Hyd tank

[GARAGEGADGETS]

Hydraulic Tank

Sparky I have found that disposable Freon & Helium (for filling party balloons) bottles have good fluid capacity,light weight and when turn sideways make excellent fuel & hydraulic tanks. You can weld just about any fiitting or mounting bracket you need onto them.You can usually find them at the dump,landfill or your local air conditioner repair shop (Free)

[Sparky24]

VBI thanks for the numbers. I was not sure how much it would hold. I am using an old beam from a forklift upright for the main beam and a 4" I beam for the axle. Then I was going to mount the hyd tank on the back of the I beam. I know it will be heavy just with the beam off of the forklift but I know I won't bend it to quick. It will also have a 14hp Briggs and the pump and hyd control is off of a 5,000 lb cap. forklift so it should split pretty good. I hope.
I want to thank everyone for your ideas and help. This is going to be a fun project.

Bob

[GARAGEGADGETS]

Hydraulic Tank

I have made and repaired a few. I have both migged and tigged them and have found that where you stop and start is where you usually end up with a leak. I always pressure test them by hose clamping a old piece of inner tube with the valve stem over the filler neck and plugging the other openings and put about 3 psi of air into the tank,go around all welded areas with soapy water and look for leaks. If you find one grinded the spot and reweld.

[VBI]

I was messing with some numbers and found that the tube you are using for your oil reservoir 4” x 6” x .250” wall thickness works out to a volume of exactly one gallon oil per foot of tube +or- actual i.d. Most log splitters have a reservoir with the capacity of at least 5 gallons hydraulic oil.

That said, 5 gallons of oil would require 5 foot of tube which alone weighs over 78 lbs. Do you plan to use the tube for the actual splitting beam?

Just curious.

[aametalmaster]

I know you already have the right answers from the right guys. But i used to weld hyd tanks for dump trucks. They just need to be oil tight...Bob

[burninbriar]

When I was a kid on the farm we had an IH TD-9 dozer with a hydrolic tank leak.Several people tryed welding it with no success.Finally I baught a tip for the torches rated for 1/2" steel (can't remember the size) and successfully welded it.I attribute the success to the fact that the flame burned out all the impureitys befor the weld was made as oposed to blowing holes durring the weld.
For what its worth; Pete

[Sberry]

Oil was leaking out the hole, it was underneath so as its dripping it ran down the rod untill I got the leak sealed off. I have also sealed leaks by welding a coupling over the hole and then screwing a plug in after.

[Sparky24]

Fire right down the rod. Sounds interesting sberry I would like to hear the rest of that story. I will send some pictures when I get done and figure out how to send them. It might not be fancy when I get it done but at least I will have fun building it.

Bob

[tackit]

I just repaired one with the oil running out of it, fire run right down the rod.

Sberry could you please give more details, your story sounds very interesting. thanks

[Sberry]

I just repaired one with the oil running out of it, fire run right down the rod.

[VBI]

hyd tank

If you are using 4”x 6”x ¼” tube, I would suggest making the end caps 3 ½” x 5 ½” x ¼”, that way you will have a full ¼” outside corner to corner weld joint.

Set it up so that you can run a 100% continuous seam weld with your wire feeder and let your stop point over-run your start point by ¼”or so.

Whoops, missed that you want to weld with TIG or STICK. Both would be OK. If you stick weld, tie in your starts with some overlap and finish your final stop with some overlap.

[glockdoc]

Sparky24

Hopefully you will post a few pics of the splitter when your done

[Paul Seaman]

Your welcome!

I am not that smart, just pay attention to detail and make mental notes of how things are done, old ways, new ways, yes ways and nooooooways!

Peace,

[Sparky24]

pjs that sound like a good idea never gave that a thought. Thats why I like this site. You get answers to your questions by some very smart people. Thanks for all your help.

Bob

[Paul Seaman]

Bob, I wouldn't bother, but if you find it gets too hot later it will be sealed so no problem to add later. Another thought would be if you need a heat sink for it you could fab aluminum fins and do a tank wrap and strapclamp it into position {kinda retrorod tech}.

Be cool,