My uncle lost his thumb by a last second wood adjustment using this same baler, splitter type of machine. there would need to be a lot of mods made before I would use it. I have a hydraulic homemade splitter that gives you instant control. It's good that you mentioned the "keep your hands out of there" warning. Thanks for sharing. It still gives folks an idea of what can be done if you try.
@@vanottey1 It's way too fast for me. I'm a hydraulic man myself but that wedge is still a good idea with anybody's rig. Makes it as easy as it can get having to do the work anyway. Better it than me!
I do not know whether you like people calling you friend or not but my friend you have the most creative wood splitter I have ever seen and on top of that it's got a ton of power and it's damn fast very good job totally awesome
I was hoping that the firewood would come out the others end in a neat bundle with a string tied around it. I guess you threw away a few too many parts. Oh well, it works this way too so good job. 😎
Excellent work! I have an IH 47 wire baler that I can't bear to scrap. I've thought about this for years. First, to lop off logs, testing to find out what the max diameter the blade could handle. Second, to put a gearbox in front of it to increase torque and slow it down. Since the ring gear is always on the same tooth at time of impact, I thought that preventing the shock load might let it live longer. Also a bit safer. Not that it's "safe"!
outstanding RE-use of an old piece of equipment...now I'm on a quest to find an ole baler. I have a question (or 2) and a suggestion. Does the plunger tray have a valley for the log to sit centered on the blade? (suggest making a V bed to ride in). Q? How many pounds of force would you guess the plunger pushes? 10, 15, 20 tons? I'm wondering how small of a compact tractor could handle this machine (Ford 1200?). Thanks again for the great ideas.
I did weld sheet metal on each side to help keep the log centered. I can only guess it puts out 5 tons of force. Your Ford puts out 13.5hp at the pto which should be plenty. Most of the splitting power is stored in the flywheel. Your tractor will stall on the tougher pieces but overall it's faster than a hydraulic splitter.
I used it just yesterday with my son; need extra wood for our many single digit nights here in West Virginia lately. We still have most of our limbs and digits.Thanks!
Splendid machine. I've been planning on building one myself as my hydraulic splitter's good but too slow. I've found an old Jones baler so can start the build soon. May shorten the stroke as we can't burn anything longer than 1ft in the stove. Fordson major tractor to power. Thanks for the vid. Stay safe. Regards, Ian.
I would make it so if you ever wanted to sell it you could go back to a 16-18 inch stroke. One could use a spacer on the push block or make it so you could move the wedge.
Grew up baling hay with 2 of those balers in their original configuration.... never would have thought of making 1 into a splitter.... your wedges are great and she certainly does the job but would hate to see you come to any harm .... whether a feed hopper could be thought up or somthing n save your limbs from danger....remember you never miss anything till it's gone.... good video and full Mark's outta ten for thinking outside the box👍👍
Thanks! I've made a couple modifications since this video was done. The wedge design works well on perfectly shaped rounds but some of the others have a tendency to ride up the wedge. It's easy enough to cut it off if I decide to do that in the future.
A++ for ingenuity on this one. I used to have an old New Holland Hay baler just like that one that was a pain. Low cost and simple, but I will say that I love my log lifter. Also I do have a 4 way that slips over the top of my wedge and I am not sure you could see it in my video but it works the same as yours basically but your design is nice. Jim
I have a log lifter too. It's called a skid steer. I just didn't use it for the demo. I am building a passive solar earth sheltered house for my retirement. I plan to do a set up where I have retaining walls so everything is at an elevation to minimize bending over.
Yes I have titanium bars in my neck and they want to add more but I will not let them for now. Even little logs are to far away for me to pick up now much less a nail on the floor I dropped. It is no fun. I wish I had a skid steer or bobcat. I really need a tractor and would like to buy one this coming year that has a front end loader on it. This would make my little place much easier to work on. I grew up on a farm and managed it till I was 20. So I love farming and a good diesel tractor. Jim
That's a great machine We used to have an old baler on the farm. I wish we'd have kept it now. Have you considered adding an auto feeder. ? Great Video.
That wouldn't work as it will stall on some knotted pieces. I usually have a bucket full of rounds in my skid steer sitting at wait high on the other side.
I am building 1 of these machines now. Im using a i ternational baler i pulled from the valley i know has been there 30 + years. The plunger will be riding on casters keeping it in original box. Needing to shorten the axle but unsure once i cut it if i can reassemble.?? Any suggestions on that.
That's a fine rig and there are trackhoe buckets setup like your wedge which is a fine idea. Teeth staggered for loosening hard material letting the pressure bear on one tooth at a time instead of all at the same time. Too much machine for me. I like my old slow hydraulic because I've got arthur and don't move too swift. Good idea and it's not THAT weak!
David, if you look at around 3 minutes in the video you can see a piece of thick sheet metal I added to both sides to keep the log centered. It doesn't keep it perfectly centered due to the spacing but I made it so it would accommodate a 17" log. Hard to say on the force. Maybe 5 ton? I think any tractor with a pto should be fine. I run my 59hp tractor at idle. It stalls now and then. You will likely stall a 16hp tractor at idle too. You can run up the rpms but then the plunger will move faster. Watch it! You could probably do a lot less work than I did and not make a new ram. You could get by with the original as it comes, not add a beam and attach a wedge at the bottom and top where the bale goes through.
The wedges were cut from a backhoe/excavator bucket edge welded to teeth. 3/4". I have 1" but felt that was too thick and the 3/4" is thick enough. The little piece in front was from 1/2". I've split with a Stickler, Bark buster and hydraulic. The Stickler and Bark Buster will go through anything but all three are a lot slower than this OSHA approved unit. This thing is a lot more fun than the others.
Hello Van, if you haven't been killed by this machine yet, can you send a pic of the beam underneath and how far forward it goes? i cant tell on the video how you have it set up, but i have an extra parts baler I am going to do this to. thanks.
It idles around 1000 and I bump it to 1100; so very little. I made a couple modifications. I have a wider tray for the wood after it goes through because sometimes the pieces are still too big and need to go through again. I cut the sides some aft of the wedge. I bought a Bark Buster to split the tough pieces. I mount that on my 25hp Kubota L245H.
Hello. Nice idea, just one concern about the side flanges... I would cut out a portion around the splitting wedge, because it looks dangerous sticking your hands in like a box, while the thing is cycling.. Just as a mechanical view, the splitting part should be open, so you're free to avoid the ram.. Nice job though.. Cheers.
You should put your other pair of gloves up for bid! Nice use of old baler. You cannot be slow.. Like any power tool it can be dangerous, smart idea to put the wedge further back at the top.
robert boose Thanks Robert. I checked out several of the videos on your page. Very interesting. Do yourself a favor. Get the book The Great Controversy and read it. It will pull together many of the things you already understand but will show the reason behind it all.
van Jesus is coming , this is saw-tawn world right now, times will even get worse because of sin...but Jesus will come to get his people when the Father in Heaven say it time, we have the Holy Spirit right now to guide us and teach us all truth... take care Robert....
One of these days your glove or sleeve is gonna get caught on something and you won’t be able to move hour hand outta the way fast enough. Only a matter of time before you have pancakes for hands.
Farming has never been an easy life.......it would be even more difficult with one hand !! With your ingenuity , I'm sure you could build a much safer hydraulic wood splitter . Yes, you would still have to be careful , But it would be much safer than that frankenstein contraption you're trying to feed !!! That SOB would have a terrible bite .
Yeah, I ground them down and made some other changes. One of these days I'll repost with a shorter video plus my Stickler splitter plus a homemade splitter that attaches to a 7.5 ton excavator.
