People are just trying to point out that you are really choosing to make a lot of work for yourself by insisting on using a star drill which no one uses anymore for obvious reasons.
You could rent a rotary hammer for not much more than the cost of a star drill and drill all of the holes in no time with considerably less effort.
on 10/7/2007 8:56 AM The Other Funk said the following:
WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!! And thanks to all the others who participated. You'll get a Board Game version of our show on the way out of the studio.
And as an aside, I checked at Lowes last night, and in the tool department, there was a Lowes guy. Maybe a little younger than me, probably in his 60s. I asked him if he was the tool guy. He said "Kinda, I just started in this department". I asked him if he knew what a Star Drill was, he looked puzzled and said, "All our drill bits are over here" pointed to a wall display. I said "it isn't a drill per se, but more of a concrete chisel:. He then walked me to the wall display with all the chisels.and said, "Here's all the chisels. If it isn't in this area, we don't have it" and walked away. They didn't have it.
I don't think anybody assumed otherwise or the pointed responses would have been more vociferous. You'll be making a lot of work for yourself and wasting time for no apparent reason. There are better exercises than kneeling over a hole and hitting a chisel with a lump hammer.
I'm curious, Bill - what is the reason that you're ignoring entirely unanimous advice from a group of people that probably wouldn't agree on which way was up? Were you starting with the 3/4" bit or starting with a smaller bit and working your way up in two or three steps?
R
For a couple of holes, your method is workable. For 40 holes, bite the bullet and rent a real rotary hammer. The cost is miniscule comapared to the time, effort and frustration you save. My nearest rental is 20 miles away and I have made the trip to do as few as 4 holes. Believe me, it is worth it.
Harry K
First, let me say that I didn't ask for alternatives, I asked a direct question about where I could get a specific product. Although the alternate power tool suggestions were fine, with few helpful answers, the alternatives seem to have dominated the responses. I know about hammer drills and their uses, and I know where to buy or rent one. Buying a hammer drill for this one purpose is out of the question. I may not never again drill holes in concrete, and maybe I can just throw the star drill in a drawer with my other chisels and punches and not have another large, seldom used power tool on a shelf. Renting one for a day is a gamble. What if I can't complete the project in that time frame for some reason? What if I got called away for an emergency, or it started to rain? The rental fee would be more than if I bought a cheap hammer drill from Harbor Freight (see above about buying and storing seldom used tools). If I had asked where to buy a wheelbarrow, I don't want to buy or rent an ATV (Mule), a front end loader, a Bobcat, or anything other than a wheelbarrow. Someone likened my request to an analogy about using a screwdriver as a chisel. I still don't get that one. I suppose that we should all get rid of all hand tools since there is a power tool available that will do the job faster and easier. I've already bored 10 holes with the 1/2" drill and a 3/4" concrete bit, with the help of the steel punch and small sledge hammer. I have 2 on each corner and 2 on each side, and the cover is on using those 10 attachments. The leaves are falling on the cover and are being blown off by the wind. I have plenty of time before the snow starts to finish the other 20 holes. That's my story. I suppose that this threat will continue pointing out the advantages of using a hammer drill, or maybe it will drift off to something about garden spiders. But I now have the information that I need, thanks to the few that answered my question and provided links, so I'll let the others continue without me.
Will,
This is confusing. I thought you said that you had done a Google search. If you aren't capable of doing that I think you'll find using a star drill very challenging. When I was a kid I tried this in granite. A day's work yielded a hole about 2" deep. Concrete may be softer but you want to do 40 (?) holes. I bet your wife is going to laugh a lot and have a great anecdote.
Dave M.
Bill-
People who answered your question with alternatives were trying to give you the benefit of their experience.
I have drilled 100's of holes in concrete over the years. I'm even old enough to have used a star drill (my dad made you use one when a concrete / masonry bit in a regular electric drill wouldn't do the job)
So I was one of the guys who had experience with: electric drill star drill star drill used in conjunction with electric drill battery powered rotary hammer electric rotary hammer (Bosch, Hilti, Milwaukee)
based on this experience I know the method I would use
So after hundreds of holes with all sorts of tools / methods......I see a question from a guy wanting to get a star drill to use in conjunction with an electic drill to drill 40 holes x 3/4" diameter of unspecified depth in concrete of specified thickness & reinforcement.
I think "wow'....he's headed for a lot work with that star drill. I think I give him the benefit of my experience.
Sorry if you didn't like my answer or the similar ones supplied by others.
in that time frame for some reason? What if I got called away for an emergency, or it started to rain?
Some people don't get it. Never will...
You asked for help, and everyone gave you some. Instead you jumped on us because you didn't like the answers. All the answers were good and viable. If you knew what you were going to do anyway, why ask? After all, Google only returns 1.4 million hits on the topic, and the first ten or so will give all the needed information.
You mean like this one?
I share your disgust. What is the world coming to when people offer polite, helpful and accurate suggestions to someone who appeared to have chosen a bad path to follow?
Go a step further and get a rotohammer. I bought a good Makita the other day for $25 at a yard sale. It has a SDS bit system, and has both the demo hammer and rotohammer mode.
A hammer drill will get it done. A rotohammer will get it done in less than half the time. They can be had at pawn shops, in the local Quick Quarter rags, and at yard sales for prices that make it so that if you don't use it much, you don't lose a lot of money.
The other day, we were ripping out caliche from where we want to put a walkway. I needed a trench about three feet long and a foot deep and wide for a French drain. I got out the Makita, and was done in a couple of hours.
Get the rotohammer. You'll be glad you did.
Steve
Finding the keyboard operational willshak entered:
Ok, easy solution then. Go back to the kid in tool world and have him get a Dasco
1/2" cold chisel item 142071. You are going to have to hit then turn more then a real star drill but for less then $5 it will do. Bob--
-- Coffee worth staying up for ? NY Times
I guess I can see both sides of this discussion. I know there have been times when someone has asked a simple straightforward question that does have a direct answer and instead got lots of uneeded advice without answering the basic question. In this case, the answer was that HD stocks them. I bought one there earlier this year. In my case, I just had to enlarge an existing a hole a little bit to be able to fit a 1/2 water pipe. It took about 2 mins.
On the other hand, I've used masonry drills, star bits, and hammer drills. And the hammer drill will make holes so much faster and easier that the posters suggesting that being the best solution were only trying to share their experience and make the OP's job easier. When the OP said that one issue with renting a hammer drill would be what if he didn't get all the holes drilled in one day, I had to wonder if he's ever used one. If a hammer drill can't do the holes in a day, IMO, I can't imagine doing the job with a regular drill and star bit with hammer.
You need some more practice in searching perhaps? "star drill steel" turns up many usable hits.
HEY! This is akin to someone coming here looking for a source for blocks of ice for their ice box and being informed theres a new product, a refrigerator that can do the same job easily and more convenient.
Perhaps he wants to re live his youth working with a star drill? Dont laugh occasionally I do wierd stuff I had last done as a child just for the heck of it although I avoid the hard work ones these days:)
in any case his question has been asked and answered. Hopefully he will remember to wear safety glasses. Star drills can be dangerous
And gloves and knee pads, because he is going to be on the ground at least two days stubbornly whacking at something that many of us have done in under an hour. Sheesh...
Joe
Minor correction. Your description is 'double jacking' - two man. 'Single jacking' is one man who both holds the drill and wields the hand sledge.
Harry K
In the two communities of Tonopah and Pioche, Nevada, they have annual celebrations. One is for founders day, the other for Labor Day. It's just really an excuse to drink for three days and eat a lot of spicy food, but they have Glorious Titles on them nonetheless.
One of the competitions is mucking. That's seeing who can load the most gravel and rock into a container in five minutes. It comes from the old days when muckers used to go in after a shot and clean up the debris created by the shot. And they worked twelve hour shifts.
Another competition is called single jacking. One man has a hefty sledge hammer, and the other has a star drill with a shaft of about one inch, and a star bigger than that. Remember that this was to put in sticks of dynamite, so the hole wasn't small.
One man would hold the drill. The other would strike it with the sledge. Then the drill holder would rotate the drill, and the hammer man would strike it again. They had a set time limit.
In the old days, poor boy operators did all their blasting with single jacking. Many times with just one man. Lots of mines were one man operations. Drilling came in later, and was the cause of silicosis which limited a man to three months of working in the mines, and at that time, he was coughing so much he was worthless. Then the advent of hydraulic drilling where they simply put a stream of water through the center of the bit, and the dust was eliminated. Dust from other sources in the mine still caused silicosis and miners didn't have a long life span as a group.
Single jacking was an orchestrated ballet. A good team could perform well, but it was a tenuous thing. One miss with the hammer, and the drill holder was off work for a few weeks or months. Swinging a heavy hammer at a steady rate at sometimes overhead angles was something a lot of men simply couldn't do more than five minutes.
The competitions I witnessed in Pioche and Tonopah were on a flat level surface. In the real mines, they were in every imaginable angle.
It's always fun to watch other people work their butts off, and holler HURRY UP while you're drinking a beer.
Steve
Eggsactly ! and you can rent one from HD (Bosch Hammer drill or rotary hammer) for the 4 hr minimum for about 25 bucks and get the job done in less than an hour..or "tinker" around with ancient technology and spend all day at it.
"Harry K" wrote
I never claimed to be perfect.
Or ever wanted to be.
Steve
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