Update on lawnmower driven log splitter

Success, at what price? "Virgin Log" I split was cut from a live ice storm damaged tree less than a month ago. First run of the system today and yes we have sunshine and the peak was 70F. Whadda deal but it will turn nasty this week, again.

The scale is 12" that I put in a couple of pics to give you some "order of magnitude".

The knife on the splitter is 8" tall and the angle of the splitter wedges behind it were derived by trial and error. I like to split and burn oak so I am set up for that. The cylinder is on it's 2nd year but the rest of the splitter is 10 yrs old home built. Did modify it several years ago to handle longer logs......upgrade from what I had available......it's for me, not to sell.

Cycle speed is 7 seconds out and back unloaded and the log in the picture, a Hackberry, not a soft wood by any means, not oak, but not soft, it breased through.

The picture of the plastic 20"x2 solid rubber tire is another $100 addition to the pie for a set of 4. Since I had to keep the rotation on the pump cw and I had to have the pump to belt adapter fiasco and all, as I said earlier, the bottom of the pump would have been in the dirt with OEM mower tires.

I am not a purist so you are getting the first run shots. Obviously I had some fittings that I didn't get tight enough, but after my morbid experiences as a young mechanic (so I thought) at 15 or thereabouts, trying to get a broken bolt out of an engine block was no fun. I have since peeked at torque tables from time to time.

Just to give you an example of how things go, went to the nearest town of any size, auto parts store, been there for the 35 years I have been here. Wanted to shorten some hyd lines since I didn't need the length any longer.....oops, his fittings are sized for the "new hose" Gates, 4000 psi, so I got to buy new hose along with the fittings.

The local machine shop did the slots for belt tensioning and cut a slot in the pump drive shaft for the locking key.

The belt was a big deal to get 16 gpm and I used a 5/8x 63 1/2 JD production HD belt with ribbing on the inside and outside to cut down on heat. It was superb and only $28.

The cycle time is 7 seconds for the full 24" out and back. The log I split didn't phase the engine nor the splitter. Breased right through it.

So, not only did this get me out of the house when "cabin fever" is in the epidemic stage, but not have something to help me with my annual wood supply. I think I got 2x retail for the performance I got vs the financial investment.

Enjoy the pics. I certainly enjoy the pics others post and I think most of you do too. That's why I went to the trouble.

Mark

It seems just fine to me. A purist is a person who is so far from compromise that they have no real world value. Jim

Well I will say this young man you have stayed with that little project. Looks is not everything.
Photos prove it splits wood. I think 7 seconds is about as fast as one man can put the wood up there so looks like you will be working.

Thanks for the pictures. That's interesting. How many ton would you guess it to be?

Thanks for the update and pics, glad it worked for you,

Looks like you have a Lovejoy coupling between the pump and the pulley. Where did you come up with the bracket that holds the two together?

Northern Tool supplied most of the parts of sort. Not as fast a shipper as others as things come from different places, not all from MN. But had what I needed and great service. Prices OK

Pump $184 16 gpm
Control, $70 special log splitter design, open center
Bracket you mention $80 they have others but I needed the length and the diameter since I couldn't engine mount the pump.

If you have a smaller engine, a lot of times the casting is drilled to accept a pump mounting bracket. Seems the larger engines don't so you have to make your own adapter, either on the engine or via a belt as I did. To fabricate an engine adapter would be a big mess as there is no place on the engine housing to attach it unless you go out to the engine mounting bolts. I didn't have room to adapt to the engine and actually I like the current setup.


Each Lovejoy coupling half $20 style 099, 5/8 for drive and 1/2 for pump.
Adapter, heavy duty, at the bottom of the list of couplings don't remember but not much.
Filter around $30 with bracket
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Quickie Parts (email [email protected]) Great service fast delivery.

Searched long and hard for a good belt to deliver at least 8 hp. Went with the 5VX equivalent which this one was one better, the JD mower belt shown. 5/8x63 3/8, JD PN M118684, $25 from Quickie. Made the right choice. I will tighten up after it limbers up but it drove flawlessly without a lot of tension.

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Willards Small Engines (.com) Super service, prices and fast delivery.

OEM spindle with bearings and zerk $17. Since it was so cheap I decided to go with new rather than use one of the old ones off the mower. Probably the right decision
New longer Jackshaft $9. Bought the longest he had, Murray PN 92849 7 7/8. Cut the threads and splines off the bottom and had the machine shop cut a keyway to fit the 5/8 Lovejoy
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Machine shop: $50 for the 1/4" x10x11 steel plate they furnished with 6 ea 5/16 slots for belt tensioning. $10 for the keyway in the Jackshaft. I did the rest.

Used the upper sheave on the engine shaft that was used to propel the mower and one of the sheaves off the mower deck. Both about 5" and took the 5/8 belt perfectly. Had to get the 5/8 5VX rather than a 1/2" 3VX rated belt to get the HP rating I needed.

Book says this rig, 5+" sheaves and 5VX rated belt, at 3600 rpm will deliver around 11 hp and I only needed 8 to run the pump at 3600 rpm and 16 gpm. The engine just loafed and was good and solid at all throttle settings. Obviously if you want the max gpm you need to run at the normal 3600 air cooled engine rated rpms.

If you don't know a lot about hydraulics I'd highly recommend: //forums.hydraulicspneumatics.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8641063911/m/9917040716. In particular the comments by a respondent by the name of "akkamaan". The guy knows his stuff, posted the equations, verbiage to say what to do and not and why and on and on. Really helped me make a better system than I would have with my somewhat limited knowledge of what it takes to make a successful splitter system.

A lot of time was spent to ensure that the sheaves were in as perfect alignment to each other as I could get them. Book says that sheaves out of alignment will eat up your belt in a hurry and I surely didn't want that. The center of the drive sheave was exactly 2" above the bottom of the frame and that is where I got the load sheave positioned.

Now that I know the system works and suits me I will clean up the leaks and mount the tires (Amazon, great price and really fast shipping).

It was fun and good to give the brain a wringing out again.

Good luck,
Mark

With my 4" cylinder I did the Area (pi x radius squared) x
hydraulic pressure and and the force came out to 15 tons.

The 5 inch would double that since the area of the cylinder
would be about double but the cycle time would be half and I
wanted a compromise between force and time.

As stated elsewhere, if I get into a bad knot or stubborn log I
just load the pump pressure against the blade and give the push
plate a smack with my sledge. For the wood I burn, I seldom
need the sledge.

Mark

Tank was from NT also. Wise choice to buy rather than build. With the tank mounted as shown, I had no cavitation problems with the pump.

I notice storebought systems have the tank on the bottom which is for convenience of the design. I didn't see any specs on the lifting capability of this pump and since the lawn mower frame had this bracket at the rear, it was a perfect place to put the 2.8 gallon tank and with gravity feed I didn't have to worry about lifting capacity.

Thanks for your kind words. Since initially some of you asked about about the project, knowing full well some of you may have thought about such a project or were planning one, it seemed only right that I shared my experience with you.

Good luck,
Mark

Got the plumbing cleaned up and leaks fixed. Put the new tires and wheels on it. I think it looks like Henry's never die "Model T".

The solid rubber 2" wide tires make rolling this guy a dream. Easily rolled it around the place with one hand. Lots of fun.

Oh well, snow and ice forcast for tomorrow. Backl to the doldrums.

Mark

The only thought I have was way have the pump facing down? I can't see from pictures if mounting the pump so it's ontop of the frame is possible or not but that's kind of the only thing I could see that causes question in my head. Good setup though

The problem lies in the fact that the pump has to be CW driven
looking from the shaft end. The engine turns CCW looking from the
shaft end. Would have been much cleaner to top mount it but
couldn't.

Check out my last comment on this post. The new wheels make this
little sucker look like a Model T ford and I think it's cute. Grin.

Mark