Hydraulic pumps for log splitters

A log splitter is a device for the efficient production of split wood. The goal of log splitting is to produce firewood logs, and hydraulic pumps for log splitters are an important element in this process. A log is split along its grain using a wedge. Therefore, particular precision or dimensional accuracy of the produced wood pieces is not required.

Log splitters are available as mechanical, electromechanical, or hydraulic devices. Mechanical log splitters operate with levers or cable pulls. Electromechanical log splitters are typically designed as “cone splitters.” Hydraulic log splitters drive either the wedge or the log against each other, creating the desired split.

Types of Hydraulic Log Splitters

There are two types of hydraulic log splitters:

• Log splitters for private users and farmers
• Log splitters for professional use

Smaller log splitters provide a splitting force of approximately 6 tons. This is sufficient to split pre-cut pieces. An advantage of small log splitters is their comparatively powerful but slow operation. Accidents with these devices only occur if safety regulations are disregarded.

Log splitters for professional use are significantly larger. They generate a splitting force of up to 40 tons. With this force, you can split thick tree trunks into manageable sections. These are usually further processed on a saw.

Hydraulic pumps for log splitters in use

Small log splitters with a splitting force of up to six tons can be easily supplied with relatively compact hydraulic pumps. The usual design here uses gear pumps. Due to their simple construction, they offer a long service life and high load capacity. In a gear pump, the hydraulic oil is passed between two gears. The meshing teeth generate sufficient pressure to drive the hydraulic cylinder with the splitting wedge. The compact design also makes gear pumps suitable for connection to tractors. Therefore, hydraulic pumps with PTO drives are widely used in agricultural technology.

Surprisingly, the gear pump is also the standard unit used in particularly powerful log splitters. However, they are no longer designed for mounting on a tractor but are permanently integrated into the log splitter. They can still be driven via a PTO shaft. However, the gear pumps for large log splitters with 40 tons of splitting force are correspondingly larger and more powerful.

Alternatives to the gear pump for log splitters

The most powerful hydraulic pumps are piston pumps. They are offered as axial, radial, and linear piston pumps. These pumps generate particularly high pressures. In a log splitter, these could optionally be used to apply particularly high splitting forces or to operate the device quickly. However, they are still rarely used in this configuration. Thus, for now, the gear pump remains the common design for hydraulic pumps on log splitters.