How to unscrew this to remove kitchen benchtop?

[clarkita]

Trying to dismantle a wooden kitchen Benchtop. How does one pull these screws apart? I need to separate the slabs. 
What tools do I need? 
Thank you!

 

  

[JacobZ]

Hi @clarkita,

Thank you for your question about removing benchtop connectors and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop Community, it is great to have you with us.

I would be making an educated guess as I'm not familiar with this style of benchtop connector, but I would assume the ring running around the outside of the circular holes would need to be removed to allow the rest of the mechanism to rotate. I suggest a small flathead screwdriver used as a lever would help to achieve this.

Once that ring is removed, I suggest that you would need to hold the piece on the left still while rotating the nut on the right. You could do this by using a pair of long nose pliers to hold the left side and rotating the nut using a lever inserted into the round holes on the nut. You might find that the mechanism is stiff as it wouldn't have been used since the installation. Some WD-40 sprayed on and around the nut would help to loosen things up a bit.

Allow me to tag some of our helpful members to see if they've got any thoughts or experience with this style of connector @Noyade, @Dave-1, @TedBear.

Let me know how you go, I'm very intrigued to see how this mechanism works.

Jacob

[Noyade]

Afternoon @clarkita and @JacobZ 

"lever inserted into the round holes on the nut"

I feel you're right Jacob, but my knowledge is limited with benchtops.  So a threaded ball on the right with multiple holes for a small steel rod to turn and tighten?

You must have to pull the wood sections apart as you unscrew it.

The rings act as a washer and maybe hold the vertical edge of the 'winged' nut on the left while turning the 'balled nut' on the right?

Interesting.

Cheers.

[Dave-1]

AEvening @clarkita 

I think @Noyade has nailed it :), @JacobZ  is close but my head went straight to noyade's idea and perfect sketch. lol. Well you could use a long thin screwdriver (probarly a philips head) or even a 4" bullet head nail and slot it into the easiest hole and turn a notch and then repeat until its loose. That should undo the right hand side round knob. The left hand side you could hold with a pair of long nosed pliers or flat nosed pliers if they are small enough. I like the look of the old connecting system for sure. I havnt come acorss it but it looks similar to the modern versions, just a little different shaped.

Dave

[TedBear]

Hi @clarkita , like the others, I would love to see the bolts once you remove them. I agree that you would use a something like a long nail to fit into the holes and turn the round nut. There doesn't seem to be much room for movement to retract the bolts though, so I imagine that you'll have to lever the timber strip off the end as you go. That is you may have to loosen all three clamping bolts as much as you can, then break the joint in order to lever the end piece of timber away so that you can continue to unscrew them.

Watching this thread with interest!