Boom Makes Splitting Wood Easy

Boom Makes Splitting Wood Easy WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous Oliver Campbell’s splitter boom makes it easy to lift big chunks of log into place It’s especially handy for heavy oak
    “I had the splitter for years without a boom but when you get to a certain age it’s hard to get the big chunks in place ” says Campbell “I looked at a motor hoist and how it worked and decided to try something like it for the splitter ”
    The boom is simple and straightforward It operates on the same plane as the splitter Designing one that swiveled would have required outriggers or lifting a heavy chunk of wood could have flipped the splitter over
    Campbell fabricated the steel tubing by welding together lengths of angle iron The boom lift riser or vertical leg is made from 3-in steel tubing A base of two lengths of angle iron welded to the end of the riser are bolted to the splitter frame Angle iron base plates welded to the end of the boom mast pin to the top of the riser for a pivot point
    The mast consists of 2 lengths of telescoping steel tubing the lower end being 2 1/2 in and the upper end 3 in A length of rebar welded to either end of the upper mast and over a spreader tab reinforces it
    “I had a 4-in hydraulic cylinder from an outrigger on an old line truck and mounted it between the riser and the upper mast ” says Campbell “I mounted pieces of angle iron to either side of the mast to mount the hydraulic ram Multiple holes in the angle iron let me adjust the cylinder to get the right lift for the boom ”
    He also drilled multiple holes in the lower mast making it easy to adjust as needed
    When Campbell first hooked up the boom cylinder he ran it off the same valve as the splitter cylinder An 8 hp Briggs and Stratton powered a big hydraulic pump mounted over the splitter axle
    “The 3 000 to 4 000 lbs of pressure was too much and it tore the boom and cylinder apart ” he recalls “I only needed a couple hundred psi I put it back together with the addition of a pressure gauge and throttle valve It works beautifully ”
Campbell made the splitter years before While someone else had assembled the axle and wheels he added the 8-in I-beam for a frame and log rest He also mounted a 6-in cylinder with a 42-in ram to push chunks of wood into the splitting wedge “The wedge is a 12-in tall piece of 1-in thick flat iron with 2 pieces of channel iron ground down on one side and welded to sandwich the flat iron ” says Campbell “Combined with the hydraulic cylinder it can split anything even sweet gum ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Oliver Campbell 6150 Cascade Palmetto Hwy Fairburn Ga 30213 ph 770 964-4642

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.