Drilling rock with a rotary hammer for blasting?

oosik · Sep 5, 2020

Ha, ha, ha, ha - 4570Man - you are SPOT ON. The neighbors "rig" is what you see being used on highway dept projects or the like. Diesel powered air compressor and a real, honest-to-God jack hammer. He tows it over behind his pickup. Hook it up to my tractor and off we go.

He even let me try the jack hammer - once. That is a unit that separates the real men from the weenies. I'm somewhat of the latter. I drilled two holes - my shoulders & arms felt it for the following three days.

However - his "rig" is the perfect setup for drilling holes for the T-133 posts.

Sebculb · Sep 5, 2020

Thanks everyone for the advice, I'm gonna have to think this one through a bit more it sounds like.

BrokenTrack · Sep 5, 2020

The sad thing about modern times is that people often think, the only way to do something is how the professionals do it. That is not always true because a person can go old-school.

I do a lot of digging, and thus hit a lot of rocks. As costly as blasting companies are, I found fire and water breaks rocks up pretty darn good.

Wood is cheap, but puts up a lot of smoke and spark, which is fine when snow is on the round, but in dry times, coal works better. It burns hotter, has a nice bed of coals, and gives off a nice heat haze instead of smoke if you use anthracite coal.

Just get a nice hot fire going, then douse the rock or ledge with lots of water. It will break by its own. If it does not break up enough, just redo the fire and water trick.

A person can buy a lot of coal for what a blasting company would charge to come in and bust up a rock or ledge...

PILOON · Sep 5, 2020

There are a few gas powered rock drills out there.
Punjar was one brand, but others exist. (Kango also has some versions)
Used both at one time or other and they are effective, just a bit slower than big rigs but very effective. Just heavy and bulky compared to big rigs powered drills.

I'm not a pro blaster but live in rock haven and needed blasting done from time to time to do renovations.
Shucks we even blasted under houses and once resorted to 'plug and feather' rock splitting into manageable chunks.

Egon · Sep 5, 2020

oosik said:
Ha, ha, ha, ha - 4570Man - you are SPOT ON. The neighbors "rig" is what you see being used on highway dept projects or the like. Diesel powered air compressor and a real, honest-to-God jack hammer. He tows it over behind his pickup. Hook it up to my tractor and off we go.

He even let me try the jack hammer - once. That is a unit that separates the real men from the weenies. I'm somewhat of the latter. I drilled two holes - my shoulders & arms felt it for the following three days.

However - his "rig" is the perfect setup for drilling holes for the T-133 posts.

There are different methods to using a jackhammer. Some make it hard work, others are quite easy on the body. In the easy mode only a light guiding touch is require most of the time.

Mat4644 · Sep 5, 2020

Drilled several granite rocks for fountains with SDS Max rotary hammer. Definitely doable. Many videos of products such as Ecobust using rotary hammers in granite. One thing I noticed is granite boulders varies greatly. Some drill much easier than others. No idea speed drilling vs a pneumatic rock drill. If possible borrow or rent one and do a test to see if the speed is something you can make money with.

We have split field rocks around my Grandfather drilled with hammer and rod drill. Dynamite used to split and pieces hauled out with horses.

Sebculb · Sep 5, 2020

Matt4644 I'm choosing to listen to you for now, my neighbor's kid works as a rep for hilti here and first thing he said was buy 4 point bits, sounds like he at least knows the first thing to say. Hopefully he will be able to get me a good price.

I still have to talk with the engineer at the blasting supplies company. Until now I've only talked with a salesperson who confirmed the existence of these products and that no license is needed for their purchase. But I have to talk to their tech support first to know if this is feasible. If they say I'm just wasting my time I'll be inclined to believe them. Like for example, every hole has to be two feet deep. That'd kill the idea.

Thanks again everyone. I'll post up what the engineer says and what I decide to do.

grsthegreat · Sep 5, 2020

when we blasted rock up by mammoth lakes, calif the holes were 4' deep, packed with explosives. they used a real jackhammer/drill and diesel compressor. very hard work. that **** jackhammer weights a heck of alot without the long bits. i wouldnt want to mess with the dudes drilling the holes.