How does a hydraulic screw action nut splitter work? DNT Tools
How does a hydraulic screw action nut splitter work?
The screw of a C-frame nut splitter with a hydraulic screw action pushes on the piston of a hydraulic ram inside the handle rather than acting directly on the chisel. The chisel of the nut splitter is then pushed into the nut by a second piston at the other end of of the hydraulic ram.
How does a hydraulic screw action apply mechanical advantage?
As Pressure = Force ÷ Area and the pressure in a hydraulic ram is constant throughout, the force exerted on the first piston by the screw is multiplied at the second piston if it has a greater area than the first piston.
If the area of the second piston is twice that of the first, then the force exerted by the chisel will be twice that applied by the screw. If the second piston has ten times the area then the force will be ten times as great. This force multiplication can enable you to split harder nuts than is possible with a regular direct screw action nut splitter.
The downside of a hydraulic screw action is that the second piston in the ram does not move as far as the first piston, so the chisel does not move as far. To help compensate for this, nut splitters with a hydraulic screw action will usually have a screw-adjustable anvil, to allow them to split a range of different nut sizes.
