How a Hydraulic Hammer Functions and How to Care for it?

Rock breakers are brilliant heavy-duty equipment that is now a must at construction sites. Read more about them below.

If you have large rocks to break down into smaller pieces, you may need to consider getting a JCB rock breaker. They have a lot of uses like the demolition of buildings, digging up pavement and breaking down boulders. You name it, they do it!

Rock breaker or hydraulic hammer works on a simple principle of applying pressure to the liquid which will distribute that pressure creating multifunctional force. If you have heard of Blaise Pascal, then you would be familiar with this principle. 

There is a valve which supplies oil into the cylinder, this oil is the liquid that is pressurized to produce the resultant upward and downward strokes of the hydraulic hammer. The main valve releases pressure through the upper chamber which will push the piston up. The back head of the cylinder contains nitrogen gas which is compressed to force the piston back.

The entire mechanism of a hydraulic hammer is based on shifting of energy within the chamber from the upper to lower side and this energy is transferred to the main tool that you can see on the outside doing the actual work. It is a continuous cycle of applying pressure to liquid and then moving it through a valve to achieve the repeated action of hammering. 

This tool has two variations that operate on the same principle. There is an inner valve hydraulic hammer and an outer valve one. They both share the same components as a cylinder, piston and a front and back head. The backhead has nitrogen gas while the front provides support for the entire machine.

Whether you use an inner valve or outer valve hydraulic hammer, the effect is the same, it will work like a hammer and help to break down rocks, walls and similar materials that need to be hammered. It is more effective than an ordinary hand-held hammer since it will get the rocks or concrete cracked with ease and accuracy.

Hydraulic hammers have undergone modifications to make them more suited for their work. Even though construction sites are usually noisy, modern hammers have undergone modification to make them less noisy. The fluid used in the hammers minimizes noise pollution — they also do not emit dangerous gases as they are being used. 

In the past, most assumed size matters, modern designs, however, have disproved that, it is possible to have a small cylinder that is still as effective as the bigger ones. The amount of pressure displaced within the cylinder will determine how effective it is. Most standard hydraulic hammers are 5000 pounds, but that is not the actual weight, rather the amount of force it will provide.

It is not uncommon to find a 7000-pound hammer that has a smaller cylinder than a 5000-pound one. This is why it is important to perform a test on the hydraulic hammer to see how strong it is as opposed to looking at the size and assuming it is strong.

Quality hydraulic breakers will last long if you maintain them well. Most manufacturers recommend the following procedures to ensure that they are in good condition.

It should be evident that periodic checks are necessary to ensure that the JCB rock breaker is working as it is supposed to. It is recommended that after every 100 hours of use, it is checked and maintenance work is done. It is a lot cheaper to keep it well maintained than to pay for costly repairs or replacement. 

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