I have been toying with the idea of making a more powerful log splitter, with an eye on splitting larger pieces.
I've collected a couple of pair of large hydraulic cylinders with the idea of making a more robust machine that can split about anything I can get loaded on the beam. My stove can take 44" long pieces of wood.
Anyhow... I've got two 4"x48" cylinders (2500psi).
The problem I run into is that the current single 4" (2500# Prince tie rod style) cylinder on my machine seems to lack the force needed to split some of the wood I get. I've got the bypass on the control valve set right at 2500# and it bypasses a lot of the times. Wedge is nice and sharp... but the wood is tough.
I'm thinking that I could double the force by stacking one cylinder atop the other... both pushing on the same wedge. I would effectively have 8" of area for the hydraulic pressure to act on instead of 4".
Thinking about all this.. would I have problems with one cylinder trying to do more work than the other to any extent? I'm trying to figure if I need one of those "flow dividers" to prevent that.
I'm trying to figure out how many GPM pump and control valve to buy. I will go time the current splitter and see how fast it extends to determine what it would take to get a twin cylinder machine to do the same.
By my calculations, each cylinder would take 2.61 gallons of oil to extend it fully... so a little more than 5 gallons for the pair.
I've got a pair of 8"x 44" cylinders... and I thought about maybe using just one of them... but this would be more unique.
I've collected a couple of pair of large hydraulic cylinders with the idea of making a more robust machine that can split about anything I can get loaded on the beam. My stove can take 44" long pieces of wood.
Anyhow... I've got two 4"x48" cylinders (2500psi).
The problem I run into is that the current single 4" (2500# Prince tie rod style) cylinder on my machine seems to lack the force needed to split some of the wood I get. I've got the bypass on the control valve set right at 2500# and it bypasses a lot of the times. Wedge is nice and sharp... but the wood is tough.
I'm thinking that I could double the force by stacking one cylinder atop the other... both pushing on the same wedge. I would effectively have 8" of area for the hydraulic pressure to act on instead of 4".
Thinking about all this.. would I have problems with one cylinder trying to do more work than the other to any extent? I'm trying to figure if I need one of those "flow dividers" to prevent that.
I'm trying to figure out how many GPM pump and control valve to buy. I will go time the current splitter and see how fast it extends to determine what it would take to get a twin cylinder machine to do the same.
By my calculations, each cylinder would take 2.61 gallons of oil to extend it fully... so a little more than 5 gallons for the pair.
I've got a pair of 8"x 44" cylinders... and I thought about maybe using just one of them... but this would be more unique.