Hammerdrill vs demolition hammer questions

dmccarty · Nov 4, 2005

Hazmat,

Thanks for posting the link to the article. I read the magazine version last night but could not think how to write up a helpfull summary.

I am kinda shocked that JLC is giving out the latest articles for free..... They used to charge for them. Twas only a couple of dollars though.

Later,
Dan

jim_wilson · Nov 4, 2005

JLC didn't used to give away the magazine articles for free - I have noticed lately that a lot of the stuff is free.

After spending a couple of days doing a bunch of research and trying a bunch of local HD's and other tool stores I ended up going to the only HD that I could find locally that had any decent rotary hammers in stock and I got a Bosch 11241EVS 1 9/16 rotary hammer ( one of the models reviewed in the JLC article ).

It was late last night before I got home but this morning before I went to work I took it out to see how it would go in finishing off the 1" hole I started trying to drill with my Dewalt hammer drill. It took all of about 20 seconds to go approx 3 1/2 inches thru the rest of the concrete wall and thru to the outside. So I am a happy camper now - it always pays to get the right tool for the job. Not having directly compared it to any other Mfg's models I don't know how much better / worse
this is than others but I have to say that there was remarkably little vibration thru the handle. My fear of drilling in concrete has just gone away. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

hazmat · Nov 4, 2005

<font color="blue">My fear of drilling in concrete has just gone away. </font>

You are a dangerous man now - be wary of your new found power... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Ain't it nice to have the right tool for the job? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Something my wife doesn't fully appreciate, but she is learning... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

CTyler · Nov 4, 2005

It took a number of years for my Wife to come around. A couple hands on demonstrations finally cinched it, She doesn't say much anymore. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

jim_wilson · Nov 4, 2005

My wife has pretty much come around. We have been renovating our house for 5 years now and there has been some pretty significant construction work. I have bought a decent amount of carpentry type tools like a table saw, sliding mitre, nail guns, etc. Last year I bought the BX23 but this rotary hammer has been my biggest $$ tool purchase in a few months.

The project I am working on now is running a couple of conduits for electrical and datacomm, a piece of 4" PVC for sewer, a copper water line, and a outflow pipe for a sump pump all thru the foundation wall while I have the whole thing dug down the footer on the back side of the house. After all the pipes are run thru I am going to seal all around them and all the cracks and voids, apply a waterproofing membrane and a drain mat to the outside of the foundation wall, then lay a footer drain. I am going to be building a detached garage in the spring so this is laying the groundwork for that. Plus we have had leaks here and there into the basement during the time we have been at this house. So it is killing two jobs with one dig job. If I didn't have the tractor I would have had to either rent or hire out this job - and I figure it would have probably cost me $5000 - $6000 at least plus it probably would not get done until next year because it would take me that long to find a decent contractor to do the work.

We recently had the natural gas meter moved from inside the basement to outside the house. We had to hire a plumber to come in and connect the new gas meter outside to the existing plumbing inside - this meant drilling a hole thru the foundation wall to run the black pipe - installing about 3 ft of black pipe with a couple of elbows, and pressure testing the whole setup. That cost $450. I figure that is $450 for 3 feet of black pipe, one hole drilled thru the foundation, plus the associated labor. With a rotary hammer and a trip to Home Depot I could have pretty much accomplished the same thing for about $35.00 in parts. I use this as an example of why buying tools pays off in the end whenever I get questions about why I have this tool or that tool. They (usually) pay for themselves.