Went Kinetic over hydro splitter

[Crane]

The SS table is an option, and installed by bolting to the top of the bottom flange of the beam.
Bolting to the bottom of the bottom flange of the beam drops the factory table 1/2". Pull six bolts, two along the beam, and four where the leg and table bolt to the beam. Shift to below beam and rebolt. The rub is you have to support the beam safely because you are unbolting the leg when you pull the four bolts. Not so difficult. No refabbing.
Now cut and fit 1/2" UHMWP-E to the top surface of the original table and you are back to flush with the top of the beam, so that as wood passes the wedge it does not catch on the material added to the top of the factory table, which it would do if you do not lower the table first.
The material is easily found online, and cut with a power jig saw. I used 2" blue masking tape and did my layout on that.
Fastening. I used phillips head self tapping deck screws, as in wood trailer decking that is screwed to metal cross members. Pre drilled UHMWP-E and countersunk, fastening on the leading edges of table and behind wedge. UHMWP-E grows in the sun, so the tail edge floats and is not fastened, which allows it to expand without humping up. All top surface edged should be eased, rounded over with a file, or router and 1/4" round over bit to avoid operator cuts/slices.

Thank you KiwiBro for the initial idea. Thanks for passing it on. Very simple mod.

The SS factory table is slick until the paint wears off. Then, if it gets rained on as mine sometimes does, or wet from splitting in the winter, the table rusts and surface pits slightly until the rust is worn off by splitting again. It was a repeating process, and a rusty table has a lot of drag. I split small, so most pieces are resplit, which means pulling each one back to the beam.
This is a huge, worth while mod for $100.-$150. bucks and several hours work. Hardest part is clean up after cutting the material because of static cling. Good outside project.

 

[USMC615]

Nifty my man...looks good!

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Have you had any slithers drive between plastic and table yet? If not, your mod is simpler and better than mine. Was splitting large rounds (so plenty of resplits) last week and I'm sure glad the table was slippery.

In reasonably easy splitting wood, the slippery table helps me to easily and safely reposition resplits and new blocks (resting against the table upturn awaiting their turn) quickly enough to take advantage of the slight bounce the bumpers give to the rack when it fully retracts. It's at that moment the rack is actually moving in the same direction as the pinion and the gear meshing is silent with no vibes and no wear. I have found that even with the nylon engagement handle, the vibes can induce a bit of RSI in my wrists after a week or so of solid splitting, if the rack engagement is clunky. That might just be me though, but regardless, less wear on the machine has to be a good thing.

Next item on the agenda will probably be addressing the wear of the carriage and bearings against the beam. After you have done into the thousands of cords, there is a wear spot on the edges of the beam at the point along the rack's travel where the push plate engages with the wood as the wood meets the resistance of the knife/wedge. It's at this point of contact with the wood that the forces will twist the carriage one way or the other and even if you are vigilant about resetting the carriage-beam clearances, and re-torquing the holding set screws, it will still wear over time. I'd like to find a solution to that before it becomes a problem.

It doesn't help that the carriage bearings will wear a track in the underside of the top flanges of the beam and induce additional clearances that will help to put the carriage clearances out of spec and require tweaking the shims to get it closer to the beam. But I guess nothing lasts forever and we are talking huge volumes to get to that stage of wear.

 

[Crane]

Have you had any slithers drive between plastic and table yet?

Yes. Prior to adding UHMWP-E it was actually worse, and would hump the metal up from the angle below (photo of metal table). I noticed today that small stuff has finally found its way between the top and metal table. The last photo in post #81 shows how I'm set up for cutting/splitting. When cutting the splitter gets covered in saw chips. The last two weeks it has been raining a lot, so I'm guessing the wet chips are packing and not falling off like dry chips would. In that photo all the chips have been mucked out and hauled off, about every two to three cords, or three inches deep.
I'll have to back the screws out, clean and maybe add some screws along the beam if it happens repeatedly.

As for engagement I slow the engine speed a bit from full throttle. I used to have a hour/rpm meter that has since failed due to moisture, and the replacement is only an hour meter. I also grease the rack daily, but only a wee bit.

Casey, on AS gave me two narrow sealed bearings for the top of the beam, that together are the same width as the original and no longer require maintenance.

I do get wood wedged under the push plate once a week or so. I keep a 9/16" box wrench handy. Loosed six bolts, use a putty knife to clear/clean under plate and retighten bolts. Back running in a few minutes.

I'll be wore out long before my SSHD will.

 

[Crane]

KiwiBro:
I use my wrist as little as possible when engaging the lever, using more of an open and closing of the hand, or lifting the lever with four fingers.
I resisted buying the SS for a long time because I could not picture lifting the lever, compared to the forward/back of the hydraulic splitter I had then. I thought it was a shoulder, whole arm lift, and that seemed awkward, and how would that work for hours. But of course that is not the case at all. It is a very slight, simple action.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Yes. Prior to adding UHMWP-E it was actually worse, and would hump the metal up from the angle below (photo of metal table). I noticed today that small stuff has finally found its way between the top and metal table. The last photo in post #81 shows how I'm set up for cutting/splitting. When cutting the splitter gets covered in saw chips. The last two weeks it has been raining a lot, so I'm guessing the wet chips are packing and not falling off like dry chips would. In that photo all the chips have been mucked out and hauled off, about every two to three cords, or three inches deep.
I'll have to back the screws out, clean and maybe add some screws along the beam if it happens repeatedly.

As for engagement I slow the engine speed a bit from full throttle. I used to have a hour/rpm meter that has since failed due to moisture, and the replacement is only an hour meter. I also grease the rack daily, but only a wee bit.

Casey, on AS gave me two narrow sealed bearings for the top of the beam, that together are the same width as the original and no longer require maintenance.

I do get wood wedged under the push plate once a week or so. I keep a 9/16" box wrench handy. Loosed six bolts, use a putty knife to clear/clean under plate and retighten bolts. Back running in a few minutes.

I'll be wore out long before my SSHD will.View attachment 124732

Thanks. i get the same - small chips, etc find a way to get between the two layers. No slithers from splitting though, just general small trash slipping down the edges etc.

Regarding RPM's, I too don't run it at WOT.

I tend to grease it more frequently, but very lightly. Can feel and hear when it needs a bit more grease.

Haven't really seen much wear (no lips, just a slight wear mark) from the rack lift bearing that runs on the top face of the beam. But I do keep an eye on it and do keep a paint scraper handy to clear the top of the beam of any dirt and sap lumps that might get in that rollers way.

I can't recall which competitor it is but they have a different rack lift mechanism that doesn't require a roller bearing on the beam. Quite an interesting approach.

There is a good lip under the top beam flanges though, where the carriage roller bearings run and have worn a track. The sides/edges of the top beam flange is also worn at one particular point.

I suspected a reasonable difference in the thermal expansion of the metal and plastic, so the holes in my plastic table are a fair bit larger than the screw shanks and I use a washer and let the plastic move as it wants to.

I too only use a light touch to lift the engagement handle. But, especially on those jobs where I can only split on one side for many days on end, my wrist will get sore. Not 100% sure if it is the vibes or repetitive action that leads to the pain but once it sets in the vibes even if just using fingers can hurt a fair bit. No probs if I can swap sides and thus engagement hands.

 

[Crane]

those jobs where I can only split on one side for many days on end, my wrist will get sore. Not 100% sure if it is the vibes or repetitive action that leads to the pain but once it sets in the vibes even if just using fingers can hurt a fair bit. No probs if I can swap sides and thus engagement hands.

I was getting sore in the neck and knees from splitting on one side of the splitter. I built a second cutting bench and now alternate sides every other log. Cut two logs, split two logs. No more issues. I'm processing Oak at about 5,800 pounds (green) per cord. That's a lot of lifting, turning, positioning, plus running a twelve pound saw. I've eliminated lifting from the ground, but it is slow, and very physical and repetitive. Yoga has helped, to realign and extend range of motion that processing wood lacks.
The four wheel splitter mod doesn't process firewood any faster, but make moving it soooo much easier, and the tongue (removed and leaning against the tree) is on the engine end, the right end for splitting and using with a conveyor. Obviously not road towable. The rectangular tubes are for moving with forks.

 

[Crane]

Getting into another truckload of logs, and some bigger stuff. In the past I would set these logs aside until there was a pile of them and use the TW-6 with log lift and four-way. Sold the big hydraulic and today I was noodling the big ones on the log deck. Very slow, but better a pain in the butt then a long term pain in the back. Dealt with, done deal.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

It sure slows things down. There's a certain sweet spot for the SS and big rounds ain't it, even if I do like how much firewood can come from a big round. I've just finished a firewood stint that had many big rounds I had to noodle into 6 or 9 pieces to comfortably handle. They weren't massive, just very dense. That sure slows things down.

 

[Crane]

The slow pace continues. A little bit each day however... Lots of chips and now with the noodles things are piling up. ATV trailer loads of them. Sharpening often, as I'm running full chisel. Cutting strait though in the bigger stuff. Husquvarna (however it is spelled) began that hard to start crap when it gets warm out. Takes several minutes of [start/die, start/die, start/die, start/die] X 2 before it takes off. Time to consider a Stihl replacement...

EDIT: Working in the sun today the UHMWP-E on the splitter table expanded and humped from side to side enough that I could side half my hand under it at the trailing edge. The UHMWP-E nests between the steel edges of the table that are turned upright 1 1/2" on each side. Not a problem as the trailing edge does not have fasteners. Cutting the UHMWP-E narrower would probable cause problems too with splitter trash getting in there, and it would still expand and hump. I'm curious as to whether this material is directional, if it expanse both directions, or just one. The protective film it is shipped with did not have arrows indicating directional.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Pretty sure it's not directional and is way more expansive than steel. Can't recall exact figures but it was like ten times or more greater coefficient of expansion compared to steel.