California Surveyors Forums

I am looking into acquiring a cordless rotary hammer for my field crew. Its primary function will be digging up old asphalt with a chisel bit to recover monumentation, as well as setting monuments, etc. Do any of you have any recommendations on rotary hammers that you've used out in the field for digging up asphalt? It must be CORDLESS, Lets discuss...

We have been using the Hilti TE-6A 36 volt hammer drills to set monuments and countersink in concrete. They work great.

For specifically digging in asphalt we just purchased a Bosch 15 amp SDS-MAX demo hammer.

You are not going to find that kind of power in a cordless. We have small Honda 2000w portable generators and the Bosch unit was the best lightweight unit which will run on the generator.

This is what we use:
http://www.berntsen.com/Surveying/Hamme ... ll-Breaker

Jp

Proud7191 wrote:This is what we use:
http://www.berntsen.com/Surveying/Hamme ... ll-Breaker

Jp

That thing looks gnarly!! That ought to do it tho...

Don't forget a bull prick, a sledge, and a bad attitude.
Readily available, costs less, and its a great way to "pass the torch to the next generation."

I second the endorsement of an AC-powered device for excavating in AC (or heavy gravel, for that matter). I have a Bosch 11536VSR 36v rotohammer that's great for drilling a few disks into concrete or rock, but it lacks the sustained oomph for any serious AC removal. I tried it once for the latter purpose, and I did achieve the hole I needed, but it was a very light pavement section and it took both batteries to get the job done.

For more than light excavating I use a Bosch 11316EVS demolition hammer with a 2kw Honda generator. Having to the haul the generator around is a nuisance, but a demo hammer makes putting multiple holes in even heavy AC sections not just possible but quite practical. At around 30 lbs. the demo hammer doesn't have the punch of a 60-lb. or larger jack hammer, but it's a whole lot less work to store, transport and deploy.

I also have a Bosch Brute electric jackhammer, but I only use that for driving sectional rod monuments. It's just too unwieldy for normal monument recovery.

Does anybody have the Bosch RH328VC-36K 36V SDS-plus Rotary Hammer? this seems to be a newer version of the one Jim refereed to.
I'm getting tired of moving around the heavy Bosch demolition hammer and the generator.

Yes, they are expensive but worth it. We have had ours about 10 years now and no issues, not even with the batteries. Remember, the man who dies with most tools wins :). Jp

We just purchased a couple DeWalt SDS Max 60V cordless rotary hammers and initial reports back from our crews have been positive, even for digging in asphalt. They ran around $600 a set, coming with two batteries. Seems like they may hold up for a bit. The SDS Max bits are huge compared to the SDS plus bits for our older drill, much thicker shank on the bit.

We are still working on keeping one of our gas powered Pionjar units going for the really heavy stuff though. Works great for digging in AC and concrete, and for driving 2" pipe when needed, but its a bear to lug around.