Hello all,

I've seen ground rod drivers that are meant as attatchments for rotary hammers. I was wondering if anyone here has had experience (good or bad) with using these and if so, what type and size hammer were you using with it?

I'm planning to buy myself a new rotary hammer but I don't want one that takes a body-builder to lift. I'll mainly be drilling holes 1 1/2" or smaller and maybe doing some light chipping work. I would appreciate any recommendations you may have.

Thanks,
Jim

Heh, call me crazy, but I bought the Milwaukee spline drive groundrod driver, but I don't have the rotary hammer to drive it yet...

I've been able to borrow rotary hammers in the past, or rent them, so it does make a little sense to own the attachment first!

I do plan to buy a Milwaukee 1-1/2" Spline drive Rotary Hammer along with an 1-1/4" bit, a 1-3/4" Core Drill and a 2-1/2" Core drill in the near future tho'...

I have not had the chance to use the driver yet, however...

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 04-10-2003).]

We use the old Black & Decker Macho II series drills. We have two of them and they have been worked very hard from day one. An excellent, durable drill and virtually bulletproof. Do they still make these?

Jim, if you are going to drive ground rods with any electric hammer, use an attachment.

The repair on the heads are expensive.

We actually use demolition hammers to drive rods, not rotary drills.

As far as good overall Rotor hammers, we have Bosch, Hilti, Hitachi, Makita,and Milwaukee and they are all dependable if maintained.

So I would say out of these, shop for price and warranty

Roger

I own a Kango. Its great. I core bore 2 9/16" holes with no trouble. Yes I have a ground rod attachment (its nice). I ordered it from Coastal Tools in Hartford CT. They were one of the few places that carried Kango in the USA. Bosch dominates the rotary hammer market from what the sales person said.

I appreciate the replies guys. Now to complicate things further, how about SDS vs. Spline?

b.t.w. - Sparky, I don't think you're crazy, I've got a collection of bits and no rotary hammer. I've been having to beg, borrow and rent them myself.

Jim

Hilti T72 with ground rod driver attachment works great.

jb,
I use a Hilti TE-25, with an attachment, that looks not unlike a long ratchet socket, it's real good for driving them 6 foot Earth stakes!

Ground rod driver bits are available on E-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2316432553&category=20795

Trumpy, You only have to drive 6' stakes?

That doesn't seem fair

Roger

Roger,
It doesn't really make much sense to drive a stake any deeper than 6' over here.
Most of the conductive part of the soil is within these layers anyway.
What length and diameter are your stakes over in the US?.
I once mis-spelt stake on a job sheet at work, the sheet came back with "Is that Medium or Well-Done?" on it!

I had the Bosch electric demo hammer with attachment and it worked great for me. The biggest problem is to stop when the rod gets real tough to install. This way you can still pull it out and try it again.

I like the Hilti drills myself. Expensive, but well worth it.

Trumpy, We are allowed to use a 6' rod for temp poles, but for main service grounding it's an 8' rod. The NEC does allow us to cut the rod off if it hits bedrock, however I don't think you could prove the it was "bedrock" that you hit.

Is the Hilti T-25 spline, SDS or SDS Max drive? What is the maximum core size you can drill with the TE-25?

JB,

I have a mikita spline drive and I use it often. Driving ground rods is a sinch. $10. attachment set it on hammer only and away you go. Also use it as a jackhammer from time to time. Cot in boxes in brick, block or break up concrete around pole/posts.
I like the spline drive as the bits are less expensive and readly available. So far I have not used it for anyhting larger than 2 1/2" core bit. I am presently bidding a job that will require a 3" conduit though concrete floor. Hope this helps!

Phil

Just purchesed a Hitachi DH38YE 1-1/2" spline drive special contractors edition rotary hammer and a Bosch ground rod attachment for $450.00 I used it for the first time to drive some rods. SWEET! I can't beleive how many rods I have pounded in with a sledge hammer. This is money well spent!

I have asked this question before, with no answers, so I will try again.

Is there anything in the code where it says you can't weld a carbide drill on the end of the ground rod, and use your rotatry hammer to drive it through any thing you come to?

I have a situation here at the 'road where the rock comes to within 4 feet of the surface and of course, guess where the rod is. I have a Milwaukee sds hammer drill, not much slows it down.

Thanks for your tolerance

TW

Electric Eagle, you said "Trumpy, We are allowed to use a 6' rod for temp poles, but for main service grounding it's an 8' rod. The NEC does allow us to cut the rod off if it hits bedrock, however I don't think you could prove the it was "bedrock" that you hit."

This has to be a new code article. Where does it allow one to cut off ground rods, or, for that matter, where does it allow 6' rods?

Rick Miell

Trainwire, nothing in the NEC but the listing violation nuts might have a problem with it. Dig a 3 foot deep trench and toss it in.

Trainwire, You certainly get an A for creativity.

But I do not think a ground rod bored into rock would make an effective ground, there would be air space around it (and is rock a conductor?) as electricmanscott said dig a hole and toss it in horizontally.

I have used the ground rod driver attachments on a few drills all with good results.

It is not a garuntee of getting the rod in though..

My best advice is a hilti te72 or comparable size drill. As far as spline "VS" SDS-Max I ahve seen no real difference. Maybe the spline is tougher. It looks it. But I have never broken or seen a broken SDS-Max chuck unless somebody tried to hammer without a bit.

I think the SDS-Max is plenty tough and man what a labor saver.

On a strange side note I drive nail-in concrete anchors with a dull 5/8" drill bit. And wish they made a tip specificaly for this. It is so much faster and easier when you have a dozen of the anchors to put in in one place and you have the drill anyway to drill the holes.

Maybe they do make on and I just have not found one yet.

Hmm,
sounds like an experiment in the making.

TW

TrainWire,

Check out http://www.groundhawgs.com/ someone has apparently beat ya to it... well, kinda... Can't go through rock or frozen ground with the groundhawg...

A similar idea using rotary hammer is intriguing.

Neat idea.

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 05-13-2003).]