[TowerTalk] rotary or demo hammer for ground rods

[Patrick Greenlee]

I have a demo hammer that uses 3/4 inch hex bits.  It is a handful but 
much smaller and it would not be very effective in driving ground rods.

A couple things:  The COTS (Store bought) ground rod driver bits are 
ridiculously overpriced.  You can make your own by cutting the chisel or 
diamond shaped tip off of a bit that fits your tool and affixing a short 
piece of pipe, tubing, metallic conduit over the cut end to keep the 
tool from slipping off the ground rod. I found that conduit could be 
hammered into place over the hex shaped bit. The conduit gets sort of 
hex shaped in the process. I welded it to hold it in place but drilling 
a hole through the bit and the conduit and pinning it would work for 
folks who don't weld. Even tape might work.

If the ground is quite hard, progress will be slow and the ground rod 
may get bent.  Two or three lengths of scrap pipe can be used to prevent 
the bending.  You slip a length of pipe shorter than the length of rod 
above ground over the rod and drive away.  Typically you only need a 
couple pieces of pipe: one a couple feet long and one about a foot 
long.  You can use a bit of tape to hold the pipe so as to cover the 
area of the ground rod that is bending. You will never wear out the 
scrap pipe or bend it. For 5/8 ground rod I use 3/4 ID pipe.

If you dig out a little dirt (cup full or so) where the rod enters the 
ground you can pour water in that depression to lubricate the rod and it 
may make driving easier. Sometimes several wettings will be required to 
make driving easier.  I have found a few times that when not making 
progress in a reasonable time that pulling the rod , moving over a 
couple inches and retrying paid off.

When driving rods near buildings don't try to get the rod too close to 
the building as you may hit concrete of the foundation  and not get good 
results. Don't ask how I know...

Patrick NJ5G

On 8/10/2014 3:43 PM, Jim Hoge wrote:
> Hi gang,
>
> I am in the market for a rotary or demo hammer for remodeling work. I am looking at tools that deliver 7-10# percussive force (10-14 joules).What is the size recommendation for a rotary or demo hammer for driving ground rods? I'm sure that soil conditions play a large part but what is the minimum that will drive a ground rod in a timely manner? It would be nice to have a use for the tool once the work is done.
>
> Tnx es 73,
> Jim W5QM
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