Does anybody have a magic trick for getting the last 2 - 2 1/2 feet of a ground rod in the ground? I've been using a T-post driver, and that's how much is left above ground when the driver is down as far as it will go.
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Does anybody have a magic trick for getting the last 2 - 2 1/2 feet of a ground rod in the ground? I've been using a T-post driver, and that's how much is left above ground when the driver is down as far as it will go.
This always works for me...
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/dynamite-sam.jpg
I've seen those extendable, two piece drill bits (holder?) Snap together about every three feet. But I guess you would have to use something like that before you went to pounding there. (stx)
With the California hard pan, it's the only way you get any of it in the ground!Quote:
Originally Posted by KJ6BSO
You got that right. The soil around here is about 2 feet (that's .6 m to you, Cor) of hard adobe clay atop a strata of boulders that vary from a couple of inches to a couple of feet across. I gave up on ground rods and ground to a cold water pipe even though it's not as good.Quote:
Originally Posted by W5GA
I use one of these with a bit made just for driving ground rods.... http://www.milwaukeetool.com/Catalog...24_5340-21.jpg
Edit: Damn that was sure a wimpy picture but you get the idea.... (It's a demolition/hammer drill....)
Out here, after a few inches of clay, you hit caliche for about a foot or so. It's just a little harder than reinforced concrete. I, too, use a jack hammer for digging and for putting ground rods and fence T posts in the ground. I have bent many T posts trying to drive them in to this stuff. In fact, this is the 2nd one I've owned, and it is getting ready to go south, also. If I didn't have one of these things, I'd have to move or quit digging.Quote:
Originally Posted by WA4TM
So, a long drilling bit is out of the question?
Don't know about the kind of ground GA has, but I've tried drilling, too. I welded a 4' chunk of steel rod onto a 2 inch masonary bit, turned down to a 3/4 inch shank. I put the bit into a 1" high torque industrial electric drill motor. After about a 6 inches or so, the bit seized up in the ground. The damn drill motor twisted me around like a rag doll. In the process, the ac cord wrapped around my hands which were on the handle of the drill, and of course the trigger. Needlees to say, I was fucked. If it wasn't for the fact I finally ran out of extension cord, I'd probably still be out there doing the 360 Oh Shit.
Ok, sorry man, I'm sure it really sucked, but your description of it has me rotfl'ingQuote:
Originally Posted by K7SGJ
"I'd probably still be out there doing the 360 oh shit"
rotfl