On 26 Dec 2020 17:17:09 GMT, Tim+ snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: <snip>
<snip>Thanks, and by 'easy', would that include for someone who didn't have a gorillas grip?
Cool. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
If you have the strength and muscle control then a simple lever based one will do. Sometimes the shell will explode though.
Otherwise ratchet mechanism ones are expensive but hard to beat. Ours was an Xmas present to my father from Langley Alloys many decades ago. It was massively over engineered. It and they are still going.
Or, as has happened to me twice (so far), the crackers handle snaps in half across the weakest part of the section. [1]
Assuming they last, I don't mind spending the money on something that actually does what it says on the tin.
Nice gift (one that is useful and lasts).
So probably why they don't make them any more? ;-(
Good to hear (to both). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
[1] After a time 'doing' engineering you (hopefully) get a feel when you might be pushing things beyond a safe limit. An example of that happened when I was quite young (maybe 15) when we were towing the dinghy down to Cornwall for our family holiday. We got a puncture in the trailer tyre and I got the scissor jack under the axle and started winding. The tension built up to a point where I knew something was wrong so stopped and told Dad. He thought I was just being weedy, over cautious and so took over and after a couple more turns I heard a 'bang' and the welds all failed on the jack.If I applied any more of my not inconsiderable grip strength to either pairs of the conventional crackers I have here trying to beak the remaining almonds I am fairly sure they would go the same way.
The point is, if I can break some steel nutcrackers trying to use them to crack a perfectly 'typical' nut, I question their suitability for the job in the first place. Given the fact that they would probably break before the nut does, any 'proper' solution would need to be a fair bit better re mechanical advantage / 'cracking design' and control.
On Sat, 26 Dec 2020 15:28:47 +0000, newshound snipped-for-privacy@stevejqr.plus.com> wrote: <snip>
<snip>Yeah, they might be worth a go.
And them, on my remaining set of uncrackable almonds. ;-)
'That sort of party' ... ? ;-)
;-)
Yeah, something like that but with a motor drive of some sort (as the thread pitch is normally quite fine).
And they already do a thumbwheel / threaded style of nutcracker but I'm aware how slow they can be.
Cheers, T i m
It does seem odd that the world has conquered space has made a vaccine in a year etc, but cannot design a set of universal nut crackers. Key elements then would be minimal effort needed, so some kind of powered device, the ability to stop when the nut cracks, and of course a suitable guard to retain the nut and its fragments while also allowing the nut not to slip out so perhaps a kind of serrated jaw system and a semi flexible washabbble retainer of some kind.
Brian
Perhaps our rather arbitrary and disparate set of favourite nuts aren't all suitable for a single device to open them. I have always thought that almonds present a different problem from the other common nuts and probably warrant a separate opening instrument. It would be interesting to see the devices used commercially.
Well opened the door a crack and peered out.
When needs must and bottomless pit of money appears.
Or a toaster that can produce consistent toast slice after slice without adjustment or needing a pre-heat.
Yeahbut I think dealing with all the different thickness and densities and moisture content of bread you are trying to toast is actually way more complicated than cracking a range of nuts (with the right approach).
Eg, as long as you (can / do) apply enough force then every nut *will* crack. So as long as you have more power than you would ever need then that's that box ticked.
As long as there is the minimum of elasticity in the mechanics, it should 'just' crack the nut and no go further, eg. damaging the nut itself.
So, say you had a pistol grip like a battery drill with a square hopper at the front providing the anvil and an electrically driven 'ram' that could be driven onto the nut via a drill like trigger ... you drop the nut in (orientating it if you prefer), pull the trigger and a clear / mesh guard 'flap' flips down that both stops any bits flying out and acts as a safety interlock to stop you leaving your finger(s) in there ... and then the ram is wound forward quickly till it senses the increased load of the nut and then slower as it breaks the nut.
It could either cut off after a further distance traveled (say 1mm) or waits till you let go of the trigger (so you could crush the nut flat if you chose to).
Let go the trigger and it (quickly) unwinds the ram and when you press a second trigger (maybe like a drill Fwd / Rev button or a second / integral trigger) the lower hopper flap(s?, like bomb doors) opens and drops the nut / shell into your hand.
Or it could be designed for (/also) table-top use with a shallow tray under the hopper an on top of the battery to catch the nut / shell instead.
With PWM and micro controllers the speed / torque thing should be easy and current sensing should be able to measure the increased load on proper contact with the nut and then how long you would need to run the motor at slow speed / high torque to get the nut to fully crack.
You could even have a selector knob for the nut type (as each might need slightly different treatment) and maybe a user adjustable knob for whatever turns out to be the most important function.
You could set the prototype up to be learning assisted like running a PID Tuning on a 3D printer.
With a potential 'world wide' gadget obsessed market, it could be a good seller. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
p.s. There are several 'bulk' nut crackers but they 1) take some of the fun out of doing them one at a time and 2) need to be 'set' for a specific size / type of nut each time / run.
It would be amusing to design one using a PIC or somesuch and a small electric motor with a worm drive so that you minotred a 'delta peak' in current drain and when he nut cracked and the current fell, it backed out of it all.
Yup, that was my 'Electric' design variant, along the lines of this one:
Or you could even have a strain gauge built under the anvil part, giving you a more direct reading of the load (and so removing any friction / aging issues in the drive).
Cheers, T i m
But just cracking the shell isnt enough with some nuts like walnuts.
We used to put them in a door hinge, but doors were stronger in my day.
Ah well, you need a walnut detector and a new algorithm....
Walnuts are easy - 2 in the hand, squeeze, one will crack and can be turned to do another bit. The last walnut is more difficult. Even for almonds I've always used the old 'calssic' crackers and put fingers
3 & 4 between the handles to act as a buffer. Don't know if I still could - 20-odd yeras and all that.
But that bit was discussing a machine which would do all nuts automatically, not how to do it by hand.
Not with a tool that that does the cracking.
If they are 'tough' ones I do that but mostly I can crack them with just my hand(s). I hold the nut across its joint between my right thumb and the side of my bent index finger and then grab all that with my left hand to additional power and control.
If it won't go using the above it is. ;-)
With the almonds I have left here and using the middle 'opening' (of
3, they don't open wide enough to get them in the smallest opening near the hinge), on the bigger crackers, I can feel the steel handle flexing as I squeeze and believe the next thing to break will be one of the handles (as that's happened twice previously).Cheers, T i m
I have a very old iron pair they must be pre WW2 if not WW1. No idea how I came by them. The trick is to burst rather that crush the nut by apply the pressure to the natural join line if there is one.
Hazel nuts are the worst you just need gentle pressure. Crack a few times and the shell falls off.
Modern ones seen to be made of cr*p metal look in a junk shop for an old pair.
They are available same model on eBay though second hand. I noticed later that it had some brandname on it as well as a company logo.
"crackerjack nut cracker"
Will find it. The indestructible version has no plastic bits.
It will sometimes put the nut in orbit but only occasionally.
I have a wonderful old cast iron screw nut cracker, looks like a mini workshop press does the job perfectly never crushing a kernel.
Mike
Exactly. You adjust the mole such that when fully closed the jaws are open a bit less than the size of the nut.
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