my cone wood splitter

[shinnlinger]

Hello,

My father had a PTO cone splitter, but i thought it was dangerous so I re worked it with an old 5 hp electric crop dryer fan I had kicking around

added an old basketball backboard for the work surface


I hung a barn hinge over a push on/off switch and stuck a board on it so it is easy to shut off with my knee.  I can also reverse the direction if I get bound up

a scissor  jack tensions the belt

I only split the load you see in the trailer but It seems to work well so far.  I have about $120 bucks in it.

[CRThomas]

I put mine on my three point post hole digger on my tractor for big stuff works great from logs 3 foot up

[thecfarm]

Love that jack idea.  ;D

[shinnlinger]

I looked at putting the cone on my post hole digger but the thread is the wrong direction for the rotation to work. 
I was all set to rig up some kind of idler to tension the belt but as I rummaged thru my crap I stumbled on the jack and the rest is history.   
The only issue is I cranked the belt drum tight to keep it from slipping.   A double pulley would be better but the belt doesn't slip anymore so I will keep it for now.

[r.man]

Looks like a good rig. I have seen video of a small commercial processor with a screw type splitter. When properly mounted and guarded I think they are a decent machine.

[47sawdust]

shinnlinger,
Are you the originator of Yankee Ingenuity?Your creations are something to behold.My old neighbor George must have been part of your clan.Truly genius.
Reverse is a good idea with that cone.

[shinnlinger]

I have an idea of putting a banjo guard like a jointer has over the cone or welding a pipe 25" above the cone so I would fall on that but it really doesn't seem too scary.  You can touch the cone while it is on and it doesn't suck you in.   Loose clothes would be a bad idea but the table makes it much safer than the original car axle/pto models.  I had two pieces grab and rip out of my hand but it only cranks over 90 degrees and you just pick it up and try again. 

[Peter Drouin]

Do you have a regular wood splitter too?

[sharp edge]

shin
Lets hope your knee is still connected to the rest of YOUR body when the machine shuts off. :( I do see the genius of the set up, which was point out above, but think  the normal hyd. splitter is as dangerous as I want to go.

SE

[shinnlinger]

I have two students in my woodshop class right now who sustained finger injuries with hydraulic splitters.  One is missing a finger and another is broken pretty badly.  Jerry Garcia lost a finger with an ax.  My point is splitting wood can be dangerous.  So can using a table saw.

What I don't  see is why this cone is so much more dangerous, but please enlighten me.  The jack up a car version had no table to keep you away and could wrap people up.  It could also rotate a log with enough force to lift the car off the jacks and take out a fender while it was dropping the car on your foot, but this is not being used in that way. 

You can buy this in Europe right now and it has no guards at all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyF2Myqg86c

[beenthere]

IMO the cone itself isn't dangerous, but the possibility of a block of wood catching and getting spun is dangerous. You have that problem under control, as I see it.

As most any tool, takes some smarts heads-up thinking to stay safe and out of harms way.

[sharp edge]

You would have to take 1000 students  on the hyd. splitter then 1000 students with the screws and see how many broken fingers. THE f/f is a dangerous  place.

SE

[Magicman]

Please be more than careful with that cone splitter.  Marty and I stopped and watched a guy with his son splitting firewood with a tractor driven cone splitter.  After we left, the son somehow got his clothing tangled in the splitter.  I still shutter to think what happened to that kid.

[shinnlinger]

Do you recall if it was a tractor powered unit like in the video or was it the older style (like the one I stole my cone from) where you worked between the tires and there was only a pipe sticking out for the wood to spin/pin you against?

I considered making a table for my original unit and just run it off the tractor, but I'm fairly tall (6'4"), getting older, and didn't want to hunch down all the time.  I also knew that even if my key stop function still worked, and I could kill it from the back somehow, it would still have a lot of momentum to wind down and I couldn't reverse it like I can with the switch in it's current configuration.

[r.man]

This is an example of two old technologies with modern guarding. Looks reasonably safe to me.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIUGFswFcbY

[brendonv]

Pretty cool. I have an atom splitter on an auger on a mini skid steer. Works great for breaking down large junk logs to chip them, or large hardwood logs to split them easier. I regularly split well over six foot logs any type. Its awesome.

[Al_Smith]

My dad had a screw we originally used on a tractor pto .Until I bent the pto shaft from one that got away .

He then used a Jeep tranny and rear end with one brake locked and a table which worked better .Of course much later we built a couple of hydraulic splitters .

The old Jeep gizmo is sitting in a fence row and the screw some place in the barn .Doubtfull it ever gets used again .

[bandmiller2]

I made a screw setup much the same as Al and his dad worked good I had a kill switch real handy. What surprised me was how little force is pushing the wood chunk down agenst the table or bar. A good sized chunk and I could hold it agenst turning with one hand. They quit selling the cone splitters due to liability. Frank C.

[36 coupe]

Heard about a fellow who backed a PTO cone splitter into a tree.They had to cut the tree down to get the tractor free. :We all know what PTO shafts can to to people.

[beenthere]

They had to cut the tree down to get the tractor free

Don't know why they would have to do that. Nor why they would have backed a cone splitter into a tree.

Must have been planning to take that tree down initially with such a brainy idea that a cone splitter would do anything.

And for removal, just disconnect from the PTO and use a pipe wrench to turn it backwards and back out of the tree.

Not sure this hearsay has much credence to it.  Just doesn't add up.

[36 coupe]

Friend knew the fellow who did this.Woman rented a post hole drill and got killed by it..Farmer put vegetable seeds in his corn planter to save time.Two brothers blew up an outhouse so they wouldnt have to clean it.Friend emptied his pipe down the outhouse hole ,it caught fire .Vol fire dept decided it was better to let it burn.They built my friend a new outhouse they next day.You havent been around long if you havent heard about the stupid things people do.Fellow hid a deer he shot .He put it in bed with his wife.The game warden was sure the guy had a deer in the house.In any case the cone wood splitter is an insane idea.

[kensfarm]

Farmer put vegetable seeds in his corn planter to save time.

My 2 row corn planter has plates for different seeds?  I haven't blown up anything yet though.  ;D

We used one at my dad's farm long ago.. it'll split the wood.. and doesn't mind the worst knotty pieces.  It just doesn't stop.. even if it had a chain brake like on a chainsaw.. you couldn't react fast enough.  I'd rather lose a finger then an arm. 

My uncle had 1/2 a finger..  he would poke us w/ it when we were young.. said a fish bit it off.  Later in life we found out that he dared one of his brothers to cut if off.. people do crazy things.