Woodcutter with your own hands: drawings, photos, instructions

Woodcutter with your own hands: drawings, photos, instructions

Nowadays, along with alternative energy sources, such fuels as coal, oil or firewood are used. Many heating devices for private homes work on firewood – fireplaces, stoves, boilers, etc. Until the middle of the 19th century, firewood was chopped by hand, it required a lot of time and energy. Mechanical woodcutters have greatly facilitated human labor. The first models worked for a couple, were very bulky, and it was difficult to make them at home. Today, if you need to make a woodcutter with your own hands: drawings, photos, instructions can be found on the Internet without any problems.

A factory woodcutter will cost more than a self-assembled one

Features of choosing a woodcutter

If you need a woodcutter for household needs, then always first of all there is a question of whether to buy the unit or assemble it with your own hands. The first option will cost much more, but to implement the second one you will need some skill and tools. On the other hand, there is enough video from the web and improvised materials for self-production of a woodcutter.

Typification of woodcutters

In order for the drawings, photos, instructions of the woodcutter with their own hands to be more understandable, then you should know what types of woodcutters exist in general. There are a large number of classifications.

Drawing of a disc woodcutter with shaft and flywheel

One of the main parameters of a woodcutter is the location of logs. It can be:

• horizontal – the logs are placed on a special frame and either move towards the cutting part, or the knife moves towards the log;
• vertical – the knife splits the workpiece from above. In this case, the log needs fixing.It can be part of the structure or the log is simply held by hands.

If you watch a video of homemade rack-and-pinion woodcutters that are horizontal, it becomes clear that their efficiency is less than vertical ones, but the latter also have their own nuances of work.

Scheppach Ox t 500 woodcutter with horizontal log arrangement

The second important point by which woodcutters can be classified is the type of drive:

Woodcutters with a vertical log arrangement

Useful advice! Quite often you can find homemade woodcutters mounted on the basis of tractor and other equipment. The unit, which is powered by a tractor drive from the power take-off shaft, easily splits large diameter firewood. Another interesting modification is woodcutters with an engine from a washing machine or based on a car wheel.

And the last parameter by which absolutely all woodcutters can be classified is the shape of the cleaver. There are two options here: cruciform or conical. A cross-shaped cleaver splits firewood into four parts at once, which can be very convenient, but it takes a lot of effort. Cruciform cleavers can be found mainly in hydraulic woodcutters. Videos of homemade woodcutters with a cone-shaped cleaver are very common on the web, since these models are more popular.

Drawing of a woodcutter with an electric motor and gearbox

Features of a woodcutter with a cone-shaped cleaver

A cone-shaped cleaver, with or without thread, is often used in diesel or electric models. Its advantage is that the barrel splits not only due to mechanical pressure, but also due to the rotation of the tip of the cleaver. It is screwed into the log, so too much effort is not needed to split the workpiece. So you save on fuel for the unit. Drawings of a screw woodcutter with your own hands are very easy to find online, its components are not expensive, and assembly will not take you much time.

In gasoline and electric models of woodcutters, a cone-shaped cleaver is often used

If you want to assemble a screw woodcutter with your own hands – drawings, photos, instructions will be extremely simple. The main thing is to understand what the main parts of such an aggregate consist of:

The principle of operation of a screw woodcutter with a cone-shaped cleaver

When assembling a woodcutter with your own hands, drawings, photos, instructions should be viewed taking into account what kind of construction you need. The advantage of a woodcutter with a cone–shaped cleaver is that its individual components can be bought for relatively little money if you need to assemble a homemade woodcutter through a reducer – a video from the Internet will help you with this. Such units are most often used to provide firewood for private houses, baths and a small boiler room. The disadvantage of such a design is the need to feed firewood manually, as a result of which the productivity of the work is not very high.

Useful advice! If you do not need to chop firewood on an industrial scale, it is better to stop at the option of a woodcutter with a cone-shaped cleaver assembled from improvised parts. Otherwise, assemble a hydraulic model.

Drawing of a cone with a thread for a screw woodcutter

Hydraulic Woodcutter

Hydraulic models of woodcutters are good because they allow you to process a large volume of firewood in a small amount of time. As the name suggests, such a unit works due to a hydraulic pump and an engine. The cleaver in the hydraulic model can be located in the design of the stop or on the rod. The first option is more reliable, and the second is more powerful.

When assembling a hydraulic woodcutter with your own hands, you need to take into account a number of important parameters:

• the location of the log can be vertical or horizontal;
• the maximum size of the log that the unit can handle;
• the splitting force of the log directly depends on the size of the cylinder and engine power;
• engine power – depends on what kind of energy the engine is running on.

The hydraulic woodcutter is powered by an engine and a pump

If you watch a video of a hydraulic woodcutter with your own hands, it becomes clear that it is more difficult to assemble it than a screw one. But the performance of this option will be several times more. It can be used not only for home, but also for commercial purposes, for example, for chopping firewood for sale.

Drawings, photos, instructions of a hydraulic woodcutter with their own hands clearly show that, according to the principle of operation, it is very similar to just a jack. This means that it is not particularly difficult to assemble it at home. The main thing at the same time is to correctly calculate the size of the installation based on the size of the log you are going to chop.

Compact hydraulic woodcutter AL-KO KHS 5200

Rack and Pinion Woodcutter

Another variant of the mechanism for chopping firewood is a rack–and-pinion. It got its name from the fact that the cleaver in such a mechanism is attached to a rail that moves due to a gear transmission. The log is fixed here between the cleaver and the protective stop located on the gearbox casing.

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According to the drawings, photo instructions of the rack-and-pinion woodcutter with your own hands, it is clear that the split of the log occurs when you press a special handle in the structure. At the same time, the gears interlock, the rail with the cleaver moves towards the log, the log splits into pieces. Its reverse movement returns the cleaver to its original position, and the split log can be removed to the place of the workpiece. For use at home, a rack-and-pinion woodcutter is a very good option. It works, most often, from an electric motor, does not take up much space and does not require special maintenance.

The following parameters are important for a rack-and- pinion woodcutter:

• maximum log length;
• the shape of the cleaver – some models allow you to split a log into 6 parts at once;
• the force with which the workpiece splits.

Electric rack-and-pinion woodcutter, made with your own hands

Rack-and-pinion woodcutters are often sold in factory assembly, but this option will cost you much more than made with your own hands.

Useful advice! Unlike rack-and-pinion, screw or cone woodcutters are not sold assembled. But you can separately purchase a cone made of hardened steel, and assemble the rest of the mechanism from improvised materials.

Diagram of the rack-and-pinion woodcutter device

Step-by-step instructions for assembling a woodcutter with your own hands

At home, you can assemble any type of woodcutter, but each of them needs a separate approach.

Assembling a screw woodcutter

In order to assemble a screw woodcutter at home, you will need a cone-cleaver, a sufficiently powerful engine, a shaft, a step-down gearbox and a strong frame on which most of the parts will be attached.

Drawing for assembling a screw woodcutter with your own hands

First, a gearbox and an engine are attached to the frame (which must be very resistant to mechanical influences). A cone is placed on the shaft, and the shaft itself is connected to a step-down gearbox using a motor. When assembling, it is very important to consider a number of points:

Assembling a hydraulic woodcutter with your own hands

It is much more difficult to assemble a hydraulic woodcutter with your own hands because of the hydraulic assembly. You will have to buy a hydraulic cylinder, an oil tank, a pump motor and the pump itself, a fluid flow control unit in a store or on the market.

First, a frame is made of durable material.

Useful advice! It is better to install the frame on the chassis or on wheels, so you can easily move the woodcutter to a new place of work.

Drawing for assembling a hydraulic woodcutter with your own hands

Then the hydraulic part of the mechanism is mounted on the frame. There is no single instruction here, it all depends on the selected mechanisms and the necessary characteristics. Before undertaking the manufacture of a hydraulic woodcutter, it is worth assessing the economic benefits of this action.

Overview of the difference between factory and homemade woodcutters

As already mentioned above, a woodcutter can not only be made with your own hands, but also bought in a ready-made factory assembly. The whole difference here is mainly in the price. For example, a hydraulic woodcutter Engy Els-5030 with a splitting force of about 5 tons will cost you about 14-15 thousand rubles. And the model is more powerful, the splitting force of which is 12 tons – 85-90 thousand rubles. For that kind of money, you can easily assemble a couple of woodcutters with your own hands, posting the video on the Internet after that.

The principle of splitting a log with a hydraulic woodcutter

The main advantage of factory–assembled woodcutters is that you do not need to spend extra time and effort. You just buy a ready-made mechanism and use it for your own pleasure. On the other hand, a homemade model can be customized as your heart desires. You can install any engine, any type of transmission and adjust the unit to any size of firewood. And a homemade model will cost 2-3 times cheaper than the average factory one.

As for the appearance, here homemade mechanisms clearly lose to the factory assembly, but after all, when it comes to efficiency and productivity, the appearance recedes into the background.

Factory models have a more presentable appearance than homemade woodcutters

As a result, we can say that homemade models of woodcutters are much cheaper than factory ones and are great for home use. If you need to regularly chop firewood on an industrial scale, then it is better to use a factory woodcutter. The choice of engine type, location of logs, type of cleaver and other nuances depends solely on your personal needs and preferences. In addition, no one prevents you from modifying an existing model of a hand-assembled woodcutter and presenting your own original model to the users.