Since Dr Pepper and I are always working on something that may be of interest to some of you people I have decided to consolidate, and just use one thread to post pics in since we tend to bounce back and forth between projects.


and I will start with this:

This week's project is a log splitter. Due to my motorcycle wreck a few years ago, I have severe pain splitting wood to heat my house in winter. I put up with it for a couple of winters, but not anymore!

Sunday, we basically got a trailer built, the main structure of the splitter. I wanted it to be built heavy and wide so that it would tow properly going down the road. I don't trust trailers that are ~3' wide like most splitters.

Main structure, S8x18.4 main beam ans W4x13 "axle"


A quick look around the the surroundings might make it obvious what the WT is WT Fab stands for

Next we capped the axles, welded on spindles, added a 2x4 rectangular tube tongue with coupler and jack. Of course this log splitter wouldn't be a true WTFab production if it didn't have at least 33" MTs on it :




that is pretty much where stopped on sunday.

Tonight I got back on it and got the rear cylinder mount finished/welded on. I have been using my stick welder on all the heavy stuff, and been having some pretty sweet results. I did three passes on this piece:


Of course I had to mount the cylinder for a pic:



The rest of the specs will include an electric start 11hp briggs(courtesy of my old murray mower), 11 gallon fluid reservoir and a 16GPM 2 stage pump.

[Edited on September 27, 2011 at 9:07 PM. Reason : specs]

9/27/2011 9:01:36 PM

Sweet man

9/27/2011 9:57:57 PM

Do any of you home fab shop people do any calculations prior to putting your design together, or do you just eyeball it and build it with generous load redundancy to cover your bases (in terms of material grade/thickness, welds, hardware etc)? Genuinely interested to know, not trying to be a dick.

9/27/2011 11:04:02 PM

This will be a cool thread. I do have one question at this point though...

is this how rednecks live?

9/28/2011 6:24:58 AM

To Igor, i did do all the calcs to make sure the thing would operate the hydraulics correctly, have a reasonable cycle time, and have the power needed. As far as material selections, I didnt do any calcs, al though I could have. I have seen enough of these in my life to know what it takes, and what works. Just following that, and adding beef to anything even remotely questionable is kinda my tactic.

9/28/2011 6:59:46 AM

Quote :

"is this how rednecks live? "

actually, no. adam's yard is a product of 'priority packratting'... i.e. he'd rather have the toys and a smaller garage (at his current locale) than try to build a shop on that property. The tools go up when we're done fabbing for the day, so it's just the vehiculars that hang out.

Might call it 'scrappy' engineering?

9/28/2011 7:12:37 AM

lol god i wish i had a house right now.... i can't wait till i have a house and a welder... shit's just gonna be built all the time.

9/28/2011 9:11:56 AM

or a real fab shop with a CNC mill and some industrial size autoclaves





[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 9:59 AM. Reason : if you are gonna dream, do it big ]

9/28/2011 9:57:58 AM

Quote :

"I wanted it to be built heavy and wide so that it would tow properly going down the road. I don't trust trailers that are ~3' wide like most splitters."

how you think it'll do w/o springs?

9/28/2011 10:10:43 AM

just curious as to why you decided on a horizontal splitter instead of a vertical splitter like this



I have back problems too and using the vertical splitter is much easier then the horizontal splitter because you don't have to pick the log up as far off the ground.

9/28/2011 10:16:04 AM

seems like a lot less engineering and design involved with a horizontal splitter. Hinging the whole splitting mechanism could be a tough thing to fabricate from scratch(scrap).

As a fellow redneck engineer i love your backyard and the projects that you do. Nothing like taking somebody elses junk and turning it into something.

9/28/2011 10:26:08 AM

9/28/2011 10:27:24 AM

Believe it or not WT Fab has a CNC plasma table, but until I get a shop to get it set up in, it lives under a tarp in Joey's barn

As to the horizontal vs. vertical, I've never used a vertical one, and I've never been bothered by having to lift logs? No reason really, other than to save fab time. I should get a lot of years of use out of this before I get too old to pick up logs anymore :lol:


and as far as towing without springs... I dont know, but it cant be any worse than a 3' wide splitter with wheelbarrow sized tires like you normally see. With appropriately low pressure the 33s ought to be pretty good springs themselves.

[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 10:32 AM. Reason : gfe]

9/28/2011 10:28:17 AM

guys, guys... can't you see the window of opportunity here? I see a hyd. lift arm setup in the near future... add a swing out operators station, suspension seat, umbrella, cup holder...


And btw, we're working with fresh metal stock here - I can get basically any type of metal I want (sheet/bar/tube/pipe/structural shapes) at any given time. I'm willing to bet Adam & I have spent >$3500 on metal alone since 2008.

WE MAKE SCRAP PILES, BITCHES

[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 10:58 AM. Reason : -]

9/28/2011 10:54:09 AM

i am worried about the trailer not being able to compensate with any off camber from the vehicle. I mean i guess the ball will allow plenty of movement but do you really want to force the ball to handle that.

9/28/2011 10:58:15 AM

?? No intention of offroading with it??

9/28/2011 11:02:22 AM

Don't worry we will do a flex test with it when we are done :bu:

9/28/2011 11:12:51 AM

one of the guys that worked at the summer camp I went to as a kid (New Life Camp, ha) got his leg torn to pieces by one of those unicorn splitters... Got wrapped around it somehow

9/30/2011 3:17:53 PM

Quote :

"guys, guys... can't you see the window of opportunity here? I see a hyd. lift arm setup in the near future... add a swing out operators station, suspension seat, umbrella, cup holder... "

Seriously though, a cup holder is needed .

Looks awesome, guys! I expect to see this on the next camping trip.

9/30/2011 3:39:25 PM

duly noted.

9/30/2011 4:25:50 PM

^^^ Yeah man, i wouldnt even get close to one of those death machines. fuck that.

9/30/2011 5:50:46 PM

Joey and I got another good workday in today. Got the "slider" done, and the cutting wedge welded on.




I was pretty close to shelling out $120 or more on a nice reservoir, something like this: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200466866_200466866

I hated spending that kind of money on a tank so I started brainstorming. $35 later I came home from Harbor Freight with this 11 gallon air tank. A five dollar vent and a few threaded weld couplings later, we have a decent looking reservoir.







Joey and I spent some time getting the engine to run. After cleaning the passages in the gunked up carb and putting new gas in the tank it ran like a champ. I thought it was 11 HP, turns out its a 12.5, even better. Sumbitch'lldig, it literally wheelied out from under me on the test run. :lol:

10/2/2011 6:00:11 PM

Hydraulic pumps generally run a lot higher pressure than air... But at least if it pops it won't be explosive I guess.

10/3/2011 2:54:49 AM

Hydraulic reservoirs are vented and remain at atmospheric pressure. The high pressure lines are only between the pump and the cylinder in this case.

10/3/2011 6:47:50 AM

Hondaguy, ftw. (havent seen you post in a while)

The tank will have supply, return, fill, valve bypass & breather fittings

10/3/2011 7:16:32 AM

Actually, the return and open center "bypass" share a line on this valve, so you can scratch one of those hoses.

We are also installing a spin-on filter in the return line just before the reservoir.

10/3/2011 7:34:17 AM

oh yeah, haha

derp

10/3/2011 9:14:12 AM

got some wheel spacers on the front and the new tires and wheels on the yota today.

Next, I need to re-do some of the shit the PO hacked on the suspension, ditch the body lift, and get the bed on it, an paint it all.

10/9/2011 10:32:49 PM

Worked some more on the log splitter yesterday.

We got the tank ports welded in and supports built:



Got the engine mount finished up and got the pump mounted(not there in this pic). The ammo can will hold the battery and ignition switch/choke lever for the engine, and provide a small amount of storage:






Left to do:
Wire Engine
Fab/Install fuel tank
mount control valve and plumb hydraulics
Probably reinforce the wedge and add wings to split the logs wider.

10/17/2011 2:52:32 PM

Where's my firewood, yo?

1/4/2012 6:36:35 PM

adam's too busy working on crafts

1/5/2012 7:33:13 AM

Oh, we splittin'!



The thing works great. I added the wings to help split logs wider. They work perfect on a larger log, but for splitting small kindling and stuff they tend to just break the wood rather than split it, which is a bummer.

Also, if i had to do it again i would do the control valve differently. As it is now, you have to push back to get the ram to extend and vice versa. It is pretty counterintutive and i still dont always remember.

Other than that, it works awesome.

1/5/2012 7:55:30 AM

Welp, time to post up project on the new WTFab project. This one started the first weekend in February. 16'x12' MANCABIN. Wood stove, rocking chair porch, and no electricity. Water is a spring nearby. Got a bad ass group of friends that have put in a few work weekends so far, even when it is rainy and 34 degrees outside.



Dr Pepper is not amused by the rain.



The first work weekend we essentially got the floor built. That weekend we had a generator and air tools to make life easier. Then the generator took a shit on me. Everything above the floor level was done with hand saws and hammers. I guess the rest of the project is going to be the same. It really isn't much slower at all than circular saws and nail guns.









since this last pic, all i have done is to add "let-in" corner bracing. My dad is going up with me this weekend to help frame the roof, this will be his first trip up there.

4/11/2012 4:10:13 PM

where is that?

4/11/2012 4:54:20 PM

North of Ashe County, about 1/4 mile into Virginia. closest town is Whitetop.

4/11/2012 4:59:31 PM

ah. looks like an area near my parent's mountain place, christmas tree farms and all

4/11/2012 6:26:11 PM

adam8778 & TheBullDoza

LIFTING WALLS & SHIT

4/11/2012 8:50:32 PM

Can't call a nigga? Jeepman likes building things!

4/13/2012 4:21:22 PM

I built a whole car

4/13/2012 5:34:40 PM

what about my antenna tower?

4/13/2012 5:43:53 PM

^that one just flat out fell through the cracks....

4/15/2012 8:07:40 PM

started on the roof this weekend.





My plan is for a loft over half of the cabin, but i really like how open and large the 14' high "ceiling" makes it feel.

and to Jeepman, im going up at least one day per weekend until its finished. Come do some damn work.

4/17/2012 9:06:38 AM

More progress, for the couple that care



got the back half of the roof sheathed and tar papered. Hope to sheath the front half and get the metal on next weekend.

5/20/2012 5:09:38 PM

Cool

5/20/2012 10:29:48 PM

nice job... I bet pops was tired as hell

5/21/2012 7:28:00 AM

BlakLung, taking a step in the drag-racing direction.... previous stance:


current stance:


future wheel setup:


existing brake drum, meet GM aluminum wheel:


and because nothing I want to do is easy:



Adam & myself decided to keep it 'looking good' even with slicks, so I will be acquiring two more wheels of the same kind to have widened to 10-11", leaving me with ~8" of backspacing. Evident from the picture above I will have to do something about the rear brake setup on the truck. Right now I am looking at a disc conversion using GM parts & weld-on brackets... they are marketed to fit over a standard 15" wheel (4-4.5" of b.s. roughly) however I'm not sure if clearance is available to actually fit completely inside a 16" forged aluminum wheel. At this point I'm going to just "buy it and try it."

5/21/2012 8:09:06 AM

The cabin is looking awesome!!!

5/23/2012 8:35:51 PM

In a few years (maybe more than a few, but eventually) you're going to wish you had elevated the rear of that cabin higher above grade. Untreated wood will not be happy that close to the ground long term.

5/23/2012 9:22:23 PM

Agreed. it is a few inches above grround you just can't tell for the grass(8-9"?). I have read that 18"+ is more ideal.

I want this cabin to last me 10-15 years as a homebase for me to set up my vacation "homestead" up there. The eventual plan is for an actual hand jointed log cabin on a stone foundation just up the hill from here. That is why I didn't put it up the hill where the good views are, save the good spot for the next one.

[Edited on May 23, 2012 at 10:17 PM. Reason : d]

5/23/2012 10:13:37 PM

Slut does this kinda stuff for a living ya may want to ask him for some tips

(not the construction but trouble shooting envelope (and structure?) failure or something like that.

I know MEP shit like the back of my hand but what he knows impresses me.

5/23/2012 10:18:08 PM