You are 80% of the way in creating a great tool, just need to make a few small changes. I have been using a similar idea for chopping wood for years and it works perfectly. Your problem is that you are using the ram on the claw to apply pressure instead of the ram for opening/closing the bucket. Remember that the ram for opening/closing the bucket outputs the most power on an excavator. The ram for the claw has only about half the power of the bucket ram. Replace the ram on the claw with a bigger one or just replace it with a solid piece of steel, then use the bucket ram for applying the pressure. Then just sit back and watch all those pieces of wood fall apart...... best of luck!
Just what I was about to say. Look at the geometry of the "Side Tool" splitter. The thumb never moves, but rather uses the bucket ram to do the pushing. I think it is very premature to dog good products, when you didn't really copy their geometry. You have plenty of power, if modified to use better leverage. You have a good idea, it just needs improved. It looks like with your angle, you're running out of travel on the bucket ram prematurely. Keep trying. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iEMIkCnkUBA.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AJnxYoCK-nk.html
There are some other designs out there, that use the bucket cylinder instead of the thumb cylinder. The bucket cylinder is much tougher built and with higher pressure. Do a search on here, 24" rounds split easily with a John Deere 310 backhoe.
i had the same idea but i did the maths before buying any steel . My thumb has a 2.5" piston in the ram so with 3000 PSI system pressure we have 4.9 square inches of piston area x 3000 divided by 2204 = 6.6 tonnes force however we lose on the 5:1 leverage ratio so its only 1 ton actual splitting force , google up wood splitter tonnage and we find charts that say we need 7 ton to split a 12 inch log and 20 ton for a 24" log. Back to the drawing board for a dedicated linear splitter that loses nothing in leverage that we do with a thumb. conical spiral splitters fitted to an auger drive may also be a good option
Nice machine you have there. That thumb is so so so handy. I use mine to move and spin objects around especially to get my buckets turned backwards when needed etc. I like your idea that you mentioned at the end to modify the log splitter to pin onto the machine and use the thumb lines to run it. Yanmar's are SO sweet. I've put 800 hrs on my Vio35-6A. Money maker. It's just the right size to pull behind any of my 3/4 ton trucks in my pj 7x16 dump trailer.
Great idea I like it 👍. Another YT’er “Koch dig drive diy”designed one he mocked up with OSB then fabbed the PCs and had them welded up. He had the splitter on a JD 310 backhoe with no thumb. It worked pretty good on large rounds of seasoned oak rounds. That elm must hard as hell. Does it give you problems with your regular wood splitter ?
I've been thinking of doing the same on my old digger ur thumb cutter is a long way out ,meaning you have lost a lot of power ,if you could bring it closer to the hinge would increase ur power quite a bit ,thanks for shearing
pressure is too low has to be turned up my bobcat 337 use to break 7 to 8" pine trees in half with ease bucket could override the thumb still love the idea and engineering stay safe
Still achieved something being the worst log splitter on the planet. Quite an achievement. I would have expected it to perform better than that to be honest and was worth a try. Just making one out of an old forklift should work pretty well I hope. Would have alot more force than the grab.
If you fold your thumb all the way back van angle your wedge out of 45° angle or so from your mounting plate on your thumb angled towards the bucket then you should be able to have your thumb fully retracted and not have to worry about the relief valve Edgar thumb will be fully retracted
I learned a lot from this video. To the creators who have a script, kudos. You rambled on for all the video. You could have had a great 1 minute short. Quick voice over explaining the video. I have more respect for people who organise their thoughts and communicate it clearly on RU-vid.
Nice try and good effort but the geometry is all wrong and you have to many variables in play here. The best way is to use the bucket ram to do the splitting and keep the rear part fixed. You also need to move the wedge closer to the front pusher part . As the front part starts to move and swings down under the dipper nose in its cycle the tonnage is dropping off all the time so best to use it when its wide open / bucket ram retracted etc. also the geometry of your front pusher part is not good and its pivoting of the dipper nose pin so giving you a very short movement.... hence why it looked like you were using the thumbs ram / motion to fully send the wedge through because that has more travel but is the weakest and was easliy overridden by the bucket ram. Just try for a start to fit the thumb in one place so it can't move and then see how it splits. i hope it works out for you because its such an easy way and no back breaking whatsoever. And a 5 tonner is more than enough power in our experience. James from England.
Why would you waste your time an energy to build something that won't even split a 6 inch log? A 1 inch cylinder? Common sense should have prevented you from embarking on this project. I guess some people have more brains and common sense than others. 1 fernel of popcorn out of 5 kernels. Not worthy.
Do not use this practice period, My man you are going to destroy your stick on the machine. Dude those pins should Be changed out every 400 to 500 hrs, that includes the bushings and shims and seals ... I have several thousands of hours on excavators and I have owned 5 excavators getting ready to buy my 6th one soon . That main pin you spoke of is supporting your bucket your coupler , linkage and thumb.. do not crank up the pressure you will destroy the machine. Sir you will have more issues than the relief valve. Yes the E85 will destroy the whole assembly of linkage, because it is way to powerful. Not to mention your ram on the thumb has small pins and gussets holding the pins and thumb in place. My man you have to be as easy as possible on that linkage.. Oh when you have the bucket or any type of digging implement, do not keep pulling with the stick and boom if that bucket stops from what ever you are digging.. To line bore that yolk on the end of that stick is very expensive...I am telling you this from experience.... I would hate to see that sweet ass Yan Mar fucked up over , over use and abuse to the machine.. they are way more fragile than you know. Be careful
@Benjamin Burlos pins and bushings shouldn’t have dirt in them,, grease fills that space not dirt and water. Grease protects those ares.. after what I have seen , and the cost associated with the pins and bushings. When the YOKE CRACKS . CCOME TALK TO ME
Losing what little power you have with that small cylinder pushing 90° to the splitter.head. Moving the splitting head to the bucket mount might give a bit more power but still probably very limited.
