CompuServe Messages

Hi, Kim At a Tucson show I saw a relatively simple system in operation as part of a "pick your geode and have it opened" for $5.00. The nut-cracker was one of those hydraulic rams that body-shops (repair your smashed auto) use. The ram was bolted to a length of steel joist. The piston head had a guillotine blade bolted to it while the end of the joist nearest the blade had a vee shaped piece to hold the geode (a jaw from a pipe vice, think). There was a piece of chain that wrapped over the geode and was held in place by a bolt that slid into a hole in the joist just in front of the vee shaped jaw. The geode was "chained" against the jaw, the ram was pumped until the blade broke thru the geode. The bang was worth at least $4.50. I think the ram was fixed to the joist in a way that the distance between the blade and the jaw could be varied to accomodate wallnuts to coconuts – a series of bolt-holes in the joist. It all worked very well. This sounds like a good end of school year project. Usual disclaimers for injuries caused by flying nut fragments. Chris