Quote Originally Posted by maddox10 View Post
Yep, speed and torque are interchangable, with only the mechanical losses interacting.

But what isn't interchangable is the total available force. A retracting ram has less force to mutate from speed to power or the other way around.
Good point. So that would mean that you could have a larger, possibly hollow rod that would give you a faster return stroke, assuming the crusher doesn't need nearly as much power to get the point out of the opponent. Would I be right in saying that for the same weight, a wider hollow rod will be stiffer than a smaller diameter solid rod? Sorry for all the questions, I am looking around for something a bit unusual for a sportsman weapon for next year.