I came across a wood milling video that you were on and saw you commented on it. I clicked on your personal YT to see what you might have in terms of wood milling. Then I saw this. What a great gift for your "kids". I hope six years later you are both healthy and happy.
Gladly! Seriously, the splitter is the most ingenious part of the system, and it is available from SuperSplit. If you go electric, I recommend the 220V option.
I've seen a couple of home-built kinetic splitters on RU-vid. Is the issue safety? Ya gotta watch what you're doing, for sure, but the key is only ONE person operates the machine.
Im curious, have you measured the wattage draw , when the counterweights are spinning freely, not under a load and compared it to the wattage draw spike when the ram hits the wood and resistance is applied via splitting the wood ?
Good question. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but it would be good to know. Actually, spinning the flywheel up to speed at initial start-up and just after a split would be the highest power draw.
Morning Dave, I’m intrigued by your inverter charging and running of your Super Splitter I love using the electric model and the portability of the way do you have it set up. Do you have electrical plans that I might be able to purchase from you?
Thanks for asking. I don't have plans at this point, and it is a challenge, because manufacturers are constantly changing specs, and new inverters are always coming on the market. Let me see what I can come up with. I am using 48V lead acid battery storage, and the solar panels put out a little over 750 Watts (about 1 hp). You could run the splitter (and electric chain saw) for an afternoon on straight battery power with 25% draw down on the batteries.. With the panels, I start out at 100% charge, work all day, and end up with 98% charge at dusk.
Great upgrades, Dave! Seems the handcart workbench is a little in the way, could you rotate it forward to give yourself a little more room beside the activation handle? Really impressive system you have set up there.
It is 220. It came with a 1-1/2 hp motor, but it didn't last a year. I replaced it with a 2 hp dual capacitor motor, and it works much better. SuperSplit now provides a different motor that is supposed to be more durable. I don't know about run time, but the batteries provide about 2kW-hours, using 25% of their full capacity (going below that is hard on the batteries). Even on an overcast day, the solar panels let me run the splitter all day and still have an 85% charge at the end of the day.
Thanks Dave! I guess I could probably do the math to figure the runtime but your real world experience is all the validation I need to believe a setup like yours would work very well for my needs.
Great idea. I’m currently looking at purchasing a super split. I’m torn between the electric and gas motors. Looking back would you still purchase the electric unit over the gas? If so why? Thank you in advance
If you have access to 220V electricity, it's a no-brainer-- go with the electric. It's quieter and almost no maintenance. On the other hand, if you need to run it away from a power source, I'd go with gas. You could go electric with a gas generator, but that would be cumbersome to move around.
Thanks for watching, and for the comment. The system saves twice... once in the petrol it doesn't burn, and again for the fuel not used to heat our home. Best to work out the bugs BEFORE you really need it!
By the way, I think there is a HUGE niche market for a firewood processor designed for sawmill slabs. I'd love to be able to cut a slab, throw it on the processor, and move on to mill the next cut while the machine processes the slab into firewood & conveys it into a trailer.
I remember some of the books on the list. The last one she reads is a caldecot winner. But it's on Reading Rainbow. I think this person should know that Reading Rainbow isn't on PBS anymore but episodes of it are on RU-vid.
Wow! After more than 6 years, the first comment! Thank you! The grandkids live about 5 hours away, and this is one way we stayed close to them back then (they now live near by).
Thanks, Ron. Just between you and me, a lot of the video was speeded up, though I did show the actual splitting at normal speed. Main thing is to get people to think "outside the box" in how they split wood. Current project, by the way, is to power the sawmill and the splitter with scrap wood, using a wood gasifier.
By he way, the solar cart is featured in the Spring 2022 issue of New Pioneer magazine. I also use it for grinding, welding, running an air compressor, and when the power goes down, it will work with the solar panels on my roof for backup power to run lights, refrigerator, and well pump. The panels put out about 900 Watts... a little over 1 hp. The batteries store about 10kW-hours, but they last longer if they're not run down all the way, so I figure a useful charge of about 2.5 kW-hours (25% discharge). Inverter is rated at 4 kW.
@@jamesacuff5176 Thanks, James. Wish I'd documented the build, but I was too busy welding & putting it together. The Spring 2022 issue of New Pioneer magazine does have more info on the solar trailer, and the Fall 2022 issue will have more info on the sawmill and a wood gas generator I'm working on.
Why lead acid and not LiFePo? Cheaper cost per usable KWh. Can fully discharge/recharge and get far-longer life cycle than lead acid. Look at Will Prouse's channel and website for recommended (tested) top quality batteries.
Love it. Sooo good. Learned to do this with video backdrops I used in another life. A 5’ x9’ backdrop could be stored as a 3’ circle. Never connected 5he dots tho as to how this could be used with sawblades tho till now Dave. Huge thanks.
Thanks. Video up for 6 years & you just made the first comment! I learned with a steel surveyor's tape (much harder), but it also works for riding mower belts, light reflectors, and there are even some pop-up tents that fold up this way. I have since developed a much easier way to coil blades, but I haven't found a way to teach others to do it. It is at the 2:02 mark of this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hPqhNeiNAKc.html.
Aye, that I am. About half me DNA is from the emerald isles, wi' a wee bit o' Scandinavian from Viking invaders. My son's name is Dan & my daughter is Erin.
