On 5/25/11 8:02 AM, Grant Saviers wrote:
> Unless the ground is very soft, the copper pipe will mushroom and not
> drive in, so a regular ground rod is the way to go as Jim mentioned.
>
> For SDS and spline hammer/chipper drills (e.g. Bosch), you can get a
> ground rod drive bit that fits over the end of the rod. If you have
> several rods to drive they are a worthwhile tool to rent at your local
> rental yard. (or find an electrician that will loan you his) I doubt
> that a lesser hammer drill has enough power and mass to drive a rod
> through any challenging soils. While you will be on a stepladder with a
> fairly heavy tool, it's a lot better than swinging a sledge hammer from
> that height!
Another way to deal with the driving a rod thing, if you want the
sledgehammer approach. Get a short piece of iron pipe that fits over
the rod (a 4-6" nipple will work) and a matching pipe cap. Put that
over the end of the rod, and then bash on that. It makes for a bigger
hammer target, and the pipe takes the abuse instead of the rod. Yes,
the end of the rod will still mushroom a bit, but I've always been able
to get the pipe off (once, I did have to "unscrew" it with a pipe
wrench), but copper is softer than iron, so it wasn't that hard)
That said, there's something kind of dicey about standing up on a step
ladder waving a big hammer around. While you probably won't kill
yourself, the risk of untoward injury or damage is pretty high.
Rent/buy/borrow the hammer drill if you can.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|