I’m not sure about the weather where you’re at, but we’ve had a tough spring in Minnesota. We had the tubes on forty tube counters ripped up by snow plows four weeks ago when Forest Lake, MN got 14 inches of snow. This screwed up our spring schedule.
It’s also been cold and rainy ever since then. I’m feeling a little bit bad for my guys. Finally, this is the first week we’ve had no rain and we’ve gotten into the sixties.
We’re busy. How busy you may ask? So busy, I was out setting tube counters on Monday and Tuesday. I think it’s been more than two years since I was out setting a tube counter, but with all of the different stuff we had to get done, setting tube counters was the critical path issue for me.
Since we’re running an extra tube counting crew, I went to Home Depot to get another hammer drill.
We like to set 1/4 inch split drive concrete anchors in the curb and then tie off our tubes to these achors. We’ve counted some locations multiple times over the last decade and the anchors are still there. You can check out our youtube video here to see our installation process.
Anyways… we’ve been using Dewalt hammer drills since 2001. I ran over to Home Depot to get another Dewalt since we’re in a hurry and I didn’t want to wait for an online shipment. The guy at Home Depot recommended the Rigid brand 18 volt cordless hammer drill. The kit in the store was about $230 with the charger and two batteries.
This thing is awesome compared to our tired 24 volt Dewalt hammer drill! It is very powerful and a single battery lasted almost the whole day – setup about 25 tube counters before switching to the second battery. The drill also comes with a lifetime warranty.
If you use hammer drills in your setup process, I highly recommend the Rigid brand 18 volt x4 cordless hammer drill.
