• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Jackhammer

chataigner

chataigner

Old Oak
Joined
Jul 23, 2014
Messages
1,127
Reaction score
55
Location
Périgord-Limousin National Park, SW France
I need to take up a good section of drive, some concrete, some tarmac. I've looked at hiring a jackhammer, 105€/day for a 50J electric jobbie. I can buy a chinese import for 160€, rated 45J guaranteed 2yrs.

http://www.bricodepot.fr/perigueux-trelissac/marteau-brise-beton-1700-w-45-j/prod4148/

Previous experience of buying cheap chinese rough and ready tools has been surprisingly good. They dont last the way professional gear does, but in my hands they dont get the intensive use either.

If I get the job done in one day I save 55€ but have no tool for the future. Risk needing two days.
If I buy, it costs a bit more, but I have a tool for the future, but is such a cheapo really up to the job ?

So should I rent or buy ?
 
Probably comes down to the returns policy of the seller.

It could be a bargain or it could perform so badly you wish you hadn't bought it.

Our builder used a similar (professional) tool to break up old concrete foundations and floor in the way of our extension. The tool hammers itself into the ground and then is used like an expensive garden spade - pushed sideways to lever the broken off lump out. That might be the weak point for a cheapie... is it strong enough?

That said I'd take a chance and buy it :)
 
I'd buy it, use it, then flog on Leboncoin or ebay. If you use it carefully, don't go too deep to soon etc it may be OK. Never had to return anything to Bricodepot so can't comment on how their guarantee/returns policy is.
I have had a couple of Titan cordless tools for 7 years, no complaints.

Please keep us posted as I have some concrete to break up too.
 
Titan is one of the "house" brands of Screwfix in UK - you might find a review in their forum.

Screwfix is part of the same group as Castorama. Is there any link between Brico Depot and Casto?

I have a Titan SDS and reciprocating saw which I've been impressed with.

Your suggested machine is screwfix part no 67819 if that helps look it up

I tend to favour purchase over hire and then keep or sell on depending on likelyhood of using again.

Good Luck

Bob
 
If you buy it and it works (fit for purpose) then you are quids in.
Especially as it will give you more time as there won't be a "deadline" and unforeseen conditions/materials could be unearthed?
You could also sell it on afterwards?

You probably won't be using it enough to get White Finger but I would still take plenty of breaks whilst using it.

Rod
 
Rod":2vfbvp1m said:
If you buy it and it works (fit for purpose) then you are quids in.
Especially as it will give you more time as there won't be a "deadline" and unforeseen conditions/materials could be unearthed?
You could also sell it on afterwards?

You probably won't be using it enough to get White Finger but I would still take plenty of breaks whilst using it.

Rod
Click to expand...

Yes, taking breaks was one of the considerations. If I hire I will be under pressure to finish and I have no idea how tough the job will be. That settles it, I will buy.
 
chataigner":2fygjwf0 said:
Bob, I dont know how closely Casto and Brico Depot operate/co-operate in France, but they are both part of Kingfisher.
Click to expand...


Yes I looked at the company structure after posting earlier. Seems a very similar business model to the Screwfix/B&Q model in UK. They sell some common items sometimes in different pack sizes and a different prices.
We also have a layered structure to another chain here
Travis Perkins -Builders Merchant & tool hire
Wickes -Mid Market DIY Shed (sometimes with a TS in store)
Toolstation - Mail order/ Trade-counter screwfix look alike

Seems to work by matching different type of customer with differing retail styles selling basically very similar stuff in differing quantities.
I expect the Marketing types have management speak phrase to describe this structure.

Bob
 
I'd go for it. I got a challenge handheld biggish breaker years ago for one job and it has lasted really well. It has really been hammered on multiple jobs. I thought I'd killed it once but it all it needed was a bearing. You wont get white finger from one job it takes along time for that to happen. Try and wear padded gloves and have regular breaks like mentioned and try not to grip the handles too tightly.
 
+1 for buy, use then sell.

When I renovated that cottage, I bought a SIP table saw and SIP cross-cut saw. Used them for two years and then sold them on eBay. Total 'hire' for both items for two years? £45 !!
 
I rented one back in the nineties to take out part of my driveway so I could repour. It was fun to use. The hard part was digging out the concrete after it was all broken up. :)

Kirk
 
Road test result : awesome !! Chewed through a large lump of concrete in seconds. :twisted: :twisted:

It's quite a bit heavier than I thought, I was sure I'd read 15kg somewhere, but when I picked it up in the shop I thought : "must be getting feeble - it seems dead heavy for 15kg". Then I read the label on the box : 24.4kg.

Sadly I have to bend to use it, but at 6' 2" that seems to be the way of things - note the plinth under my TS to get it to a sensible height !

breaker-001.jpg


Rainy today, so tested it between showers and hence the indoor photo. First decent dry day and we make a start.
 
Other than the problem of lifting it, the mass is all working in your favour when breaking the concrete so within reason the heavier the better.
The main thing to check early on is that the tools are not made of cheese and if so return them. You don't want to be sharpening them every five minutes.

Bob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top