- Thread starter fizzy
- Start date
Erie Fred
Member
- Messages
- 5,947
- Location
- Erie, Pa USofA
I have seen them, I think Martin sells what you want.
However they are expensive.
Better to fab up your own mounts using the above shown pillow blocks on a base plate,
or 4 bolt flange units with some box tubing and flange plates on the ends.
However they are expensive.
Better to fab up your own mounts using the above shown pillow blocks on a base plate,
or 4 bolt flange units with some box tubing and flange plates on the ends.
daleyd
Member
- Messages
- 10,415
- Location
- Wrexham, North Wales
Which way are the loads going, that will determine what type of bearings, and holding arrangement you use. Pillow blocks typically are good at up-down loads but they aren’t designed to take heavy pushing/pulling loads in the axial direction of the shaft (I should say it's depending on the bearings used and the holding arrangement, not that pillow blocks are unsuitable exactly). They might be good enough for your application but you might find a better alternative if that’s where the majority of the loading is.
There doesn't seem to be much force along the length. Most of them use 2 pillow blocks but the heftier ones seem to use a solid tube with a bearing each end.
Guineafowl
Member
- Messages
- 1,275
- Location
- Nairn
I’ve had one of those (top photo) splitters for years. Much better than up/down hydraulic type due to simplicity, and not having to wait for the return stroke. Tractor can run at nicely low rpm, too.
Grub screws retain the shaft in the pillow blocks. Make sure the cone is held positively as well, or it’ll come off.
Fit a splitter/riving knife underneath. Stops the log rotating and trapping your hand. You may have to experiment with how far forward to place it.
Make the table big enough to hold partially split logs. Saves bending down all the time. Add a holder for a suitably beefy chopper - I use a bilhook - for chopping away the stringy bits between logs.
Rig up some sort of e-stop (bit of rope to stop lever) in case of disaster!
daleyd
Member
- Messages
- 10,415
- Location
- Wrexham, North Wales
Tinken do a decent manual that might help in selecting the right type, and show some different arrangements of bearing types
I would go with the design at pic 1, just oversize the shaft, bearings and blocks - the force needed for the scroll to bite into a log should be quite low, and once in there will be no force. You could put a thrust bearing on the back - just machine a step in the shaft to accept the bearing, make your own holder.
Sadly not got a tractor. I do have a spare 7.5hp 3 phase lathe motor which should do nicely on a 100mm diameter cone.
I watched a Youtube video with a bloke using one. Also on the table was a machete! I guessed this might be a problem. They don't seen to split clean like a hydraulic one.
I built a good attachment for my forklift but the 10 ton ram won't touch some of the difficult logs.
dieselsamurai
Too many projects not enough time!
- Messages
- 1,443
- Location
- Hampshire
Pretty easy to turn a bit of tube to accept some bearings in either end then weld it to a bracket for mounting , like said before i dont think in this application there is much axial load once the screw digs in. Im pretty sure you have a lathe or two or three you could it on
Funnily enough I did think of just having the auger coming out of the back of the Holbrook
Guineafowl
Member
- Messages
- 1,275
- Location
- Nairn
I’m not sure what speed I run it at - well under the 540 rpm. Perhaps 100-150. You should have plenty of torque, gearing down from motor speed.
The stringy bits depend on the type of wood and how wet it is, and I’ve had that trouble with hydraulic splitters too, unless I wait for the blade to go all the way down, which is slow. Not a big problem, just the occasional whack with the bilhook to separate.
My cone splitter’s fairly small, maybe 3” dia, but I’ve split 32” diameter, knotty scotty pine on it. At worst, it takes a few goes to get the right spot, but it’s rarely ‘stumped’.
Probably not, making it extra "fun".
I've never tried it myself, but I wonder whether it's possible to rig an offset centre in the offset tailstock. I don't know how well this would drive.
