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#207583 11/07/12 11:00 PM
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2
H
hendo Offline OP
New Member
I saw this ad on ebay and I'm tempted:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Air-knife-c..._DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec338090a

Those things are like $1200 a pop. To make it easy to dig up lines. I am not sure I want to add the price of compressor rental to estimates. It sure as hell would make digging hard ground easier.

Anybody have experience with these?

Last edited by hendo; 11/07/12 11:00 PM.
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
I suppose it really depends on what your usual soil is like.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
Hendo, I never heard of such a thing.

Looks interesting, though. Sure, it's easy to spend someone else's money ... but I sure hope you get one, use it, and let the rest of us know!

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
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G
Member
I am still trying to figure what you do with it. I can see some value for crossing a flagged area in the right of way to blow the dirt away from a buried utility but I don't see you digging much of a trench with it. Around here it would just be a sand storm generator.

One suggested use is troubling, "ground rod installation". Ground rods need to be driven, not buried.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 2
H
hendo Offline OP
New Member
locating lines:

http://youtu.be/el6jMd53QS8

among other things

Last edited by hendo; 11/08/12 08:51 PM.
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 368
M
Member
Only ones I have ever seen use an air knife are the public works guys for cleaning out the joint lines on concrete roads before they re-caulk them.

I may have also seen the hydro vac crews using them at some sites instead of a water jet.

Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 947
T
twh Offline
Member
Originally Posted by gfretwell
Around here it would just be a sand storm generator.
I think you would eat a lot of dirt.

I wonder how it would do in heavy, wet clay soil. The kind that sticks to your shovel and builds up on your boots until you can't walk.

Joined: Jul 2004
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G
Member
The one I was curious about was southern Maryland bank run gravel and clay. It is basically concrete with a little clay replacing the cement.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 276
T
Member
Looks like you could almost make your own. Mach 2 and no sonic boom? Hmm..


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