus Center much cheaper than thru CRD

muddstopper · November 26, 2012, 08:30:38 PM

Post a link to the one you are refering to from surplus center. I saw their 0.7cuin motors for $179. Those are gear motors. The Parker saw motor is a radial axial design and cost quite a bit more than the gear motors. I know some companies and DIY'ers do use the gear motors on their machines, but I have never seen one of those little gear motors that wouldnt bog down cutting larger dia hardwoods.

Ivan49 · November 26, 2012, 09:50:35 PM

There are 3 machines near me using a Parker motor surplus part number 9-1182. They don't seem to have any problems cutting large oak but I guess it all depends what you want.

cp881 · November 27, 2012, 06:24:53 AM

Quote from: blackfoot griz on November 26, 2012, 10:30:59 AM
I got my saw motor from CRD. Works fine. I agree about the 1 lever controlling the saw motor, clamp and saw cylinder, it sure makes things easier.

cp881 you have any pics of your processor

Blackfoot, I don't have any pics but Iwill get some

blackfoot griz · November 27, 2012, 08:08:13 AM

When building my processor, I did some research on the Parker motors. The F-11 and F-12 motors appear to be commonly used on large commercial saw applications.

If you have $$ and the flow and HP to run it, (can handle something like 5075 continous psi and 40+ gpm) IMO it would be an ideal processor saw motor. You have a saw that can cut a big log in a few seconds which is great- but -you will still be waiting on the splitting function.

The motor I used is a Danfoss MO77YC up to 2500 psi. It's a $350 motor. I was quoted $2627 on the Parker F-11.

Quote from: muddstopper on November 26, 2012, 08:30:38 PM
Post a link to the one you are refering to from surplus center. I saw their 0.7cuin motors for $179. Those are gear motors. The Parker saw motor is a radial axial design and cost quite a bit more than the gear motors. I know some companies and DIY'ers do use the gear motors on their machines, but I have never seen one of those little gear motors that wouldnt bog down cutting larger dia hardwoods.

Muddstopper, the gear motor works fine. I have only 1500 psi & 15 gpm going to my saw, clamp and saw cylinder. I will kill my 38 hp engine if I feed it too quickly. To me the key is being able to adjust the saw cylinder speed/rate of feed.

hdsuperglide1972 · November 28, 2012, 06:08:48 PM

H

hdsuperglide1972 · November 28, 2012, 06:23:49 PM

Hi on my prosser I did not use a clamp bar. I put in a clamp roller the runs the same speed as the chain I clamp the log the 1 time and feed the whole log throw and it held the whole time. 1 lever for the clamp and 1 for the saw. I have a micro switch to trun on the saw when it comes off the rest. The spliter and the saw are run on electric valves I can run the spliter man or auto. I am trying to friger out how to post a video to show my toy. I am also look on building a new spliter ram to speed it up or retruning with air,to speed it up always wait for the spliter.

gorshi · November 28, 2012, 09:13:58 PM

I am posting some pics of the motor that is on my processor. Maybe someone can help me out on finding out some info on it. As far as i know it is a Wisconsin motor(maybe) and the only thing I can find on it is a tag with the numbers: F140 61788.

UN Hooker · November 28, 2012, 09:42:11 PM

That's A Continental motor - like used in Forklifts. The F-140 is the model #.
UN

gorshi · November 28, 2012, 10:21:12 PM

Awesome...thanks for the info. Do you happen to know the HP? or where to look for specs? 8)

Ivan49 · November 28, 2012, 11:10:13 PM

I can see a faint number at the top of the tag sometimes if you take a lead pencel and lightly rub it all over the tag you may be able to read it, I have done this on some old tractors that I have rebuilt.

beenthere · November 28, 2012, 11:55:41 PM

The F 140 has a fair amount of online literature.
And overhaul manual in pdf can be found here.

http://igor.chudov.com/manuals/Continental-Engines/Continental-L-Head-F-163-etc-Overhaul-Manual.pdf

Might give you a heads-up for things to look after and do fine tuning.

muddstopper · November 30, 2012, 12:38:05 PM

This is just my opinons based on what I want out of a processor, so dont take what I am about to write as a putdown on the decisions anyone else might make on this subject. I also am not trying to be a know it all, I am still gathering parts to put together my own processor so everytime I read a post about a processor build, I read with a personal interest. If someone want to correct me or point out a mistake, I am all ears.

The 9-1182. motor at Surplus Center is a 0.45cuin motor and takes 1.95gpm to turn 1000rpms, not sure if the conversion is lineal or not, but that suggest about 10gpm to run 5000rpms. Low flow and pressure requirements could make this a decent motor to use on a small processor. Hp and Torque are its low points. Will it cut a large diameter log, most likely, but I aint into taking all day to get the job done. This is the reason I chose not to purchase even the larger 0.77cuin motor. More torque and hp, but I feel I would still be waiting longer than I want to to make the cut. I might be wrong, but I believe parker bought out or makes the Danfoss motors now, and the Danfoss MO77YC is the same 0.77cuin parker motor that Surplus Center sells for $179. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Reading on the Oregon chain site, recommend min. speed for the .404 type chains I think is around 6000rpm, 20% faster than what the little parker motors are recommended to operate at. I have no doubt that you could throw a little more flow at the smaller motors to increase their speed, but that brings up the question of durability. $170 isnt a bargain if you have to replace them every season. You could also go with a 3/8 chain but most of them are meant to be ran at even faster speeds. The smaller chains would require less hp and torque to get the job done, but the slow speed would be like cutting with a chainsaw half rev'ed up.

What i want in a processor is to not have to wait on the saw or the splitter. I feel running multiple pumps will be the best way to get this done. This also means pumping more oil and more hp to pull it. One thing to consider on hp requirements, The saw and the splitting cylinder are what are going to be using the bulk of any hp and oil being pumped on the machine. Neither is really operating at the same time. You advance the log to be sawed using a smaller pump that requires less hp to pull. This procedure stops when you are running the saw so any hp used to advance the log can now be used to run the saw. Once the log is sawed, the saw is no longer being used and again frees up hp for the splitter. The splitter cyl can now take advantage of your extra hp to split the wood while the saw blade is being raised and the next log is advanced to be sawed. To me, ideally the the saw should just be begining to lower for the next cut, just as the cyclinder is starting to retracted. The retracting cylinder doesnt need high pressure to move and isnt pulling a big a lot of hp from the engine. If the saw is capable of cutting the log thru just as the cyclinder reaches fully retracted, you will never overload your engine and you will be at the processing capacity of the processor and your not really waiting on the machine to complete the work.

Now everything isnt ideal in the real world, but I try to get it as close as I can to what I want in a piece of equipment. This is why I am going with a much bigger motor to use as a saw motor. I'll be using twice the oil flow and need twice the hp, but I hope the machine is twice as fast. Since I am building on a budget, and using what I already have on hand, as well as whaterever I can scrounge at the scrap yards, my machine probably wont be complete for this season.

blackfoot griz · November 30, 2012, 01:35:54 PM

"The 9-1182. motor at Surplus Center is a 0.45cuin motor and takes 1.95gpm to turn 1000rpms, not sure if the conversion is lineal or not, but that suggest about 10gpm to run 5000rpms. Low flow and pressure requirements could make this a decent motor to use on a small processor. Hp and Torque are its low points. Will it cut a large diameter log, most likely, but I aint into taking all day to get the job done. This is the reason I chose not to purchase even the larger 0.77cuin motor. More torque and hp, but I feel I would still be waiting longer than I want to to make the cut. I might be wrong, but I believe parker bought out or makes the Danfoss motors now, and the Danfoss MO77YC is the same 0.77cuin parker motor that Surplus Center sells for $179. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong."

Muddstopper, it is not close to the same motor. In fact, I have that very Parker motor in my garage in a bag. It is what I was going to use. It has a short dinky 9/16 diameter shaft that is not long enough to get through a 1/2 inch mounting plate and still get a bushing and sprocket on it. I know, I already tried it and it didn't work. GF in another processor build thread on the FF also tried it and it did not work.

The Danfoss has a 3/4 diameter shaft that is substantially longer-- 2 inches. It is a type A 2 bolt and the parker is a much smaller AA mount. The parker fits in the palm of my hand the Danfoss does not.
I already made that error >:(