Welp tried it (Tiger Ground Rod Driver 3/4

[precise8128]

Well we tried this new tool called the tiger Ground Rod out on a project where we are to sink 18 Ground rods in the slab. Terrible product broke it after we sunk the 2nd rod. $85 loss if we can’t get a refund

What do you guys use to sink your ground rods?


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[ptonsparky]

Back before they made the fitting, I would set the large hammer drill directly on the rod and go to town. Now if I had very many, I’d buy the adaptor for doing it.

 

[LarryFine]

What do you guys use to sink your ground rods?

The same kind of rod driver in your driving tool in the second pic, but placed directly on top of the rod itself, inserted into my Bosch SDS-Max rotary hammer. I have rod drivers that fit the Bosch in 1/2", 5/8", and 3/4" sizes.

The only reason I can see for using the device you show is to avoid having to reach the top of the rod, but I can usually push it into the dirt far enough by hand to reach the top; if not, I stand on a ladder or something nearby.


I used to use a fence-post driver and a sledge hammer, but bought the Bosch and rod drivers for a cell-tower site where we did the on-the-ground and the grounding work.

 

[ActionDave]

I use a big hammer drill.

Hilti makes a ground rod driver that is basically a modified electric jack hammer. If I had to drive eighteen ground rods more than one time I might buy one.

 

[growler]

The same kind of rod driver in your driving tool in the second pic, but placed directly on top of the rod itself, inserted into my Bosch SDS-Max rotary hammer. I have rod drivers that fit the Bosch in 1/2", 5/8", and 3/4" sizes.

I use the same set up and after I jam the rod as far as I can by hand I normally get up on a step ladder and hit the rod a few times with a shop hammer. Sometimes with that little 2 pound hammer I knock the rod in another couple of feet.

It normally takes longer to get the stuff out of the van and over to where I'm going to drive the rod than it does to actually drive it.

 

[LarryFine]

It normally takes longer to get the stuff out of the van and over to where I'm going to drive the rod than it does to actually drive it.

That's because we're smart enough to use tools that don't take longer to use than to get out of the van. :thumbsup:

 

[ramsy]

Terrible product broke it after we sunk the 2nd rod. $85 loss..

Another carpet bagger with a marketing gimmick. Sledgehammer & elbow grease is good exercise for circulation.

Not getting screwed is a full-time job, miss a day and your business folds.

 

[sameguy]

Well we tried this new tool called the tiger Ground Rod out on a project where we are to sink 18 Ground rods in the slab. Terrible product broke it after we sunk the 2nd rod. $85 loss if we can’t get a refund

What do you guys use to sink your ground rods?


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An apprentice.
I still have an old steel slug with a hole 1/2 way into it that the poco gave me when the bar broke off when the other guy missed the slug and hit the holding bar, pound it with a sledge.
On job sites use hammerdrill attachments.

 

[Cow]

I bought one of these. Our worst rod has taken 2 minutes at the most through caliche.

 

[jaggedben]

...

It normally takes longer to get the stuff out of the van and over to where I'm going to drive the rod than it does to actually drive it.

Depends how hard the clay is. Recently I just sat on the handle of our Bosch for a few minutes to drive the last couple feet on some rods, after my arms were getting tired of holding the position. Nice butt massage.

 

[hbiss]

I can't believe some snake oil salesman got you to pay him $85 for that! hmy:

-Hal

 

[LarryFine]

I bought one of these. Our worst rod has taken 2 minutes at the most through caliche.

About the same, but the Bosch rotary hammer also drives rotary and core bits, and is quite abit lighter and easier to move around. Mine is the 11227e and looks like this one:

 

[Cow]

About the same, but the Bosch rotary hammer also drives rotary and core bits, and is quite abit lighter and easier to move around. Mine is the 11227e and looks like this one:

View attachment 22728

Larry, we have a similar sized Hilti as your Bosch for coring/drilling. The specs on your Bosch show 4.4lbs/impact. I'm sure our Hilti is somewhere around that too, which we use to drive rods in areas we know we won't have much trouble with.

But, the Hilti TE-3000AVR I posted above has 50.2lbs/impact, and weighs 66lbs. With this thing resting on the rod and simply pulling the trigger, it gives you almost 120lbs/impact.

For a test, we used our regular Hilti, similar to your Bosch and attempted to drive a couple rods in an area with caliche. After about 2 minutes it stopped driving the rod, maybe two feet down, we pulled it off the rod and set the 3000AVR on it instead. It drove the rod the last 6 feet through hard caliche in under two minutes.

We've found when the rods are under full load from the 3000AVR, the rod actually starts bouncing side to side like a guitar string. We actually have to put boards on each side of the rod straddling it(we're usually driving them in a ditch) to keep it contained until it's driven through the hard stuff.

 

[LarryFine]

I guess I've been lucky so far. :roll:

 

[ramsy]

..attempted to drive a couple rods in an area with caliche..

I'm also fortunate not to have encountered this formation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliche

 

[Tony S]

A question:

If like my first house you’re trying to sink rods in to bedrock, what do you do?


I found and used a 600Ft long redundant iron gas pipe that ran the length of the street. Unconventional maybe, but it gave exceptional earth loop results.
Later digging out new drains I ran a bare 35mm² conductor (scrap from work) along side the new pipes.

I don’t know about the stipulations of the NEC but BS7671 allows using buried steelwork as an electrode.

 

[Jraef]

My cheap version is a slide hammer made from a 4’ length of 4” pipe, threaded on one end with a pipe cap on it. That gets me to 4” off the ground then finish it with a drilling sledge. Sometimes the rod will poke through the pipe cap and I had to replace it, but not often. Next time I have to make one I’m going to put a coupling on the end then use a pipe plug in the coupling, they are thicker. Usually the rod end mushrooms out, then I just cut it off when I’m done if someone doesn’t like the look of it (I actually think it looks safer that way).

 

[growler]

I can't believe some snake oil salesman got you to pay him $85 for that! hmy:

-Hal

I was thinking the same thing. That thing doesn't look to be made very well. The impact of the demo hammer is going to bend it if it doesn't break. You would really have to beef it up and make it out of tool steel for it to have a chance at lasting.

 

[growler]

Depends how hard the clay is. Recently I just sat on the handle of our Bosch for a few minutes to drive the last couple feet on some rods, after my arms were getting tired of holding the position. Nice butt massage.

The specs on your Bosch show 4.4lbs/impact.

I have an older bosh that weighs almost 25 pound and has a little over 13 pounds of impact.

But jaggedben is right and there are some places where it just hard to drive a rod.

I normally use the 5/8" steel rods and not solid copper. But I have bent those.

Kids these days probably think we were crazy for driving rods with a hammer back in the good old days. I still have a 12 pound sledge just in case.

 

[Jraef]

I was thinking the same thing. That thing doesn't look to be made very well. The impact of the demo hammer is going to bend it if it doesn't break. You would really have to beef it up and make it out of tool steel for it to have a chance at lasting.

It's probably a cheap knockoff of something that someone built right the first time, i.e. the original was heavier stock, harder steel, fully welded etc. But someone bought one and sent it to a Chinese factory, they copied it cheaply and it became just another piece of junk sold at Harbor Fright... Happened to someone I know who made a specialized tool. His worked perfectly because he spent time figuring it out and he made them for people on order, one at a time. Someone bought one and sent it to China to be copied, what came back was pure crap and it ruined his business because people believed it didn't work.