After having to open up a paved road this week in a cul-de-sac which had the original seal, a further re-seal and then a 50mm overlay of ashpalt over that I've been on here searching past posts about rotary hammer drills as I still have a sore body from using a peg bar to open the road up (see this post if the term peg bar is unfamiliar,?ÿ https://surveyorconnect.com/community/surveying-geomatics/diy-bipod-rebar-driver-and-carry-bag-truck-setup/)
?ÿ
From the previous posts it looks like a SDS rotary hammer drill that is 36v+ with a spade bit should make my life easier. My main outstanding question is battery life, looks like standard capacity is about 5ah and wondering with two batteries how many holes in the road that will let me open up??ÿ
?ÿ
My usual approach is to try cut a square size of spade width with cold chisel/peg bar in seal then flick it out in in one piece. Once through that the peg bar usually fine to get the rest of the way down. So would just want the drill to do the first part.
?ÿ
Be very rare to meet to dig up more than one monument in the pavement in a field day. I currently already carry a small 18v battery drill with a hammer action option that I use for drilling 6mm holes to put tap-in masonry anchors as control points or to hold down boundary disk's, but it wouldn't have the stamina to drill too many holes in road.
A regular battery-powered drill can achieve the same result, if desired, for occasional usage.?ÿ Make however many holes it takes to outline the area you wish to cut out, then work the bit from side to side to further remove obstacles to removal.?ÿ Apply the chisel or bar to the remaining material to pry out that top chunk of asphalt.?ÿ Standard digging below that should not be too difficult.
Until recently I had only one 5 Ah battery with my Milwaukie. I used it to punch a hole in parking lot pavement about 2" thick. I had to return a second day after recharging to get it done. So the answer is two 5 Ah batteries will probably be good for one hole. But one such battery is good for a couple dozen Bernsten style brass plug monuments. Of course it all depends on the material.
I open up (and often replace) literally dozens of road mons a year.?ÿ
I have 3 tools: a corded Bosch 40 lb jackhammer, a corded Bosch 12 lb sdsMax rotohammer, and a cordless Milwaukee sds+ rotohammer.
battery life- a pair of 5ah lithium batteries will be all you will ever need??.. that will carry you through a 12 hour day.
tool selection- a rotary hammer is a massive improvement over a hammerdrill. A hammerdrill will drill through a concrete cinder block in about 40 seconds. A rotohammer will do it in 1. In choosing a tool, I went with a high hit rate, and a low impact force. This ensures that if I was exposing an aluminum cap, the chances on damaging the cap was minimized. In your case, you may just want to get the most powerful tool you can get. ?ÿAlso, your plan to go with a wide spade bit might not pay off??.. it is a matter of how much power you have pushing and how much surface area you have on the bit.?ÿ
Also temperature is a factor??.. in extremely cold temperatures, not even my big jackhammer is effective in cutting through asphalt.
best of luck, i would propose picking up a Milwaukee vacuum as well, great for cleaning out cases.
?ÿ
Thanks very useful! Sounds like two 5ah will be the ticket which was my main uncertainty. Where I'm based the coldest it gets is a bit of frost on ground, ground never freezes.
?ÿ
By wide spade bit I was thinking about 1 inch not the 2-3 inch ones or the pin ones.
?ÿ
Was definately wanting to upgrade from standard battery drill with hammer to one of the rotary hammer drills that have the three option dials.
Once upon a time, on the old board, I read a story about how a metal coffee can of a certain size, with a certain amount of chainsaw mix gas in the bottom and safely lit off, would heat the asphalt in a controlled manner such as to make it easy for a guy to chip out with the digging bar.?ÿ
Yep found that story when I was looking back before starting this thread. Try to avoid carrying gas tools as tends to go stale plus I work out of small SUV so don't fancy the fumes in same space.
Yep found that story when I was looking back before starting this thread. Try to avoid carrying gas tools as tends to go stale plus I work out of small SUV so don't fancy the fumes in same space.
Roof rack, hood scoop. Bill for the drive time.
?ÿ
?ÿ
I have a Hilti that will run quite a while on one battery even after 3 or 4 years use. Depends on how hard it's being worked but it probably has more than half an hour run time.?ÿ
@lukenz?ÿ
Also, I would suggest you pick up a Bosch HCST006 kit. Pretty much all the typical bits you need for surveying in a compact package that fits in your vest.?ÿ
Hijacking the thread here for a tangetial question:
What's the general etiquette for digging into pavement in an active ROW? What sort of restoration do you do after you've gotten the shot? Will you dig as big a hole as you need to locate it? What's the typical procedure?
?ÿ
To bother going into the pavement want to be very sure you are in the right spot (want confirmation from mag locator) and it is absolutely essential for the definition (are there any other offset marks available).
?ÿ
Then, set out, check with mag locator, chisel a square in seal tiny bit bigger than your space width, dig down with peg bar/spade keeping metal/dirt separate, ideally tie mark from two other control points (so it ideally never needs dug up again) assuming it's not bent up when you find it (common problem!), back fill in reverse order it came out compacting with peg bar as you go and final step is to put 50mm+ of cold mix in making sure to leave a slight dome of it sticking up to allow for settlement.
What's the general etiquette for digging into pavement in an active ROW?
I agree with LukeNZ?ÿ in general terms. How certain you need to be of finding something depends on the circumstance. Sometimes you have to excavate?ÿ to prove that there is nothing there.?ÿ Pack the fill in well and seal it with well packed cold patch. It's in your own self interest to be as sure as you can be that you are looking in the right place, to limit the damage, and to reference and record what you find.?ÿ?ÿ
Most places have rules about responsibility for restoring, when necessary, boundary monuments of record. So a surveyor in the performance of his or her duties has some rights to do what others should have.?ÿ ?ÿ
Depending on the region you are working in, the municipality may have a problem with you cutting into their road. I know Seattle has laws (or codes) regarding this, but I would hope MOST areas see the public benefit of exposing survey monuments.
survey signs up, and cone off the area (or as an ABSOLUTE minimum have a helper watch your back). Digging a hole in the center of a road is NOT solo work.
chip out what you need, in as neat a manner as possible. In the event it is not a survey marker, put the asphalt plug back in the hole and drive over it a few times. This works particularly well on hot days.
if you find the marker, I would prefer it be left exposed, but if there are reasons for it to be covered, cover it in the same manner detailed above, but paint it up and putting a reference plate nearby showing a tie to the location for the next poor bugger.
I've not tried it myself, because almost all of my work is in areas where the monuments are offset from the pavement.?ÿ But, once I had to get to a monument that was under the pavement of a parking area.?ÿ The guy I was working for saw me staking out to the point and running the metal detector over it.?ÿ He came out and offered to get the pavement out of the way for me.
He used a cordless circular saw with an abrasive cut-off blade to cut out a very neat square of about a foot by a foot.?ÿ It took him hardly any time.?ÿ I was able to pop that square out with a shovel and then dig down a little bit to the monument.?ÿ Might be an option if there aren't too many layers built up.
Follow up post for anyone who is interested:
So thanks to help on here and post linked below am now the proud owner of a 18v ( appears sold as 20v in North America) DeWalt sds plus rotary hammer drill, model DCH263. Got two 5ah batteries which for my use will be more than enough. Mostly 6mm holes for tap in masonry anchors (Ramset shuredrives), 10mm holes in tarseal/asphalt road it help rebar go in, and odd hole in road to dig a mark up with 20mm chisel. I learnt the hard way that unlike my old battery drill with hammer function which was rather pedestrian in comparison, these drills need you to wear safety glasses as they viciously blow material out of the hole!
?ÿ
I was starting from scratch as didn't already have batteries (once you choose a brand you are wedded to it) and wasn't worried about getting any other tools to run off batteries so didn't have to compromise for that reason.?ÿ I went for the most powerful 18v one I could find as figure if you step up to 36/40/54v ones getting pretty close to getting a corded SDS max one with power source/generator for proper demo work.
?ÿ
Looked at Milwaukee (didn't like the build quality/finishing), Hikoki (only decent ones were 36v), Makita (look best design/ manufacturer on market and would have got a HR001G if it wasn't twice the price of the DeWalt kit I got) and no one locally had much Bosch so skipped them but the web specs looked ok.
?ÿ
For a long time Hilti was our go-to. Then Dewalt came out with the DCH775 60 volt version. The thing is a beast, but it will pound rebar all day long, drill holes in rock or concrete, jack hammer out pavement. All you need are the attachments.?ÿ
It might take up room and it's heavy, but I'm thinking it's become an essential tool. Worth the high price.?ÿ
?ÿ
I use a Dewalt DCH481 SDS Max rotary hammer. I also have a chainsaw and weed trimmer that use the same batteries. Most of my batteries are 6ah but I do have a 9ah that came with the weed trimmer. There is a huge difference in longevity and power between the two sizes of batteries. I would have at least two of the biggest batteries you can buy.
I also do like Holy Cow and drill holes before chiseling. I use a 1" masonry bit for the holes.
?ÿ
Gregg