Log splitter beam

[MMW]

Customer wanted a wedge welded onto an I beam. It is a 24" beam laying on it's side, 40 ft long. He plans to pull up to it with his small excavater having the front blade against the end of the beam, then pick up the logs with the bucket/thumb, drop them on the beam and then use the bucket to drive the log against the wedge. Logs will be cut to size already, so maybe 18"-24". Having the beam on it's side will keep the logs from rolling off. Anyone ever seen something like this? Since the web is usually the weakest part of the beam I put some braces underneath first. The wedge will be directly on top of the center rib. Ribs are 3/4 x 3" flat bar.

[MMW]

Flipped the beam and welded on the wedge. Then added two pcs of angle standing up to box it in and give it some side strength and capped the top. Wedge is 1" x 6" x 12" tall. Point of wedge is 5 ft. from end of beam. Used .045 innershield throughout. Have not heard from him yet, he was away when I did this. Third pic is what he will see from the excavator seat.

[MetalnTrucks]

Nice welds. Interesting that your customer wants to use his excavator for log splittin, cool idea. I would imagine a traditional splitter would be faster, but who knows haha

[Bls repair]

Nice work ,what keeps the log from getting jammed between wedge and flanges

[MMW]

Spoke to my customer today and he loves it. Says it works great.

Bls repair asks "Nice work ,what keeps the log from getting jammed between wedge and flanges"

Answer - I assume since the flanges are about 3" high and slightly tapered being more open on the top then at the web that the logs would just "pop out" if they tried to get wedged in there. Just my opinion.

[MMW]

Was down at his yard Wednesday. Still loves his beam. He splits 10-12 footers, then one of his guys just cuts them with a chainsaw.