Slow Motion – How an Impact Wrench Works

More slow motion, this time paired with some very cool knowledge! I always thought I had a pretty good idea how impact wrenches works, but I actually was so far off it’s funny. This guy – YouTuber Nick Moore – gets to the bottom of the impact magic with some slow motion footage of a couple of cutaway impact wrenches in action, and once you see how they work, you’ll wonder why you didn’t know all along.

What it boils down to is the build up, then quick release of energy through the socket and onto the nut or bolt you’re working on. Impact’s use a spring to press a notched hammer down onto the output shaft, which has cutouts to match the notches in the hammer. As pressure builds when the notches are engaged, the spring coils and and the hammer will spin around and slam into the notches again, dumping all of that built up energy into the output shaft, and onto the bolt.

Nick definitely brings us some cool info that helps you know what’s going on inside that torque monster that you use when you know something needs to be TIGHT!!!